Coach Parenting: Unlocking Your Child's Potential with Ease

Coach Parenting: Unlocking Your Child’s Potential with Ease

Coaching has become a versatile tool applied in various fields, from personal development to business. But can it be beneficial in parenting? We asked Diana Tel’naya, a practicing coach and co-founder of the ALIASGROUP Development Center, to shed light on how coaching can help children achieve their goals.

The Expert: Diana Tel’naya

Is Coaching Used in Parenting?

Timothy Gallwey, the founder of coaching, defined it as “unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their performance.” Coaching doesn’t teach but facilitates learning. Can we apply this approach to parenting? Absolutely! In fact, it’s essential for developing a child’s personality, responsibility, self-organization, and awareness.

Benefits of Coaching in Parenting

Coaching involves parents in their child’s life, showing genuine interest in the child’s opinions and personality. It transforms advice, orders, and criticism into questions, games, and meaningful dialogues. This approach creates a sense of security in children, helping them feel safe and valued.

Responsibility: Coaching helps children understand the importance of taking responsibility.
Appreciation: It teaches children to value the role of adults and others in their lives.
Purpose: The key question “Why do I need this?” helps both children and parents find answers and develop decision-making skills.
Prioritization: When children have many desires, coaching tools can teach them to prioritize and choose what’s most important.
Goal Setting: Coaching assists in setting and achieving goals.
Emotional Intelligence: It helps children manage their emotions and develop emotional intelligence.

Coaching techniques work best when children genuinely want to find solutions to their problems. Questions like “I want him to enroll” or “I want him to obey” are parental concerns that a professional coach can address in individual sessions with adults.

A Coaching Tool for Parents: The TGROW Technique

The TGROW technique is a well-known coaching tool that can be adapted for children. It’s useful when a child has a problem they want to solve, misunderstandings with peers, questions about communication with teachers, or desires they want to fulfill.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using TGROW with Children

Each letter in TGROW stands for a specific step, represented by a question:

T (Topic): “What do you want to talk about?”
G (Goal): “What does the desired outcome look like?” “How will you know you’ve achieved your goal?”
R (Reality): “What’s the current situation?” “What exactly is the problem?” “How far is the desired goal?”
O (Obstacles): “What’s preventing you from achieving your goal?” Explain that obstacles are normal and can be seen as adventures or interesting challenges.
O (Options): “What are the ways to overcome these obstacles?” “What resources do you have to solve this issue?” “Who can help you?”
W (Way Forward): “What exactly are you willing to do to solve this problem?” “What will be your first step?”

Questions can be asked in any order. The key is to ask the right questions at the right time and show genuine interest in the child’s answers. Using paper, pencils, and colors can help children visualize and better understand their desires, needs, and goals.

When Coaching in Parenting Doesn’t Work

Coaching techniques can be used with children of various ages, but it’s best to start when the child can speak independently and express their thoughts clearly. However, coaching is not suitable when a child has: