Introduction
The relationships between parents and children are substantially more complicated than they may seem to be at first sight. Many make mistakes in those, being unaware of the roles they are supposed to play. The key points, which people frequently neglect, are the need for parents to be nurturers, never-ending personal development, and the risks with which the prevalence of emotional motives for parenthood is associated.
Main body
Many of those who have children are not ready to raise them as appropriate. I am not an exception; my parents tried to turned me into their continuation rather than foster the development of a separate unique personality. According to Marcin (2020), such behavior marks egocentrism; this trait prevents a person from being a good nurturer, as the latter presupposes the ability to share energy, not only accumulate it. I hope that my awareness of this will help me be less self-centered in my personal communication and become a better parent in the future.
Neither is an opposite situation favorable, where mothers and fathers forget their own needs, focusing on those of their children. Gestwicki (2016) highlights that everybody, including parents, plays the social role of an individual, which presupposes personal advancement and continuous maturation. Those, therefore, should not cease with the appearance of a child; for instance, I doubtlessly will do my favorite hobby further. In fact, it is hardly possible to support the other in their development if a person does not realize what it means.
Finally, it is critical to apply ratio to raising children to find the relevant approaches. The most frequent reasons why people become parents, such as moral values or the desire “to invest in the human race” are emotion-based (Berry, 2018, para. 3). Meanwhile, such attitude may interfere with analytical and critical thinking, in which case parents become subjective and begin to force their views on the next generation. As I said, my parents did that; due to this, I still
have difficulties formulating my own desires.
Summary
To summarize, the essential components of successful parenthood are the preference of nurturing over dictating, personal advancement, and rational thinking. Without those, avoiding toxicity and negligence in relationships with children is impossible. My personal life partly exemplifies the latter fact; in particular, I am still experiencing the consequences of my family’s improper performance. This, however, apparently can help me avoid similar mistakes in my own parental experience.
References
Berry, M. (2018, May 19). 5 reasons we become parents. The Good Men Project. Web.
Gestwicki, C. (2016). Home, school, and community (9th Ed.). Cengage.
Marcin, A. (2020). Understanding and dealing with toxic parents and co-parents. Healthline. Web.