If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.
Abigail Van Buren
Parenting is one of the buzzwords of the twenty-first century. So obsessed are people with this concept that new, never-heard-before professions have sprung up over the last few decades to cater to their concerns. To some extent, these concerns are not misplaced. In an age as competitive as ours, it is but natural for parents to want their children to excel in their studies and extracurricular activities. It is both hard and unfair to blame someone for wanting their kids to stay ahead of the pack.
That being said, things do get slightly complicated when children begin to drift apart from their parents and succumb to the three vices that come easy in their age, namely insolence, taking things for granted, and bad company. In such cases, whether or not they meet their parents’ academic expectations tends to take a backseat. And this is arguably the biggest test for any parent – teaching their young ones to stay grounded.
A time-tested method for doing so – one that has been around forever – is to entrust children with some responsibility. This parenting philosophy is driven by the notion that responsible children make for responsible adults. After all, how can a kid, whose shoulders have never been trained to lift the burden of responsibility, grow up to be an accountable human being? Now, this definitely does not mean overburdening their young shoulders with more responsibility than they are designed to handle. It is paramount for our kids to be only entrusted with tasks that they can easily complete, for such tasks aid their balanced growth as responsible, committed individuals.
Erstwhile American radio show host, Pauline Esther “Popo” Phillips, who was more popularly known as Abigail Van Buren, once made a well-known comment in this regard: “If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.”