How To Gain Your Child's (Or Any Person's) Trust

Raising Ayden has taught me many things about people, life and myself. It took many years of patience to build trust with him. Back in his toddler days, he would question what I advised him to do but now as he has gotten older he trusts me to guide him. This is how you can gain your child’s or any person's trust. 

1. You have to do whatever you tell your kids (or any person) to do, leading by example. You want them to get off their devices, get off yours and do something with them. You want them to be active, be active with them. You want them to clean up after themselves, clean up together. You want them to eat healthily, make something healthy together. If you tell them to do things and you yourself do not do them, then they will see your contradictory actions and subconsciously resent you. This goes for all relationships. Be the person you want them to be.

2. When you tell your child (or any person) to do something or not do something, always explain the reason why. This is the core and foundation of communicating, which is the key to understanding each other. By doing this you will show your child that your advice and guidance are in the best interest of their body, mind, and heart. If you are telling them to eat something healthy, then explain with intrinsic details about how their little bodies are growing and they need proper nutrition to have a healthy body and brain. Show them photos and videos of kids who eat healthy versus kids that do not. This goes for all things that you want them to do that are beneficial for their bodies, minds, and hearts. 

3. Make those activities fun! Instead of making it something they have to do, make those activities something they want to do. If you put on music and get into a fun cheery mood while you are cleaning, working out, doing laundry they will want to join you. But remember the key is for you to first find the joy in those things, be creative and make them fun. Check out this article on How To Find Joy In The Mundane.

Be patient with yourself and your child and don’t give up. It took ten years of so much strength and patience having to live by my own advice, explaining why he has to do certain things and showing him that you can find the joy in almost anything if you just pause, breath and allow yourself to enjoy each moment of life.