Parents Dating

If you are a parent who is dating, your children’s eyes will be on you.  They will watch what you do, and learn to behave as you do.  This pertains to every aspect of life, but is particularly important to pay attention to if you are a dating parent. 

Children & self esteem is an important consideration.  Your children need to know that they are still number one in your life, and that they come first.  This needs to be expressed not only by what you say to them, but how you behave with them by doing things with them and spending time with them.  All children are different, and feel loved differently. Some children feel loved when you give them gifts, others feel loved when you bake cookies for them, others just want to sit down and talk with you.   And when they feel love, it builds their self-esteem and helps them develop healthy relationships with others.

As well as showing your children that you love them in order to build their self-esteem, you also need to model self-esteem.  What I mean by this is that the person that you are dating must demonstrate respect for you in front of your children as should you show the person that you are dating.  If your children see that you allow someone that you are dating to disrespect you, for example, it can teach them that it is okay for you to be treated that way.  I always like to refer to Dr. Phil, but as he would say, “it changes who a child is forever.”  If they see that you are being treated that way, or treating someone else that way, it can have a negative impact on children and self-esteem as well as future relationships.

All in all, parents have a huge role to play in developing their children’s self-esteem.  This continues even when dating, and it’s just something important to take into consideration.