“How do you want your child to be? A unanimous reply you’re sure to get is, “I want my child to be a smart kid!” True, a smart, intelligent kid is any parent’s dream. However, raising a positive child is something imperative than having a smart kid. Smartness follows positivity.

Look around, and you’ll observe most children ridden with anxiety or with an aggressive streak. By age 10, children swear. Santa Claus was for ‘us’ to believe. Miracles are substituted by magic. However, the face that will arrest your sight will be the face that sports a happy smile! Don’t you want your child to sport that smile always? Read on if you’d like advice on raising positive children.

1. Aim to raise happy children: Childhood and happiness go hand in hand, as, in their adulthood, children will reminisce about their childhood and find a ray of hope.

In your eagerness to raise whiz-kids, don’t mar their happy temperament. Look around, and you’re sure to find a few happy faces and a few anxious ones. Anxious children often suffer from personality or emotional disorders! Getting straight ‘A’s in life is essential than getting ‘C’s in examinations. One thumb rule advice on raising positive children is to be happy yourself. Let your smile be infectious. Let not their happiness stem out of material possessions, but out of self-confidence. Let the child play because he enjoys playing and not in order to win by all means. Let her grades be a result of curiosity and not parental pressure.

A child who’s happy with himself will be best-behaved, for he will work to preserve his name, as he respects himself. A truly happy child would want to make another child happy too.

2. Teach Empathy: In goading them to be on time, stand first in class, excel in sports; we make children lose sight of their environment. “You won’t finish your examination on time, if you reach school late”, is the fear we instill in them. So, even if there’s a fellow-student awaiting a cab, your child will fail to notice his class-mate, despite glancing at him! Half the battles of the world will be won, even before they’re fought, if children learn empathy. To kill someone is to make another mother mourn! Start by suggesting that your child include a quiet child in his play, or help a weaker student gain perspective of a subject yours is good at.
3. Be Encouraging: A profound advice for raising positive children is to encourage them. Catch them doing something good and appreciate them, instead of criticizing them for a wrong-doing. You needn’t be eloquent in your praise; instead let your appreciation show in your mannerisms. If your son switches off the television at the appointed time without you having to remind him, show your approval by keeping a pleasant countenance.
4. Enthuse enthusiasm-As a toddler, you found your child brimming with enthusiasm at the slightest task he was assigned. Actually, he’d grab the duster from your hands and go at it cheerfully. Unfortunately, as an adolescent, you find him lazy. The harsh fact is that perhaps it’s you who is to be blamed. Criticizing him every time he tripped or was sloppy, made him resent his tasks. Moreover, when you’re bored with the daily grind, he perceives routine work to be monotonous too. The more we grumble about your chores, the less interested children will be in theirs. Whether it’s academics, sports, hobbies, arranging a wardrobe, or your career, be enthusiastic and you’ll find your enthusiasm infectious. Instilling enthusiasm is one advice for raising positive children.
5. Teach Tackling: Life isn’t fair; it’s challenging. Soon, your child will find that out. They may be subject to partiality in school, may be bullied, may have a difficult coach, or may be subject to rudeness. However, facing such problems at a young age is a blessing, as you’ve a chance to teach them to take these in their stride and tackle them intelligently. An insightful advice in raising positive children is to search for options on how best they can safe-guard themselves, without having to tolerate nonsense. Let your child learn wise and decent ways of getting into the good books of his teacher or coach. Teach him to befriend the bully or look him up in the eye and intimidate him in turn. Teach your child never to accept rudeness but to handle rudeness by being firm, not peevish. Site examples from your life, on how you tackled similar problems wisely.
6. Instill Optimism: Your child wasn’t selected as the best choir-singer, but you and she believe she has a melodious voice. Instead of criticizing the judge, find what your child’s mistake was. Seek the judge’s advice, work on the mistakes and encourage her. Let her know that a competition isn’t the end of her life. She could be another Madonna in the making! If she’s good at something, encourage her to be better than the best. 
7. Teach Them To Be World Citizens: An ordinary conscientious citizen is better than a brilliant but selfish world leader. Keeping their environment clean, reducing wastage of resources are values you can inculcate at a young age. Aim to make them citizens of the world and you’ll find there’ll be lesser battles to be fought. 
8. Teach them to love God: The power of prayer is a key advice in raising positive children. Teach your child not to be God-fearing, but God-conscious. Let them know that it’s their actions that cause sufferings or success. Remind them that God is merciful not punitive. Cultivate the habit of sincerely praying. In a chaotic world, they will need to look up to something. So, let that ‘something’ not be a lesser God!