Keys to Better Child Rearing

In an effort to address and prevent the factors that could lead children and teenagers towards the Path to Self Termination, it would be good to equip yourself with many help books and parenting resources. There is no single formula on child rearing and parenting can assure parents and caretakers that their children would grow up to be strong-willed individuals.

Your neighbor and friends can suggest their own styles that proved to be effective on their children, but might prove useless for your own brood. To get the most of the many existent parenting guides and resources, one must first be aware of the basic principles in Child Development namely:

• Human development is sequential. You've heard it all – wisdoms and quotations from your parents. “You must learn to crawl before you could walk.” By learning what comes next, parents will be able to predict reactions and behavior which will in turn help them figure out appropriate communication techniques and necessary steps to help their children develop into better persons.
• Human development is a gradual process. Your child may not understand why you don't always give in to their whims, e.g., buy the latest model of bicycle in the market. Their level of understanding the family's financial situation would not be able to grasp the importance of prioritizing the family purchases. One cannot use the same method of explanation you use on your teenager to explain the family's financial management with your 6-year old daughter. Tangible samples are needed by the younger child and this can better be achieved by the cause-and-effect story.
• Human development is basically the same with each person but will vary on its rate. Thus, your child may be able to walk by the time he reaches 12 months, but the neighbor's child may not. As such, comparison should never be used to control behavior nor institute discipline to children and teenagers. Notice that the more you compare them to other children or youngsters, the more they do the things that you don't want them to. Acceptance of your child is one of the basic keys to open communication.
• Each human being is unique. This is a common knowledge but a knowledge not deeply understood by parents. By being unique also means being different. Different in a sense that what motivates your eldest to get higher grades would not be the same motivating factor for your youngest child. Again, beware of comparing children, especially against their own siblings. You may end up promoting sibling rivalry.

True, parenting is one of the most challenging profession – one that you have no choice but to embrace in all its challenges and rewards. Parents must not also underestimate their children's ability not just on accomplishing given tasks but also in understanding life situations. It will just vary on the method on how your wisdom can be passed on to them without hurting their feelings and bringing down their morale.

There are many principles of human development but the above mentioned characteristics would be enough to keep in mind in formulating substantial actions and reactions to any child's behavior.