empowerment Tag - Page 6 of 6

Parenting the Socrates Way: How to Ask Questions

Last week, I introduced parenting the Socrates way, where I outlined the benefits of parenting with questions.

Today, I will continue with this parenting technique and explore the “right and wrong” questions and subsequently the “right and wrong” answers.

When I introduce this technique to parents, many of them ask about the right and wrong questions to ask their children. As you probably know (from reading my other articles), “right” and “wrong” are not words I like to use. I do not believe questions can be divided into “right” or “wrong”. I prefer to call them “effective” or “not effective”.

There are 6 things you can do to make sure your questions are effective.

Listen

When you ask a question, wait for the answer. Actively listen to your kids’ answers. Avoid thinking of your next question or the next sentence and just listen! When you ask and then wait for an answer, you build a relationship that encourages communication.

This post is part 2 of 3 in the series Parenting the Socrates Way

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Self Esteem Mini-Course (10): Beliefs of Assertive People

Assertive people have sets of beliefs that help them to be assertive. If you want to find out what you need to do to become an assertive person, examine your beliefs. Here is a set of questions to help you examine your beliefs…

This post is part 9 of 20 in the series Self Esteem Mini-Course

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Parenting the Socrates Way: Asking Questions

There is a period in children’s development when they ask questions in response to everything you say. I remember the “Why” as my kids’ way of learning.

“Eden, please bring me the plate form the table”

“Why do you want the plate?”

“I want to put the egg on it”

“Why do you want to put the egg on it?”

“So you can take it to the table and eat it”

“Why do you want me to eat it?”

“Eggs are healthy. If you eat your egg, you won’t be hungry and you will be healthy”

“Why do you want me to be healthy?”

And this went on and on and on… If I remember correctly, most of these conversations ended with “because I have said so”.

I think that Socrates, the great philosopher, never got over this stage of his development and perhaps this is what got him going on his quest for knowledge and understanding of life. Mentally, Socrates was just a curious kid. His mind was full of questions and through them he gained a lot of wisdom.

This post is part 1 of 3 in the series Parenting the Socrates Way

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Self Esteem Mini-Course (3): Beliefs and Where They Come From

Every person in the universe is searching for happiness. Our thoughts about ourselves, our self esteem, are part of that one “map” that everyone is looking for, the one we think fits us all. But we all have different experiences and mindsets. Therefore, we each use a different map to guide us to our own happiness.

This post is part 3 of 20 in the series Self Esteem Mini-Course

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What Am I Worth?

I learned a powerful lesson about self worth 21 years ago. I was studying Special Education and was lucky to have some very inspiring mentors. One of them was a psychology teacher. Our first meeting with her was most challenging. She scared us half to death. During roll call, she skipped names. After calling someone’s name, she would tell them, “That’s not a good name for you. In my class, I’m going to call you a different name.” By the second lesson, the number of students had dropped from 80 to 25. She came in, looked at us and said, “This is great. I see it worked. Now we can learn something.” She was so strange, yet so inspiring. I was so excited to have her as my teacher. I learned a lot from her.

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The Parent as a Life Coach

Bringing kids into this world is a selfish act. Yes, I know most people cringe at this point, but think about it, you brought your kids to life for you, not for them. They did not exist when you made your decision to have them.

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A good parenting system I have found to be very successful is that of being your kids’ life coach. Here are some of the rules of coaching that can be 100% applicable in parenting.

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The Story of Mike

This is the story of Mike and how he turned his marriage around. Mike lived in a world of absolutes, where he was constantly disappointed, but learned how to let go and do what works. Within a short time, Mike changed his life completely, freeing himself from the bondage of his own standards of living, and found empowerment and love.

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In The Outback With Jasmine – Journey to Freedom

Reading is one of the most popular and accessible ways to make this journey. There are many personal development books and many of them are very good books. I must have read hundreds of books myself. As an author, I love books, love reading and get a lot from it. I still remember ads from childhood saying “books are your friends”, “your book will take you on a journey”. They have certainly worked miracles for me.

I am happy to announce the official launch of my new book “In the Outback with Jasmine Banks – Journey to Freedom”, the story of young women with similar fears to most people, who manages to find a new definition for what life is all about.

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