What is the difference between responsible and irresponsible parents? The answers to this question can be very different. For some, responsibility does not go beyond “fed, shod, and fed.” For others, it is simply unthinkable not to lead your child into almost all the most useful circles in the city. That is why there is a lot of debate about what responsible parenthood is and what approaches adults should take to raising their children.
The answer, as always, is somewhere in between. Each child is a separate person, and his path is to gradually move away from mom and dad. And the main task of adults is to teach children to live independently.
Who is a responsible parent?
There are many definitions and characteristics that indicate who they are, good fathers and mothers. In particular, they must be responsible. Everyone knows about this, of course. However, the understanding of what responsible parenthood is for most people is rather vague.
Everyone who educates his child, builds his own line of behavior. It is based, as a rule, on personal experience, as well as on memories of their own childhood. However, there are general recommendations of psychologists, intended for dads and mothers who strive for the formation of responsible parenthood.
What does this concept mean? Responsible parenthood is understood as a high degree of trust that adults show in relations with a child, and a balance of various aspects of education. This is their desire, as well as the ability to support their son or daughter financially, which should not prejudice the education of a growing person and the formation of personal qualities.
It should also be understood that responsible parenthood is not a condition. It is a process, or rather, a set of processes that occur in different directions.
It should be understood that the responsible parent is not the one who can be called kind. The latter concept characterizes only the emotional side of relations with the child. So, a good parent is always located towards his son or daughter, and therefore can provide him with greater independence. But in some cases this is regarded as the oblivion of many, and especially important aspects of a child’s life.
It is also impossible to draw parallels between responsible and caring parents. After all, if increased attention is paid to the child, in which the main thing is that he is healthy and not "worse than others", mothers and fathers are often not sufficiently engaged in the development of the spiritual life of their child and his character.
The main qualities of responsible parents
In daily parenting, dads and mothers should use the following key components:
- Communicative. Parents need to regularly communicate with their child, being aware of his preferences and interests. Responsible fathers and mothers are always ready to share his hobbies with the child, influencing them and adjusting if necessary within reasonable limits.
- Emotional. In contact with the child, parents should empathize with him. Listening to topics important to the son or daughter, mothers and fathers need to act as assistants or advisers. With emotional interaction, a child should respond. He will certainly open to the parent, telling about his experiences and discussing with him the problems.
- Normative. This is an element of socially responsible parenthood. What is it for? For the full socialization of a growing person with the simultaneous assimilation of the rules and norms accepted in society. In this direction, the parent should become an expert for the child, because an adult has the necessary experience in interacting with various social institutions, which his son or daughter does not have. Dads and mothers in this case should become an example to follow.
- Guardian. One of the most important tasks of any parent is to maintain and further strengthen the health of the child and his life. This is a responsible task, given the moment that taking care of children in the country, in particular, healthcare, is increasingly becoming paid.
- Economic. For parents belonging to the poor and the near-poor, material support for children often becomes a problem that overshadows everyone else, because the child must be adequately dressed and have pocket money. In some cases, mothers and fathers seek to pay for education, which in our country is increasingly being organized on a paid basis.
- Spiritual. In the existing conditions of a constant change in the society of value guidelines, it is important to instill in the child the ability to master the basic life values ​​that are priority for any society. This includes family and health, life and culture of the people. Sometimes the transfer of basic values ​​becomes the most difficult problem. Indeed, a child, even still in the family, is influenced by powerful information and value flows, which are far from always consistent with the instructions of the parents. These include the impact of television advertising, the Internet, peer groups and other socialization agents. Based on international experience, it becomes clear that the reproduction of all basic values ​​in any country can be made a process controlled. However, this will happen only when society itself is interested in preserving the spiritual heritage of its people.
Reaching maturity
Psychologists mean by responsible parenthood a concept that has two dimensions. The first of these involves the achievement of human maturity, including civil, spiritual, psychological, emotional and social.
All this allows him to successfully adapt in society and achieve a certain status. Only a mature person is able to bear responsibility. Only in this case is he able to fully educate his child. And if a person has not yet reached maturity? In this case, he is unlikely to become responsible for his children. Only after it will be possible to say about a person that he has matured as a person, there is no doubt that he will surely find a job, get housing, build a relationship in the family, etc. By maturity we also mean getting education, because it allows you to earn money and be financially secure. In social terms, maturity helps parents create all the conditions for the birth of a child and his upbringing.
Main functions
There is a second dimension to responsible parenthood. Under it, psychologists understand the performance by mothers and fathers of certain functions. Among them, there are basic ones related to the satisfaction of the material and physiological needs of children. This is housing, clothing and food.
