How to be a bestfriend or friend to your kids?

I honestly don't know if a parent can be a good parent and a best friend to their child. A best friend doesn't have to set rules and curfews, and then follow through with them. I think it's important for a parent to realize that thier child isn't going to come to them with EVERY problem, God places a lot of different people in our lives to meet a lot of different needs. I think what has been most important to me over the years as my older ones grew up, was for them to know they could trust my word. I never made promises I couldn't keep. If I said they were going to get a spanking for something, they knew it was all but written in stone. If I told them I would take them somewhere or buy them this or that, they knew that that was also written in stone. It was important to me that they knew they could trust me to do what I said I would do, wether it was handing down discipline or reward, they knew they could depend on Mama.

Hi there. We have two children/young teens, a 12 year old and a 14 year old... In my opinion, I think the best way of being a great friend and support to your children, is if you leave all line of communication open and let them know they can come to you and talk about anything, anything that they may want to talk about, and do your best to listen and not interupt, to let them air themselves and see that your really taking interest in what they're saying, that your really taking notice of them and really care about what they're saying... We have a great relationship with our children, because we're open minded and non judgemental, our lines of communication are never closed, we always make time for our children to sit down and talk with us, we always ask how there day went and what they did at school or during the day, we have an awsome relationship with them and we cherish this very much... I had the same open communicating lines with my parents... Good luck, you can do it...

Well you dont say how old your kids are but the best way is to be open and honest with them, ASK for their opinions/thoughts etc and be openminded to what they say, realize they are NOT an extention of you but rather their own person with their own thoughts, feelings and views.....Dont dismiss what they have to say simply becuase it differs from what you think or believe...Be involved in their lives..ask them how their day was, ask about how their fav friends are and so on..

same here, i wanted to be a best friend to my kids..that they will share their happiness and problems to me..i think to work that, we parents should have a good communication to our kids, that we need to be open to them the things that we don't want them to do, and the things that they wanted to their life..in that way, we can be more close to them and they don't have doubts to share what they really feel and think..

First of all, do not nag your children. This will create an invisible wall between you and them. Secondly, be interested in them: get to know what they like doing, who their friends are, how they're doing in school, what they dislike most...etc. Do this without prying. Just talk with them casually when they arrive home. They also want someone to talk about their day in school. Next, just be there for them. They would want to see their mother often. Lastly, love them a lot. They can feel this most and that is what they will respond to. Good luck. I am not a mom but I am a child and I would have wanted to more of a friend to my mom while I was growing but that was not the way it was. Anyway, that is the past, I can't do anything about that now. All I can do is try to be a friend to my mom now even when I'm already an adult. It is never too late to be a friend.