When we see our kids feeling bad, or when we sense that our relationship isn’t at its strongest, often we attempt to repair things by being “nicer” to our kids. We give in to them more, we do more for them, we buy them things and take them places. Interestingly, these nice gestures may not lead to the positive results that we hope for… which makes feel resentful and frustrated. Instead, we can use a very simple long-game simple strategy to improve kids’ moods AND our relationship at a deeper level. This strategy doesn’t take much more time or energy, yet it is more likely to lead to the long-term results you want to see.
