Parenting: Responsibility, Values and Character Building - Essay Sample

Introduction

Parenting is one of the most significant responsibilities for every human being. It entails instilling values and characteristics into the offspring until they are mature enough and can make their own reasonable decision. Parenting comes with very great responsibility because it can be weighed and instead considered to be a success or a failure depending on how the individual will behave. More so, parenting also to cooperate some of the personality traits into the children (McCullough & Shaffer, 2014). For example, children raised in families with domestic violence tend to have their unique characters, while those who have been raised in peaceful families will have their unique traits. There are different types of parenting, having single and nuclear kinds of parenting. Single parenting is when one person heads the family, and this can be due to a few reasons such as divorce, demise, and other unavoidable circumstances. On the other hand, nuclear parenting comprises of both spouses taking care of their children in the same household.

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Among the few advantages of single parenting, there is no divided attention among the children. All the children will be entirely devoted to the one parent they know. It is because there is no conflict of interest on who the children like more (Cable, G. (2017). Secondly, all decisions are made by one person. When it comes to critical decision making, there will be no arguments as to what is best because all thus, arrangements will be made by one person on what is best for the children. Also, when it comes to managing of family funds, all the finances are managed by entirely one person. It also creates a spirit of independence where you don't depend upon anyone for support. Every need of the family is solemnly catered for by one parent. Besides, children in a single-parent home tend to be more responsible in doing family chores and other family-related activities.

The advantages of nuclear parenting include financial stability. It is facilitated by both parents working together to raise funds for the family. Most of the family needs are quickly and adequately catered for because there are adequate family resources. Secondly, nuclear parenting facilitates behavior success. This is because the couple contributes to the behavior shaping of the children. Nuclear parenting also supports education (Chen & Chan, 2016). Most of the kids raised from nuclear parenting with both learned couples tend to be more learned compared to their parents. Health advantages are also a benefit of nuclear parenting. The kids tend to be healthier because they receive adequate care from both parents. It is also very easy to check their health conditions when both parents are taking care of the children.

On the side, single parenting also has several disadvantages, and one of them being lack of funds (Wong, Gonzales & Montano, 2014). This is because one parent cannot take care of the family very effectively due to decreased income. Schedule changes are a disadvantage because the parent has to play both the roles of a father and a mother. Children tend to have a negative feeling about the other parent as to why he or she is not there, and this might lead to stress (McCullough & Shaffer, 2014). Nuclear parenting has several disadvantages too. Exclusion of extended family because all the attention is drawn to the small family. Another challenge comes to decision making as the couples can have different opinions, and this can lead to a conflict.

Conclusion

In conclusion, parenting requires a lot of knowledge and understanding. Children tend to learn more from their parents than the actual world itself. Parents should be keen on the decision they make as they affect the children. And they should be keen on their public picture in front of their children as children tend to copy nearly everything.

References

Bogels, S., & Restifo, K. (2014). An Evolutionary Perspective on Parenting and Parenting Stress. In Mindful Parenting (pp. 15-39). Springer, New York, NY.

Cable, G. (2017). Fathers experiences of single parenting.

Chen, M., & Chan, K. L. (2016). Effects of parenting programs on child maltreatment prevention: A meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 17(1), 88-104.

McCullough, C., & Shaffer, A. (2014). Maternal depressive symptoms and child externalizing problems: Moderating effects of emotionally maltreating parenting behaviors. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(2), 389-398.

Wong, J. J., Gonzales, N. A., Montano, Z., Dumka, L., & Millsap, R. E. (2014). Parenting intervention effects on parental depressive symptoms: examining the role of parenting and child behavior - Journal of Family Psychology, 28(3), 267.