Good Parenting

Good Parenting

It is hard to have a single definition of a good parent, but exploring various aspects can help discover what is considered best for children. In contemporary society, parents play a significant role in the life of a child. Although the invention of toys and the emergence of others such as computers, games have influenced children's behavior, parents are role models in children and play a significant role in molding children’s behavior (Pynn et al., 2019). Parents must have good traits such as gathering feedback from children, train them on general life issues, and responsible by meeting their basic needs such as education, food, shelter. Parents can use their influences to shape their personality and the ultimate behavior of the family (Bower & Casas, 2016). Ideal parents should be of good moral character, good listener, and patience.

A good parent is a person who guides the children sufficiently in the right direction. He/she has a complete understanding of the role of the children and the rest of the family. For example, a good parent supports child/children to acquire sound education, discipline, and matters to do with their life (Hay et al., 2017). Such a parent does not limit the child’s possibility, and abilities but help in exploring and nurturing the talent. There is a sense of encouragement to the child to explore his/her knowledge and to do what one enjoys doing, instills morality, and is in the first line to corrects whenever the child is doing something against the moral standards of the society (Bower & Casas, 2016). A good parent also teaches the essence of due diligence, respect, and imparts the willingness to learn on the part of children.

Communication and excellent listening skills is an essential aspect of the parent. Being a parent is not just communicating what one feels is best but also take the opportunity to listen to the children's feedback. The element of wanting to listen opens the communication between the two parties (Bower & Casas, 2016). For example, a child may be missing classes or failing in certain subjects in school due to a particular challenge. Here, having a parent who listens to the child means addressing the issues by getting at the bottom of the problem. Such as parents are important because he/she does not scold, or judge the child but carefully listens to the main concerns and try to find where the genesis of the problem. Good parenting involves open communication with the child, where both sides listen to each other in a bid to solve a situation or a problem.

Parenting is not complete without patience when dealing with the issues. Development of the children is very challenging to the parent, and sometimes one can run out of patience. In some cases, the child’s behavior becomes uncontrollable due to age, peer pressure, mood variation, and this is the time that the parents require unique patience to rectify the issues, show care and love (Hay et al., 2017). Behaviors can take time to shape up to the parent expectation, and it is through parent patience that the milestone can be achieved. Patience is an essential element when dealing with issues that can be very frustrating behaviors.

Conclusion

Parenting is a robust full-time job that comes with endless responsibility. A good parent should, therefore, have an outstanding character, a good listener, should exercise patience and guide children in many issues. Having the attributes helps the parent manage their daily responsibility and shape the children's behaviors and characters to their expectations.

References

Bower, A. A., & Casas, J. F. (2016). What parents do when children are good: Parent reports of strategies for reinforcing early childhood prosocial behaviors. Journal of child and family studies, 25(4), 1310-1324.

Hay, C., Meldrum, R. C., Widdowson, A. O., & Piquero, A. R. (2017). Early aggression and later delinquency: Considering the redirecting role of good parenting. Youth violence and juvenile justice, 15(4), 374-395.

Pynn, S. R., Neely, K. C., Ingstrup, M. S., Spence, J. C., Carson, V., Robinson, Z., & Holt, N. L. (2019). An intergenerational qualitative study of the good parenting ideal and active free play during middle childhood. Children's Geographies, 17(3), 266-277.