Roles of Parents in a Person's Life
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Each of us came into existence on this earth through his/her parents and usually grows to be full-fledged person under their care, guidance and inspiration and most importantly through their sacrifices of their own pleasures for the sake of our comforts and growth. Thus, parents had been indispensable to each of us, if not today.
Parents influence a person's life at macro as well as micro level from birth until the latter's death. These influences are principally through genetic link, guidance, inspiration and inheritance apart from the care they provide during childhood of the person. There are two ways, a person's life may get affected by his/her parents -
- What the parents provide to the person, are of two types :
- those dependent on the person's will - wealth and legal rights, education and guidance.
- those imposed on the person whether he/she likes them or not - blood relationship including diseases and genetic traits.
- What the person acquires from his/her parents, too, are of two types :
- those dependent on the parents will - name and fame.
- those acquired by the person whether the parents like or not - inspiration.
In the following sections, we shall be studying these four types of influences of parents on a person's life
Wealth and Legal Rights
Provision of wealth and other legal rights of parents to a person is governed by legal framework of the country or by convention of the society, the person belongs to. In some cases, it makes a considerable impact on the person's life where the parents are wealthy and the person is non-deserving.
Importance of wealth ownership by a person is highly subjective issue depending on the person's attitude towards wealth. But one thing is certain about the wealth that it is a perishable commodity with respect to the person and great efforts are required by the person to preserve its ownership.
Education and Guidance
All parents have a natural wish to educate and guide their children, but the children care for these in varying degrees and hence get these accordingly. Resources of the parents matter to a limited extent only in this respect, but intellectual constitution of the person matters considerably for how much the person gets benefits of parental education and guidance.
The greatest factor that matters is the interest the person has in receiving parental education and guidance and this, in turn, depends on the person's views about his/her parents. This inheritance works best when the person has high esteem for his/her parents which is not the case always.
Blood Relationship
It is generally observed that a person has physical features from any or many of his/her six ancestors -
- father,
- mother,
- grand-father,
- grand-mother,
- maternal grand-father, and
- maternal grand-mother.
Here, I must clarify that genetic link and blood relationship are two different things for a person. Through genetic links, a person carries genes in his/her body having information from his/her ancestors, but through the blood relationship, the person's blood-constitution is dependent on his/her ancestors through which the person inherits physical features. Diseases are inherited through blood relationship, while the intellect, creativity, etc. are results of genetic links.
Genetic Traits
An individual is primarily what he/she is made by his genetic link to all his/her ancestors through his/her parents. But a majority of the genetic information in the person's body remain dormant for most of his/her life span with a few remaining active to make-up his/her personality traits. Thus, a person may have traits from any or many of his/her ancestors, mostly determined by sub-conscious level of mind of the person. But there lies a possibility of making any of the ancestor's genetic link active and contributing to his/her personality. My researches on this issue are in their infancy stage.
Apart from this observation, some persons are found to have traits of their respective ancestors of many generations back, but since these traits may also be present in later generations of ancestors too, the person is said to inherit traits from the latest ancestor with link to the earlier ancestor remaining unnoticed. For example, I am said to have traits like those of my father's younger brother who had died many years before my birth. In this observation, my genetic link with an earlier ancestor is overlooked.
Name and Fame
Crediting name and fame of parents to a person's name is dependent on both - the parents as well as the person him/herself because any one may disown the other for such a credit transfer. But, often, a person gets benefits and discredits for his/her parents' name and fame. Even if a person wishes to get dissociated with it, the memory of the society keeps him/her associated with the parents name and fame - positive or negative. This factor remains highly dominant in a person's life in orthodox societies like that of India, while in America, it hardly matters.
Inspirations
Since, the mother is the closest friend and guide to a child, she is the primary source of inspiration for a person. The marital bond between the person's parents and their quality of mutual relationship bring in father of the person to inspire him/her, apart from the father's own characteristics and personality attributes and the care he directly provides to the child influence his/her personality. Thus, both the parents play pivotal roles in inspiring a person.
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@freecampingaussie, those who don't learn lessons at home, learn these through thrashings by the society.
how do you say" wow" in hindi?
'wow' in Hindi is expressed as 'sundar', and in Urdu, it is said 'bahut khoob', like a very good in English.
Very important hub, as a teacher of students with learning difficulties, I can not agree more..thanks for sharing:) ....'bahut khoob'
Thanks, my dear Beata, for the encouragement. I feel honored.
Parents can be our lifeline if we imbibe the culture and morality they inculcate in us.
@mathira, so true. But we should not always do that.
common sense needs to be easier to get to within each of us. Sense which is common to all.
Don't you think there is some omnipotent creative force behind all this science?
@ Kathryn, yes there is a creative force called Nature that works on its own principles unaffected by any external forces.
I think you are less of an atheist than you are willing to speculate
@ Kathryn, I beg to differ on this view of yours. Theism says that God is merciful and if you pray to Him, you are pardoned, while atheism says the Nature goes strictly by its principle of cause-and-effect.
I see.... You have preconceived notion of GOD. But you say you do not believe in that preconceived notion, well GOOD! Go to one of your temples to where the lingum is washed with honey and ignore the redickulousness of that and tune into the source of the universe....! What can COME!!!
I keep tuned with my self and for that I don't need to go any temple etc. My work is my worship and my convictions are dearest to me. Any way, thanks for your continued interest in my views.
I just meant you need to be more objective about the reality of God. It is a personal matter. Spirituality is easier to discuss than the source of the universe directly. But there has to be a source of the universe and everything in it. Or else I would not be here. I did not put myself here. That much I know. I do not even understand how my own digestive system works! What is an atheist?
but I understand love as a means of coping with worldly problems. Keep up the good fight. ( Can you rally the young men in your town before they get corrupted? Or do they too get corrupted early on. The real problem is women not putting a rupee between their knees until things get better. I guess that is WAY too much to ask, and therein lies the real problem with the whole wide world. The End.)
freecampingaussie Level 5 Commenter 5 months ago
Parents should be the ones to teach the children manners & life skills such as how to tie shoe laces , write their name , sex education etc rather than leaving it all up to the teachers.