Children of parents who are involved with their schooling have higher educational and career goals, says a study conducted by Duke University. In fact, children raised by happily married couples are 44% more likely to gain a college degree and less likely to have a child out of wedlock, according to another study by Add Health, funded by the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This clearly underlines the role of parents in a child’s educational achievements, code of ethics and success in career path.
“At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.” This quote by Jane D. Hull also encompasses the importance of a parent’s role in a child’s future.
Too Much Parenting Advice
Parenting advice seems to be more forthcoming than what we can digest and implement. Most relatives, friends and the media are ever ready with advice on how to do it right. These suggestions can often be contradicting and extremely confusing. As parents, we tend to take absolute responsibility to ensure that our children not only excel academically and professionally, but also on a personal, spiritual and emotional level. This seems to take away from all the excitement and joy of parenting.
While we are advised greater involvement with our children, we also feel a sense of duty to secure their financial future. This not only means that we work hard enough to create a legacy, but that we save and invest our money carefully. We not only need to make the right investment choices, but also take term insurance to secure our children’s future in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
While we would love to do all these things to prepare our children for the ultimate battle – life, it is not as overwhelming as it may seem at first. A few simple tips can go a long way in ensuring we excel at parenting. Of course, we need to be creative and use our intuition to know what will work.
Tips for Parenting
- Be the Person That You Want Your Child to Be
Instead of showing them the way, walk the path that you’d like your children to take. Children typically consider their parents as ideals, and they emulate them. Children are great observers and learn more from the way you behave and how you prioritize than from preaching or lectures. For instance, when children see their parents being diligent at work, they learn to be more diligent with whatever they do. Being ethical, expressing love or having respect for others will teach your children to be the same way.
- Value for Money
Talk to your children about your struggles and how you work hard to earn the money to fulfil their needs and dreams. The talk should not sound like you expect them to be grateful for this. It should express how happy you feel to provide for them. Explaining your financial decisions would not only teach them to be careful with money, but also ensure that they learn how things work. For instance, you can tell them the benefits of life or term insurance and how it puts your mind to rest knowing that your family is financially secure even when you are not around.
- Spend Time with Your Children
Schedule time to spend with your children. It’s easy to get absorbed with work or household chores. Sometimes we get so engrossed watching a movie that we tend to dismiss what our children may be saying. So, schedule time consciously and let your children know this. You can dedicate time to just talking or being involved in their school work, hobbies or anything they are excited about. This will help strengthen your bond.
- Avoid Controlling Your Children
Children are not your puppets to train and control. Focus on inculcating the right values, keep channels of communication open and have confidence in their decision-making abilities.
- Secure Their Education
Quality of education is a critical aspect of your child’s future. To secure their education, you can invest in a child plan policy that will build a corpus for your child’s higher education. You can also consider a term insurance plan, as this will secure their future even in the unfortunate event of your demise.
- Be Aware of Their Whereabouts
While it’s very importance to give space to your children, it’s equally important to know more about their friends, what they love doing and the places they visit. Getting to know their friends and what your children spend time doing would give you an idea of the kind of people they are growing up to become.
Parenting is not an easy task! One needs a lot of patience and perseverance to bring up children. And there’s a great deal of decision making involved, from choosing the right school to choosing the right term insurance.
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