Responsible Parenthood: Components and Responsibilities

Responsible parenthood refers to the ability of couples or parents to respond to the needs and aspiration of the family and children. The size of a family should be a shared responsibility of a couples or parents based on their available resources and the standard of living they wish to achieve.

The family, in its varying forms, constitutes the primary focus of love, acceptance, and nurture, bringing fulfillment to parents and child. Healthful and whole personhoods develops as one is loved, responds to love, and in that relationship comes to wholeness as a child of God.

Importance of having good family relationship

1. Provide education on humans’ sexuality and family life in its varying forms, including means of marriage enrichment, rights of children, responsible and joyful expression of sexuality, and changing attitudes. 2. Provide counseling opportunities for married couples and those approaching marriage on the principles of responsible parenthood. 3. Build understanding of problems to society by rapidly growing population of the world, and of the need to place personal decisions concerning childbearing in a context of the well-being of the community.

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4. Provide each pregnant woman accessibility to comprehensive health care and nutrition adequate to ensure healthy children. 5. Make information and materials available to exercise responsible choice in the area of concept controls. Support the free flow of information about reputable, efficient, and safe non prescriptive contraceptive techniques through r=educational programs and through periodicals, radio, television and other advertising media.

6. Make provision in law and in practice for voluntary sterilization as an appropriate means, for some for conception control and family planning 7.

Safeguard the legal option of abortion under standards of sound medical practice; Assist the states to make provisions in law and in practice for treating as adult’s minors who have, or think they have venereal diseases, or female minors who are, or think they are, pregnant, thereby eliminating the legal necessity for notifying parents or guardians prior to care and treatment. 8. Understand the family as encompassing a wider range of options than that of the two-generational unit of parents and children; promote the development of all socially responsible and life-enhancing expressions of the extended family.

9. View parenthood in the widest possible framework, recognizing that many children of the world today desperately need functioning parental figures, and also understanding that adults can realize choice and fulfillment of parenthood through adoption or foster care. 10. Encourage men and women to actively demonstrate their responsibility by creating a family context of nurture and growth in which children will have the opportunity to share in the mutual love and concern of their parents. 11. Be aware of the fears of many in poor and minority groups and developing nations about importance birth-planning, oppose any coercive use of such policies and services, and strive to see that family planning programs respect the dignity of each individual person as well as the cultural diversity groups

Marriage

Marriage typically follows certain events. First is the courtship. This is generally defined as the “dating period” or when the man actually tries to please the woman. In some cultures, a marriage broker arranges the marriage between two individuals. Eventually, after courtship stage, the couple decides to become married.

Reasons for getting into marriage

The most common reason for getting married is to enter a lasting relationship with the person they love. Marriage allows couples to share their lives together in an intimate, mature way. Specific reasons for getting into marriage

To have a family in order to secure relationship fore sometime and feel marriage is the best environment in which to bring children.
Two keys to a happy marriage
Almost every marriage starts out as a huge celebration. Together with their family and friends, each couple is full of hopes and dreams for their future life together. But the road to a happy marriage is far from easy. And as today’s divorce statistics demonstrate all too well, many couples opt not to complete the journey.

Parenting

Is the process of raising and educating a child from birth until adulthood. This is usually done in a child’s family by the mother and father. Where parents are unable or unwilling to provide this care, the responsibility may be taken on by close relatives, such as older siblings, aunts and uncles, or grandparents. In other cases, children may be cared for by adoptive parents, foster parents, godparents, or in institutions.

Mother

- Is the natural or social female parent of an offspring. In the case of a mammal, including a human being, the mother gestates her child in the womb from conception until the fetus is sufficiently well-developed to be born. The mother then goes into labor and gives birth.

Father

- Is a traditionally the male parent of a child. Like mothers, fathers may be categorized according to their biological, and social or legal relationship with the child. Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of paternity has been intrinsically problematic and so social rules, such as marriage, often determined who would be intrinsically problematic and so social rules, such as marriage, often determined who would be regarded as a father of the child.

Aspects of Parenting
Providing physical security and development

* A parents primary responsibility is to provide physical security and ensure their child’s safety. Parents provide physical safety: shelter, clothing, and nourishment. Providing intellectual security and development
* Linguistic Intelligence
* Logical- mathematical intelligence
* Musical intelligence
* Bodily- kinesthetic intelligence
* Spatial intelligence
* Interpersonal intelligence
* Intrapersonal intelligence

Providing moral and spiritual development

* Most parents educate their own children within their own religious faith, spiritual traditions, beliefs and cultural norms, ethics, and value systems. Obedience can be only founded upon trust in parents. Providing emotional security and development.

* Modeling empathy and compassion to younger and older, weaker, and sicker * Listening to the child’s heart and letting him know as feelings are understood * Encouraging the child to care for others, help younger siblings, grandparents, or neighbors * Teaching a child to organize parties for other people, play with younger siblings. Etc.* Model and teach social skills and etiquette

Other parental duties

- Parents are also responsible for financial support of their children. They may provide this directly on a daily basis, or the non-custodial parent may give money to the guardian in the form of child support.

Preschoolers

Parenting for preschool age children often include feeding bathing, toilet training, ensuring their safety, and attending to their well being. Elementary
Parenting responsibilities during the school years include feeding, assisting, with education, ensuring their safety and wellness, and providing them with a loving and nurturing home environment.

