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Don’t worry about being in your child’s ‘bad books’. We are all there sometimes – it comes with the territory of good parenting, particularly with children of this age. Any parent who avoids enforcing rules or disciplining their child because they don’t want to incur their child’s displeasure will have their authority and respect severely diminished in the child’s eyes. In the same vein, don’t ‘curry favour’ with your child in matters of behaviour. Obviously you will be loving and caring towards your child, but don’t try to ingratiate yourself by ignoring or endorsing bad behaviour. Your guidelines for good behaviour are essential and reasonable. Explain why you have asked your child to do something or have stopped them from doing something. That is sufficient.

Expect to be disliked sometimes by your child, and don’t take it personally. Enforcing boundaries is an integral part of successful parenting. It shows your child that you love and care for him or her enough to go out of your way to make sure they behave. It is far easier to give in to or ignore unacceptable behaviour, but that will send your child the message that you can’t be bothered to enforce discipline and therefore don’t care. Clear and consistent boundaries, put in place and enforced through the 3Rs, create a healthy, loving and respectful environment in which your child will flourish and become a credit to you.