Nevertheless, according to psychologists, the creation of good material conditions necessary for the birth and education of a son or daughter is a necessary condition for responsible parents, but not the only one. It is not enough for a child to simply feed and dress, to provide him with various socially significant benefits. Moms and dads need to be in the psychic reality of their child. And this is possible only if you spend time with your child, talk with him and try to figure out his problems. In other words, between the psychological, pedagogical and material impact on children, adults must find a middle ground.
Basic skills
How to become a responsible parent?
To do this, you need to master three basic skills. Adults need:
- actively listen to your baby, understanding what he wants to tell;
- be able to express their words and feelings in such a way that they are accessible for understanding of the child;
- when resolving conflict situations, use the principle of “both rights”, that is, do everything possible to ensure that all participants are satisfied with the result of the conversation.
Basic principles
Responsible parenthood is based on the following positions:
- Allow your child to be different from everyone else. A similar principle will give him a chance to discover his own potential and develop it, finding a life purpose.
- Allow children to make mistakes. Their own mistakes will help them to improve themselves and achieve new successes.
- Do not prevent the child from displaying negative feelings. Only in this way will he begin to control his emotions, which will allow him to gain confidence and the ability to work in a team.
- Let children want more. Only in this case will they begin to realize that they deserve it, and at the same time learn to put off their desires for later. The child should be able to dream more, rejoicing at the same time that he has.
- Allow son or daughter to say no. In this case, they will develop their will by defining a genuine and positive sense of self. A child who has the right to say “no” begins to become more aware of his own thoughts, feelings and desires. At the same time, he has the opportunity to show his inner core, which in the future will allow you to boldly go through life.
Problems of the modern family
Today, a rather contradictory situation is observed in society. On the one hand, it begins to turn its eyes to the needs and problems of the family, and on the other, a rather low level of adult competence in raising their children is observed.
Many mothers and fathers note that no one has ever taught them the formation of a culture of family life and responsible parenthood. They are raising their children on the basis of their life experience. Sometimes mothers and fathers use the path of trial and error. Many of them take their own upbringing as a model, which was not always constructive and competent.
Parent Education
Educational institutions do not stand apart from family problems. When planning work with moms and dads of students, they will certainly plan the organization of the School of Responsible Parenthood. In this case, pedagogical education is necessary for a number of reasons. Among them:
- the needs of modern society, which requires the interaction of social institutions and the family, which will allow the formation of value guidelines for the younger generation;
- Received innovative domestic and foreign experience in the education of the generation that will live in an ever-changing world;
- openness of the pedagogical community to society, innovation and past experience.
Principles of parental education
When considering issues of responsible parenthood at a parent meeting, the teacher needs to consider the following:
- Moms and dads have priority rights to raise their children. They must first of all take care of their well-being, health and development.
- During activities on responsible parenthood, the teacher needs to give only reliable information. In preparing the report, the teacher should use specialized medical, psychological, legal and other literature.
- When preparing an event on responsible parenthood, the information collected by the teacher should be practice-oriented. This will allow parents to use it in life without problems.
- When conducting a classroom or school-wide parenting meeting on responsible parenthood, mutual respect and cooperation must be sought. Only with trustful relations of specialists with moms and dads of students, as well as with a constructive search for solutions to urgent issues, it is possible to eliminate problems in raising children.
The main tasks of pedagogical education of parents
Why does an educational institution need to develop a responsible parenthood program? Such a system will provide mothers and fathers with an orientation field where they can obtain the optimal knowledge and conditions necessary for the normal upbringing of children in the family. In addition, activities carried out according to a pre-developed plan for responsible parenthood will provide advisory assistance. For many mothers and fathers, this will be an important help in overcoming the psychological, pedagogical and sociocultural problems that are directly related to the upbringing of children. The activities included in the responsible parenthood plan will also allow the process of setting adults their goals. This is necessary to achieve the most effective results of parenting.
In addition, among the main tasks of the responsible parenthood program are questions:
- increase the level of psychological comfort in every family;
- strengthening the motivation of parents to raise healthy children;
- instilling family values;
- teaching schoolchildren the skills and knowledge in the field of ethics and psychology that they will subsequently need to perform parental functions.
How effective the implementation of the program will be can be judged by the reviews of the parents. In addition, the criteria for obtaining positive results will be:
- The growth of parents' activity in the educational process of the child This should translate into increased attendance at school meetings. Also, an increasing number of parents should show a desire to undergo training under the program in question and participate in class and educational institution activities.
- The growth of adult social activity.
- Organization of children's free time by parents in the form of planning a child's vacation time and receiving additional education.
It is worth noting that the “Law on Responsible Parenthood” has been adopted in the Russian Federation. This document was developed by the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and is valid on its territory.