Let’s talk VALIDATION and how it’s a parental game-changer.
Everyone needs and longs to feel loved and validated, even the most self-confident people. But what is validation exactly and how can it drastically improve your relationships and help nurture that parental bond?
Validation is the act of simply acknowledging feelings, thoughts and opinions and letting it be known that they are worthwhile, of value. It doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing per se, but just acknowledging the other’s feelings and opinions and letting them know they MATTER.
😍 This can be a PARENTAL GAME CHANGER! 😍
For example :
Your child feels ANGRY. You can acknowledge that feeling and validate, even without agreeing as to why they are angry. “I see you are angry. I understand that feeling. I feel angry sometimes too. Feeling our feelings is important.”
How does this help your child?
When you make validating a habit in your parenting (and relationships for that matter), our children gain self-esteem and feel that their opinions, thoughts and feelings are VALUABLE.
That is very important to their well-being and personal growth into the people they are becoming.
How many of us lacked that validation as kids from people we loved? That often leads us to so much self-doubt as adults, struggles with self-esteem and possibly even talking ourselves out of our dreams.
If you come from a household that didn’t understand validation, or you were taught to be seen and not heard, you might have grown up thinking you didn’t matter, or that your thoughts and opinions didn’t matter, and you’ve undoubtedly had to work very hard in the self-love department.
We can learn to self-validate as we get older and more in tune with our own inner being, but wouldn’t it be so much better if we implemented this skill NOW with our OWN CHILDREN, so they feel they matter, even when we disagree with them?