Essay Example on Parenting Relationships: A Vital Interpersonal Bond

Introduction

Interpersonal relationship refers to as a strong and cohesive association between individuals that may range for a long duration from being brief to enduring. An interpersonal relationship may be defined under different context such as family relationship, friendship, marriage, parenting and place of work (Berscheid and Pamela 2). Parenting relationship being one of the interpersonal relationship, consist of the relationship between parents and their children. Parenting relationship consists of a hierarchical and vertical form of relationship that demonstrates how parents care for their children as well as how the children obey their parents (Raby et al 115). Personally, I will consider discussing parental relationship which I have a lot of experience in. My experienced parental relationship was defined under two main perspectives which involved; parenting style I experience in my parental relationship and, the strengthening factors in my parental relationship. In my reflective paper, I aim at analysing how the parental relationship was all about in my side relating to various elements and theories of interpersonal communication. My analysis will be based on support on how parental relationship has been of good effect on me.

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Being an adult now, I really possess a lot of respect to my parent for the well, calm and sober parental relationship they gave to me since I was born up to now when I can take care of myself. Due to their support and guidance in several instances of life, I have grown to whom I am now, both physical, psychological and socially. All this growth was determined by the two earlier mentioned factors which are:

Parenting Style

Generally, parenting style plays a greater role in the future life of a child. Positive parenting results in positive morals while negative parenting style result into negative morals of a child in future (Raboteg and Marija 753). Each parenting style goes on changing depending on the child age. To me, my credit goes to my father and mother for the upright and positive parenting style they applied on me to be whom I believe I am. The dynamic in their consistency way in their style of parenting was characterised with different factors which involved:

Warm and loving interaction

Relating to this parenting style factor, I admit I was glad to have a very good opportunity to connect with my parent. In several scenarios, my parents acted as warmers in their expression toward me. I really appreciate the well-spent time with my father who in many instances smiled to me whenever I presented anything to him no matter its condition whether correct or incorrect, he always encouraged our interaction. His constant high connection with me made me feel listened whenever we interacted a condition that installed a lot of courage in me. Going back to ecological theory, the model assumes that the parenting system and its part are interdependent whereby they operate in relation to each other (Pleck 198). This ideal was fully demonstrated in my experience on parental relationship whereby despite my tender age, my parent still valued my ideas no matter how relevant or irrelevant it was but most importantly they gave me a listen and proved back to me in a constructive manner as to why I was either wrong or correct. Reflecting in one example scenario, I once gave a suggestion to have our house light bulb be replaced with the coloured bulb which I had seen lighting in one of the restaurants and loved them. My suggestion was listened well but my farther elaborated to me that the idea will not work in the room since I needed enough light to study and avoid eye strain. I really felt appreciated and understood the sense in my father’s response.

Having boundaries, rules and consequences

Despite all being in one family, each person is bound to various rules that if broken, consequences may occur. According to the theory of social exchange, interpersonal communication is enhanced through its development from shallow interaction to a wider relationship. The theory implicates that people are always aware of one another concern and requirements hence this enrich productive communication among individuals (Cook et al 93). Thus, in every family, the parent stands at the first place to ensure the children are able to define the relationship boundaries, rules and consequences associated with the failure since thy are aware of their children requirements. Considering the parenting style exercised in my entire growth has really contributed to my social development. The boundary structure and guidance demonstrated by both my father and mother helped me to understand how to interact with people based on their statuses such as age different, family relationship and the general public at large. In most of the time, my father talked to me on the things he expected me to do whereby he made sure I understood. As a boy child, my father had knowledge of the context that was worthy to address me. In most of the time, he called me to his study room whereby he always welcomed me with a tone of credit “welcome the father of tomorrow|”. In his address, he always majored on courtesy. Due to the close relationship with my father, he saw me as a behaved child whereby most of the time he advised me on the need to keep boundaries and various consequences that may result if not adhered to. He taught me the need to respect my elders and the aged in the society as well as the need to respect the window and the poor. Moreover, he also demonstrated to me the existing boundaries between me and them as my parent. I once remember his statement which he said” I am advising you as my son but also remember I am your farther you have to respect me too, but don’t fear to approach me on matters that you feel are disturbing” This statement really made me feel the importance of a parental relationship in once growth.

Strengthening factors in my parental relationship

A strong connection between a parent and a child forms an important ground for developing a strong parental relationship. Based on family relationship theory, the primary focus is placed on behaviour exchange of the family. This theory holds that interaction pattern between members of a family call forth, uphold, and preserve both problem and nonproblematic behaviour (VanFleet and Risë 13). In relation to this theory, continuous family member’s interaction determines the final behaviour extracted from the family relationship. Considering my personal experience on the parental relationship, this theory seems to have played a greater part in strengthening my parental relationship that is elaborated in the bases of the following factors;

Parent confession on they love their children

Generally, every parent loves their children. However, a further initiative by a parent to tell their child from their mouth “I love you my child” no matter what age a child is creates a lot of emotions that in a way leads to the strengthening of parental and child relationship. From the experience, this factor of parent confession contributed highly to my current psychological and social upstairs. Recalling in several instances, my father and mother used to confess their love to me despite the status of the condition. More importantly, even on difficult days, my father used to express his love for me though, on the other hand, he showed me how wrong I was but expressed it with love and concern. Through this, the factor demonstrates how nonproblematic behaviour was preserved in my family.

Playing together

Plying forms an important part in the development of children both physically and psychologically. Parental engagement with their children in playing initiate morale in them where they build an understanding that playing is an important part of life. From ecological system theory, human development is considered to be influenced by different environmental systems( Lerner and Jacqueline 26). Parent introducing their children to plying which is also a part of the environmental system enhances their growth. A similar scenario was witnessed in my growth whereby at an age of five years my farther introduced me in playing whereby he used to teach me different playing skills mainly in football. Through him introducing me to the environmental system of games, it enhanced my skills in various games activities which I was able to learn from his initial introduction. Frankly speaking, despite not being in a big club of high leagues in the world, through him I have really done a lot in games from school and local competitions where I have received a number of awards due to my performance in football and volleyball and I really appreciate his relationship as my parent and my mother as well who in all those events was always there encouraging me.

Works Cited

Berscheid, Ellen S., and Pamela C. Regan. The psychology of interpersonal relationships. Psychology Press, 2016.

Cook, Karen S., et al. "Social exchange theory." Handbook of social psychology. Springer, Dordrecht, 2013. 61-88.

Lerner, Jacqueline V., et al. Positive youth development. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2009.

Pleck, Joseph H. "Why could father involvement benefit children? Theoretical perspectives." Applied development science 11.4 (2007): 196-202.

Raboteg-Saric, Zora, and Marija Sakic. "Relations of parenting styles and friendship quality to self-esteem, life satisfaction and happiness in adolescents." Applied Research in Quality of Life 9.3 (2014): 749-765.

Raby, K. Lee, et al. "The interpersonal antecedents of supportive parenting: A prospective, longitudinal study from infancy to adulthood." Developmental psychology 51.1 (2015): 115.

VanFleet, Risë. "Filial therapy: Strengthening family relationships with the power of play." (2011).