Parents serve as a major influence and has a lot to say about their child’s future, from the level of their education, their knowledge about work and occupations, what do they want to be when they grow up, their beliefs and attitudes about work, motivation to succeed and up to the skills that they should learn in landing their dream job. The majority of the parents want their children to find their happiness and achieve life success through the career path that they are going to take in the future.

Parenting style

Psychological construct representing standard strategies that parents use in their child-earing. The quality of parenting can be more essential than the quantity of time spent with the child. It is conceptualized as a constellation of attitudes or a pattern of parental authority towards the child which is conveyed to the child, creating the emotional context for the expression of parent behavior. It is thought to provide the emotional climate for interaction between parents and children and has a significant impact on the family’s quality of life and the child’s career in later life. According to Diane Baumrind, there are four types of parenting styles: Authoritarian or Disciplinarian, Permissive or Indulgent, Uninvolved and Authoritative. How do these parenting styles differ from each other?   

Authoritarian parents are those who are strict and stern. They do not question obedience but imply good behavior through threats, shaming and other forms of punishment. Permissive parents are the opposite of Disciplinarian Parents, they are emotionally warm, nurturing, reluctant to enforce rules or standards of conduct; they mostly let their children decide for themselves and figure out their problems. Some are Uninvolved type of parents, who are lacking communication with their children, offers little nurturing and shows less or no expectations on their offspring.  And the last one is the Authoritative, they are reasonable, nurturing, sets high and clear expectations on their child with frequent communication appropriate to their child’s level of understanding, vocal and clear about their high expectations regarding their child’s goals.

The way your parents nurture you since you were young has a great impact on your behavior as you grow old. It will reflect on your overall personality, thinking and even your attitude towards your future relationships with friends and co-workers.

Research has been conducted that children who have supportive and loving parents show more confidence in their capabilities to search and choose a career that would be interesting, challenging and exciting for them. Adolescents who feel confident about their career decision making tend to be more satisfied with their career choices later on.

Over involvement of parents to their child’s decision making process can undermine parental effects as a positive source of influence. Unreasonable parental control on a child’s career decision making may result in damaging outcomes.

Many children grow up idealizing the professions of their parents. If you have always looked up to either your mother or father and admired their skills, it may influence you to pursue a career the same as theirs. Parents may intentionally or unintentionally push a child toward a specific career path, especially in some cases of a family that owns a business, where parents expect their child to take over the management of the company. Some parents who pressure their child to strive to look for a high-profile career, feeling they are encouraging their child to aim high.

A negative parental influence also does exist in our society. Some parents who lack education or always struggles financially wherein a child may decide that they are not going to be in that same position, as this may prompt them to pursue an extremely different path, and will land a stable, high-paying job. Similarly, if you have workaholic parents who were rarely around when you were a child, you may decide to pursue a line of work with flexibility that gives you more time with your family.

Planning and making career choices is utmost importance for every individual’s entire future. Parents have the ability to make a child’s past seem perfect and the future unintentionally petrifying. It is always important to stay positive and supportive of your child’s future career decision making and let them pursue, the profession that their heart truly desires.     

Children value their parents’ influence and guidance, it is significant for parents to give their child the utmost encouragement and support that they need in finding the career path that would best fit their child’s interests and strengths. Early communication is an important key between the parent and child before the decision-making process, as this will prevent the likelihood of making unwise and impulsive decisions. Lines of communications should always remain open within the family and child encouragement in gathering the much-needed information as possible in the area of their career interest. Parents will act as a facilitator of their child’s future profession allowing independent career choices marks a young person’s first real first step into adulthood.      

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