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Everyone wants to be the cool parent while also providing the right amount of discipline and guidance to help children develop good moral character. The only problem is finding the happy medium between helping them succeed and also being laid back enough to be considered the cool parent.

There is no right or wrong approach to teaching your children; we all have different values and different ways we'd like to raise our kids. However, being the overly pushy parent who puts a 3-year-old in daily classes, or your 6-year-old in activities without a break until bed may be considered unhealthy for their overall development. On the other hand, avoiding needed tutoring or believing that a few play dates for learning social skills is all a child needs to thrive in early life, can leave your child lacking and missing out some on very important skills that will save them from struggling later on.

Here's a couple of parenting tips from Reading in Preschool to help you and your child strike the right balance between these two extremes.

How do I know if my child's being overloaded with too much?

Give them time to relax and get to their next class, or let them have a few days with no classes and just play dates. If they're tired by midday, and begging to go for a play date or play outside, instead of having to rush to yet another class, or if you're witnessing frequent tantrums in the afternoons or early evenings, it may be time to realize that you may have too much scheduled for your child.

On the other hand, if they're bored and asking for things to do, or running around in circles at home, you may have the opposite problem. Take a few swim classes, or try out a fencing class if you have a little boy who likes to dress up and play knights; take your little girl to a dance class if she's always twirling and showing interest in dance.

How should I get my child involved in extracurricular activites?

Expose your children to all the many interesting and fun things NYC has to offer, and see what your child shows interest in. If your children are looking at books all the time, or grabbing a pen and scribbling, hire a fun tutor and see if learning to read and write is something they would enjoy. Don't make the mistake of thinking that a young 3-year-old shouldn't be taught, just because you weren't taught that young, or feel like he or she is too young! If a child shows interest in something, go with it and let he or she explore and learn what their interests are.

For a young child, I think all parents would agree that we'd like him or her to learn how to be confident, happy and curious little individuals. Some parents have a hard time realizing that this involves more than just playing dolls or ball with a friend, and that a child's social skills can also be nurtured through getting a head start, and going into school already knowing how to read what's on the chalkboard, or being able to follow instruction and having basic school skills already learned when walking into their first class. Imagine how much more confident YOU would've felt if when you were 7-years-old and the teacher asked you to spell "have" in front of your classmates, you said "HAVE" instead of "HAF."

Having confidence will help your child go far in all aspects of life. You should always listen to your children, and all parents should put their children's needs first, and do what they can to give them the best life possible.

For more information about how to build up your child's confidence, visit Reading in Preschool

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