Children Expectation From Parents

Children in the beginning years don’t understand that why they are living? They only want two important things to always be with them, first their parents and other their favourite toy because initially, these form 2 important elements in their life. Things change as the child grows. Majorly their needs depend on what they see like, ‘the neighbour’s child is petting a dog, and we’ll pet one too’ or in another situation, the need could be emotional like, ‘Tommy’s mom loves him so much and pick him up every day from school but my mom is always busy at work’. The needs may vary but the important thing is to identify the nature of the need i.e., It is useful or harmful to the child’ or ‘Will the fulfilment of need have a positive or negative effect’ etc…, Expectations depend on their age groups and it can be classified into three main categories namely:

• 1 to 4 years
• 5 to 13 years
• 14 to 18 years

The first age group, i.e., 1-4 years. Here, every child wants everything from their parents because they are always around the child.

To mention some aspects: –

Basics at their Best: This may involve basic aspects like bathing, feeding, comforting, clothing etc., there are many situations where the child has no interest to be a part of any above-mentioned activities but the parents should make sure they add some interesting factors like bubbles in the bath or introducing new toys, which makes a child to explore things.

• Patience, the Best Policy: The most common art every child carries with proudness are ‘throwing tantrums’.Many parents just raise their voice to stop them as they get irritated. This later becomes a habit and turns into a medium to stop the child.
• Know the Limit: One should know when to stop a child. For example, if a child is hitting other children and if we just look at it and laugh it gives them encouragement and they will continue to do it. So one should immediately stop a child if the action he/she is not eligible.

The second age group, i.e.., 5-13 years. This is the age where a child goes out and experiences the environment outside. It’s like a butterfly, when it comes out of the cocoon it wishes to see the world. Some important things to look at are: –

• Increased Wants: This is the age where children’s wants exceeds their needs. Parents usually find it troubling and sometimes are exasperated by satisfying their needs. One thing which can be done is to encourage them to learn new things like playing music or joining an abacus class etc., this would keep them busy and their wants would match their needs.
• Urgent Need to Guide and Protect Them: This is the age where a child copies all so-called cool things from what they see. For instance, let’s consider a child is performing stunts with his bicycle and the other wants to copy it without having the knowledge of the consequence of it. The activities may vary and it all depends on the environment one’s living and the control one has on their children.

Give Them Your Time: Time is an important factor which can improve or worsen things. When we say give them time, it means to spend time with them going out let’s say to a park, sit down and watch television with them doesn’t matter if its cartoon, laugh along with them etc., By this, a child would imbibe some of your characters which he/she is fascinated with. Let’s say you help a beggar by giving him some money, by doing this you are leaving a good impression on your child.

The third age group, i.e…, 14-18 years. In this stage, children develop a sense of adulthood and are looking to get involved in the decision-making process in a family. In this stage distractions are a common activity, but if one understands one’s child and this teenage phase, everything will go just fine. To sum up, a parent should have 2 modes i.e., first as a parent and other being a friend.

• Emotional Understanding: Every child wants their parent to be their friend, so he/she would express their emotions. One benefit of having openness is that they share a sensitive aspect which they face in everyday life. They’ll treat you as their closest friend, which is a good sign for a healthy relationship between parents and children.
• To Have Family talks with parents: Every child dreams to have their point of view in the family and sometimes don’t entertain situations where the parents pen down their never-ending life experiences. They want a talk where both sides listen to each other and a child can express what he feels/what he wants. They hate if they are judged by their viewpoints and always see things from a parent perspective.
• Comparison: This is the common aspect among many parents where they compare their child with another. They say that you should ‘be like him/her’ in studying, dancing, singing, household duties etc…, many children dislike this as one differs from another. There are many situations where parents want their child to be like them. This is also not acceptable as a child may not be interested in the profession his/her parents are in.

These are some essentials a parent should focus on. Other than these, there are factors that commonly apply to all categories. To state some common needs i.e., Giving them plenty of love, affection, harmony, appreciation, safety etc…,

To conclude there’s a famous quote by Sue Atkins which goes like this “There is no such thing as a perfect parent, so just be a real one”.