The Challenges of Parenting

Being a parent is a responsibility that can sometimes be romanticized in popular media. Depending on the goal of the writer, it’s not uncommon for parenthood to be depicted as endlessly fulfilling; something that always completes a person. And, to be sure, it can certainly be very fulfilling (depending on the person, of course). However, what these rose-tinted depictions often gloss over is all the hard work being a parent entails.

Because there is a lot of hard work involved; being a parent requires you to take responsibility for your child in so many different ways. Making sure they grow up physically and mentally is only one part of it, as you also have a large impact on their education. Because children start out with no life skills (marketable or otherwise), their education begins at home. This means that parents are the first teachers that their children have. Now, it goes without saying that this is a big responsibility just by itself. After all, the level of your child’s learning (as well as their attitude towards learning) will have a big impact on how they get started at school.

Being the one who has to kickstart their communication skills, numeracy and other areas can seem intimidating, but it’s best not to overthink it. This can be a danger because so many people try to pretend on social media that they’ve got it all figured out. This is, of course, a well-disguised pretence. Helping your child develop from ‘small screaming thing’ to ‘functioning member of society’ is a big task made up of many small steps. And no one gets every single one of those steps right.

And you don't need to become a master teacher in order to help your child to develop. After all, while every child is born without much in the way of skills, the one thing they all have in common is the fact that they all end up learning these skills. This isn't because every child except yours is born to an experienced teacher. It's because children have a built-in method of learning.

This method is called 'playing'. It turns out that long before they end up sitting in classrooms, children learn by having fun. It makes sense when you think about it. When everything is new to you, everything is a learning experience. And, of course, there's the factor of motivation. Young children tend to be remarkably unimpressed when you sit them down and try to talk to them about the importance of education. They don't give a huge amount of thought to their future.

But, while this might seem like a detriment to you helping them to develop, it's not really a problem. After all, another reason playing is the earliest way of learning is due to the fact that they enjoy doing it. Even without toys geared specifically towards learning, playing will still get them thinking and developing. And it's not like there's a shortage of toys that have an educational angle, either. Nor, for that matter, is it difficult to come up with games that will help them to learn and develop.

So, rather than worry about being perfect about encouraging your child’s learning, simply do your best and adjust as time goes on. Encourage them to be creative. Help them find information on subjects that interest them and, generally, work to help them to associate learning with having fun. Because if they find something fun, they’ll be encouraged to keep on doing it.

In conclusion, being a parent is a lot of responsibility, but there’s plenty of help and guidance out there for you.