There are many factors which determine how healthy your child will be when growing up. It is not necessary that your child falls sick very often due to bad parenting. So, before you go ahead and blame yourself for the illness your child is suffering from, take a look at all the reasons why it may have been caused.
Firstly, the climate, rather than parenting, decides the health of your child. If you live in a tropical country like Malaysia, it is natural that there are several diseases your child may fall prey to. Secondly, a child’s immune system is much weaker than that of an adult. Many parents question themselves as to whether they are able to take care of their child well. This may be because your child falls sick very often, but there is a medical explanation to all these doubts and dilemmas. For instance, a simple dust allergy may be triggering off that cold which your son seems to be suffering from during every change of season. Do not always blame yourself for bad parenting in case your child falls ill.
Some of the common problems which parents face when bringing up a child, are:
- Drinking water from an unsafe or dirty source may result in your child suffering from Gastroentitis. This is a disease where fever, tummy cramps, nausea and diarrhoea are the symptoms. Although most parents and kids have access to the same source of drinking water, due to the lower immunity of a child, they tend to fall sick easily. If your child is suffering from Gastroentitis, make sure you give him or her enough fluids as one of the major risks of this disease is that it causes dehydration.
- If you notice that your child’s eyes are red, itchy and keep watering, you must immediately take him or her to a doctor and check if he or she is suffering from Conjunctivitis. This eye disease is very common among children and is caused by an inflamed conjunctiva. Parenting has nothing to do with your child suffering from Conjunctivitis. Among youngsters it may cause a lot of discomfort as it sometimes spread from one eye to the next, but it is easily curable.
- As a parent all you can do is warn your child about diseases which are water borne. You cannot prevent them from drinking unsafe water. Therefore, diseases like typhoid show themselves among youngsters who have a habit of drinking water from everywhere. It is not a fault of parenting which results in this disease. If your child suddenly seems to have become very lethargic or seems to have lost his or her appetite, you should get him or her checked for typhoid. Although your child may suffer some discomforts, this is the price to pay if your child does not pay heed to your warning.
If your child gets sick, you should not blame it on bad parenting but if you do not take your child to a doctor when you see that your child is very obviously sick, it is considered to be very bad parenting. Now, the question which arises is, how can you prevent your child from not listening to you? There are several ways in which you can do so. Parents and kids need to sit down and discuss topics such as diseases and how harmful disobeying your parents can be. Until and unless your child understands the repercussions of his or her actions, he or she will never be able to obey his or her parents completely and this only comes with age and good parenting.
While it is impossible to constantly monitor your child and keep a track of all his or her actions, it is possible to monitor your child while your child is at home or within your vicinity. Therefore, exercise you’re parenting skills and make sure your children remain healthy in their habits. Teaching hygiene to your children is also an important part of parenting. Not only that, it is also important to maintain healthy hygiene habits yourself as your children learn only what they see. While your parenting instincts may drive you to try and protect your child in every way possible, you must realise that that is not feasible. Hence, put your parenting skills to good use and take care of your child as best you can.
