Parenting is one of the most responsible and skillful task and good parenting means promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child in order to raise a healthy, confident, happy, socially responsible individual. Today there are lots of books and information available on good parenting and more over parenting these days is a task in many ways because of the overwhelmingly advanced mind sets and ideas that the new generation child portrays. In order to be a good parent we must be a good individual ourself. Children are like a mirror and they reflect us in their thoughts and actions.
Having defined many things about parenting, are we really good at parenting? Do we really teach the younger generation about selflessness, spirituality, humanity, gratitude, love, affection, compassion, sharing, acceptance? I have many interesting experiences of interacting with the fellow parents while i wait to pick up my four year old daughter from school. It is so disheartening to find how parents knowingly and unknowingly teach their children about being materialistic. Today parents tend to focus only on the marks, the children score in their exams. Money and wealth are given primary focus than ethics and moral.
It is even more dismaying to find that parents today don't want their kids to fail in the smallest of things even at the kindergarten level. Parents get depressed and cannot bear even the smallest failure of their wards and it is this mentality of the parents that inculcates the fear of failure in the young minds. Lack of self confidence and fear are unfruitful by-products of this mind set of the parents.The success of a person lies in how he looks at failure. We all face failures and how we take failure makes all the difference. As responsible parents we must create a healthy mind set in our children about how to face failures. Not all first rank holders are successful in life. We should impart the real definition of success to our children. We can share the biography of successful people who have become successful ethically, people who have treated failures as stepping stones for success, people who have started from scratch and become successful using right strategies, help them choose a right role model.
Today's kids fail to enjoy the joy of playing together with friends enjoying nature. Children spend most of their times in front of televisions and electronic gadgets. There is lack of opportunity for the children to follow the strategy of
'Kaalai ezhunthavudan padippu, pinbu kanivu kodukkum nalla paattu
Maalai muzhuvathum villaiyaattu ..........' given by Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi. As parents we must make sure that we give plenty of opportunity for the children to learn, play and enjoy. Also healthy children are happy children. Parents should ensure that their children eat healthy and are also physically active. Help them de-stress through music and art. We should be supportive to the children in times of good and bad, avoid comparisons and be able to understand them emotionally.
Having taken the decision of being a parent we must enjoy and cherish parenting. We should feel great to be a parent. Parenting as such is a big learning process where we can have a sense of satisfaction. If we consider parenting as fun and have positive feelings about it, they will help us bring up children as responsible citizens with optimistic attitude. Luckily, today as parents we are exposed to lot of information on good parenting. Let us utilize these resources and become responsible parents. Lets celebrate parenting....
My sincere thanks to Mr.VidyaShankar, the CEO of Only Success and author of '101 secrets of effective parenting' who has inspired me to write this simple article on parenting.
Miles to go......
