Parenting Part 1

Parenting Part 1 – Ms. Swati Salunke, speaks about Parenting. Parenting is a world by itself, something which we all undergo or look forward to. Parenting has changed over time and has become a concern for all. Certain concerns as a counselor that we see it could be something related to physical development, social development, managing tantrums, safety, studies or learning. From an early age, the typical parent concern is physical development, language and social development, managing tantrums, misbehavior, learning, discipline and of course safety.

Physical development is an important aspect of any child, which involves a cyclic development, watching out on certain milestones along with time for crawling may be speaking, toilet training, and also eating. You may need not worry whether the child is too thin, or too chubby, or if he has dark skin or the hair is just not growing. You need to see whether the child is responding well, able to recognize his parents and it’s extended family members. Parents need to understand that every child will take his or her time to develop itself.

Consult your pediatrician if required and watch out for different symptoms, whether your child is too quiet or is not reactive to certain noises, or is not able to see, figure out or touch things. The child should feel cold, heat or a slightest of noise which is going around, if this is proportionate than be relaxed about it. Do not expect too many things out of little infant, the child just develops but certain children do take some more little time. But always medical interventions are required at every point of time. Ensure that the proper dosages are given, and also all the requirements with respect to hygiene are taken care of by both the parents and the extended family members too.

With physical development, language and social development are also very important, Language is a very tricky part for all of us, in India, there are so many languages, and it gets all the more complicated or rather it can be quiet confusing for the child when the parents are speaking two different languages. A child can pick up six languages until the age of three. Language development is definitely an important part; do pay attention to the mother tongue. Do not get worked up, or do not be hyper, or do not try to put up any foreign language to your kid at this stage. Both parents need to take an active interest and active participation in developing a child’s language. Ensure that the child learns the exact names of fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. , so that he is not confused in his academic year. With language comes social behavior too.

When speaking about social development at this age we can’t expect much from an infant either from a five year or six years old. You need to watch out how the child is reacting, happy or sad, with certain family members or friends. You also need to know the physical proximity, as, a lot of times families do have helpers, please be watchful on their hygiene too. The child picks up those, imitates rather the child watches day in and day out. As of now, these two concerns in this episode will speak about other concerns in the next episode – safety and discipline.