Parenting the Dolphin Way : Being a Dolphin parent!
Parenting has become a lot more challenging, full of all twists and turns. Sometimes the road seems to be full of pricky thorns and at times they seem to be rosy. Digitization is spreading its roots deeper and deeper, lifestyle changes are being hastened, and all this gamut has prompted a new side to the current day parenting. Though, being a parent, we are always doing our best, but we lose the track, when that best takes the form of being “Over protective”. Then we’re forced to see our kids losing things emotionally and psychologically due to lack of much needed resilience, stamina to accept failures, grit and something above IQ and EQ.
Being a Parenting Blogger, I recently got a chance to attend an event organized by Dolphin POD. Dr. Shimi Kang, an award-winning Harvard-trained medical doctor, and expert on the science of human motivation, was to share her opinion on raising Future Fit children. Dr. Kang is the author of the best selling book -The Self-Motivated Kid and The Dolphin Parent: A Guide to Raising Healthy, Happy, and Motivated Kids. Her research and concepts serve as the basis for the Dolphin POD centre.
We need to confront that we all are in 21st century and what we need today are 21st Century Parenting hacks.
Tiger Parenting or Jelly fish parenting?
Can you think of being a “perfectionist and always an achiever” Tiger parent? An authoritative Tiger Parenting, will leave your children with amazing accolades and medals in their journey but they will lack the intrinsic values, the internal joy and satisfaction. They’re always targeting a goal and working towards winning that race, but in this path, they never faced the real life, never learnt what gratitude and satisfaction are and how to enjoy the life.
Another approach is of being a “Jelly fish” parent, wherein there are no set of rules, no guidance. This technique results in direction less kids, who make numerous mistakes, but don’t get to learn the lesson out of it.
- Are your children rewarded only for the right and winning approach and snubbed for any mistakes?
- Are your children unaware of what a failure means?
- You have not initiated any skillset learnings for children?
- You are not aware of your child’s day to day activities
If your answer to any of these questions is a “yes”, then you are in extreme category of Parenting. We need to appreciate the fact that children get a wonderful learning environment and they try hard to overcome the failures, when they are prompted to take the opportunities, praised and rewarded for the efforts.
“Mind it, praising for efforts and not for the final outcomes”. Participation matters more.
In this journey, kids learn to take risks, they make mistakes but learn from them, develop creative approaches, enters into more of social bonding and this is what is must for a child when they are growing.
This is the approach of “Dolphin parent”, who try to create a balance of ambitions and life skills, failures and winning’s, who provoke kids to take calculated risks and be creative; trace the path, not alone but along with the community, i.e. The Dolphin Way! And this is what Dolphin POD centre is about.
They allow kids to experiment, make mistakes, may be taste the failure, but stand up again, be more innovative and achieve the self – satisfaction. This is a learning journey, life is not “Mistake or Failure Proof”. Life is all about learning from the fall and getting up again with more zeal, with better thinking, more courage and trust. This learning cure involves lots of gratitude, empathy, creativity and trust in self and the team. They nurture kids socially and creatively.
What does the POD of Dolphin POD stands for :
P- Play :
Well its not just play with toy, rather it involves the “Play of life”. When life is explored playfully with the art and craft, music, drama, puzzles and many more experimentations, they lead to creativity in the child. These explorations involve experimenting with new things and developing self confidence.
O- Others :
This is the essence of the world and this component cannot be ruled out of our lives for even a single day. Others means, associating with friends, working with team mates, communicating the feelings to others. Various such sessions and group activities help kids become more extrovert, believe in team work and makes them more social.
D – Downtime :
Keeping our minds busy 24*7, is not the right way to sustain. Hence, the concept of DOWNTIME is must, wherein we need to be calm, meditate, energize through mindfulness, practice gratitude. This unwinding of the brain, help us in emotional wellbeing and encourage positive constructive thoughts.
And this POD is achieved by inculcating 21st century skills of “Consciousness Quotient (CQ)”, which thrives on 5 C’s for an integrated brain functioning.
- Creativity : The most important factor of 21st century to differentiate oneself.
- Critical Thinking : encourages problem solving and helps you identify the opportunities laid in the journey. Even a bumpy road has a smooth future!
- Communication : Promotes effectively expressing your thoughts & feelings.
- Contribution : Lend a helping hand to someone and experience the pure bliss in it.
- Collaboration : Helps one believe in Team spirit and healthy relations.
And that’s how they achieve these CQ, by developing the skills of Emotional Wellbeing, Adaptability, Social Leadership, Innovation, Ethics and Resiliency.
The experiential transition in your child will be in the form of a complete “Human”!
This was a wonderful learning experience to me as a parent in 21st century. While we struggle to build our kids in this over competitive world, we need to keep our senses open to allow them to live the life and not just participate in the rat race.
We’ll soon be hosting an exclusive interview with Dr. Shimi Kang, Dolphin POD, to understand her philosophies of life’s experiences and what she has to say to our readers.
Till Then Stay Tuned!
You would love to read some Positive Parenting tips!
