Parenting has several phases and each phase has different challenges. From giving full-time care in childhood to giving comfortable space in the adolescent age and from keeping a controlled check to giving sufficient freedom to children, parenting is a watchful journey from being a parent to being a best buddy of your child.

• Build confidence in your child’s mind by maintaining an open prospective while talking to them
• Do not compare your childhood to your kid’s life-style
• Be a patient listener and take rational decisions for them
• Talk to your children regarding important and sensitive topics
• Children learn my example, set good ones for them
• Trust them in first place and give them confidence so that they can share and accept their mistakes

Work-life balance:

Yes, it is fair to continue working along with raising kids. But, a fair bit of effort needs to be made to avoid compromise on any of the two. Handing over your kids to nanny or any other family member and getting completely out of their lives will not help.

• Major modifications are required in your priority list
• Working in an organization where special attention is paid to the parent employees and their special needs.
• Distributing parenting responsibilities (between mother and father)
• Introducing children to your work and involving them into your work environment during their growing years, so that they can understand and cooperate with you.

Role of father:

The role of a mother in parenting is widely talked about everywhere, so let’s discuss some important aspects of father’s role now. While on one hand, a mother’s life is supposed to take a 360 degree turn, generally there is no or very little change in father’s life-style. On the contrary, there has to be equal share of responsibility on both the parents. Some significant roles of a father are:

• Multi-tasking between your work and household chores.
• Shifting the off-job break periods from parties and friends to kids and family.
• Taking care of medication schedules of the child.
• Instead of just providing the finance, being actively involved in the school and college life of your ward.
• Having healthy discussion sessions with you kids at every stage of their life.

The face of parenting is now changing in India, given the increased number of working mothers. The role of both parents is seeing a sea change in their nature and there is a need to maintain a balance between adopting the modern parenting techniques to maintaining close bond with children through old valuable practices.