It is proven practicality that parenting has a significant influence on the child’s mental health as a child grows up. The type of parenting a child is exposed to affects his capacity for regulating emotions, intellectual and cognitive strength, as well as his capability to verbalize his feelings and grow healthily. The likelihood that a child will grow up with a strong sense of confidence and security as well as the potential to create a successful career for himself, depends on how well-informed and supportive the parenting is. In contrast, a child who experiences bad parenting and thinks that his needs were not addressed during his early years is more likely to experience low self-esteem as he grows older (Zakeri, 2011). Every time a child encounters a challenging situation, whether it is familial strife or emotional pain, it impacts them in several ways. Negative experiences don’t necessarily presage future issues; however, they increase a child’s chance of developing mental health issues which include disorders like depression and PTSD, ultimately leading to physical harm, unsafe habits, contagious or long-term illnesses, as well a dearth of educational possibilities (Doinita, Doinita, Nanu Elena, and Nijloveanu Dorina Maria, 2015). Therefore, every time a child has a bad parenting experience or faces parenting negligence, it has a big impact on the child.
According to studies, authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian parenting styles are the most common and have been linked to a child’s brain that is underdeveloped and has been negatively impacted (Doinita, Attachment and parenting styles, 2015). Due to their parents’ more distant demeanor towards them, children who are subjected to an authoritarian parenting style may feel more penalized and uncomfortable trying to develop a healthy relationship with them. Similarly to this, an authoritative parenting style restricts and undermines a child’s ability to create good communication and openness with his or her parents because the parents feel more in control and discourage their kids from developing any kind of friendly relationship with them. On the flip side, when parents adopt a permissive parenting style, they have extremely modest standards for their kids and teach them to comply with no restrictions or regulations. This hurts children as well, when they get older, they become more impetuous and frequently do bad things that they shouldn’t. They grow up thinking there are no limits on what they may do and that there are no rules that they are expected to obey since they are adhering to the pattern that their parents established for them. In addition to all of these, there is sometimes a sense of overly uninvolved parenting that children are subjected to. Parents that are not involved in their children’s lives are just uninterested in what is happening to them, and they rarely talk to them about anything. As a result, even after they become autonomous and mature, children continue to feel isolated from all relationships and activities throughout their lives. Due to a lack of attachment during their formative years, many children lose the skills necessary to engage with others and establish productive connections. Also, psychologists developed specific terms to describe the various parenting approaches and their impact on kids. The expression "Parental Control" refers to how much parents govern their kids’ behavior and restrict what they let them indulge in. Likewise, the term "Parental Warmth" also describes how accepting and responsive parents are to their children’s actions (Rork, 2009).
Researchers and psychologists developed numerous strategies that parents may be trained to adapt and reach findings on how parenting styles might be monitored for the better intellectual, cognitive, and personality development of a child. Educating parents on how their parenting may impact their children and offering them guidance in this regard should be seen as the most significant and crucial thing. Additionally, they may give sound advice and instruction on how to manage their authoritarian behaviors and interact with their kids in a way that makes them feel comfortable. It is extremely important to change the parents’ negative habits since they leave susceptible children unable to cope with their emotions and healthily advance in life. The family systems theory and the interpersonal acceptance-rejection (IPAR) theory both suggest that parental practices have a direct effect on children’s mental health. As a result, there is a wealth of data and hypotheses that support the idea that parenting has a direct bearing on children’s mental health (Fernández-García, 2017). It is now necessary to raise awareness of the problem and take action to eliminate any circumstance that might adversely affect the psychological well-being of children.
Furthermore, it’s necessary to impart the habit of cheerfulness to parents. It is impossible to stress how important dependability is. Children are drawn to consistency and the feeling that they can depend on their parents make them more confident. They want to know what will happen next in terms of activities, repercussions for breaking the rules, and rewards for good behavior. Parents’ relationship with their children affects their mental health considerably. A strong relationship starts with establishing trust, and the main method to do this is by giving your children a sense of protection and security (Farmer, 2013). Another exceptionally important aspect is that parents should be taught how to express sincere gratitude to their kids when they make little strides toward learning new things, completely rejecting the idea of adopting a detached or authoritarian parenting style. Asking the child about their feelings, what makes them happy, and what troubles them emotionally the most will help them keep a close check on how the child is doing mentally. The key is communication, and by talking to their kids gently, parents may win their complete trust. Imperatively, only 21% of kids with mental health problems are thought to receive treatment. Parents must contact a mental health professional right away if they observe any change in their children’s behavior because the great majority of children with mental health issues aren’t receiving the care they require.
I am a Ph.D. student of Psychology researching "Emotions and Well-being" at the Universidade Catolica Portuguesa in Lisbon, Portugal.
I am 35 years old, married, and a mother of two children.
My blog is https://www.dnpsychology.org
Article by: Nnajiego Dorothy June 4, 2023