Waving The Green Flag To Help Pave The Way For Your Child’s Future 

Please note: I am working with BetterHelp on a sponsored campaign. I am receiving payment for my work, but my thoughts are my own. 

If you are a parent you know that kids are sponges. You can tell them something until you are blue in the face, but they might not listen. If you actually practice what you preach, your kids are more likely to follow your lead. So if you are looking to teach them about the benefits of eating healthy, you probably shouldn’t eat a lot of junk food. If you tell them not to be on their phones, you also need to be off your phone. In addition, if you want them to have healthy relationships, you need to show them that as well. Instead of being involved in red flag relationships, you need to promote the green flag ones in front of them. 

Wave The Green Flag 

Stress can get at you in many different ways. One way is when you are constantly surrounding yourself with red flag relationships. You hang out with people who seem to be always complaining. There are people in your life that seem to have issues with everyone. Plus, there are those who just love to gossip about everyone in their circle. Negativity weighs down on people in so many ways. When you are around these types of people you start to focus on the negative. There is more complaining than laughter. You feel like that friend is crossing boundaries and would move on. You end up more stressed out than you were before hanging out with them. If your kids are around you when this happens, guess what? They pick up on that too. 

They start to see that these types of friendships are normal. Poking fun of others or judging someone’s actions becomes commonplace. Your kids will eventually follow suit. They start to complain about their friends. Your kids could make fun of someone that ticked them off. It is a path that can lead to your child creating the wrong type of friendships. You don’t want this for your child, so you have to be aware of your friendships. Try to nurture the ones that are full of green flags instead of the ones that bring you down. 

Helping Your Kid’s Future 

If you nurture your own healthy relationships your kids will follow your lead. I am not saying you can’t have friends who need to vent to you about their problems. People all have bad times and need help. You are a good friend when you can be that shoulder to lean on. You just need to be mindful of the people in your life who are always focused on the negative. That will bring you down. We want to show our kids what healthy relationships look like. They are the one where both people are heard. There is more laughter than anger. You feel appreciated. Your friends build you up. 

Green flag relationships respect personal boundaries. They cheer you on when you succeed. In addition, they help pick you up when you are down. Great friendships are not a one way street. You care about each other and you help them when they are in need. If you promote healthy relationships in front of your kids, they will create friendships that build them up. This is one way you can help your kids prepare for the future.