by Jennifer Shakeel

Nothing can compare to the feeling of being a mom or a dad. The sheer joy of helping to guide a little person’s journey into becoming a well rounded successful adult. You want to be there for every part of it, not wanting to miss a single step, or sadness or celebration. Unfortunately we live in a world where many parents are separated from their children more then they would like to be. This is due to work, being overseas to protect our country and even divorce.

For four years my husband and I raised our two children together even though he was working in another city and state Monday through Friday. To this day I still remember the joy that would fill our children when he would come home Friday night and the tears that would start Sunday morning and last until they fell asleep Sunday night because their dad had to leave in the afternoon. The upward rise of emotions as the week would progress because they knew he would be home after dinner on Friday. While for us that ordeal stopped almost three years ago, what we did for our children is still evident today.

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How Working Parents Can Build and Keep Stong Family Bonds

Parenting is a tough job, and in today's society being a parent is harder than ever. Most households with two parents, are looking at or also need two incomes. Both parents are working full time and nowadays, full time is rarely a 40 hour week. Many times working parents are putting in 60, 80 or more hours. If they are not at the office or job site working, they are traveling or bringing it home with them to finish up. Unfortunately, even working this hard sometimes, the ends barely meet when it comes paying the bills and other financial obligations.

As a result, children are often left in the care of schools, daycares, and after care programs. This leaves parents struggling to provide for their families both financially and emotionally. Being disconnected leads to a host of problems, and leads children to believe that they can not come and talk to you as their parent when they need assistance. There are a few things that as working parents you can do to help provide and maintain a connection with your children.

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"How's your diabetes doing, Mel?" And we remember her laughing reply, "Don't worry about it, Dad. It's all under control."

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As a parent of young children you probably find one of the biggest parenting challenges is to get your child to listen. Often you probably ask yourself: “If only my child would listen more!” This is a comment that parents of all ages and all cultural backgrounds are saying every day. The ability to teach your children to listen both in the home and outside of the home is truly the hallmark of successful parenting. If your kids will listen to you for a large portion of the time, then your future years of parenting will be much easier, for both you and your kids.

One of the best ways to raise children who are good listeners is to model good listening skills. Be a role model. Live a life of good communication between you and your spouse. When two parents are really listening to each as a way of life, not only with that relationship improve, but it will show the children the value and importance of paying attention.

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It is a universal fact that all parents want their children to be happy and healthy. It is also widely accepted that positive emotional development will play a big role in how healthy and happy your youngster really is. Encouraging your child’s emotional development will begin about the day that you bring that precious bundle home from the hospital, and will not end until the day you send him off to college. However, the toddler years are a key time for encouraging your child’s emotional development so that he will grow into a happy and well-adjusted child and adult. Here is some tips and ideas that may help.

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Does your child seem to lack motivation? Part of parenting is trying to get inside your childs head in order to better understand him or her. When a child seems to be lacking in motivation, it helps to be able to get into his world and discover the purpose of his behavior. Perhaps your child is trying to tell you that he thinks he is in a “power struggle” and doesn't want to be “made to do something”.

Maybe his lack of motivation stems from being hurt by your high expectations and the perception of love is conditional and wants to hurt you back by not trying.

Below are 2 tips to help you motivation your children:

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When new parents bring that precious little bundle home from the hospital, it is doubtful that they are considering the implications that a lifetime of parenting will bring. Although most kids only live with their parents for the first couple of decades of life, the parenting job is never really finished entirely. Adult parenting can bring with it a whole host of other issues, and a need to see your relationship with your kids in an entirely new light. The truth is that most people never outgrow the need for their parents, and adult parenting reflects that need with new challenges and responsibilities from both sides of the relationship.

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A major part of good communication between parent and child is active listening. But, what is ACTIVE listening? It means not merely staring at the child while he or she talks, but actively taking in what is said and exploring its meaning without jumping to conclusions. One reason this is important is that if you have young kids they may say or convey things that are difficult to understand and if as parents we sometimes try to fill in the gaps. This can be frustrating to a child when you guess the wrong meaning. Patience is very important and many of times I have had to really listen to my son Kailan, and put myself in his shoes to understand what he was really trying to say. So what can we do to improve our skills? READ More on Active Listening and Parenting