The responsibility of being a parent becomes high when a child is born. Starting from buying the essentials for the child till their marriage, the role of parents seems to remain unbounded. Every parent brings up their child in different ways but the actual question is who develops their child in a successful manner. Success doesn’t only refer to education or job but it actually refers to the way the child responds to the society morally. Children learn many life lessons during various stages of their lifetime which becomes fulfilled when they attain their teenage where they are ready to face the outside world. How this can be attained? What is the role of a parent at various stages of childhood?
EARLY STAGE [BELOW 6 YEARS]:
In this modern world, parents mostly prefer to live alone rather than joint family because they need privacy. But most parents don’t understand that it would affect their children. Children at their early age need the comfort of their grandparents. The affection shown by the grandparents cannot be met by the parents because it is unique. The way the grandparents treat their grandchildren is special as they shower love immensely as well as be strict when the child makes a mistake. Grandparents also nurture moral values to the children which will shape their lives in the right path. Since parents mostly prefer nuclear family, love and affection from elderly people goes missing. This in turn develops adamant nature in children. Children also feel lonely as their parents are busy working, so no one is there to share their feelings. New generation parents must understand the family values and spend time with their children in order to bring them up in a better manner. Parents must play with their children and nurture the basics strongly as this remains throughout their lifetime. Parents must teach respect at an earlier stage, as this is the stage where a child learns new things. Nowadays, children call their parents by their names in the form of modernity which is wrong. Our culture mainly teaches us respect. This respect for parents and elderly people should be cultivated in children during their childhood days. Physical health of the children is equally important as their mental health. Many children are prone to diseases at their earlier age. This is mainly due to unhealthy food and improper vaccination procedure. Stunted growth in children is an outcome of malnutrition during childhood times. Many parents are busy in their work schedule and hence the food habits of the children are left unnoticed. Children start consuming junk foods and don’t eat proper meals like vegetables. This results in weak immune system where they are highly vulnerable to various diseases. Also many parents don’t properly follow the vaccination chart provided by the government and hence their children develop weak resistance power to many common diseases. It is the responsibility of the parents to vaccinate their children at the right age to avoid major diseases from attacking their children. Moreover, parents must provide healthy and nutritious food including vegetables in their daily diet in order to develop a healthy immune system in their children.
MIDDLE AGE [6 – 12 YEARS]:
Middle age children are involved in virtual world rather than the real world. They are more addicted to online games. In this pandemic situation, the government is strict regarding the physical health of the children where it emphasizes the schools to conduct online classes .But some students misuse the mobile phones provided to them by their parents for their online classes by playing games and watching videos. Parents must keep an eye on their children apart from their work so that a child doesn’t go on a wrong path. They must spend time with their children and take part in their studies. Some parents force their children so study at all the time. Studies must not become a burden to the children. This can be avoided by involving the children in extra-curricular activities of their interest. The individual talents of their children must be explored and developed by the concerned parents and educate the children on how to balance between studies and extra-curricular activities so that the child learns to tackle things on their own. Parents must take their children to various places at regular intervals. These trips provide a chance to explore the outside world and it serves as a part of recreation for them. Friendships occupy a major part in every childhood where it involves love and hatred. It develops a sense of sharing one’s own feelings as this is the age where a child’s mind gets fluctuated. Parents must always ensure that their child chooses the right friends with similar mindset. Nowadays, parents allocate separate room for children in order to provide them privacy. But it can create a negative impact on children as it would develop loneliness in children. When children feel lonely, their mind gets diverted in different ways like television, mobile, video games etc. This in turn would lead them in a wrong manner. Hence parents should sleep along with their children and they can also narrate stories during the bedtime so that it could develop creative nature in children and it can also induce sleep. In recent years, parents neither takes their children to relative’s house nor relatives visit our houses. In earlier days, parents take their children to relative’s house where the children spend their holidays with cousins and other friends. Since this is missing in recent times, children don’t find ways to spend their holidays which results in the fact that they sit before television all the time. Hence, parents must take their children to relative’s house and allow them to mingle which develops sharing nature and adjustability among children. Generally, kids may experience a drop in their self-esteem during their middle age. The children may compare themselves with their friends, and believes that their friends remain smarter and popular than them. It’s difficult to watch a child deal with self-esteem issues. Therefore, parents must help their children to focus on their talents and make them feel confident at all times. This in turn enhances their self-esteem and makes the children feel like they have a good amount of friends with overlapping interests. Many kids may experience a sense of disappointment or rejection at any point during their middle age. Since this is the first time, the child might find it difficult to overcome that sense of disappointment. Hence, parents must help their children to ease their pain and find distractions to take their mind off their troubles.
TEENAGE [12-19 YEARS]:
This is an important phase in every child’s life as this is the age where a child gets distracted mentally. Parents must keenly observe the activities of their children without the knowledge of their children. The early symptoms of depression include changes in sleeping patterns, declined interest in having meals, dropping grades in school or college and preferred isolation. If any such symptoms occur, either the mother or father whomsoever is close to the child must talk to the child in a friendly manner and bring out their problem. If possible, try to provide any reasonable solution to them in order to help the child to come out of the problem. Parents must educate their children about good touch and bad touch especially those who have a girl child. There are many sexual harassment cases reported recently and this is an ongoing issue. This issue happens when a girl child tries to hide it from her near and dear ones. Hence, in case of any misconduct the child must immediately tell her parents. Every boy should understand the feelings of each and every girl with whom they come in contact with and behave with them in a decent manner. This in turn will lead to a healthy society. Education is an important phase that every child must go through in their teenage. Many parents force their children to score high marks in their school examination in order to get a good college. But this in turn becomes a burden to the children where they fall into depression. This can be avoided by leaving the children in their own path where they can study on their own and pursue the degree of their choice. Parents shouldn’t force their children to take a degree of their interest and leave that choice to their children because it is ultimately their life where they need to make their own decisions. Social media can create a negative impact on the mental health of the teenagers. While there are many measures being put into place to reduce those risks, it is more important for the parents to get involved. Parents should educate their children on how to navigate social media in a healthy manner. Keep an eye on what your child is doing online and educate yourself on latest applications, websites that are recently being used by teenagers as well as the risks involved in them. Moreover, try to limit the screen time of your children and engage them in outdoor activities.
CONCLUSION:
One fine day, a man found the cocoon of a butterfly where a small opening appeared. After several hours the butterfly struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. So the man decided to help the butterfly by snipping off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings which remained for rest of its life. It never was able to fly. Similarly, the children may face a lot of struggles in their life. Parents should help morally but allow their children to face the outside world on their own. Parents must be available for the children at any time which provides them mental strength and courage. Parents must remain as a pillar of support for their children during their tough times. The success of being a parent is attained only when the child develops as a healthy human being in the society. The nature of their children still remains a wonder for many parents.
BY: ABIRAMI. B
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