The Role of A parent in Raising a Child

The Role of A parent in Raising a Child

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be the real one”. The words of Sue Atkins are a genuine reflection of the meaning of parenthood. Every parent usually holds the desire that their children turn out to be the best people that society can gladly accommodate. Research. Has it that most parents fail to understand that the children grow better by embracing what they are as opposed to what they are taught. As much as the parents must show the child the direction that he wants him or her to take in life. However, research has also questioned the values that the parents impart on the child that contribute to how the child turns out. How an individual is a parent that the values that he or she is teaching the child will contribute to the positive outcome of the child? As mentioned earlier, no parent is perfect, and there is not the parent who can say that he or she is good at parenting because every child that is born comes with a new challenge to the parent. Ideally, evaluating the concept of parenting on a cultural construction angle such as nurturing the child into a musical artist or a painter can enhance the understanding of parenting techniques and conclude on the right moment in which a parent can be braced as being good.

Shaping the personality of the child begins as soon as the child is born. At this stage, the child is getting to learn the various aspects of the environment, and this is when the child can learn concepts such as love and affection. Since the mother is the only person an infant knows, it is the role of the parent to make the child feel safe. Since the infant is in a new place, it is likely to feel scared and irritable.

The parents should get rid of the fear as soon as they notice since it is something that the child can cultivate and grow to be an issue when it grows up. Levitt and Dubner support that “Fear is, in fact, a major component of the act of parenting, a parent, after all, is the steward of another creature’s life, a creature who in the beginning is more helpless than the newborn of nearly any other species” (135). By making the, feel safe, the parent is shaping the child into a healthy person later in life. Arguably, the child will grow into a person who does not scare easily. The mother can connect with the child in several ways, depending on what she is trying to invoke in the child. For instance, a mother can sing to the child continuous songs of different themes and trying to understand which among the songs, is the child comfortable with. Such infants will grow up into a person who is familiar with the music and as such, can choose a direction that he or she wants to do in the music industry.

Supporting the child in his or her likes and endeavours can contribute to the discovery of talent. Most parents find it challenging when their child reaches the age in which she or he is up and about trying to find his interest and talent. At this point, the child is usually so jumpy, and it is the responsibility of the parents to monitor the actions that these children take and at the same time, recommend activities that they engage. Utting explains that “Parental warmth, lack of conflict, and control and monitoring appear to play an important role in developing children’s social skills”. Most parents at this stage, not only suggest to the children to get into the specific activities, such as swimming or playing football and pay for their children to take these classes and support them by watching them perform. Research has it that for a student to become a competitive individual later in life, the parents should begin exposing the child to competitive arenas, where he or she learns that if he does not work hard, he will automatically be ranked last. In this case, for instance, the parent can enrol the child into a swimming class in preparation for competition and make a big deal out of it so that the child can learn that it is a significant event. Such a child is likely to grow up into a very competitive individual with the right amount of confidence that the child requires to face any challenge.

The concept of nurture and nature are also factoring that contribute to shaping the character of a child as well as the personality that the child develops after a while. The role of the parent in shaping the growth of the child, in this case, is deciding on the environment that can be the best for the child to grow into a responsible person, who is socially acceptable. If a child grows up in a violent environment is likely to grow up into a violent person, if not traumatized. According to Levitt and Dubner, “Decades of studies have shown that a child born into an adverse family environment is far more likely than other children to become a criminal” (4). There is no better time to shape the character and the personality of a child than when he or she is young. Questions of how to become a good parent have continued to raise concerns in contemporary times. As much as no parent is perfect, some parents are just careless and tend to expose the child into a series of traumatic experiences that affect the growth of the child in terms of the character as well as the behaviour he develops. It is a common thing to see and hear children try to argue for a point based on how the parent would have demonstrated for the position. Many researchers have conducted this study without getting a clear explanation that fits the expectations of many people who question. Some researchers such as Suttie feel that it is as a result of genetics and biology. Others, on the other hand, believe that it can be as a result of the combination of the social environment and the genes.

