Characteristics Of Being A Good Parent Essay

Have you ever been asked by a fellow parent advice when it comes to parenting? Is there an exact science to having characteristics of being a good parent and raising children? I would say absolutely not! There isn’t always an exact science to most things in life but you sure can stick to some of the basics when preparing for the process of raising children. As long as parents are sure that their actions are ethical and lead to the holistic development of their children, they do justice to parenting their little ones. From my experience, on the outside looking in, being physically, emotionally and financially ready is the start to being a good parent as this forms a solid and proper foundation for children being raised with love, compassion, responsibility and discipline. In my opinion, these are a few characteristics of being a good parent.
Right from changing the diapers of little ones and dealing with their mischief at inopportune times to keeping the dear ones out of danger, parenting can take a real toll on parents amid their hectic everyday engagements. Parenting is all about taking care of little ones, whose behavior often resembles drunken individuals, as they always leave remnants of untidiness and destruction along their path. Therefore, raising children is in fact a lot of work requiring patience and unconditional love as two essential characteristics of parents. In other words, parenting calls for impeccable physical and mental guts on the part of parents to care for their children with love and compassion. Physical as well as mental health of parents is important before they try to nurture and raise their children. For instance, during early childhood, parents are challenged by little kids who frequently make things helter-skelter at home frequently. Unless they are taken care of by close supervision, children will end up in trouble that may threaten their very life. The more healthy parents are the more they enjoy their childhood gimmicks and tricks that help them connect to them easily. Furthermore, raising children with discipline warrants parents to practice good disciplines by caring their mental health as well. One of the earlier lessons parents are expected to teach their children is obedience. As discipline is the foundation of obedience, parents who build strong boundaries for their little ones and enforce strict discipline invest significantly in the future development of their children apart from ensuring a happy environment at home. At the same time, when children grow, parents are responsible for guiding them to make right decisions, which is possible if they connect emotionally to their children. In brief, maintaining physical and emotional health is essential for parents to ensure the holistic development of their growing children.
Secondly, parents are to be financially willing and ready to care for the needs of their children, irrespective of the circumstances influencing their financial status from time to time. There are rare parents who never feel guilty about their parenting style as they wonder if they were doing the right thing as a parent while finding it tough to maintain good work life balance. In other words, it is quite natural for parents to feel compelled to withstand work pressure in the interests of their children rather than their workplace requirements. Many a time, families are challenged with financial needs that reflect in the relationships between both parents before their relationship with their children. Therefore, effective parenting lies in taking good care of the children without allowing financial constraints play havoc on good family relationships. In the first place, parents can overcome their guilt of not being able to spend time with their children by ensuring good care at child care centers during their absence and spending quality time with them whenever possible, preferably during the weekends. Similarly, they can openly discuss their problems with growing children that would win them the respect of the dear ones. Financial commitment to fulfill the needs of the children does not mean gratifying all their demands immediately. On the other hand, parents must help growing children prioritize their requirements instead of yielding to all their demands. Such training would help them understand the value of money and make them responsible financial planners in future. One good news for parents who are challenged with the guilt feeling of not being able to adequately fulfill the needs of their growing children due to financial constraints: children only wish for parents who are ‘good enough’ if not ‘financially enough.’ Being effective role models therefore transcends earning much and fulfilling all immediate wants of children.
Teaching children effective problem solving skills is the key to effective parenting. This also means that effective parenting is not about fulfilling all the demands of children and taking decisions on behalf of them. Instead, children need to be introduced to the stark realities of life through parenting. More importantly, rather than advising children to solve problems making them understand the realities that influence them to take their own decisions will help them master disciplines. This also guides them to learn important life lessons and take control of their lives rather than depending on their parents at all times. At the same time, this demands parents to closely monitor their children and interfere at the appropriate time to correct them. Through responsible parenting parents define limits for the behavior and action of their children. Again, fixing the limits does not stem from the perspective of keeping children always pacified, but from a genuine interest on their development and increase their self-confidence. In other words, there are no standard rules for managing children because parenting is not a definable science, but a subjective experience influenced by the past and cherished values of parents. At the same time, parents apply different approaches to deal with children of different ages. For example, a toddler and an adult child require entirely different parenting approaches. If protecting the lives of children is more important by timely feeding them and monitoring their movements when they are small, as they grow up parenting strategy shifts to grooming their mind and training them to face the challenges of life by influencing their thinking.
The fruit of good parenting is children maturing into self-confident adults. An important characteristic of parents to ensure their children evolving into responsible and confident adults is by seeing them as fellow human beings and treating them with respect rather than taming them by inflicting punishments. Understanding the truth that one’s children do not come from him, instead they come through him helps parents to see their children from an entirely new perspective. Therefore, showing one’s bossism and instilling fear while raising children is completely uncalled for. Consequently, self-awareness that helps parents in understanding the mystery of human life guides parents to raise children as independent human beings instead of making them feel unsecured by controlling them.
In conclusion, parenting is a strong and unconditional commitment on the part of a man and woman who come together in marriage to take care of their children so as to ensure their growth and development in future as responsible citizens. Even as there are no defined rules for parenting it does warrant certain basic characteristics for the caretakers. As children are more likely to imbibe the qualities of their parents, responsible parenting calls for parents to discipline their children by being true role models themselves. Physical and mental health along with financial soundness no doubt helps in effective parenting. However, in light of growing children confronting a changing environment that is continually subjected to the influence of various unfavorable forces, parents can be still more effective if they continue to watch the influencing forces on their dear ones. Facilitating children to learn on their own and take effective decisions by constant monitoring is important to ensure their development as they reach adulthood. In brief, effective parenting is all about a continuous responsibility on the part of parents to groom children for the future through unconditional love with a willingness to earn and maintain physical and emotional health of their own at all times.