How does a Child-Parent Relationship Impact a Child when Growing Up?
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How does a Child-Parent Relationship Impact a Child when Growing Up?
Children are either born by the parents who take care of them or are adopted under legal agreements. Although the parent-child relationship is recognized in most states, apart from the necessary provisions such as food, shelter, clothing and medication, there is no specification dictating what values parents need to impart on their children. For that reason, caregivers enjoy the right to bring up their children without states intervention resulting in diverse parenting styles which lead to different parent-child relationship affecting the children growing. The attachment relationship between a parent and a child is a crucial determiner of children’s behaviour when growing up. The determiner of children social, physical, cognitive and emotional development when growing is dependent on the nature and quality of parent child-relationship.
A parent-child relationship is essential in every child’s life. As children grow, parenting shift from childcare and provision for an infant, making decisions for a toddler and helping them in making their decisions when in young age and adolescence while still providing to their needs at all stages (Steinberg, 2019). As a result, parenting allows for parent-child closeness enabling the children to develop an attachment. However, the attachment between the caregiver or parent and the child differs depending on the parenting styles. As a result, children may develop either secure, ambivalent, avoidance, or disorganized form of attachments with their parents which in turn affect relationships positively or negatively and ultimately leading to their behaviours when growing up.
Authoritative parenting leads to a healthy parent-child relationship which in turn have a positive impact on the child when growing up. Since authoritative parents tend to be reasonable and nurturing, they set high and clear expectations for their children, assisting them to think for themselves and become disciplined (Parenting Styles and Healthy Parent-Child Relationships, 2018). Besides for such parent communication is frequent, permitting the child to explain their activities and aid understanding. As a result, a positive child-parent relationship due to the closeness between the child and parent. The child cognitive ability also emerges as the child is permitted to reason. Besides, the lovingness increases children happiness and satisfaction when growing up since they feel secure with their parents.
Additionally, a child’s sociability is also promoted in a healthy parent-child relationship. Through frequent communication allowed in authoritative parenting, children ability to easily express themselves is developed. Ability to communicate also enables such children to interact with others without difficulty. As children grow up, the ability to successfully communicate improves their self-esteem and confidence among other people. In return, such children develop good behaviours even in their adolescent stage since they can gather the courage to express their challenges other than resulting in substance abuse due to disappointments or emotional distress. Besides, some socialization that occurs in a healthy parent-child relationship also concern training the modes of behaviour acceptable within the stage a child belongs when growing and also provides a sense of preparing them on life role and new context they will encounter as they grow older.
Positive child-parent relationship lays a basis for the child’s personality, overall behaviour, and life choices. For instance, loving interaction between a child and parent encourage their expression and interactions enabling the child to gain confidence. Through taking the time to listen and empathize with a child, they become reassured to get help whenever they have a problem and promoting their emotional development as they grow (Overbeek et al., 2007). As a result, such children develop feelings allowing them to have a caring personality and tend to seek guidance when making life choices. Besides, they become sensitive and responsive, making them adopt the desired behaviours.
With a positive child-parent relationship, parents become the role models to the children. Due to closeness between the parent and the child, parents show the children how to behave through their actions (Steinberg, 2019). For instance, working together to find a solution enables the children to learn on problem-solving techniques which in turn help them to deal with difficulties in the appropriate ways. For that reason, in a healthy child-parent relationship, parents become teachers since they nurture and provide guidance and affection for their children. Such parents also provide a foundation for children learning to enable them to develop skills helpful in future. For that reason, a healthy child-parent relationship has a positive and powerful impact on when growing up.
On the contrary, they are parenting styles that lead to a negative relationship between children and parents—for instance, neglectful and uninvolved parenting lead avoidant and ambivalent relationships. When children do not feel secured by their parents, they do not develop positive relationships. As a result, problems always develop in their relationships and turn negatively influence their behaviours. Lack of respect occurs due to negative child-parent relationship. Since neglectful parents disregard their children’s feelings and emotions, it transfers to how children respect others, making them treat their friends poorly. Besides, such children in such a relationship might have disciplinary problems (Henderson, 2016). For instance, they become deceitfulness, defiance, selfishness and recklessness.
Due to parents lacking to ensure proper engagement with their children, such kids tend to lack trust in them. Lack of trust in a child-parent relationship leads to emotional distress (Henderson, 2016). Besides,
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in such families do not open up their problems to the parents since the parents do not trust them or have no time for them. As a result, the child ability to express themselves is limited since they are never encouraged to do so. They also develop low self-esteem as they grow due to fear that they could be the cause of the reason making their parents neglect them. For that reason, such children end up seeking solutions to their problems elsewhere when growing up rather than involving their parents. Such children stop communicating their issues entirely and may later end up abusing drugs as a way of eliminating their problems. Additionally, due to the lack of trust, children fail to seek help when they are physically or verbally abused when growing up due to lack of self-esteem and lack emotional attachment with their parents. As a result, such children may always be sad and can even become bullies in school as they grow.
Based on early experiences of a parent-child relationship, children can develop the cognitive ability as an adequate representation of the level of closeness between the child and parent. When parents provide sensitive, anticipated, and responsive care, they help their children in developing skills necessary in making their life successful. For instance, children develop the problem-solving ability, can effectively communicate and socialize; they have emotions feelings on others, and have confidence and healthy self-esteem. On the contrary, negative child-parent relationships lead to the development of depraved behaviours such as substance abuse, selfishness, and recklessness since such children do not gain parents trust. Besides, their caregivers neither listen nor allow them to express their problems. For that reason, child-parent relationship when a child is growing has a significant impact on what the child becomes in the future. It may lead to good or bad behaviours.
References
Henderson, R. (2016). Child-parent Relationship and Potential Problems. Patient. Retrieved 2 May 2020, from https://patient.info/doctor/child-parent-relationship-and-potential-problems
Overbeek, G., Stattin, H., Vermulst, A., Ha, T., & Engels, R. C. (2007). Parent-child relationships, partner relationships, and emotional adjustment: A birth-to-maturity prospective study. Developmental Psychology, 43(2), 429.
Parenting Styles and Healthy Parent-Child Relationships. (2018). Retrieved 2 May 2020, from https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-development/healthy-relationships/parents-child/parenting-styles/index.html
Steinberg, L. (2019). Parent-Child Relationships – Infancy, Toddlerhood, Preschool, School-age, Adolescence, Adults. Retrieved 2 May 2020, from https://psychology.jrank.org/pages/472/Parent-Child-Relationships.html