Mentor Role Tips
Read these 11 Mentor Role Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Dad tips and hundreds of other topics.
Consistent, consistent, consistent!
Consistency is one of the key elements to raising children successfully. Raising children in a positively consistent environment leads to balanced children who value their own self worth. Consistency lets them know who they are and where they stand in the world.
The little things that matter
Sometimes as dads we think that we have to do something big to show our children that we love them. This isn't true. In fact, most children feel loved when their dads do the little things, like taking time to read a book, attend a sporting event, or play a game with them. It is the little things that matter in the end. Through small and simple things are great things brought to pass
Be an all-rounder dad
Are you an all-rounder? Be masculine as well as feminine, firm as well as fair, be part dad and part mom. Being a parent requires undertaking a wide diversification of roles. It requires being gentle with a bruised leg or ego, and at the same time, being the protector from dangers. Ask yourself these 2 questions: If a dog were about to attack your child, would you step in without hesitation and risk your own safety in order to protect your child? Would you cry openly in front of your child? If you don't answer both of these questions as "yes" without hesitation, you are probably not an all-rounder. Review your priorities. Be a responsible parent in order to teach your child how to be a responsible parent.
How do your friends influence your children?
Are your friends a good influence on your children? Or, do they swear, smoke, drink excessively, or talk about adult things in front of your kids? There is no suggestion here to change friends, however, perhaps you ask them to tone down their conversations when the kids are around. Alternatively, you could change the times when your friends are around to avoid some of their contact with your kids. Children will be exposed to all of these things enough in their young lives without it being in their home too often as well.
Be energetic with your kids
Being energetic with your kids may help you to bond with and relate to them better. Parents who sit around and read or watch telly a lot are not good role models for their kids and are often conceived by kids as boring and old. Your children have an incredible amount of energy that can be, for them, uncontrollable. If you don't keep up with them and help to harness that energy onto positive pursuits, your child may find less desirable ways to release that energy. Bored kids can get into gangs or petty crimes as a way of burning up nervous energy that they don't know what else to do with. Help them to focus their energies and help yourself to relate with them better.
Believing in an Ideal
Believing in an ideal is something every father should advocate. Ideals guide dads through the microcosm of life and assist them daily in making difficult decisions. Ideals are what prompted Thomas Jefferson to scribe the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Ideals are what guided Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt during some of the most tumultuous times in our nation’s history. Take a lesson from these men and set your life to some ideals which you can aspire to live up to everyday. If you can do that, then you give children a standard to which they can guide themselves.
Going Back to School
Improving ones academic status in life can seem daunting at first. And returning to school after a long absence is never easy. I had a family member that called me the other day and she was making herself sick over returning to school in the coming days. I did my best to calm her down and let her know that she wasn’t going to be the oldest person in the room nor the dumbest. Our insecurities tend to bubble up in classroom settings. I reminded her this time around she maybe the oldest, but she is also the wisest. Wisdom is a trait seldom overvalued although often overlooked. If you’re thinking about going back to school never let your fear of the classroom supersede the dreams you have in life. Not only will you improve your academic status you’ll also be teaching your children dreams can come true.
Your children are not your second chance at life
"A father is a man who expects his children to be as good as he meant to be." -Carolyn Coats. It's true that most of us want our kids to be our ideal image of ourselves - without all of the mistakes or faults that we think we have. But it's not very realistic. Each child is an individual - not the second chance of the parent to live as they wished they had lived. Give your children space to be themselves and explore life their way. Your job is to show them right from wrong, good from bad, and protect them until they are old enough to go their own way.
The world for your children
What sort of world do you want your children to grow up in? It is your children that will shape the world of the future. It is you that will shape your children. Decide carefully and shape accordingly.
Learn to value your own things
If your kids don't seem to place any value on their toys, books, clothes etc., this may be a reflection on your own actions. If you leave stuff laying around all over the place, you can't realistically expect your children to be neat and tidy. If you mistreat things, slam doors, or are generally rough, expect them to be the same. Often, children are the best mirror of your own activities.
