Once I asked a friend of mine who was going to become the general manager of his multinational organization that what is the biggest challenge he had to face in his life. I was expecting a juicy gossip about any of his colleagues, but his answer really shocked me.

He told me that answering his son’s homework questions are the really toughest things he had to face ever. He told me that his son asks about string theory from Albert Einstein and how blue whales get their food. His answer really showed to me the challenges parents are facing in modern world. They are finding it quite hard to manage with hard questions kids are asking them, because current education standards are quite different from our time and kids are much smarter than we used to be at our school days. They know about most of the stuff we wish them to understand also they are much better learner from us as they have all the desired facilities available to them. But these facilities like smart-phones, i-pads, smart watches etc. are also making kids dependent upon them.

There are making challenges which parents are facing at various levels of kid’s education process and it needs patience and practice to overcome these problems, so let’s find out the core problems which are stopping us to become a smart parent-

1. Dependent on technology:-

We all know that it is the time of smart world. We have smart phones, smart-watches, and smart-lenses etc. but these facilities are also making us dependent upon them. Earlier we used to calculate our normal calculations on hands, but now we have smart phone which has calculator and we will have a correct answer within seconds. It is good for adults but when we talk about kids who need to learn basic mathematic calculation and he is using i-pad to do it, and then it is stopping him from having a logical mind which can solve problems.

2. Spending lesser time with kids:-

It is clear problem which every one of us is aware of. We are spending quite lesser time with kids as we are busy in our jobs and much of our time is spending with our laptops. When parent start limiting their contact with kids, then who will clear their doubts and questions.

3. Higher expectations:-

Though it is not a modern challenges towards kids, but it is widely rampant today too and we all know that how much difficult is for kids to perform well in every field of study. Many times parents want their kid to perform well not only in study, but various extra-curricular activities like sport, dance, dramatics, painting etc.

4. Cut-throat Competition:-

In today’s scenario where a student who is getting 90% marks in not able to get admission in his desired college, so we can imagine the competition which student has to face and the mental pressure which student is bearing alone.

5. Comparison with others:-

We all are accustomed of such kind of treatments when our family members compare us with any other kid who is getting great marks, winning scholarships, getting admission in better colleges and so on. But hardly anyone notices the side effects of such comparisons. Two different individuals never have the same capabilities to perform same task and their output will be different too, so it is completely wrong to compare two kids over their academic performance.

6. One way teaching:-

In our country there has been a single pattern of teaching that student must only answer to teacher’s questions and learn only those things which teacher is telling him. We do not encourage our kids to ask questions and explore subjects on their own.

7. Lack of proper counseling:-

Any student at any level of his/her education needs a proper counseling from his elders. There are many doubts and questions in the young mind which seeks answer and when they are not encouraged to tell their mind, they start to find answer on their own.

These are the various problems which are making it hard for kids to grow. But if we look closely then we will find out that these problems can be sorted out easily and with little efforts we can get our kids out from these problems.

Here are few points which we can follow as parent or teacher-

1. Encourage kids to solve easy study problems on their own:-

We have seen kids using smart phones, calculator and i-pads to solve some arithmetic problems, but it stops their mental growth, problem-solving, analytical and logical thinking. So we should encourage kids to get answer by doing calculation on their text books and learn the outcome. It will create a sense of independent and kids will not be dependent on technology to solve their answers.

2. Spend quality time with your kids:-

Spending time with your kid should not be limited to just asking about his report card, but about his hobbies, what food does he like and playing any game with him will really make him friendly with you.

3. Don’t expect moon from your kid:-

In real world your every wish does not come true, so you should not put those wishes to your kids. Try to recognize your kids liking and hobbies and encourage him to follow his career as per his passion not by blindly following anybody.

4. Don’t compare your kid with others:-

Comparing your kid with others can be very fatal to him. It can do too much harm to his self-esteem and there are many examples which show us that comparison between kids has lead to some bad results. But encourage your kid to do as per his wishes and applaud him in his smallest achievements.

5. Involve kid in teaching:-

Teaching and learning are not two different things, but they are two face of same coin. When you teach a kid then you also learn some basic things about teaching. So we should incorporate kids into teaching process and plan our teaching schedule as per kid’s easiness, fondness and understandability.

6. Do a proper counseling with kid:-

Counseling is a great way to find out if kid is facing any kind of problem or dilemma about his education, family or friends. A proper chat with kid can easily do lot of benefit for kid, parents and teacher.

Smart parents are not those who spend lots of money behind kid, but smart parents are those who know what their kid wants how to solve his problems.

Here are some benefits which clearly indicate the role of smart parenting:-

1. Kid will not feel pressurized.
2. He/she will have an increased self-esteem.
3. His performance in academics and extra-curricular activities will be improved.
4. He/she will be clearly aware of his/her potential and weaknesses.
5. He/she will have a clear picture that what he/she wants to become in life.
6. A good relationship will be made between kid and parents.

Our modular lifestyle has allowed us to modify anything as per our likeness, but our kid is not one of those things. Respect his individuality and respect his choices.

I hope this blog will be useful for you. Feel free to comment to this blog. You can reach me at [email protected].