Parents have a lot of ideas about what they hope and dream for their children's futures. But more than any material goal, child psychologists want their kids to grow up to be kind, to know how to resolve conflict in healthy ways and to know that, above all else, they are enough just as they are.
And they're drawing on their own research and professional skills to help their children develop those skills.
"The biggest priority for me as a parent, particularly a parent of young children who have yet to access social media and all of the things that come from that world, is just a sense of self-acceptance," says Becky Lois, Ph.D., child and adolescent psychologist.
It can be tough to be a kid these days when there's so much opportunity for comparison on social media sites and a temptation to hold yourself up against impossible, idealized standards, she says.
"It's easy to fall into a trap where you're trying to meet a standard that you really can't meet as opposed to just understanding that who you are is enough. I want them to be able to be their authentic selves, to know who they are as people and be really comfortable with that so that they don't feel compelled to meet those unrealistic standards."
5 other important life lessons psychologists teach their children.
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