Parenting African-American children can be challenging in this multicultural society.  In the midst of making a living, taking care of the household, and chasing our own personal goals, it can sometimes be very stressful fulfilling our parenting responsibilities. 

There are not many self-help parenting books available to needing African-American parents.  This information should help us be positive, nurturing, encouraging, confident, responsive, and effective parents. 

While it is true that we are responsible to help our children to grow and learn as individuals, it is also true we need to take care of our own lives as well.  It can be extremely difficult or close to impossible to be good role models if we are unhealthy, unhappy, and unavailable to our children. We must continuously thrive to become better through reading, prayers, meditations, exercise, healthy eating, and goal setting. 

A way to better parenting is through reading good material. When reading any type of information on parenting, we must be careful not to create non-existing problems.  For instance; we might react to reading a  negative parenting article in a popular magazine, by thinking “I’ve been a bad parent”, or “my children needs psychological help.”   These beliefs may be based on a few paragraphs written by someone who has never met you or your children. 

We may even try to change ourselves or our children instantly while  expecting immediate results.  Making changes too fast could affect your goals of family improvements if they are not properly planned with input from all family members.

If you have new ideas or tips you think will bring positive changes to your family, be careful not to try changing too many things at once.  To alleviate confusion or actions that may lead to failures; talk to your family, particularly the children, about the things you want to change.  Choose  one or two simple things and implement them over time.    

Continuously ask the children for their input and see how the family reacts before making other changes.  In order for any change to have long lasting effects, all parties must be committed. Changes made gradually may last longer and be more effective.

Another important fact is to believe in our abilities and common sense as parents.  No one knows our children better than us, the parents.  Use love as our guide and our God given intuition to tell us when and if we need to make changes.  And we must be prepared to make mistakes because, as stated before, not all tips and techniques work with all children or situations.  However, if children know they are loved beyond doubt, we can make mistakes and still be effective parents. 

There are many ways to raise our children depending on our own personalities and temperaments. Communication, listening and positive discipline with consistency and stability are important facts to remember.  As parents we all want to raise responsible children into adulthood.

Being a parent is a challenging job and the most fulfilling experience.   But it takes time, patience, love, and support.  Help is also available to anyone seeking to improve their parenting styles.