Poor Parenting Deeply Affects Our Society

Poor parenting is considered one of the most important public health issue facing our society today. It has a lot of serious impact on children and it appears society is not even paying attention to this growing menace.

Forms of poor parenting range from child abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect and emotional abuse of children. Poor parenting affects a child's development and makes them more susceptible to mental health issues.

Most of the bad eggs of society are products of bad parenting. People who are prone to drug use, substance abuse, chronic alcoholism, violence, teenage pregnancy and crimes can all be traced to poor parenting!

The reality is that many people do not know how to be parents! This is not taught in school and older parents do not even take the time to teach their younger ones ready to go into marriage how they can be good parents because to most of them, "You learn it on the job."

So it is the mindset of a lot of people that they will figure out how to be good parents once they start having children. But this is not usually the case. People get busy with a lot of responsibilities especially when it comes to career and with a baby, most parents find it tough juggling work and taking care of the baby.

So most times they go with quick fix alternatives and they eventually do not find the time to learn how to be great parents. So when is the best time to learn this? I believe the best time is when you are still at the dating phase. Discussions on how you want your children raised should be an important conversation at later stages of courtship before tying the knots.

It is important both partners are clear on their responsibilities and roles in ensuring they will raise responsible kids long before they think of wedding.

Because failure to do this will mean that in the heat of the moment, parents will resort to easy ways to manage their kids ranging from getting them electronic gadgets to distract them or leaving them affected by peer pressure or worse still under the influence of people who they do not even know so well.

All of these will lead the children to pick up behaviours that are not reflective of what the parents would have wanted for their child. And because these parents are too busy to notice the damage that is being done, it becomes too late when the child masters these negative qualities and begins to manifest them as an adolescent.

At that point, the parents can no longer control the kid and all efforts to correct the child at that point will be extremely difficult. So instead of going with this option and creating more problematic elements in the society due to poor parenting, why not commit to being a better parent early on even before making babies?

Why not raise awareness about the poor parenting pandemic and talk about this with friends and family to see the dangers that poor parenting does to our society? Why wait before you can start learning how to be a great parent if you intend to have children or already do?

Just like becoming good in our career through study, learning from more experienced people and practice. Preparing for parenthood needs study and learning from more experienced parents too.

We must all join together and commit to being great parents. We also have the obligation to correct a kid when we see them doing something wrong and be there for kids that are facing any forms of abuse from their parents.

We can all collectively play this role in improving parenting for both our kids and children of other people we may be connected to in a way or two. And we can do this through our everyday actions.

All hands must be on deck to tackle this menace. It begins with a conscious awareness that this is a big problem, it begins with discussing this with family and friends, it also begins with making a commitment and plan to be good parents or play a parenting role in the lives of children we come in contact with.

Together, we can all be better parents!

Your man,

Ike.