Role of Parents in Child Development – 6 Parenting Tips

Role of Parents, Child Development

Being a parent—a good parent—is a concern that most of us go through. The role of parents during a child’s earliest years is the single biggest influence in shaping the child’s personality. The way parents involve themselves with children closely influences their development.

One of the most important things we adults can do for young children is to model the kind of person we would like them to be ~ Carol B. Hillman (Tweet this)

When kids are growing up, it becomes a parent’s responsibility to give her an environment that helps her grow into a mature, sensitive and confident person.  It is often seen that many parents go to extremes either by being extra loving or by being a hard disciplinarian. Either way, it is the child that suffers and may lose her self esteem. Loss of self esteem leads to lack of confidence and in the future, she might not be able to handle life’s challenges successfully.

Your parenting will be successful only when your child learns to face even the hardest of life’s challenges with calm and poise. And once a problem is solved, she must learn to move on.

Here are a few tips on the Role of Parents in Child Development:

1. Let Her to be Herself

Since each soul coming to this earth has its own identity, do not assume that your child will be your image. As a parent, embrace your child the way she is and do not be judgmental to every action of hers. For instance, you are a chirpy person and your child is an introvert, do not push her too hard to make her like you are. Let her be herself and give her time to unfold herself and learn the environment around her.

2. Do not Hold your Child back at Every Stage

As a parent, we often tend to feel that we know the best for child and try to control her life based on our experience and previous notions. You want to protect her from any forthcoming failure in every new action she does. However, whenever trying to guide her, keep in mind that she is still learning, experimenting and exploring life.

A young branch takes on all the bends that one gives it.

Let her make her own decisions, actions and get results. This is the only way she can learn life’s lessons that would help her handle real life situations even without you. Do not hold her back to save her from any presumed failures. But yes, while she is learning to explore life, be there for her in a silent way and whenever she needs you, extend helping hands. When an opportunity comes her way, show your confidence in her abilities. If you show doubts, she will also be unsure of her abilities.

3. Let her Choose Actions over Worries

A child definitely learns by example and you can set the best example for her. So, whenever you face difficulties in your life, what do you think is the best way out? Is it to worry about the future or to take action to solve the problems? Learning something new yourself is a great way to model the learning process for your child.

The role of parents at this stage is to teach your child to forgo worries, stay calm in tough situations and take the necessary actions to solve the issues. And your child will be a stronger person from whatever negative or positive experiences she takes away with her.

4. Respect your Child’s Feelings

Whenever a child reflects some negative or bad feelings over an issue, often parents jump to squash that feeling. But let me tell you, this is the worst thing that you can do to your child because she will never learn to recognize the kind of feelings she has or to cope with them.

The right way is to accept her feelings—whether bad or good—and let her come out of them in her own way. It is the emotions in a person that guide him or her to take either the right or the wrong actions. What you can do is to give her a hug or listen to her calmly to let her vent out feelings.

This is very tough for a parent to let her child go through emotionally tough times, but believe me she will learn to handle them gracefully and with maturity.

5. Let Her be Accountable for All Her Decisions and Actions

Allow your child to take accountability for all her decisions and actions. Do not come to her rescue every time she feels stuck. Gradually, she will learn to make decisions that she can handle with her own abilities. Moreover, it will help her be realistic about her strengths and weaknesses.

Later on, when she grows up she will have a sense of autonomy and peace of mind with every action she takes. In other words, she will grow into a mature and confident adult.

6. Discipline Her to Teach her Not to Punish Her

Your behavior has a strong bearing on your child’s behavior. Though it is important to discipline her, it is also important that while disciplining her, focus on teaching her—not punishing. Whenever she demonstrates bad behavior, it is for you to stay calm and show self-control. Do not shout at her or spank her. Try to understand why she did this and what her feelings were. Handle the situation in a way that your child gets a lesson for the next time.

Read more parenting tips at Understand your Child’s Emotions – Intelligent Parenting

Conclusion

Our approach towards education can largely motivate them to take up their own educational journey as well. The role of parents in the child’s development process constantly evolves but what continues without change is the fact that parents are the child’s learning models!

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About the Author

Vandana Singhal writes extensively on science, technology, health, and travel. Vandana has a degree in science and is artistic in nature.

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