Minimum and bonuses when parenting

When a child is raised by loving parents in a secure environment, that child has a good chance of becoming a responsible and respectful adult. Other, more diverse aspects of childhood will probably result in other positive qualities of the child as an adult. For instance, frequent social contacts with other children can make a person comfortable talking in front of an audience, or if the family travels a lot the child might develop an interest in other peoples cultures.

However, to society, these qualities are merely bonuses. As long as you have or is looking for an honest job and obey the laws, there is nothing more required of you.

This reasoning and my opinion that a person should not live just for himself, but for himself and the community, leads me to the conclusion that a responsible, boring person deserves more respect than an irresponsible, exciting person.

Having said that, I, along with most people, also believe that all parents should strive for their children to grow up to be both responsible and interesting people. To achieve this when raising children the three most important factors are experience, experience, and experience. Wherever you live, whatever your social status is or whatever culture you have, you should encourage your children to partake in activities in your neighbourhood and your hometown. When your child come across something that he or she takes interest in, you should take interest in the activity and support your child, with the obvious exception when the activity is destructive in nature. No parent should encourage a child to burn ants with a looking glass just because he wants to.

And this brings me back to my initial point. Experiences of social nature are important for a child, but the most important thing children can learn is respect. If you fail to give your child a sense of respect towards other people and creatures, then I would say that you have failed as a parent.

You can not in any way force your child to become the kind of person you want, although you can lead them in the "right" direction. If your child, after trying a number of social activities, turn out to be a loner who most of all wants to stay home and read books, then you as a parent must use that respect your parents taught you and accept it. As long as your children learns to respect others, do their homework and their assigned share of household chores, then you really can’t demand anything more from them.

That is why I would say that the fundamental responsibility of the adult world is to teach children respect and that the most important thing for a child is to feel his or her parents love and support in a secure environment.