Raising a child is a difficult task for anyone. Everyone wants their children to grow into happy, confident adults. It may be hard sometimes to know what’s right and what’s wrong, and no one can tell you exactly how you should raise your child. However, a recent study has shown the most effective way to make sure your children are happy in later life.
There are simple techniques that you can employ that will ensure you do the best that you can for your kids. If you want to raise happy children, science says you need to do this.
The Study
The aim of this study was to uncover the best practices for raising children. The researchers behind it wanted to see how different kinds of parenting affected people later in life, up until the age of 60.
From the year 1946, they tracked 5,362 people from their birth until adulthood. More than 60 years later, 2,000 of these people participated in a survey. It asked a number of questions about their childhood, upbringing, and current mental wellbeing. As well as that, it also asked how controlling or warm their parents had been while they were growing up.
Children of Controlling Parents
Controlling parents were ones that did not let their children make many of their own decisions. They had their children depend on them for almost everything. These children weren’t given the freedom to form their own opinions, and instead, had to adopt the beliefs of their parents. These parents also frequently invaded their children’s privacy.
What the researchers behind this study found was that these children didn’t have strong bonds with their parents, making it difficult for them to feel free in their own lives. The researchers even compared the amount of emotional damage done to the effect of the death of a loved one. These subjects were still feeling the negative effects of this, even in their 60s.
Children of Compassionate Parents
Parents that had shown warmth to their children formed a strong emotional attachment with them. This left them better prepared to venture out into the world on their own. The children of these kinds of parents showed a more positive mental well-being in later life compared to the children of controlling parents.
According to one of the authors of this study, Dr. Mai Stafford, they found that “people whose parents showed warmth and responsiveness had higher life satisfaction and better mental wellbeing throughout early, middle, and late adulthood.”
Do Your Best For Your Kids
If you have children then, of course, you want to do your absolute best for them. Most parents would give anything to see their children be happy throughout their entire lives. Although it’s up to you how you raise them and what rules you enforce, it would still benefit you to learn from this study.
Give your children freedom and the information that they need to make their own decisions. Allow your children to keep their privacy in every aspect that you can. Most of all, show your children warmth and compassion. If you do, they’ll likely grow into strong-minded adults.
There’s no manual to how you should raise your kids. Every parent finds their own way to do it and their own way to interact with their children. In most aspects, it’s perfectly fine to make your own rules, but try to keep the results of this research in mind.
Share this article with any parents that you know. Everyone needs the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision on how to raise their children well.
