As a parent, it's your responsibility to provide the basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter to your child. But you aren't responsible only for your child's temporal and physical needs, you also influence his general growth and development. Certain facets of parenting and child-rearing help shape the type of adult your child will one day become, while helping him increase his self-awareness in the process. Consider how your parenting practices are affecting your child to evaluate your skill and proficiency as a parent.
Parenting Style
The type of parenting style you adopt affects the way your child reacts to you and others in her life. An authoritative parent allows feedback from the child, teaching her that her opinion is valuable, while an authoritarian parent leaves little room for negotiation and is less warm, often resulting in a dependent or rebellious child. A permissive parent mostly allows a child to make her own decisions, with little demands, creating a child who lacks self-control. An uninvolved parent simply removes himself as an authority figure and doesn't take an interest in his child's life, leading to a child who is permissive and undemanding in disposition as well.
Personal Example
The way you interact with others and react to various situations creates a valuable example for your child. When you're calm, helpful and act with integrity, your child understands that behavior and holds it as a priority in his life. If you're dishonest, quick to anger or lazy, those behaviors are passed down to your children. Certain psychological diseases also take a toll on your child. PsychCentral contributor Richard O'Connor notes that depression often has a cyclical pattern between parents and children, proving that children simply act how they've learned is acceptable through their parents.
Family and Relationships
The way you approach your relationship toward other family members in general often affects the way your child interacts with others. For instance, a divorce can make your child feel angry and abandoned, while being in a same-gender relationship doesn't seem to affect children at all, according to the The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. When it comes to your approach to relationships in general, it's likely your attitude and approach that affects your child, not the actual person or the gender of those involved.
Parental Involvement
Your involvement in your child's success is an accurate indicator of overall achievement. Leave your child to flounder on his own and he may not do as well as a child who had encouragement and support at home. The Michigan Department of Education points out that parental involvement is twice the predictor of child academic success than that of socioeconomic status. Your child looks to you for support and encouragement, but when you take a passive role in his education, your behavior could result in negative implications.
References
- Cornell University; Parenting Styles and Adolescents; Kimberly Kopko
- PsychCentral; Depressed Parents and the Effects on Their Children; Richard O'Connor
- The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Children with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Parents; August 2006
- Michigan Department of Education; What Research Says About Parent Involvement in Children's Education; March 2002
