All parents should have the opportunity to take a parenting class before their child is a year old. There are many basic parenting skills that can make parenting so much easier. Fortunately now parents can take an online parenting class and learn great parenting techniques from the comfort of their own homes.

Natural Reactions - not always the best

Many effective parenting techniques are not difficult but they are also not intuitive. For example, the natural reaction for most parents who discover their toddler drawing on the wall would be to yell at the child or spank him. When a parent gets angry like this, the child focuses on the parent's anger instead of his poor choice in drawing on the walls.

If the parent instead uses empathy ("How sad you decided to draw on the wall") followed by a consequence (gently takes child to his room for a timeout), the child is able to think about his behavior and the results of that behavior. If the child can also help fix the problem (help clean the wall), the child learns how to make amends for his mistakes.

Parenting Results - long term effects

The effects of a parenting style are often not apparent for many years. Parents love their children and want to do the best for their children. However, sometimes what seems to be the best in the short run is not the best in the long run.

A simple example is one parent who figured out what her daughter liked to eat and then continually bought a certain type of bread, cheese and fruit. The child developed a taste for only Poulsbo Dark Bread; it's the only bread she would eat. Likewise, if it wasn't Tillamook Sharp Cheddar cheese, she didn't want it. What seemed like a good idea - buying food the child liked, had other unintended effects.

Parenting Results - unappreciative adult children

Another long term, unintended effect of parenting is adult children who are unappreciative. Parents who lovingly gave everything for their children while requiring very little from their children in return, often end up with children who are demanding and unappreciative.

It's a little counter-intuitive since it seems that children who have been given so much might be very appreciative. However, they often come to expect their parents to give to them without giving back in return.

Taking a parenting class

Parenting is the most important job you'll ever have so it makes sense to take a class and learn from the experts. Priceless Parenting offers an online class that parents anywhere can take from their own homes and at their own pace. The Dad of Divas blog author, Chris Lewis, reviewed the Priceless Parenting course. Lewis wrote about "the down to earth, real life examples which truly makes the training that much more pertinent" and encouraged others to take this parenting class.

The parenting choices you make will last a lifetime so learn to make the best ones you can!