An easy way to build your relationship with your child.
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Taking care of a fish can be a great way to build your relationship with your child.. It requires complex interactions with heaps to talk about. Further it's quite easy especially for those who do not want the responsibility which comes with pet ownership.
Step 1: Go to a local pet store and buy a fish, tank and some fish food. This is a great opportunity to build your relationship outside the home. It's rare that we spend time on a shared mission with our children. Most of the time either the parent has to get groceries which the child has no interest in. Or the child has to get to practice which many parents are not part of.
Step 2: Read about fish on the internet or at a library. This is a great time to build a relationship in an educational way. Researching on the internet is a key skill at school and in the workplace. You and your child can find answers to questions like:
How much do we feed our fish?
How do we change the fish's water?
What kinds of other fish are there?
What kinds of other animals live with my fish in the wild?
Step 3: Collaborate on where the fish tank will be in your home. Practice controlled debating with your child. Debating over an easy topic like where the fish will be in your home can set the tone for controlled debates about more controversial topics like when bedtime is or completing homework. Building relationships with your child over light debate is a great way to increase communication skills too! You can ask questions like:
Where is the best place to put the fish?
Why is the bedroom better than the living room?
Step 4: Build responsibility by creating a schedule for taking care of the fish. For a child, taking care of a pet can seem like a huge responsibility. Financially, however, it's low risk. When we relinquish responsibility to a child, there can be feelings of unease because the child might fail. It can harm our attempts to build a relationship with our children when we see children fail. Taking care of fish is a great way for the child to prove that he or she can handle responsibility with low risks. More importantly, you and your child will feel great when you are successful.
Step 5: Build a sense of family and care with the fish by giving it a name and explaining that it is important to take care of those around us including fish. This is a great time to teach empathy. When the fish's tank gets dirty, you can talk about how the fish feels less happy than when the tank is clean. When your child practices taking care of another animal, he or she will have a foundation for taking care of people.
Say: "Just as we care for our fish, we care for each other. We can help each other when we're in trouble, and I'll do my best to take care of you just like we take care of our fish.
