“Even as a positive parenting practitioner, I soon fell prey to the insurmountable anxiety, resulting in tarnishing my relationship with my son.”

With home-based learning, the onus was on parents to help their children in their studies, I struggled to find any help that could equip me with teaching skills to help my son, Ivan. Even as a positive parenting practitioner, I soon fell prey to insurmountable anxiety, resulting in tarnishing my relationship with my son.

During my training in behavioural studies, I had a habit of writing keywords on sticky notes and pasting them on my study wall. One night amidst the home-based learning period, while I was staring at those notes, I started scribbling the details of the situation I was in and addressed it with self-compassion and came up with a framework for positive education– CaReSMA. This helped me and my son in transcending our relationship, and I feel pretty much comfortable in teaching him now.

I realised that no matter what, love is something we as parents can always do to help our children in difficult times. We are all empowered with love. We just need to practise to relax and use our strength wisely. Because this is what our kids will also see and grow into.

It is said that the road to parenting is not easy – with my fair share of challenges, I would agree. I understand that every family will have their unique set of challenges at different stages of their child's development. However, I will still emphasise the powers of compassion, love and trust. When we interact with our children with these powers and a growth mindset, it paves our way to earn their respect. The result of which is displayed in their unconditional smiles, laughter, hugs and kisses – they are priceless.