• Children need to feel secure, loved and valued - this is the basis of self-esteem and confidence.
• Noticing and rewarding good behaviour is the best way of influencing your child's behaviour
• Be realistic about what you expect from your child
• Parents and carers need to work together and be consistent
• Listen to and talk to your child -  it's good to talk!
• Do things together with your child that you both enjoy - have fun!

Positive parenting is about bringing out the best in your child, by listening and understanding, praising and encouraging their efforts, noticing and rewarding good behaviour and doing things together that you both enjoy.

In trying to be helpful to your child it is is often too easy to point out where a child is going wrong, and forget to mention the things that go right.  If you only mention the wrong you are giving your child lots of attention for negative unwanted behaviour rather than for the good behaviour you would prefer them to do more of.  Parental attention, and praise, is one of the biggest motivators for children so use it in the right direction.  Not only will you influence your child's behaviour in a positive way it will make your child feel happy, loved, wanted and secure and this is the basis of life-long confidence and self-esteem.

A sense of self-esteem is your child's best protection from peer pressure.  You can help to foster this in many ways, for example, by being a positive role model, giving positive accurate feedback, identifying and redirecting your child's inaccurate beliefs and by being spontaneous and affectionate.  Make them feel great.