PARENTING & BEYOND
Parenting
Parenting is a practice as old as the human race itself. It is true when we say ‘Parenting is a human instinct’. The fact is that there are no predefined rules of parenting. It varies from family to family. Depends a lot on the social upbringing and the social status of the Parents, the cultural background and values and the era they are living in.
If we were to define parenting in simple words, ‘The objective of all the styles of parenting is to support your offspring physically, emotionally and socially to ensure complete development both intellectually and as a person from infancy to adulthood.
Parenting is a journey that you are supposed to enjoy as your child grows and you grow as a parent along with them. Some believe that "Parenting is reliving your childhood". Without an iota of doubt, I can say all parents do their possible best when it comes to parenting.
Parenting is relatively a new verb because it is not something you do out of compulsion rather you do it happily, as it is your responsibility to rear your child.
Parenting is asking yourself certain not so comfortable questions, answering them and then evolving and growing to be better both as parents and as a person. This is very important as children do not learn from what we teach them, but they learn from who you are.
Socio-economic effects on Parenting:
With the changing socio-economic environment, the concept of parenting also seems to have changed. We as parents want to give the best to our child, but in turn also expect them to be the best in all respects, in comparison to any other kid. This being applicable to every Parent, the obvious outcome is that the child is under tremendous pressure to perform and that too even before the child has barely learnt to walk, run or express!
It has been observed that parenting has changed with changing times, the ever-changing social and cultural norms. The parenting style of the nineties may not suit the current century.
Whatever is your social class, type of family, joint or nuclear or your cultural values, you certainly are doing great as parents.
In effect, when you as parents say your child is stubborn and does not respond the way you want the child to do, it is you who is stubborn and wants your child to behave like you, i.e. an adult, which the child neither understands nor wants to do.
Professional help comes in handy:
I do not intend to blame the parents for expecting too much from their child because they are right from their point of view. But, this may not be true. I have come across various parents struggling in bringing up their children.
Some professionals can help them out of these difficult situations. They can guide in adapting best methods that could help both the parents and also the children in enjoying the process.
I would suggest one should not shy away from consulting the experts for getting parenting tips and guidance.
An initiative by Mastermind School:
Mastermind School, located in Bicholi Mardana, Indore, is organizing a ‘Workshop on Parenting and Beyond’ on the 3rd of April 2021 from 7 PM. The workshop will be by Ms Sheetal Chauhan, a Professional Counselor cum Mentor. The proceedings would be live on Facebook.
In case you miss the live workshop you can still see the proceedings. Please click here.
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