Pro Parenting Tip: Use Your Power Words

As parents, it's often difficult to admit when we make a mistake, especially if we mess up royally.

There may be a fear that it will undermine our authority or shatter our children's respect for us.

Perhaps, we just feel embarrassed or ashamed.

We may try to cover it up, redirect, deny, reflect blame... all the things we don't like our teens to do!

Yet, the most powerful thing we can do is say, "I'm sorry."

When we apologize to our teens a few things happen:

We model that it's okay to make mistakes, reducing their fear of failure.

We teach them how to apologize when we've hurt someone, which is a critical life skill.

We send the message to them that we are aware of how our actions impact them, making them feel safer and increasing their trust in our authority.

We assure them that their feelings and opinions matter to us, making it easier for them to forgive us and strengthening their respect for us.

We let go of our guilt and shame so we can better show up for our kids moving forward.

All that from just two little words!!

A few more POWER WORDS that do all the above are:

Please

Thank You

I Believe You

THE BOTTOM LINE

Sometimes all it takes to restore respect and trust is one or two little words.