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This negative thought always seems to make its way back into my head: 'I hope my kid doesn't put me in a nursing home.' Why is that? Well, I remember the times I would visit my grandmother in the nursing home. She would open the door and greet me and the rest of my family with love and seem to be enjoying herself. However, there was always a saddening undertone when she would watch us leave. Knowing your kids and family are enjoying their time without you would make anyone feel down.

I know it’ll make me feel down in that situation mainly because I would feel a lack of empathy from my family. it would put me in such bad headspace and it’s one of the reasons why nursing homes are so feared. I thought this was a crazy thought to have, but when I paid some attention to the current generation of parents, they have the same fears, if not worse.

Perhaps we see ourselves in our kids, and it scares us, or it could be guilt from past actions that has us paralyzed in fear. However, this article will help dispel this fear entirely with three powerful examples that you can use to prevent and rectify many mistakes that parents from the past and present make. But before we continue this conversation, let's take a moment to support our beloved sponsor. Here’s a quick ad for them.

As I mentioned before, empathy is the first step. We often take empathy for granted due to the passive nature of the word. However, do you stop to think about how there have been times when no one listens to you and how some people are quick to dismiss you? How does that make you feel? Pretty bad, right? So when we discipline or correct our children, we can make sure that we are showing empathy with our kids rather than just trying to get a point across.

That brings me to the second point: learning to be patient when speaking to the kid. I know kids can let things come out of their mouths wrong and can act out of line, but we have to remember how we felt as children. Remember when we thought we were right, and our parents just dismissed our points and feelings? Sometimes, we didn't even want to be right; we just wanted to be heard and be given a chance. Well, that's why if we want to put an end to generational trauma and neglect, we must treat our children how we want to be treated. It is a simple technique that we all have heard at least a few times, and we can implement this starting today.

Lastly, as I alluded to throughout the entire article, do not devalue your kid’s opinion. This is something very important if you don’t want to damage the relationship with your child. Just think about how you try to explain yourself to a boss, partner, friend, or parent and how they brushed your feelings off and how bad that made you feel. Our entire lives, we experience neglect from all around, and we crave to have our voice heard without feeling like the problem or like you don’t matter. You are human, and so are your children. Personally, I’ve been working on showing grace and maturity when I believe I’m right. Because whether I’m right or wrong, I take the challenge because I see the results every single day. Having a person just be there for you even if you are wrong and aren’t being the most understanding is powerful. People see that and want to do better by seeing you do better. We can not only be shining examples for our kids but for the entire world.

*Please give a gentle round of applause too…*