Whether you are a new parent, a mature parent or even those just considering having children, ‘Parenting’ is a serious and substantial undertaking. While earlier, many may have had the benefit of listening to the older generation for guidance on how to parent their children, understanding whether these methods and approaches are actually useful or harmful is a struggle most parents face these days. This is further accentuated by the fact that when joint family systems started declining more young people become parents without the support of their extended families. While it might allow new parents to break away from unhelpful traditions and stereotypical roles from before, it also means that they will have to figure it out on their own on a trial-and-error basis to see what works.
What could go wrong? Don’t I know what is best for my child?
While you may know your child better than most, all parenting methods you use may not necessarily be supporting your child as well as you think. Many parents have good intentions but the action associated may not have the intended consequence.
Why can’t I just use the same Parenting techniques my own parents practiced?
While you may assume that the parenting style you were raised with is applicable for your own child, we must remember that your parents’ generation, your generation and your child’s generation are entirely different. It is best to look at their methods more objectively and understand what was useful and what needs to be discarded for the future generations. It will help us not only understand what we can do, but more importantly what we shouldn’t do.
So how do we understand what is good parenting? How do we help kids to understand and regulate their feelings and emotions? How do we continue to be curious about who our kids are, and who they are becoming?
We must first understand the different variables that affects parenting styles of parents as mentioned below.
Recognising and understanding how these interact with parenting is an important first step.
These things can affect your relationship with the child as well as how they will think, act and understand the world around them. Being mindful is therefore extremely important.
Proper guidance in parenting can effectively improve the wellbeing and growth of children as well as the relationship between parent and child. This may even in turn support the wellbeing of the parent in the long run.
Parenting can be scary, but you do not have to do it alone. Bright Ray provides Parenting training and counselling for those who need it. We cover parents of children of all ages, and those who are considering having children. If you would like to attend one of our Parenting Training Workshops please click here for more details
We also provide Counselling to parents who may need more individualised attention. Our goal is to help you recognise where you can improve your approach to parenting, ideas about how to proactively be in tune with the specific needs of your child and where your current approach can be strengthened for the betterment of the child as well as yourself.
