With the growing need of coping with the financial constraints of a modern-day society, parents go out to work and, consequently, the parenting of their children gets hampered substantially. Under the circumstances, it is the duty of wise parents to forge and evolve a balance between parenting and their day-to-day working liabilities.

Generally speaking, cordial and fond family bonds are the result of good and proper parenting. It is a process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. It’s the parents who are the real personality builders, counselors and mentors of their children. Needless to say that a well-laid foundation in the form of proper grooming and parenting of their children will have far reaching results in the long run, while inadequate parenting might only add to the complexity, anxiety and worry of parents.

Parenting has manifold dimensions and objectives. It is much more than just providing materialistic things to your children. Precisely speaking, it is an art of spending time with your children, chatting with them, apprising them of the difference between good and bad. Moreover, it is a process of correcting them when they do something wrong, teaching them good manners, teaching them to share, loving them and playing with them. In addition, good parenting means teaching your children the importance of respect for elders and inculcating ethical and moral values. Children automatically imitate what they learn at home, which they will never forget. In the light of the above, parenting is not just important, it is essential. If you teach your children values such as love, compassion and forgiveness, you have helped make this world a better place.

In short, parenting is the influence to mould their children into decent and loving individuals and thus turn their families into a better society and, eventually, into a brighter future. Hopefully this will create a better world – a world in which our children, grandchildren and coming generations can live in peace and harmony.

- The reader is a professor based in Ajman.