How to make Day-to-Day Parenting experiences positive for you and your child.

(Here are five ways to create positive day-to-day parenting experiences for you and your child.)

1. Learn to communicate with your child: It sounds easy, but it's one of the most challenging tasks for many parents. Communicating with your child involves talking when you need to, listening most of the time, then actively listening to both spoken and unspoken words; be present, even if it is for just 5 minutes. Be there and not be distracted. If you cannot, let your child know and create time to catch up and give them undivided attention. Remember, when you are doing all the talking, you are not listening. When you are not listening, your child will know. Your child may choose to tell you or, worse, feels you don't care.

2. Become fascinated with your child's actions instead of becoming frustrated. This act is good for your sanity and your child's well-being. See most situations as a teaching opportunities. When your child makes a mistake, and there are plenty that they would make, recognised it, acknowledge it and think of a lesson they could learn from that incident and how they could avoid the same mistake again in the future. Being fascinated means seeing it differently. Discovering alternative perspectives, assigning fresh significance to situations, and gaining a renewed understanding of personal experience with your child. This skill would help you learn to understand people around you first before you seek to be understood. You may even see the goodness in your little rascal's actions.

3. Be sensitive to your child's needs: Meet your child where they are before you attempt to take him or her to where you want them to be. Remember what it was like for you at their age if you can. Making a conscious effort to be sensitive would help you develop the frame of mind and ability to listen to your child empathically. This act of kindness is likely to build trust that would encourage your child to listen and understand your point of view. So, seize that teaching moment when you get it, but don't overdo it.

4. Grow your knowledge of your child's needs as your child grows. How you competently meet your 4-year-old emotional needs would not be the same for the same child when they turn 12 years old. Life at 12 can be as challenging and frustrating as most teenagers. Even worse, when they are constantly reminded that they are not teenagers yet. Your colour coordination skills and fashion expertise that worked wonders when your child was six are almost like taboos at age twelve. So, learn to meet their needs as they grow under your nose because it is easy not to see how fast they have grown if you see them every day. Gather the knowledge from parenting workshops, educational programmes, and books, and watch selected programmes appropriate to your child's age, but in moderation.

5. Learn to enjoy the present day with them. The time missed cannot be reclaimed, although you can try to replicate it. The present is all you have. Yesterday has gone, and tomorrow is not here. Start where you are and enjoy your time with your child while you prepare them for tomorrow. Quality time in the present is the unconditional gift to your most precious gift of life. Your presence in your child's life is much more important than the presents you would ever buy for them. No one can replace that unique connection. Only you can offer your child. And remember, like anything else we do, learning to enjoy the journey stops the experience from becoming a chore.

To ensure a positive daily parenting experience for you and your child, it is imperative that you implement these five strategies without fail. Remember, consistency is key.