Interesting insights on different ways of parenting. I instantly associated myself in one category. And yes, I believe in Downtime too. Boredom cultivated creativity in children,
This is such a great detailed informative parenting approach and learned lots thanks!
This was very interesting to read! I’ve never heard of “Dolphin Parenting” before. I am also a Positive Parenting advocate so I love that style 🙂
You intrigued me with this information! I am going to do a little more research on Dolphin Parenting for sure. I really try hard to encourage social skills with my boys, because I truly believe being a kind, compassionate and caring person who can interact well with others is an important life skill. I like that the “O” in POD stood for others!
Ive never heard of this before even when I was working in a nursery. There are some very interesting concepts here!
I am all about downtime. I need it the kids need it everyone needs it!
I liked the concept of 05 ‘Cs’. As a parent, I support it and follow the same. In my view, every parent should follow this.
I never heard of dolphin parenting, or jellyfish, but i have read about the tiger method!
This will be very helpful for people who have kids or having kids soon. I don’t have any as yet but this is very interesting.
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First time hearing about it but I like the concept of 5C’s I will definitely try to use this methods for my kids.
I think this will help a lot of parents improve their parenting style. I know that no kid is the same but a balance would be nice when it comes to fun and discipline.
I have never heard of any of these terms before, how interesting to read! It’s really helpful to other parents, and myself absolutely!
Great article, I would love to read more, I am an aspiring parents and all of us dream to be the parent that we can be. I hope to read more about dolphin parenting and learn more about it too.
I think about all of the parents I know who I’d consider to be really good ones. They all practice dolphin parenting, to one degree or another. It takes far more effort on their part, but they have really great kids. Those I’d love to hang out with. xx
Thanks for sharing the dolphin-type of parenting. Its very interesting and I will share this to my bestie, she is a new Mom!
Quite interesting ways of parenting. I don’t think that even my parents know about these. But definitely, they succeed in my up-bringing. Thanks for sharing.
I had no idea there were even more types of parenting! I think there are because all our kids are so different in so many stages!
Dolphin parenting sounds like an interesting concept. I do love the idea of balance that you present here. I think it’s so important in life.
How have I never heard of Dolphin parenting?!? It sounds like it’s a happy medium. Some parenting strategies are so extreme.
I liked the concept of 5 Cs of parenting. No parent can be perfect and quite often as a parent I felt I was experimenting.
With different kids it is different approach.
I have never heard parenting in this way. This looks amazing and it is very informative too. Going to share it with my friends to surprise them with this kind of information.
This is the first time I have heard of the concept of dolphin parenting. But I think my kind of parenting is almost that. I agree with the POD steps and it’s quite what I have been doing with the kids — without the label. 🙂
I am reading this for the first time 🙂 Interesting parenting ways of Dolphin Parent. 5 C’s are so important and new 🙂 Lovely post!
Quite detailed and insightful post. All new parents should definitely read this. Will be a great help 🙂
love this idea! I have an 8 year old and I struggle to find balance. I love the idea of being a dolphin parent though
This was a really interesting read. I haven’t really heard of these parenting terms before but it was great to read all the different techniques and how they can help parents.
This is a very interesting parenting approach and I am sure many parents would be heading this way.
Always welcome new ideas and patterns for parenting. Good option at the end.
I’ve never heard these parenting types! I hate to say I’m a Tiger parent! Gotta work more on finding the balance!
I am not married but very nice article. Thanks for sharing.
Very informative post. The concept of CQ is great and innovative. Very useful and beneficial tips for parents. Great thought.
This was such a good read. I can easily associate myself in one of the category. Great to know about Dolphin parenting and CQ.
Akanksha
I love the POD concept.It’s not only applicable to kids but also adults . Downtown is essential to pause and unwind. It’s like a preparing mind and body to detox and get back with full energy.
Ashh
This is such a nice post, very innovative idea of parenting!
Great to know about Dolphin parenting. Will surely keep these details in mibd and will explore more about it
Yes I’ve recently read a lot about Dolphin parenting.. The 5 C are important in daily life.. The Pod approach is rational and one is letting the child learnt by trial and error thus developing a well rounded personality
Never heard of anything about Dolphin parenting. Very interesting and informative post
Just love this post! Taking time out and relaxing… Being a d
This was so amazing! Taking time out and relaxing… Being a dolphin parent is definitely the best thing!
Thanks for sharing this informative post with us. As a parent I highly appreciat your thoughts !
Nice… Very well explained… new theory of Dolphin Parents which i never heard before…
Honestly I haven’t heard about this technique before. But thanks to this article I will try and become a dolphin parent
Loved this post. We all want to be Dolphin parents but finding the right balance is something we don’t always know how.
These are some really nice way of handling the kids. Would like to make use of them in actual.
Dolphin Parenting sounds very interesting and unique.. Never heard about this earlier.. Very helpful…
Wow this is an interesting topic ! I had no clue there are various ways of Parenting
Wow! This blog is so well written and is a must read for all the parents 🙂
Amazing and informative post. Dolphin learning is a great initiative for parenting. Great thought.