Considering that children grow up and venture out into society, one factor expecting parents might give a lot of forethought to is the type of influences they will expose the child to either inadvertently or consciously that will mold and shape the child’s personality; before the little bundle of joy grows up and enters the realm of society.
I had my daughter when I was 28 years of age. Twenty eight was considered pretty old to have finally gotten pregnant; even in my day. I was elated when the doctor told me the news; but the truth is, I hadn’t experienced life to the point of really knowing who I was; how was I suppose to be a positive influence in raising a child; my focus was still on trying to figure life and myself out.
Basically, the influences that assisted me in raising my daughter were the years of watching my mom raise me and my siblings; trial and error and my heart that provided lots of love; of course, I made a few modifications that deviated from my mom’s rearing methods.
My daughter has grown to be a very responsible, accountable young woman. I’m very proud of the person she is today!
Caretakers
Either by choice or circumstance children enter the world through the birth canal and end up with parents; caretakers that care for them until they become of age, able to be responsible and accountable for themselves.
Our children become representative of parent’s contributions to their character. Once the child becomes of age and ventures out into the world there will be many factors that continue to influence their personality; figuring out who they are, how to fit in, what value systems to accept and which ones to avoid; it’s while they are being exposed to the world, that they hear the principles and character references that parents endow them with; but the choices and decisions they make will be their responsibility; so, those early beginnings will come in handy; depending on what the early beginnings consisted of.
Environment
What a child is exposed to within the home environment, plays a major role in shaping the mind of a child; children don’t have ears and eyes for nothing; they view the happenings that occur in their homes the same way they view what flashes across the television screen.
We’ve all heard of television raising children; their minds are so impressionable; they repeat what they hear and see. Children watch parent’s every action and listen to their words.
The examples that parents set and demonstrate influence a child’s life forever. We can never say for certain how children will turn out however those early beginnings could turn out to be the deciding factors.
Things to consider
It’s important to be consciously aware of the fact that one day, the child that you’re about to bring into the world is going to leave your home and go forth and have an impact in society.
While raising a child, having an ongoing attentive awareness of your words, actions and everything that you’re going to expose your child to is worth considering.
Asking yourself “before I act in this manner how will my child be affected; before I voice these words, how will my child be affected; before I expose my child to a book, movie and even people; how will my child be affected.
I know that might sound unrealistic; it might even sound mechanical, but children don’t choose to come into this world; we bring them into the world and as a result we eventually turn them out into society to have an impact on people in the world.
It becomes incumbent upon parents to be consciously aware of how they are endowing their children and with what. Parents have a responsibility to impact their children’s lives in a manner that will benefit society; not bring harm to its people; thus our actions, attitudes, words and what we expose our children to needs to be a part of our ongoing awareness; or why bring a child into the world if you’re not going to be consciously aware of what you will one day be sending out into the world?
