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Parenting
Parenting is the process of raising new adults.
A parent must nurture and guide the physical,
emotional, and intellectual growth of the
young until they reach an age when the young
are ready to transition into an independent
life and possibly becoming parents themselves.
As they mature, children can be a source
of fun, love, and pride, but they can also
be a source of frustration, disappointment,
and complication.
Most of us use our own experiences being
parented as our guide to parenting are own
children. We try not to repeat the mistakes
of our parents and of our youth. And while
such insights can help, the world is a different
place now than it was twenty-five years ago.
The children of this millennium face and
will continue to face challenges and opportunities
unlike any we ever imagined. While we may
have argued with our parents about getting
our own TV, for example, today we face questions
about how old should a child be before they
have their first cell phone. For that reason
alone, we are still blazing new trails in
parenting.
The following topics aim to give you another
point of view to consider as you travel through
the phases of parenthood. For even if the
world had not changed and your child is (dare
we use the already antiquated expression?)
a "carbon copy" of you, the challenges
that you face being a parent are not just
those of being the parent to your child that
you as a child always wanted, but the much
broader challenges of being your child's
parent from the perspective of an adult who
is now much more aware of all the complications
of life.
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