What Are The 5 C's to Amazing Parenting? | Intentional Parenting
Mar 02, 2023
Today I want to introduce you to the 5 C’s to amazing parenting. The 5 C’s are neat because they act as general concepts that can help guide your parenting and as categories I use to organize my psychology-based parenting tools. Let’s start by introducing you to the 5 C’s as parenting concepts:
1. Communication
Communicate with your child in a calm, caring, and supportive manner. Be thoughtful in your word choice and nonverbal behavior. You are their loving and patient teacher.
2. Consistency
Consistency helps your child feel safe and secure with room to grow and explore. Be consistent in interacting with your child so they know what to expect from you. Also, be consistent in the daily routines that you set up for your child.
3. Choices & Checkpoints
Choices help guide your child toward independence. Developmental Checkpoints should guide the choices you provide.
4. Consequences
Consequences help children learn how their actions affect other people to help guide them in making good choices. Using if-then statements allows you to maintain a sense of control.
5. Check Yourself
Check Yourself means staying intentional in your parenting and using tools to help you stay grounded and happy as a parent. It means focussing on problem solving when you encounter parenting roadblocks to avoid frustration.
I first revealed the 5 C’s back when I was a guest on the radio talk show Community Matters on KZUM 89.3FM based out of Lincoln, NE. You can listen to the interview at https://kzum.org/communitymatters/ under 1/29/18 Parenting and Psychology. Having done a fair amount of public speaking during my training and career as a psychologist, I’ve learned it is helpful to anticipate specific questions that might be asked during an interview to help me feel more prepared and confident during the event. So I thought they might ask me for quick parenting tips from my psychology-based parenting style.
I imagined the interviewer, Nick Hernandez, posing his final question: "Ok, Dr. Lindsay, if you had to give us just a few quick tips that our listeners could use with their kids, what would they be?” I knew they would have to be clear and concise so I could list them without providing the whole psychology lesson behind each one during the interview. If you recall Mr. Handy (see Mr. Handy to the Rescue!), you know that I like using sets of 5 in my parenting. And that’s how the 5 C’s to amazing parenting were first created!
Being interviewed on the Community Matters radio show was such a treat. The show focuses on positivity and building stronger communities, and Nick was remarkably well-versed in psychology terms and theories. We covered topics like what motivated me to start this blog and where I see it going in the future, as well as subject matter, including the 5 C’s, friendship, and even how personality traits can be used to help guide our career paths.
If you’re intrigued by the 5 C’s, subscribe to my weekly newsletter below to be sure you receive my free parenting tips. Future posts will dive into each of the 5 C’s concepts more fully to explain all the details you need to put them to use in your parenting practice. Plus, you’ll hear about tons of psychology-based tools from my Parenting With Psychology program that fall under each of the 5 C’s categories. For today, take a second to think about whether these concepts describe your parenting style. If so, that’s great. If not, pick one you will work on this week and see how things go more smoothly at home for you and your munchkins. Keep up the good work on your amazing parenting journey!
P.S. If you like the idea of getting intentional about your parenting, you might be interested in learning more about my 5 C’s parenting framework and continuing your amazing parenting journey with my free Bootcamps. Find a Bootcamp specific to your child’s age and save your spot today.
