Gathered around a fire, a mother and child talk in quiet voices.

The flames leap as the mother tells the child stories of ancestors, far-away lands, and fantastic situations. Drowsy, the child falls asleep, her head on her mother’s lap.

This could be a scene from 10,000 years ago or 10 days ago.

Storytelling is a core part of what makes us human.

And yet, it’s not a tool parents use often – or are taught how to use – when talking to our kids.

Which is unfortunate, because storytelling is a powerful way we can communicate values, empathize with our children, show our support for them, and have fun.

Storytelling works whether your child is a tiny infant just learning to recognize the sound of your voice, or a hardened teenager who spends much of their time trying to block you out.

The Benefits of Storytelling

Storytelling is an essential part of our fabric and offers a whole range of benefits that other forms of communication lack.

Teach Values

As any parent who has tried lecturing knows, children often ignore the message. Stories are an amazing way to pass on values without hitting kids over the head with them.

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We’ve all had it said to us.

You’re boss has said it.

“You did really awesome on the project, but your teamwork could use some improvement.”

Your mom has said it.

“I am proud at how successful you are, but when are you getting married?”

Your best friend has said it.

“You look really pretty in that dress, but you would look so good with your hair down!”

Do you even remember the first part of that sentence?  The part that came before the ‘but’?  You know, the compliment?

It turns out no one does. Especially not our kids.

But we’re supposed to give feedback, right? Isn’t that how we help our kids develop grit and resilience?  Isn’t this how we help them build up and develop their talents?

How can we help them grow and achieve wonderful things if they think we don’t value them? If they believe they’ll never be good enough?

Don’t worry. There IS a way.

We’ll get back to it in a second. First though lets explore…

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As a parent you long to be respected by your kids. And you want to be proud of their respectful behaviour when you are out and about. Right?

I know I do.

How do we raise respectful kids though?

Respect isn’t like some of the other things we teach our kids.

It’s not something we can tell our kids how to do. The only way to teach this virtue is to show.

When we parent respectfully, our kids will grow with a solid foundation of knowing what respect looks like, how important it is, and subsequently how to respect others (including us!).

As parents, we are the authority figure in the relationship – our role involves providing, nurturing, training and protecting our kids – it is a mammoth responsibility. Respecting our children doesn’t in any way mean handing over our position to our kids and giving them the lead in our home – in fact, that would be an unloving thing to do!

So what does parenting your child respectfully mean? What does it look like?

Let’s jump in and consider the following areas where we parents get the opportunity to model respect for our children. And together we’ll develop the healthy habit of respecting our kids on a daily basis in simple and practical ways, so they learn to be respectful towards us.

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I was three years old the first time that I was sent to my room as a punishment.

I knew that I was in trouble and that I wasn’t supposed to be playing with my toys. Instead, I thought I should probably sit quietly and look at a book. My book of choice was Bambi and I distinctly recall thinking I was doing a good thing by patiently awaiting my mother’s return.

When she did, she scolded me because I had been sent to my room as punishment, not to play.

I will never forget the confusion I felt in that moment because I thought I had been doing something good by choosing a quiet activity over a toy.

The problem was, my mom had never explained what being “sent to my room” was supposed to entail. She just assumed I understood. But how can a three-year-old who has never been sent to her room before be expected to know what to do?

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“Six kids? You guys probably don’t get out much.” We hear that all the time.

Truthfully, no matter how many children are involved, parental self-care and relationship maintenance often fall by the wayside when seemingly “more urgent” life concerns intrude.

In our house, these concerns include the many responsibilities involved in raising half a dozen children, four of whom have significant emotional, behavioral, and developmental challenges due to a very unstable childhood characterized by neglect, homelessness, multiple caregivers, and a final traumatic entry into formal foster care when the oldest was nine and the youngest was two.

However, we brought these children into our home to give them a chance for stability and healing, and we want to provide that first of all with stable caregiving and healthy relationship modeling—showing adult connections that are loving, supportive, forgiving, and nurturing.

Staying with them, and staying together. Refusing to be divided. Refusing to give up on our love for each other. Refusing to put anything—or anyone, no matter how small, cute, angry, and needy—ahead of family well-being.

In her parenting guide Raising Adopted Children, Lois Ruskai Melina says it this way—“[If] the marital relationship is neglected, it will eventually need critical attention, leaving [parents] with little energy with which to nurture their child.”

Conversely, when parents care for themselves, everybody wins.

With that in mind—we do get out. Much.

Our family’s special needs require advance planning, tight routine, and intentionality with the budget, but my husband and I have made weekly date nights a non-negotiable priority from the moment our children moved in and initiated takeover proceedings.

There has been a learning curve, but by following these steps, our family has reached a point where our babysitters rarely encounter behavioral problems, making our date nights mostly stress-free.

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