Biggest Positive Influence on Your Parenting

Someone recently asked me what was the biggest positive influence on my parenting. The answer that quickly jumped out was the parenting classes my husband and I took when our daughter was 3-years-old and our son was a baby. The classes were taught by a mother who had kids a couple years older than ours and she was a wealth of wonderful ideas.

Parenting classes allowed us to discuss different approaches to parenting and come up with an approach we both agreed on. We figured out how we would respond to misbehavior in ways that allowed our children to learn from their mistakes. Being able to take a little time away from our kids to sharpen our skills was the best thing we could have done.

What has been the biggest positive influence on your parenting?