The Meaning of Parenting Children, Principles, and Materials
Parenting a child is the upbringing of a child carried out by parents or other adults with the main goals, among others: to prepare the child to be beneficial to themselves and others, to ensure the child's health and safety, and to pass on the values held by the family to the child.
Based on the meaning of parenting a child above, several principles of parenting and supporting materials arise to achieve the goals of parenting.
Principles
There are several principles that need to be considered in parenting a child. Here is the review.
1. Be a Role Model
Parents often ask their children to be good, but they do not set an example. A common occurrence among parents is that the father smokes but forbids his child from smoking.
Children will not be able to refrain from smoking because they see their parents looking cool while smoking. If you become a parent, then the way for your child not to smoke is for you not to smoke.
Children will see what their parents do as something cool and worth being proud of. Therefore, being a role model is one way to teach children about the goodness you want for them.
If you want your child to read diligently, then you must often be seen reading by your child.
2. Don't Spoil Them
Affection does not mean spoiling. Sometimes parents cannot distinguish between affection and spoiling. For example, in household chores such as washing their own dishes.
If children are not accustomed to washing their own dishes, then even when they grow up, they will not want to wash dishes. This will be troublesome for you in the future.
3. Let Them Be Independent
By nature, young children like to try new things and want to be independent in doing many things. However, sometimes it is the parents who make them dependent.
Some cases where young children want to be independent include a 1-year-old wanting to eat by themselves, holding their own food. However, because they are still small and their motor skills are still in the learning phase, of course, the food they hold will be messy everywhere. Sometimes parents are impatient with the mess and choose to feed them.
You may feed them, but intersperse it with letting them eat by themselves even if it gets messy. The same goes for other activities, such as washing dishes, washing clothes, hanging clothes, and other household chores.
4. Appreciate Their Actions
One important principle of parenting is to give appreciation when a child achieves something. The goal is certainly to encourage the child to be more enthusiastic about completing the challenges you set.
5. Set Rules (Do and Don’t)
Almost in every line of organization, there are rules. Likewise, when educating children, you must establish rules about what should be done and what should not be done.
If you have ever participated in OSIS training during high school, you will recognize the term Do and Don’t. You can also give positive points for each Do and negative points for each Don’t. Each time a certain point is reached, it can be exchanged for a reward.
6. Spend Time
Just like farming, parenting also requires attention and time. You must set aside special time for your child. It is indeed not easy, especially when you are tired from work. However, you will not know your child's progress until you provide special time for them to teach many things and see how far they have developed.
Materials
With the principles mentioned above, you can apply parenting using the following parenting materials.
1. Knowing Oneself and the Universe
For children who can talk, you can teach them about who they are, where they come from, and also about the universe, including who their God is.
By teaching this, the child will be prompted to ask many questions. You must prepare logical answers. Do not answer with lies.
2. Memorization
Memorization is the foundation of all knowledge. If you are a Muslim, you can teach your child to memorize the Quran. By getting used to memorizing, it will make it easier for them to learn subsequent knowledge.
3. Learning to Read and Count
Reading and counting are basic human needs. Both also need to be memorized. You can teach simple reading and counting starting from the age of 3.
4. Reading Exemplary Stories
Almost all children around the world are very enthusiastic when hearing stories. You can see for yourself how you liked being told stories before bed when you were little.
To avoid waste, the stories read should be exemplary stories that do not contain lies. Because if the stories are fictional, then in the child's mind, the goodness described will be seen as mere nonsense.
5. Engaging in Discussions and Problem Solving
Although young children do not have perfect thinking skills, you can stimulate them by engaging them in discussions and problem-solving. For example, you can challenge them to find the path from a maze you have created.
6. Loving the Young, Respecting the Elderly
By nature, young children will respect the elderly and love the young. You must maintain this nature by loving your children and teaching them to love their younger siblings.
7. The Importance of Healthy Food
Young children are often tempted by brightly colored foods. Especially when at school, children will buy snacks indiscriminately because they see the bright colors of the snacks. You can teach your child which snacks are allowed to buy and which are not.
8. Choosing Good Friends
Friends have a significant influence on children. A child who likes to insult does so because their friends do. A child who lies does so because their friends lie. Finding good friends for your child is important and quite difficult, especially if you live in a chaotic environment.
Ideally, when choosing a place to live, you should look for a good environment. So that your child can be friends with good friends as well. If your child befriends positive friends, they will also catch the positive attitude.
9. Experimental Activities
To relieve the child's stress, you can create experimental activities. For example, cutting paper into flower shapes, cooking, planting sprouts, and similar activities. Besides relieving stress, the child will indirectly gain new knowledge. You can make these experimental activities once a week or once a month.
10. Recognizing Emotions (Anger, Sadness, Happiness, etc.)
Teaching children to recognize their emotions is very important. Children need to know why they feel the way they do. Whether they are angry, sad, happy, or otherwise.
Most girls find it difficult to recognize their emotions, especially to identify the causes. Even as they grow up, they may become unstable and unclear individuals. This is because their parents did not teach them to identify emotions. Thus, the child also does not know how to resolve those emotions.
Author: Iskael
