This is the fifth part of a six-part series on five factors that make families absolutely amazing because we all want to have families that are strong, healthy, and happy. In this post, we will look at Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development. As we mentioned in the first post, something great about these factors is that they apply to all families. No matter how strong or struggling, when these factors are woven into the life of a family, the family continues to become healthier, happier, and stronger. These factors have been named the Strengthening Families Protective Factors (SFPF).
In the first post we outlined the five protective factors:
- Parental Resilience
- Social Connections
- Concrete Support in Times of Need
- Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
- Social and Emotional Competence of Children
Links to the previous posts in this series can be found at the bottom of the page.
In this post, we look a little more closely at Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development. We will explore what it is and why it is important. We will also share some resources to begin building this into our lives.
Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
Parenting is one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges we ever face. As we have commonly heard, children do not come with a manual. Each child is different and all parenting techniques don’t work with all children.
Yet we all raise our kids according to what we learned from our parents. We learned from them some good things as well as some things we would rather not repeat. For many of us, at least one parent was missing in some way. Unfortunately, for some of us, our best parental figure came from TV because we didn’t have a good one in the home. However, whether our parents were amazing or not at parenting, we all have things to learn.
Since you’re reading this you are in all likelihood a good parent. You have probably turned out pretty well and may even be thinking that what your parents did was good enough for you. However, what if you could up your game and be a better parent than even your parents were? What is the impact that even better parenting would have had on your life? What kind of impact could becoming an even better parent have on the lives of your children and grandchildren? We can all improve our parenting. If we do, future generations will be in a better situation as a result.
Great parenting involves gaining knowledge about child development and cultivating parenting techniques that are appropriate for developmental stages. We as parents experience a lot of frustration due to expectations and techniques that aren’t aligned with our children’s developmental stage. We also get frustrated at parenting techniques when we try them and they don’t work. However, when these don’t work it is often because we are not utilizing them properly.
This is why at the Circle of Care we have multiple class series and training for parents specifically geared to the children’s developmental stages. We have programs for expecting and new parents, parents with toddlers, pre-school aged, elementary aged, and teenage kids. We even have a class series for parents in step or blended family situations because that transition comes with a unique set of challenges. And, if you have ever had parenting techniques that worked with one child, but didn’t with another, you will find our programs especially helpful.
There are things that every child needs, yet techniques that work with one child will not necessarily have the same effect with another. Nonetheless, when we gain knowledge of parenting and child development we get tools to make the challenges of parenting much easier. As a result, our children are better equipped for life and our families are stronger, healthier, happier, and more intimate.
For more information on parenting and child development click here.
If you missed the first post, click here.
For the second post, about Parental Resilience, click here.
For the third post, about Social Connections, click here.
For the fourth post, about Concrete Support in times of Need, click here.
