Every good parent would choose to educate their child and teenagers well. Some parents choose public school, where the government chooses what to teach your child or teenager, and some choose to home school. Either way, it is important to ensure your child or teenager gets educated. Why is it important for them to go to school? Why is it important to you for your child or teenager to go to school?

As a mom, I believe, we send our children to school so they can have the best chance to succeed in life: We want the best for them; we want them to be happy; we want them to have real opportunities. Some approaches that parents are taking today to, basically, force their child or teenager go to school are idle threats, dictational punishment, and associational guilt parenting styles that are actually setting the child up for failure now and in their future.

In wanting the best for their future we tend to say things like "Why don't you want to go to school?" or "Do you want to be a dummy for the rest of your life?" It is also easy for parents to unwittingly demean the child by belittling what is important to them. The child says, "I don't want to go to school!" And the parent comes back with, "I don't care what you want!" The power struggle will continue until the child is a teenager, and then the teenager gets deemed with a poor attitude.

If you are a parent using these outdated punishment techniques, you are creating everything your child is producing. From one mom to another, it's essential to read on to find out what 3 positive parenting styles Thomas Liotta has to share on guiding your child to go to school in a way that empowers them.

3 Effective Parenting Styles to Help Guide Your Child or Teenager to Go to School

Your child says, "I don't want to go to school."

1. Understand that your child speaks a different language than you do. They do not have the ability to think abstractly until after the age of 13. "I don't want to go to school" can mean a number of things. A good parent will understand the language their child speaks and will speak in a way that the child will understand.

2. Help guide your child to choose to go to school by asking them questions. When your child is goofing off instead of getting ready for school, instead of dictating, "You have to go to school" ask the child a question, "Little Timmy, what should we be doing right now?" He will answer, "Getting ready for school." Then you can praise him/her, "Ah, look how smart you are. What do we have to do to get ready?" "We have to brush our teeth, eat our breakfast and get dressed." "Perfect! Little Timmy, you always know the right answers. You are so smart, look at you! When you get that done in the next 10 minutes, we will have time to read that story you wanted to read before you go."

3. Anything that the child says is important to them should be important to you. Instead of dismissing what is important for your child, always acknowledge and say, "Yes, I want you to do that, have that or be that, too. You definitely can do that after you go to school!"

There is always a way to say yes, and to guide your child or teenager to the outcome you seek. By understanding the different languages, empowering your child with the correct questions (not abstract ones) and guiding them with love, you will put an end to the parent child power struggle forever!