Parental Involvement in Child Development
Parenthood is a vital component of a child’s development, and the level of parental involvement has significant impacts on child development. Recent trends in the American social perspectives indicate an increasing level of parent’s participation in elements such as their children’s homework, educational decisions, which even include their college applications and course choices. This phenomenon, however, adopts differing aspects from sections of the society on the boundaries to ensure support but also independence and growth in decision-making capabilities. In my perspective, parental involvement is crucial in anyone’s growth but should adopt mechanisms that regulate their levels of involvement to foster self-sustenance. This paper develops a description of my parent’s involvement in my development and why I prefer limiting their engagement in personal decision-making processes.
Growing up, my parents were very much involved in my life, which expanded my learning environment into homes and motivations to work on my development. They regularly established their concerns in my life, and always this motivated my activities from early childhood not only for self-prosperity but also to make them proud. Throughout my childhood, they always gave me financial help where needed and fostered a saving culture through financial planning and saving for college. This element helped me learn techniques for saving and spending responsibly. Further, their involvement in my school life created a motivation for studying and being attentive to establish learning outcomes for every school activity. According to Benner et al., parental involvement in a child’s educational activities has a significantly positive link to their academic outcomes, which is a true manifestation in my experience. This was very helpful in developing means to apply studies in real-life decision making and extending teaching from the classroom environment.
Parental involvement is crucial in ensuring the early preparation of a child to future challenges such as financial planning and socioeconomic success as adults. However, as children come of age, they tend to develop mechanisms that limit their parental involvement, particularly in attempts to establish some levels of independence. In my personal experience, I loved involving my parents in my activities growing up but still wished to regulate it in specific incidences such as critical life decisions. In this perspective, my approach wasn’t to ignore their involvement. I always welcomed their advisory and ensuring the decisions are those that serve my best interests. The element of parental involvement adopts differing perspectives, but I believe through engagements, a balance is found on when the parents are directly involved and when to make individual decisions personally.
Works Cited
Benner, Aprile D., Alaina E. Boyle, and Sydney Sadler. “Parental involvement and adolescents’ educational success: The roles of prior achievement and socioeconomic status.” Journal of youth and adolescence 45.6 (2016): 1053-1064.