Single Parenting - Revealing the Authority Figure

Growing up in an environment full of authority figures creates experiences that may put more harm than good things for the children. Ordering the children to do this and that, and don't do this and that is one example of how authority figures tend to manipulate the young minds.

Parents and all adults in the house who think that they are more knowledgeable and more experienced than the children are providing argument that is rapidly becoming obsolete. Age and education do not always provide the best measurement to gauge one's intelligence and wisdom. As more and more intelligent if not fully gifted children are born every day, grown-ups are often lost for the best reason to stop whatever "unlikely thing" a child is doing. Of course, an unlikely thing for an adult is usually the best thing for a child.

Many parents would like to see their children excel in school. In their excitement to raise highly intelligent children, they choose the best and often expensive school, hire tutors or exert additional time teaching their children. They do everything to be proud of their children.

However, most parents only think of intelligence in the academic sense. Marks and grades have become their way of measuring the children's development. If they are not performing according to the standards of the parents (which are usually the standards of the school and the teachers), the children receive unkindly remarks or even punishment. The children are compared openly with siblings, relatives or other children. If the other child is performing well than the other, the latter receive more scolding. Parents usually defend their arguments by saying they are only after the good of their children.

The negative words parents say to their children only belittle them and make them feel inferior. Growing up, they would find it difficult to build themselves and trust people, try new things and face challenges of the ever changing world. Any loving parent would not want this.

If the child is not performing well in school, there is definitely something that a responsible loving parent should try to know about the child. The child maybe experiencing trauma from school or from the immediate environment; feeling some pain or any form of sickness; having more fun with non-academic activities such as sports; or maybe too active to withstand formal schooling. Whatever the reason is, the parent has to understand and support the child in whatever way possible. Some tips on this will be shared in the next article.