Parental Pressure: Are You Shaping or Breaking Your Child’s Future
Parenting is not an easy task. When you hold your baby in your arms, all you feel is an instinct to protect your little one from all harm. As a parent, your heart wishes to provide only the best for your child, be it the best house, the best school, or the best food. You adapt yourself according to the circumstance. Your perspective changes once you become a parent. You become protective, caring, understanding, and a multitasker.
However, you knowingly or unknowingly start expecting many things from your child in the midst of all these. In the race of doing and having the best, somewhere, you forget that children are precious, soft, and often very fragile. A lot of pressure won’t make the best out of them. Surveys have shown that childhood anxiety and depression are the primary results of parental stress.
The results of this undying pressure are not visible every time. And even if those were visible, you choose to ignore them, thinking that they are mainly childhood tantrums. Today, we will be shedding some light on the effects that parental pressure has on your child.
Childhood Depression
The very first danger of parental pressure is depression. No one in this world is deserving of depression, especially a child who is yet to face the world’s cruelties. Most parents think that their kids are suffering from depression and anxiety because of the outside world.
But, ask yourself, to whom your child always looks up to- you or the neighbours? No, it’s you who’s thoughts matter to them. If you are not satisfied with their activities or are putting a lot of pressure, they won’t need the outside world to suffer from depression.
Uncanny Fear of Telling The Truth
In some extreme cases of parental pressure, children fear of telling the truth. On one side, when they are being taught that honesty is the policy; on the other hand, their minds are so pressurized that they fail to understand the meaning of morality. For them, lying about something seems to be a better idea, a better principle if that means they can avoid your wrath and lectures.
Scared of Failures
As a parent, your job is to boost your kid’s confidence even when they fail to achieve the best for themselves. But, often, you don’t encourage your children. Instead, you discourage them, taunting them for their failure, blaming them for not trying enough.
These instill a seed of fear in their minds. They start being scared of failures, even in the smallest things. Being the best is good, but trying to be the best out of fear is not good.
Frustration And a Tendency to Confide in Someone Else
When you become too judgmental to acknowledge what your kid is saying, you lose the trust they put in you. Parental pressure is right to an extent. But, your children will not feel safe about confiding their feelings and their problems in you when it becomes overbearing. In turn, they will look up to someone else, and who knows whether the company will be beneficial for your kid or not.
Self-Esteem Issues
Lastly, with too much pressure on their little minds, they start dwindling. Kids lose their self-confidence, self-esteem, and start comparing themselves to others. And truth be told, it is not good. Once your kid loses his or her confidence, it will be tough to restore the self-faith.
Conclusion
As a parent, it is your responsibility to understand what your child’s ability is? You have to decide whether your wishes are the same as the ones your kid has. You have to analyse whether your child is feeling suffocated under parental pressure or is excelling.