Parental Monitoring – Due 4/14/22

Parental monitoring of adolescents can be defined as the close supervision of adolescents by parents to influence their activities and behaviors (Brajša‐Žganec, Merkaš & Šakić Velić, 2019). Based on this, parental monitoring includes the expectations parents have for their adolescents regarding behavior, the actions taken by parents to help keep track of their children, and the way parents respond when adolescents break the rules. A parent is considered the link between the child and the outside world. According to research, monitoring the adolescent’s activities and behavior is important because it reduces the adolescent’s chances of getting involved in situations that the parent does not approve of, especially those that can be harmful such as drug and substance abuse. Based on this, parents should take drastic measures to control their children, including limiting the times that they are free by enrolling in helpful programs that will enhance their character development away from bad influences. In the same way, adolescents should take drastic measures to abide by their parents’ regulations as the primary goal of the parent is to ensure that their child is safe. By trusting and doing what their parents want them to do is the compromise that children have to do, as this will help them grow to be responsible persons in the future.

While making compromises is good to ensure that adolescents’ behavior ends up as the parent wants, ideal monitoring is necessary to allow the adolescents to learn from their own experiences. Too much or too low parental control can be dangerous to adolescents due to weaknesses in a child’s behavior (Kapetanovic et al., 2019). For example, too much parental control can be regarded as the parents using developmentally inappropriate tactics that far exceed the actual needs of the adolescents. Overparenting involves excessive protection of adolescents. For example, a parent rushing to school to deliver items such as forgotten lunches, assignments, or uniforms at the whim of their child or a parent bringing separate food for their child at a party because they are picky eaters. These actions can be considered as being overprotective to the child and could be dangerous to adolescents as it contributes to raising teens who are anxious and narcissistic.

On the other hand, too little parenting can also be dangerous as it negatively affects the behaviors of adolescents. The most basic form of parental supervision is required to keep the children from hurting themselves or others; to keep them away from dangerous objects and situations. Lack of parental monitoring can be considered as neglect of the child, and this contributes negatively to adolescents as the child can adopt negative behaviors such as drug and substance abuse as they are left to explore to determine what is harmful and what is helpful (Sanayeh et al., 2022). While too much parental monitoring can bring up anxious and narcissistic adolescents, too little or lack of parental monitoring can result in the adolescents adopting poor morals, which can be harmful both to them and others. As a result, it would be advisable for parents to exercise moderation in monitoring their children, avoiding too much or too little parental monitoring to allow the adolescents to navigate by themselves, make mistakes and learn from them. Through this, adolescents will grow to adopt healthy behaviors that are adopted both from parental guidance and experience.

Effective techniques in parental monitoring are those that lead to adolescents adopting acceptable behavior in society. Showing love is one of the techniques that can be considered effective in ensuring effective parental monitoring (Lo Cricchio et al., 2019). Young adolescents need parents who are there for them, connect with them, communicate with them, spend time with them, and show a genuine interest in them. Through this, adolescents learn to take care of and love others, and therefore, showing love can be considered an effective technique in controlling adolescents. Another technique includes setting up limits for adolescents. Young adults need parents who consistently provide structure and supervision which is firm and appropriate for age and development. With parents setting limits, it keeps the adolescents both physically and emotionally safe. However, parents should set limits that may not harm their children and which can be considered excessive monitoring. If the set rules are too harsh, adolescents may develop anxiety and narcissistic behavior, which is not good for the development of the child. Therefore, it is required for parents to set their limits that cannot harm their children.

Finally, teaching responsibility is another technique that can be considered effective parental monitoring. Adolescents need to take responsibility for their actions and learn to take more and more responsibilities, such as completing house chores, completing homework and assignments, and finding ways to be useful to others (Loderup et al., 2021). Poor or ineffective parental monitoring techniques can be considered as physical abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse as they lead to damaging behavior among adolescents. Physical abuse may be excessive disciplining of the adolescents to the extent of inflicting wounds on their bodies. In the same case, using abusive language can result in emotional abuse, and this can result in adolescents suffering from depression, among other mental health conditions. Sexual abuse is another ineffective technique as it brings adolescents into hating themselves and may end up committing suicide due to the shame that results from such kind of parenting. Parents should make sure that adolescents’ safety is taken care of to keep them safe from sexual and physical abusers.

References

Brajša‐Žganec, A., Merkaš, M., & Šakić Velić, M. (2019). The relations of parental supervision, parental school involvement, and child’s social competence with school achievement in primary school. Psychology in the Schools, 56(8), 1246-1258.

Kapetanovic, S., Skoog, T., Bohlin, M., & Gerdner, A. (2019). Aspects of the parent–adolescent relationship and associations with adolescent risk behaviors over time. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(1), 1.

Lo Cricchio, M. G., Lo Coco, A., Cheah, C. S., & Liga, F. (2019). The good parent: Southern Italian mothers’ conceptualization of good parenting and parent–child relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 40(12), 1583-1603.

Loderup, C. L., Timmons, J. E., Kimball, E. R., Hill, E. J., Marks, L. D., & LeBaron, A. B. (2021). How do parents teach their children about work? A qualitative exploration of household chores, employment, and entrepreneurial experiences. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 42(1), 73-89.

Sanayeh, E. B., Iskandar, K., Fadous Khalife, M. C., Obeid, S., & Hallit, S. (2022). Parental divorce and nicotine addiction in Lebanese adolescents: the mediating role of child abuse and bullying victimization. Archives of public health, 80(1), 1-11.