Can we teach parenting?

Can we teach parenthood?

Can we teach parenthood can be a controversial topic? The moment we hear it, some will think eugenics or freedom of choice. These are both wonderful things to worry about, but can we teach parenthood? Like, for real. I am talking about teaching parenthood to every pregnant woman, not choosing who gets pregnant. We teach people everything else, including driving, job skills or whatever else, so why not parenthood? To me, parenthood is the greatest job on earth. It is bigger than all other jobs combined. If we learn things in school that we never use in real life, why not learn parenthood, which is real life?

Every person who has gone through childhood trauma at the hands of bad parents will want to have had better parents. We take it for granted when we say common sense is not that common. With that in mind, why not bring together pregnant women to share ideas on how to raise children? We can even learn how to have better pregnancies. Some women don’t know what to not eat while pregnant and if they do, they might not know why. I am a big advocate for a great start in the life of children.

Better fathers needed

We also need to teach fathers how to be ‘present’. In the Western world, there has been progress on fatherhood. But there is still room for improvement. In other parts of the world, fatherhood skills are sorely lacking. We have a lot of non-affectionate fathers and authoritarian fathers, especially in black families. These are the fathers who, when they come into the house, a cold breeze comes with them and children have no choice but to vacate the living room. The fathers that are scary to their own children and some fathers are proud of it, believing that fear equals respect.

I don’t think that fear is respect. You don’t want your child to be afraid of you. You want your child to love you, to feel safe when you come into the house. You want your child to have a conversation with you. Not for a father to always be barking orders like an army general. But to sit down with your child, explaining, if need be, what the child did wrong and how to fix it. Every child deserves a loving father.

Culture and traditions

Culture and traditions play a significant part in the way we interact, but to continue in that fashion when we know it is bad is crazy. Ignorance is not bliss. We can teach parenthood in this world. In my opinion, it should be a mandatory course for every person who wants to become a parent. We need better parents who will bring up better adults. Keeping the idea that mother and father know best when we receive news of bad parents almost daily is crazy. Keep in mind that the parents we see on the news are the ones being caught after many years of abusing their own children. What about the ones that are never caught?

The biggest job in the world

Parenthood brings up every member of the government, every doctor, teacher, or lawyer. From the beggar on the street to the brightest entrepreneur. How is that not the most important job in the world? Every class and citizen of our world can have a child. How do we trust each other so blindly to do a good job of parenthood when we can see how people worldwide are failing at it? Yes, I know that there are some great parents out there, but for children who grow up in bad homes, we owe them better parents. There is nothing more important than the human resources to make our world a better place. Happy people, happy lives.