Chasing Perfection: The Effects on the Parent/Child Relationship

How does our chase to be the “perfect” parent fit in to the parent/child relationship? 

We’re probably all guilty of looking at some parent and child and asking, “How could they do that? I’d never treat my child that way.” After all, from the moment parents finds out they will have a baby, they naturally begin setting themselves up to do it right. They want to do their very best for this new life that they are going to bring forth. These are the very first seeds that parents plant within themselves to be the “perfect” parent. And they do it all subconsciously.

We all want to do the best for our children. We want to embrace this new relationship with authority, knowledge, and yes… perfection. To “get it right,” we read parenting books and blogs, and we talk to our friends and family about the right way to raise a child. Yet, the truth is that one person’s way of raising a child might not necessarily work for you and your precious one. And, of course, what might work for one of our children, might not work for another.

Parents today are under extreme pressure to get their kids into the right schools and the right sports. Many parents feel like they need to compete with neighbors, relatives, and their kids’ school friends. But we’re missing the big picture. We spend so much time trying to organize activities and getting caught up in the “doing” of things that we lose sight of what’s really important — the communication between ourselves and our children. If that breaks down, everything else goes with it. But when the lines of communication remain open, our relationship becomes a lifelong ride of enjoyable memories, despite the challenges. And isn’t that what we all want?

Roma Khetarpal, the author of The “Perfect” Parent shared some of her views on SCV-TV.

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