10 Top Parenting Competencies

Over the next ten months I am going to share results from a paper presented at the 2010 conference of the American Psychological Association outlining the most important ten competencies for parents. These parenting practices were associated with children’s happiness, health and success so fit right in with the development of resilience. Some of them will make you say “duh” but others will probably be quite a surprise.

The most important competency is no big surprise: showing love and affection to your children. This involves providing support and acceptance, giving physical affection and spending quality one on one time together

When children feel loved and supported, most everything else goes a bit better. This includes when parents have to provide structure and discipline.