Parents’s Responsibility for the Education of Their Children
TALK ABOUT EDUCATION
When we talk about education, the image that, at first glance, comes to mind, is that of the family environment and, specifically, the education given by parents to their children.
Hence the generalization of tracing any behavior of children and young people – and very often focusing attention especially on the negative aspects – to parents, who are in fact very often “blamed” for a bad education imparted to their children and therefore considered cause principal of their behavior.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR EDUCATION
Responsibility for education, for a parent, is certainly a very important aspect and it is not commonplace to say how difficult the “profession” of parent is, probably the most complex that a human being can face. A profession, that of parent, which finds almost all unprepared, which implies a great deal of changes in one’s life, and which, whether one arrives at a young age or in adulthood, must be tackled by adapting it differently day by day respecting the individuality of each child and who, in general, do not “know how to do” until they are directly on the field.
A theme, that of the arduous task of parents, which poses many questions even before the birth of your child, and which leads you to ask yourself if you are really ready to take on this role as wonderful as it is difficult.
But who teaches parents their profession? Can a parent be educated in his role?
DIGITAL ERA OF EDUCATION
Today the new digital era has led us to have the opportunity to reach an incredible amount of information, to be able to make use of resources that were unimaginable until a few decades ago and, from different points of view, even what concerns parenting has undergone changes, both for the different way of managing one’s daily life and for the possibility of having new tools to move in one’s parenting role.
On the net, today there are many resources that can help parents, parents, and parents who respect many aspects of their daily life. An extremely different way from the way in which a parent could, just a few years ago, find support to resolve, or at least have opinions and inquire about the education of their children.
TECHLONOGY AND EDUCATION
If in fact the new technology and the ability to access it now so easily has radically changed our habits and many of us parents have found themselves – not without difficulty – exactly in the moment of transition from an era in which technology still seemed far away to a where instead it has assumed a decisive role in most of our actions, it is also true that precisely this possibility of reaching everyone and everything has given families the opportunity to be more informed and to be in a certain sense be helped, supported in their complex educational task.
The example we want to report is that of sites such as Education, which can represent a valid landing place and meeting place for parents and families who wish to tackle childhood education under different aspects, looking at this delicate and important topic.
When it comes to addressing an educational discourse within the family, the topics are manifold, but, fundamentally, the problem that emerges and that often interests – and also afflicts – parents and especially the new parents is how they can be educated in the their role and accompanied to face both large and small, yet important, educational choices towards their children and young people.
TRAINING (PET)
One of the methods that, over time, has certainly played a decisive role in the way of educating adults in their parental role, is that which arises from the psychology studies carried out in the second half of the twentieth century, known as Parent Effectiveness Training (PET). It is a method of training for parents developed since the seventies by the American psychologist Thomas Gordon, a close collaborator of Carl Rogers, one of the most important characters as regards his studies on counseling and non-directive therapy, which have determined profound changes on the type of approach to the person.
THOMAS GORDON’S CONTRIBUTION IN EDUCATION
Thomas Gordon’s contribution was to apply the basic principles of the Rogerian approach starting from the important concept of active listening and of a type of help to the person who “exploits” the resources that the individual already has at his disposal. It is starting from these principles that Gordon has been able to prepare a real method to deal with parenting effectively, that is, the one now known all over the world as the method of Effective Parents.
Basically, being an effective parent means being able to educate responsible children. A goal which, according to Gordon’s studies, first of all, presupposes an education in being a parent, and therefore knowing how to know and accept oneself, being authentic, knowing how to accept the other unconditionally, knowing how to take on one’s responsibilities, learning to listen to other in the deepest way. A method that accompanies parents to learn to recognize, outline and therefore face the daily problems and all those conflicts that their parenting role inevitably implies within the family.
PARENT CAN LEAD TO BEING ABLE TO EDUCATE
Therefore, starting from oneself, with the will and awareness that only by learning to be a parent can lead to being able to educate one’s children, not only by learning to read the needs of the child but also by knowing how to recognize one’s own and being able to respond to the education of their children as effectively as possible.
A method that, over the years, has helped many parents thanks to trainers authorized to carry out effective parenting courses all over the world, and which has also contributed in the school environment to addressing issues related to the education of children and adolescents with different approaches, developing useful strategies to become effective teachers and therefore be able to effectively deal with school learning and education.
