While we need to study for years, if not for decades, to acquire a profession, such a complex task as being a parent is often left to chance. It is a common misconception that people are “just ready” to be parents as if there is a 100% efficient program installed in us when the kid is born. “It’s a boy/girl! Parenting skills upload complete.” Someone can argue that years of evolution have prepared us to be parents, but it is not exactly true. Yes, most of us are programmed to feed and protect our progeny, but parenting goes far beyond keeping children alive. What was seen as normal even 50 years ago is proven to be damaging to children’s psychology? That is why the evolutionary argument doesn’t work. Yes, evolutionarily, we know to keep our children away from the fire, but it has nothing to do with progressive parenting styles. To prove this message, we have collected the reasons why parenting education is important and should be widely promoted.
Is your job more important than your kids?
It is a manipulative question, and we are sorry for that. We used it to draw your attention, and once it is done, we can talk about the true idea behind it. We know that kids are more important than work, though often, we need to prioritize business tasks. However, we also have a responsibility to feel, dress, and get our kids to good schools, so abandoning work completely in many situations would be irresponsible. Think this — how many hours of additional education related to your current profession you crack over the year? And how many years in college/university did it take to acquire a needed diploma? Do you plan to have additional education in this field in the nearest years to be better in your job, get promoted, earn more money? We bet yes. Why do you plan all this? Because of the reasons we mentioned above. And not the major question—how much education as a parent did you get? Of course, we believe some books, week-long courses, and even consultation were/are involved, but it cannot be compared to professional education. That is why we started with the manipulative answer about whether your job is more important than your kids.
Parenting education answers modern family challenges
COVID-19, gadgets, social media addiction — all this and much more affects parenting strategies. It means that even if you felt rather comfortable in this field five years before, things have changed, and it wouldn’t go amiss to update your parenting compass. Extra parenting education can truly benefit when it comes to the modern challenges parents face. It is not only about psychology or kid’s behavior. It can also be about new state and local regulations regarding school districts, anti-violence policies, nutrition advice, etc. Parenting education is a broad term that, like an umbrella, covers many topics. You can look for some specific courses, enter a community program or a program online—2020 screams “online courses,” doesn’t it?
Parenting education DOES NOT imply you are a bad parent
Surprisingly, but it is said to be the major reasons why families refuse to attend parenting education programs. As was said previously, the common misconception dictates parents to believe that if they need additional education, it means they are bad in their “job.” Nothing can be further from the truth. First, there is a pretty fine line between “good” and “bad parents” terms. For example, corporal punishment against kids is always a bad thing, but what about discipline? It can be executed in many forms, and the rank of what different parents see as a “disciplined” behavior is rather wide. Second, people who want to be better parents to their kids should not judge themselves for it. It is absolutely normal to desire education in an important sphere of life. Also, let’s face it; we all come from the generations which were not brought up by parents reading articles on kids’ psychology online. That is why it is so important for us to step aside many practices which could be seen as normal in our own families, and use different strategies. Parenting education is needed to show those strategies to people and help them implement such strategies into their daily lives.
Parenting education requires commitment
Here is the part that we didn’t want to put on top of our list. Parenting education is not something you can just listen through and forget, especially if you really want to receive adequate results. Lots of educational programs for parents include working on homework assignments, some of them in the written form. Of course, you won’t feel like you are back in college, but if you get stuck with some task being very busy, you can always address a reliable essay writing service, such as Essay Lib, for getting professional help from academic writers. There are specialists who cover social studies and psychology papers in this particular field. It is not obligatory, but it is a good choice if, at some point, you are forced to delegate some work. Such assignments are, however, not a critical part of parenting education. You will have to read more, discuss more, open more, and dig into patterns of your behavior. It can be not very easy to do.
Parenting education truly helps to improve child behavior
As stated in a brief report presented by the Wilder Parent Education Center “Children of parents who participate in educational programs often demonstrate increases in their prosocial behaviors (e.g., empathy, sharing, helping others) and decreases in negative externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, delinquency, hyperactivity).” It sounds logical, as parents themselves become much more confident and consistent, kids also become more well-behaved and calm. It is also speculated that parenting education, to a great extent, helps to reduce anxiety among kids.
Based on the same report, it is safe to say that parent education gives parents new alternative strategies that help to minimize corporal punishment and fight child abuse.