The Role Of A Child's Disciplinarian

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To be a child’s disciplinarian, you are taking on the role of an absolute ruler, role model, and teacher rolled altogether into singular entity called the mentor; on the other hand, becoming a child’s best friend will turn you into either a follower of the group or voice of reason that does not necessarily need to be obeyed and can, more often than not, be ignored entirely. It is obvious that in order to ensure your child’s success in both the present and the future, you have to relegate into the role of the disciplinarian and not of the best friend. You are the parent and you are obviously not a child, so you must take the responsibility of your child’s education and teach them the ways of survival in a world that is not fair to its inhabitants. …show more content…

In the role of the best friend, you will most likely no be able to do more than simply suggest an idea and hope that it will take root in your child’s mind, and the child’s mind is always impartial towards outside influences that do not directly coincide with their current interests. However, as the disciplinarian, the child will value what you tell them because they hold more meaning if you accompany it with a physical demonstration as to why it is good or not good to do something, along with a simplistic and logical reason as to why they were wrong. For example, if you simply suggest to your child to play soccer instead of watching television, they would most likely refuse and ignore your further attempts to cajole them into exercising. However, if you take charge and walk in front of them, turn off the television, and say that if they play soccer with them for an hour they can go back to watching television, but if they win a game against you they can watch television until lunchtime, they would more than likely be at least motivated enough to exercise for a while along with the reward for winning a game. Thus, utilizing your wits and creating bargains is one way of effectively training your child to reflect on their current behavior and advocating better habits while refraining from any actual disciplinary action that would otherwise have to …show more content…

Of course, I am not saying to push your child onto the brink of adulthood when they are clearly not ready, but take the time to explain what you understand of how the adult world works whenever the opportunity presents itself and eventually they will become self-aware to the point where they will think of questions, collect data, and draw conclusions on their own; your constant help, teaching, and nudging into the right direction will be invaluable to them in the future as they realize the meanings behind everything that you’ve taught them and how much you want them to be confident of themselves and above the influences of peer pressure. With your strong building blocks, they will be able to hold themselves up to the expectations of a society that accepts individual worth but rejects those who aren’t familiar to the routine of discipline and rules of society. Although it is possible to achieve all of this through being your child’s best friend, it would most likely take longer because of the lesser amount of influence you can exert on your child and it might be too late to teach your child what the adult world expects of them before they rush off into the crowds of millions of workers with half an idea in their heads and a pocket full of dollars. Thus, fulfilling the role of a mentor for your child will

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