How then does a parent impact on the grades of a child in school? Most people delegate the academic growth of the child to the teachers, who they believe are being paid to ensure that the child passes the examination and excels academically. However, the parents have a unique role in this part of educating their children that if they fail to take part might impact negatively on the performance of the child. For example, in most schools, the students who enrol are many, and as such, the slow students are disadvantaged. It is the role of the parent to understand his or her child so that he can work with the teachers to ensure that the child has the best learning experience. Fagbeminiyi supports that “The interpretation of parent involvement is highly dependent on the individual beliefs and expectations of each person concerned”. As the parents get involved in the academic activities of their children, there is an aspect of responsibility that the child develops. Knowing what the parents expect from him or her as the child tend to correspond with the upbringing and the environment to contribute to the development of responsibility in the child.  Additionally, getting involved in your child’s education as a parent can show the child that you care and are there to offer support. From this, the relationship between the child and the school, as well as the units he or she is doing is likely to improve. This is because of the feeling of warmth and comfort at the school. The parent can also contribute to the success of the academic performance and growth of the child by monitoring the performance closely and ensuring that the child completes the homework that he was given at school in time. The parent also has to ensure that he cultivates the art of responsibility in the child so that he or she can read in preparation for tests and examinations.

Additionally, parents determine how their children turn out to become a morally upright person. Morality is an essential aspect of society, and that is why most parents are keen on this concept. The social world matters a lot in the overall growth of a person since it contributes to the development of the child into a socially acceptable person who can be accommodated in society. Most of the time, children are innocent, and this explains why some of them are abused. At this age, the parent must ensure that he or she teaches the child the right concepts of morality so that the child can avoid getting misguided in the direction of immorality. Melton explains that “If psychologists are to serve children effectively, whether as individuals or as a class, they must learn basic skills of system change” (358). Children are not only the most priced of a society but also the most protected in a community. As such, they are instilling the concept of morality when nurturing the character of the child since it contributes to the development of a strong personality and character. Children have to grow up knowing what is morally right and the things that they should not do. As such, it is the role of the parent to enlighten their children about the concepts of morality, why it is essential and the things that people can do to them, and they may be hurt. Similar to all other aspects of nurturing the child’s character and personality, morality is an essential contribution to shaping how the child turns out to be. A child who is informed about the moral standards of the society can effectively fit in the social environment in the future.

Also, the creative abilities of the child are dependent on the parents and to some extent, the teachers. As the parent, a person is expected to engage the child into several activities around the compound that aid in creativity. For example, the father can take the son out for a workshop in the garage, where they repair a bicycle or a vehicle. Alternatively, the parent can tag along with the son whenever he is carrying out an activity that he wants the child to see. Through this, the child gets to learn to see that the fence has grown and it is time to trim without being told. Through this, the child not only determines the aspect of creativity but also learns to be creative in keeping himself busy. Since most children look up to their parents for guidance, the parent must watch the action that he involves the child to be safe for the times when the parent cannot be there to monitor. Research has, however, pointed out a problem that parents have registered for a while. Most parents either become so hard on the second-born if the first one did not turn out as they expected. Levitt and Dubner explain that “You don’t have to believe in obsessive parenting to think that the second boy doesn’t stand a chance and that the first boy has it made” (142). Parenthood is a challenging calling that most people fail to understand. One thing is common, though, the parenting of one parent is never the same as the rest of the children. This is because different children come with differences in their ability, behaviour, interest and even how they carry themselves out. As such, there is no rubric that a parent can use for the first child and use it once more for the second and the third child. In the sector of creativity, for instance, the second-born might be interested in something else that does not involve taking after the dad. As such, parents must be patient and understanding to get the chance to understand this other child.

Conclusively, parenthood is an institution that neither has a right or a wrong. Most parents, regardless of the number of children he or she has had before have a new experience typically whenever the parent is raising another child. Research has pointed out that the parents have a significant influence on the outcome of the child. For instance, the child’s academic excellence is directly depended on the input of the parent in the educational actions of the child. The parent is equally vital in teaching the child to grow into a responsible person. This can be done through delegation of activities. The parent can also ensure that the child completes the homework in time and that the children go to bed in time. Parents should thrive at raising children with their self-drive.

Works Cited

Fagbeminiyi, Fasina. “The Role Of Parents In Early Childhood Education: A Case Study Of Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria”. Double-Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal, vol 11, no. 2, 2020, https://globaljournals.org/GJHSS_Volume11/6-The-Role-of-Parents-in-Early-Childhood-Education.pdf. Accessed 9 Mar 2020.

Levitt, Stephen, and Stephen Dubner. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden of Everything.

Melton, Gary B. “Children, Politics, And Morality: The Ethics of Child Advocacy”. Journal Of Clinical Child Psychology, vol 16, no. 4, 1987, pp. 357-367. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp1604_10.

Suttie, Jill. “How Parents Influence Early Moral Development”. Greater Good, 2015, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_parents_influence_early_moral_development.

Utting, David. Parenting And The Different Ways It Can Affect Children’S Lives: Research Evidence. 1st ed., 2020, https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/2132-parenting-literature-reviews.pdf. Accessed 9 Mar 2020.