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Opinions of Monday, 5 February 2018

Columnist: Thelma Asantewaa

Women and gender: Effects of bad parenting on children

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It is every parents dream to have his or her child grow up into a responsible person. Even though every parent wishes the best for his or her child, at times bad parenting gets in the way of achieving this.

Bad parenting has lots of negative effects in the life of your child. It is therefore, important for each and every parent to evaluate his or her parenting skills so as to know the effects of such parenting on the child.

While it is impossible to be an all round perfect parent, it is never wrong to try and be the best that you can be. Since a parent guides the child, molding him or her into the person they ultimately become and also act as a role models, bad parenting can spell destruction for your child.

The most common parenting mistakes made include neglecting the child and not correcting him or her. This leads to a number of problems in the children. Some of the common effects of bad parenting on children include:

Inability to have long lasting friendships and relationships

This mostly happens when the child is not reprimanded or punished for the mistakes they make. The child therefore, grows up knowing that he or she is in control and is ever right. He or she becomes a spoilt child who believes that he or she must always have their way in everything. This has negative effects on the relationships that the child gets into. Co existing with others becomes difficult and such a child is more likely to make more enemies than friends.

Bad parenting can also cause psychological disorders to a child

This happens especially of the child grows up in a family where there is a lot of abuse whether physical or emotional. This also occurs when a child suffers from neglect as a child. Such children may have difficulty in making friend and trusting people as they find it easier to push people away than to open up.

Bad parenting can also cause depression and low self-esteem.

A child who is never allowed to make decisions, and who is constantly criticised, belittled and who goes through abuse is likely to have low self-esteem. It becomes worse when the child goes through sexual abuse as a child. Such forms of abuse are also known to make children more prone to violent behaviors. Children who are exposed to abuse and violence are likely to become violent people. They grow up believing that violence is the only way to solve issues.