Increasingly, parents are experiencing a host of new parenting challenges from their daughters. With the current generations, social media and the widespread use of technology has fostered new challenges. What continues to baffle the mind is the fact that so many parents are grappling with similar issues. Be it truancy, poor school performance, disciplinary issues, depression, together with drug and substance abuse.
Where Is This All Stemming From?
Are the parents in the modern-day society ill-equipped to handle their teens? What has caused this sudden disparity between parents and their daughters? Does context have anything to do with these views?
The connected era has brought about certain pressures that did not exist before. Nowadays there exist robotic and absent parents, who only view parenting as providing materialistic needs. And social media has played a huge role in this. As friends try to keep up/ outdo each other.
Whether it is at school or social events, parents tend to be too busy to attend said functions of their daughters. Sure, keeping food on the table is a priority, but psychological wellbeing is also an important factor. Turning up to these events shows that whatever your daughter is doing is important and you value it. Later on, when the children develop unbecoming behaviors, we tend to blame it on teachers or house helps. People who tend to spend much more time with our daughters than we as parents actually do.
A parent is a teen’s first role model. Setting a good example provides a wonderful stepping stone for your teen to follow in. So continue to trailblaze for your daughter.
Mentorship In Modern Parenting
Often, mentoring can be taxing. Patience is key when it comes to mentoring, a trait not many adults have. Unfortunately, it is very important to develop this skill, in order to deliberate on your parenting. As a teen, having someone to help you navigate through life can be very beneficial. Having that someone to let you know that you aren’t the first person to go through something helps ease the anxiety.
For society to succeed, mentorship programs should become widespread. Be it in the educational system or in social settings such as communal recreational centers or religious centers. In traditional settings, apprenticeship was highly revered. However, today’s society has all but eliminated this way of life.
Hope has to be fostered within the society. Nurturing it through inspirational speech and character building from the get-go. Unfortunately, such a task would need an investment of time but just think of the possibilities. Reduced cases of crime, reduced depression cases since emotional and psychological needs are met and a decrease in corruption (ever-growing cancer in our society).
In Conclusion
Parenting remains a core contributor to our societal development. Not everyone is good at it from the get-go, but with practice, comes perfection. It would take all our efforts to resolve said modern parenting issues. And without a doubt, it is possible to resolve some of these challenges.
