It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
Frederick Douglass
Legacy Parenting 1.0
Qualifications: None
Salary: None
Average Expenditure: — 250,000 USD per child for 18 years.
Experience: None
Notice to resign: Not an option
Every second 4.3 children are born in the world and with each child born, we herald in new parents for the child. The parents are now responsible for these children’s growth and development.
However, it is the only job on this planet we are expected to be good at without training. The intuitive instincts to love and care for our offspring may have been less complicated before industrialisation and capitalism took hold of societies. But we are now raising children in an interconnected world embarking on the 4th industrial revolution and these children need to deal with more challenges and competition than any generation before them.
Parenting, however, hasn’t changed much, so many parents are parenting in ways which were endowed upon them. Parents learnt from their parents and kids from their parents and so it goes. Parents are role models. Any undesirable behaviour in a child does not require you to look far to realise who was the culpable party. Kids brains are sponges and will pick up and learn and behave as they are conditioned by their surroundings. Some parents may research and read up on good parenting in order to raise their awareness and endeavour to raise a well-rounded child.
As parents, there is also a great demand to provide and pressure to provide the best resources and tools for their kids and to fill their backpack for their life’s journey with as much value as possible.
However, in their endeavour to become the best parents, there may be some very simple factors parents need to consider.
Parents themselves are human and will need to look after themselves to lead their offspring to success. Being present and always available for their child is a very simple solution in contributing to good parenting but we live in a world where we are too ”busy” to have these time to connect with our children.
Human connection is, however, the key. We need to connect to our children on a basic level to help them to connect with others and learn how to regulate themselves emotionally. Children’s brains are not fully developed and are testing boundaries all the time to see how they fit into this world and constantly exploring how things work. Yes, it is messy and yet it is beautiful at the same time.
As a parent, are you emotionally self-aware to deal with a child who is testing boundaries? Do you respond to a child in meltdown with anger and punishment or with love? A calm parent who can deal with a child’s meltdown can respond with love and reassurance that there is support when one’s dinosaur brain got out of hand. As parents we need to support and educate a child to learn to regulate and manage their feelings.
If we want to leave a legacy as parents to this world, it is not money, but to leave behind amazing human beings who are well balanced and useful contributors to the world. These are children who grow up and are adapted to living with a fast-paced future. To achieve this, we must raise our own awareness and lead by example. Our example will have a profound impact on the kind of kids we raise and we aim to raise kids who will be an improved versions of us. Leaving behind a legacy of incredible human beings.
