How Much Should Freedom Parents Give to Their Children? - Research Paper

Introduction

One of the primary responsibilities of parents in the contemporary society is to make sure that they raise their children following the right path so that the children can grow up as responsible members of the society with the right behavior. A majority of the parents have prioritized the acquisition of education for their children and also discipline. It should be noted that children need some freedom so that they can be able to develop the self-confidence which is required for them to build self-confidence. Freedom for children, in this case, can be generally defined as allowing the children to do whatever that they want as long as they do not engage in acts which are considered to be illegal. However, in the recent past, there have been many changes in the lifestyle of the society which has made many parents not to trust their children with the freedom which is required, such parents take action to control the lifestyle of their children and activities that they get involved in. According to studies which have been conducted, denying the children their freedom will lead to stress and children might not be able to develop the proper self-confidence (Torres, 2016). On the other hand, giving children much freedom might cause the children to engage in irresponsible activities which might affect their growth as responsible and disciplined children. In this paper, we will be focused on determining the amount of freedom that the children should receive from their parents. The research questions which this research will be focused on answering include: Should parents give their children freedom? How does lack of freedom impact the growth of the children? What kind of decisions should the parents allow the children to make? And, how does freedom help the developmental growth of the children? Through researching these questions, it will be possible to determine how much freedom should the parents give the children and the impacts that this freedom has on the developmental growth of the children. Children's freedom needs to be controlled; this is because children are not yet mature enough to make their own decisions. However, parents should give freedom to their children to allow them to make decisions so that they can develop the confidence which they require for developmental growth.

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Why Parents Should Give Enough Freedom to Children

Over the decades, it has been noted that parents have been controlling much of the decisions and the activities which are done by their children. This was seen as a way of managing the behavior of the children and ensuring that they lead a responsible life so that they can achieve the goals and objectives that they have set in life. However, this has not been the case; it has been found that children who have been denied the required freedom in doing their activities and making fundamental decisions in their life often become rebellious, they often overuse the social media networks, and they grow up disrespecting their parents (Livingstone & Third, 2017). It is necessary to allow the children to have their freedom so that they cannot grow up to develop some of the bad traits. Giving the required freedom to the children by the parents is also a sign that the parents trust their children. It is unlikely that children who are trusted by their parents can rebel or can develop some of the traits which are not required while they are growing up.

Most of the time, children spend their time with their parents, as they continue to grow, they get exposed to the outside world, and they are required to make their own decisions so that they can continue to attain personal development. While the children are with their parents, the parents are needed to allow the children to make some necessary decisions so that they can be able to prepare themselves for the outside world. Without practice and experience, once the children are exposed to the outside world, they are bound to make mistaken decisions, and they might not be able to find ways to rectify the mistakes and analyze their decisions to justify them before they make them. Giving the children the freedom to make decisions while they are under their parents will allow them the chance to learn the different ways through which they can make decisions and the way that they can analyze the decisions which they have made. As the children grow into their teenage years and adulthood, the parents need to make the rules which deny them freedom more flexible so that the children can have more freedom to make their decisions and also achieve the required experience to interact with the outside world.

Trust is seen as one of the most significant issues which are affecting the relationship between the children and their parents. For any relationship to be productive, trust should be viewed as an essential building block. Parents who do not offer their children the freedom that they require even when making some basic decisions in life like choosing their friends means that they do not trust their children. Because of this, the relationship between the parents and the children is often affected. Children need to have a good relationship between them and their parents so that they have a holistic development. It is only through trust that the children can be able to achieve the required relationship with their parents which will foster proper development. It can be seen that by trusting their children, parents are required to accord their children some form of freedom so that they can make some fundamental decisions in their life. It is because of this that the children need to be accorded more independence from their parents.

The child-parent relationship is a significant relationship which is not only built on trust that is created by children getting their freedom but also being open to one another. Parents who are often mean to their children, or those parents that do not offer the required freedom to their children cause the children to turn up against them. In most cases, the children are not open to their parents, and the parents cannot understand the things that are happening in the lives of their children. Children who have been given enough freedom often share their challenges with their parents, and they get assistance if there is any problem which needs the intervention of the parents. This is because of the relationship which has been developed between the parent and the child. However, children whose parents have not given them the required freedom are not open with them. This means that they do not have an efficient relationship where the children can openly share their challenges with the parents and seek solutions if there is any problem. The children in this instance seem to be rebellious, and they are not able to handle some of the challenges that they face, this adversely impacts their personal development.

According to statistics, children who are given less freedom from their parents are more likely to rebel. Parents who often coddle their children have reported numerous cases of their children rebelling against them as a result of trying to earn their freedom from their parents. In many cases, this starts with lies; children often come up with lies to try and find ways to convince their parents to let them have their freedom, the trait of lying is often not encouraged in growing children as it could indicate a possibility of integrity issues when the child eventually grows up (Sankofa, 2016). Rebellious children also end up drinking or doing drugs; this is because many of them end up meeting with friends who have bad influences. The children feel like they are trapped in some solitude and they often become desperate to find ways of freeing themselves from the bondage. One of the ways that the children find proper to let themselves out of such bondage is to be friends with other children or adults who are rebellious, and they end up developing traits which are not good and also engaging in activities that are not good.

Children should be allowed to do what they feel is best for their lives as long as it does not conflict with the set of laws and regulations. The parents should also set their requirement through which the conduct of the children will be guided. This means that the children should be given the freedom that they require to do anything that they want to do as long as they do not go against the set standards and regulations. In case the children commit a mistake, misuse their freedom to do something which they are not allowed to do, the parents need to admonish them of the mistakes which have been committed. This way the children can learn from their mistakes and gain experience on how to use their freedom and make decisions in the future. Through such a learning experience, the children can achieve personal development on how to analyze situations and make decisions which are useful for their lives.

According to children, the freedom which they require, parents can make sure that the children will be able to develop their life skills. For instance, if a child is allowed to make his or her friends, it means that the child will be able to develop social skills and effective communication skills. Children also need to be allowed to have their own possessions; through this, the children will be able to learn about responsibility and how to handle property. However, the children should be monitored on the way that they select their friends and the way that they care for their property by the parents so that they can make proper decisions. This also works as a learning process which will help the child develop skills which are essential in life.

The society is a crucial unit in the personal development of an individual. Parents need to make sure that their children have the right interactions with society so that when they can be able to achieve the required personal development. The children need the freedom to interact with individuals who are found within the community; this is essential for the children to understand the different aspects of the community and how their interaction will help them grow in life.

Why Parents Should Control the Freedom of the Children

The freedom which is offered to the children, especially teenagers, should be controlled. This is because allowing too much freedom to the teenagers to make some of the critical decisions in their lives might affect their ability to achieve personal development and also grow to achieve the goals which they have set in life. Giving the freedom to the children need to be a process which is controlled, and children should be allowed to make some decisions when the parents are sure that the children can make justified decisions on their own. The freedom which is given by the parent should be in a step by step manner; this means that a child has to prove his or her ability in solving some of the small challenges faced before being allowed to make major decisions in life (Villeneuve et al., 2017). Children also require the guidance of their parents when making decisions; this is because, in many cases, children are bound to make mistakes and the parents need to help them through offering guidance on how to rectify their mistakes and not repeat them. It is because of this reason that parents need to control the actions of the children in a controlled manner; the children should not receive full freedom as they are bound to make some bad decisions that might affect their development.

Children are often viewed as being not mature enough to make their own decisions. As children, it should be understood that each decision which they make should be justified and that according to studies, most of the children do not have the necessary experience to justify som...