There are many ways in which we as parent influence our children; I think that there are two main groups. Those who follow a life like their parents or those who fight tooth and nail to be the completely opposite of their parents.

When most people think of parent they imagine changing nappies, feeding time at the zoo and tantrums, oh they tantrums! But parenting is much more than that, we are trying to meet their basic survival needs (don’t kill the baby) and mould them into someone that isn’t a complete A**hole. The truth is (most of the time) that how we parent influences what our children will be like as an adult, good or bad, it falls on us.

Children are shaped by their parents; we are after all the biggest figure in their life. They spent everyday together and sometimes every night (hands up who’s got a bed hogger?)

As we grow, we are shaped by how we see our parents act and by their words, I can definitely see that as I have some of the same morals and ideas that my parents do and this is because I truly feel they have done many things right in their lives.  I have also been influenced by the things they have done wrong and I try and avoid them so not to have the same repercussions. I often find myself with the negative traits of my mother which I hated as a child, I find myself shouting the classic Linda saying “ The two of you’s cut it out” when my two start to bicker. Oh goodness, i really am turning into my mother!

That’s not a bad thing though, I think my parents are great and I always have (apart from my teen angst years but I didn’t like anyone during that time). It wasn’t till I left home that I realised all the traits they had pasted on. I worried if my friends got too drunk while we were out in a bar, I freaked out about technology and often lose my patience and give up, and I am always nagging my husband that I am the only one that does anything in the house. My mum still does this, she forgets that she no longer has any kids in the house and the mess is hers!

Your parents are the creators of your life, they taught you to walk, talk and even wipe your bum so how could we not take on some of the traits and ideas of a person who has tightly gripped our hand through every mistake we have ever made and then reminded us of it.

The cycle of poverty is the factors or events by poverty that is likely to continue to generation to generation unless helped by an outside source or intervention. Commonly, we see families trapped in a circle of poverty with limited or no resources to be able to help themselves or their family. Discrimination can make it extremely difficult to access government help, to find work, and to access resources and social networks that could help.

For a many reasons, it is tricky to escape poverty, where some may be forced to live within areas with cheap and poor  housing quality, high unemployment rate and bad health. Children who are part of these groups may follow in their parents  footsteps because it’s the only way of life that they know and with the limited resources, they may never be able to escape.

It seems pretty clear that children master many tasks by copying the movements and words of others, one of the first being facial expressions as a tiny newborn and later on, accidentally teaching them a colourful word during a bout of road rage, that they seem to only shout out when your mother in law is about.

Who we are as parents affect how our children turn out physically, socially, and emotionally, but I am definitely  not saying we should now become obsessed with little (insert name) as this too can be a negative rather than a positive in some cases. There is no perfect way to bring up children, we all are doing the best we can with the knowledge we have and the information and influences from other around us.

 

Mumforce

www.mumforce.co.uk