The 3 Hardest Decisions You'll Ever Have To Make As A Parent, According To Experts
Some parenting decisions have an impact that lasts forever.
Vlada Karpovich | Canva Parenting decisions are never easy. Seemingly small day-to-day decisions about parenting can have significant effects on the life of a child.
The decisions parents make about their children will resonate for a lifetime. So, these experts have shared their ideas about the most difficult decision a parent can make.
Here are the 3 hardest decisions you'll have to make as a parent, according to YourTango experts:
1. Setting and maintaining limits
The hardest decision one will make as a parent is setting boundaries.
It is challenging to decide how to appropriately set limits for a child since it involves striking a balance between authority, empathy, and understanding.
This challenge has increased in recent times as shown by the generation gap that exists and is quite evident around us.
Initially, the generation gap was observed as almost a decade between generations. Now, every three years, a generation changes and becomes unique.
This quick paradigm shift between generations poses a real change for a parent.
— Sidhharrth S Kumaar, Astro Numerologist, NumroVani
2. Letting your child stand alone
The most profound parental decisions often reside in the space where love meets wisdom. Allowing young adult children to navigate the precipice of their challenges, despite the instinct to shield them, requires an acknowledgment that growth emerges from both triumphs and setbacks. It's a testament to the trust we place in the resilience we've cultivated in our children and the understanding that true wisdom often blooms in the soil of experience.
The hardest decision is not just releasing our grip but doing so with the profound belief that, even in the fall, they will find the strength to rise again, wiser and more resilient than before. It's important to recognize that sometimes, the best lessons are learned when we find the courage to stand alone.
— Clare Waismann, M-RAS/ SUDCC II Waismann Method Rapid Detox Founder
3. Deciding to empower your child.
Parenting is a hands-off job. The simple task of providing a safe space for mistakes to be learned from and messes to be cleaned up.
We empower our children by letting them figure things out as they go.
The parental home is where children can experiment, learn, and explore, trying out different emotions, behaviors, attitudes, and character traits in a safe and loving space. If they do not have this freedom, they will try these things out once they’ve left home and the safety net is no longer in place.
So is what you are doing right now going to empower or disempower your kids to go out into the world as authentic, confident human beings?
— Mia Von Scha, Parenting Coach
You can empower your child to make decisions for themselves and gain vital problem-solving skills within an environment with clear boundaries and limits appropriate for the child's developmental stage.
This is one of the most difficult decisions to make as a parent since it requires so much love you have to know when to set a limit and when to let mistakes be self-learning moments for your child.
By combining the advice about this difficult choice, you can guide your child to decide for themselves and trust that their choice is based on empathy and understanding for others as well as themselves.
Will Curtis is a writer and associate editor for YourTango. He's been featured on the Good Men Project and taught English abroad for ten years.