Adolescents

During adolescence children are beginning to form their own identity and are testing and developing interpersonal and occupational roles that they will assume as adults.

Young adults

It is becoming more common for young adults to remain in their parent’s home longer than in previous generations, and for many to return home after living independently for a period.

Adulthood

Parenting does not end when a child leaves home and lives independently. A parent is a parent forever, even though eventually roles may be reversed as adult children care for their elderly parents.

Parenting methods and practices
Parenting typically utilizes rewards, praise, and discipline or punishment as tools of behavioral control.

Parenting Style

A parenting style is a psychological construct representing standard strategies that parents use in their child rearing. There are many differing theories and opinions on the best ways to rear children, as well as differing levels of time and effort that parents are willing to invest. Parental investment starts soon after birth. This includes the process of birth, breast-feeding, affirming the value of the baby’s cry as the parent.

Types of Parenting Style

* Authoritative Parenting

Is characterized by high expectations of compliance to parental rules and directions, an open dialog about those rules and behaviors, and is a child-centered approach characterized by a warm, positive affect.

* Authoritarian Parenting

Is characterized by high expectations of compliance to parental rules and directions, the use of more coercive techniques to gain compliance, little parent-child dialog. This is a parent centered approach characterized by warm affect.

* Neglectful Parenting

Is similar to permissive parenting but is a parent centered approach characterized by cold affect.

Indulgent parenting
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* The parent is responsive but not demanding.
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* Indulgent parenting, also called permissive, nondirective or lenient, is characterized as having few behavioral expectations for the child. "Indulgent parenting is a style of parenting in which parents are very involved with their children but place few demands or controls on them.” Parents are nurturing and accepting, and are very responsive to the child's needs and wishes. Indulgent parents do not require children to regulate themselves or behave appropriately. This may result in creating spoiled brats or "spoiled sweet" children depending on the behavior of the children.

* Children of permissive parents may tend to be more impulsive, and as adolescents, may engage more in misconduct, and in drug use. "Children never learn to control their own behavior and always expect to get their way."But in the better cases they are emotionally secure, independent and are willing to learn and accept defeat. They mature quickly and are able to live life without the help of someone else.

Other Parenting Styles

* Attachment parenting – Seeks to create strong emotional bonds, avoiding physical punishment and accomplishing discipline through interactions recognizing a child's emotional needs all while focusing on holistic understanding of the child. * Aware parenting – Very similar to attachment parenting but in addition, recognises the impact of stress and the need to release stress by crying and raging in the accepting, loving presence of the parent.

Christian parenting – The application of biblical principles on parenting, mainly in the United States. While some Christian parents follow a stricter and more authoritarian interpretation of the Bible, others are "grace-based" and share methods advocated in the attachment parenting and positive parenting theories. Particularly influential on opposite sides have been James Dobsonand his book Dare to Discipline,[27] and William Sears who has written several parenting books including The Complete Book of Christian Parenting & Child Care and The Discipline Book. * Concerted cultivation – A style of parenting that is marked by the parents' attempts to foster their child's talents through organized leisure activities. This parenting style is commonly exhibited in middle and upper class American families.

* Emotion coaching – This style of parenting lays out a loving, nurturing path for raising happy, well-adjusted, well-behaved children. It’s called emotion coaching and it feels good to parents and kids alike. Emotion coaching helps teach your child how to recognize and express the way he is feeling in an appropriate way. * Nurturant parenting – A family model where children are expected to explore their surroundings with protection from their parents. * Overparenting – Parents who try to involve themselves in every aspect of their child's life, often attempting to solve all their problems. A helicopter parent is a colloquial, early 21st-century term for a parent who pays extremely close attention to his or her children's experiences and problems, and attempts to sweep all obstacles out of their paths, particularly at educational institutions. Helicopter parents are so named because, like helicopters, they hover closely overhead. It is a form of overparenting.

* Parenting For Everyone – A parenting book and one individual's philosophy that discusses parenting from an ethical point of view. * Parenting by Connection - A parenting approach taught by Hand in Hand Parenting that nurtures the parent child relationship. Research shows that it is a well connected relationship between a parent and child that leads to the best outcomes for young people. Unlike parenting methods that rely on systems of rewards and punishment, our philosophy is centered on children's strong, innate desire to love and be loved. Parenting by Connection is based on listening tools for children and parents, such as playlistening, staylistening, special time, setting limits with warmth and listening partnerships for parents.

* Punishment based - Punishment based parenting uses pain, punishment, intimidation, yelling, degradation, humiliation, shame, guilt, or other things that can hurt a child's self esteem or hurt them physically. Their emotional growth and well being are affected greatly. Punishment based discipline hurts the relationship between parent * and child.Punishment will put unnecessary pressure on the child and the child is less apt to perform due to pressure. * Shared Parenting/Shared Earning where two married parents share the responsibility of parenting relatively equally and the responsibility of earning money relatively equally.

* Slow parenting – Encourages parents to plan and organize less for their children, instead allowing them to enjoy their childhood and explore the world at their own pace. * Strict parenting – An authoritarian approach, places a strong value on discipline and following inflexible rules as a means to survive and thrive in a harsh world. * Taking Children Seriously – The central idea of this movement is that it is possible and desirable to raise and educate children without doing anything to them against their will, or making them do anything against their will.