Parents play the most important role in a person’s life. Most of what a child becomes when he turns into an adult is often a reflection of how he has been raised and what sort of childhood has he had. One of the things that most people do as parents is to try various way to control their children. This concept of parental control can be tricky as too much or too little control on a child may affect the child negatively.
Keeping Track Of Social Contacts
A child does not have the maturity to decide what social contacts are good and bad. As a parent, you should let the child choose his playmates but keep an eye on who he chooses to spend his time with. Parents teach their children interpersonal skills and guide them in forming social relationships. A child will learn from you what kind of people to mix within a social scene and so guiding him from the childhood when he chooses his playmates is like training him to choose the right social relationships.
Children need boundaries and as a parent, it is your job to do so. Boundaries help the child understand what is right and what is wrong. If a child feels that his parents have no control over him then he will repeat the same behavior in all aspects of his life. Setting up boundaries such as TV time, play time, and behavioral boundaries is important and one must show parental control in it. Boundaries will teach him to respect his time, respect people and encourage good behavior.
According to a study, Permissive parenting, a parenting style which has no rules, leads to lower achievements and ambitions. Children learn by example and if there is no parental control then children do not learn self-discipline. Lack of self-discipline leads to lower achievements in life. So it is important that parents teach their children self-discipline and inspire them to achieve and chase ambitions in life.
Social Media Control
In today’s age children are exposed to too much information through the internet. As a parent, it is important that you keep a check on what your child watches on social media. Social media can negatively affect a child’s innocent mind and expose him to things that may not be appropriate for his age. For this, there are a lot of apps and means to set parental control to the gadgets that your child uses regularly. You can also fix screen time for your child on a daily basis.
Behavioral Vs. Psychological Control
There are two types of parental controls: Behavioral and Psychological. Behavioral control includes things like grounding, expecting or assigning work. This type of control does not limit a child’s feelings but only a certain kind of behavior. Psychological control is controlling a child’s decisions, privacy, opinions or feelings. Setting up boundaries to a child’s feelings and decisions is not right. This affects them negatively. Children with psychologically controlling parents grow up to be dependent and unhappy. Their mental health and decision making capabilities are affected negatively.