Role of Parents in Upbringing Children

Being a parent is one of the most challenging but rewarding jobs anyone could ever adopt. It is the longest task and responsibility that an individual will ever perform. Parenting is an active process that demands that individuals use their skills and knowledge plan, give birth, raise, and provide for children. The parenting process includes protecting, nourishing, and guiding the child. It involves a series of interaction between the parent and the child through the life span.
Just as children go through the stages of development, parents also go through the stages of parenthood that require appropriate parenting stage responsibilities. These stages involve changing task and roles of both parents and children.

1. Image building (conception to birth of the baby)
The young parents dream and build images of ideal parenting and of what they want to become before the baby is born. Parents are reminded of their past and how they were parented, to prepare for the financial needs care and upbringing.

2. Nurturing (Birth – 18 months)
Each child has specific wants and needs that require nurturing. By meeting the needs of the child, a positive relationship can be built, which consistently sends messages of love and support. Expressions of love and affection, listening to the child’s ideas, feelings, problems and difficulties, kindness and sympathy, help the child to feel connected to the family and society. Parents build an attachment with the child and identify themselves as a parent, assess and understand what kind of parents they really are.

3. Authority (18 months to age 5years)
The parents become the persons in charge when the baby begins to walk and talk. This Is the period when the parents set rules for the child’s action and behaviour, decides When to say yes and when to say no and prepares the child for separation that is to be away for schooling. The parents exercise utmost care to discipline, maintaining consistency, and avoiding ambiguity in giving directions helps the child to conceptualize what is expected of him.

4. Interpretation ( Age 5 to puberty)
The child’s question from “what” turns to “why” and “how”. This requires explaining each of the queries; the number of such queries grows as the child’s language skills grow and understanding expands. Parents will have to respond satisfactorily with convincing replies. The child experiments with rules and social norms, examines the quality of treatment he/she receives and the relationship maintained within the family. The type of parenting used in such situations plays a significant role in determining the sort of adult the child will become.

5. Preparation for independence (Teen years)
The parents of teenagers face challenges over their authority as parents. A teenager fights with parents in making decisions, and on issues considered as personal matters.
Teenagers begin to show that they are “grown up” and are capable of handling difficult situations themselves, that they are different from their parents in many ways, and that their problems and needs are not well understood by the parents. During such times, teenagers need parental guidance to make decisions and to make tough choices. They need careful and sympathetic listening, brief counselling and independence to prove that they are capable of making certain decisions and able to accept the consequences of such decisions.

Source:  http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/role-of-parents-in-upbringing-children-543148.html