Parenting – The Most Important Job

Hi, I'm John Cowan from The Parenting Place.

When all you've got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. My hammer is parenting – whenever I get a chance I bang on about families and parenting because I'm passionate about it. But, I'd have to say, good parenting can actually hammer down a lot of problems. Some years ago there was an article in the British Medical Journal – and I quote:

"Parenting is probably the most important public health issue facing our society. It is the single largest variable implicated in childhood illnesses and accidents; teenage pregnancy and substance misuse; truancy, school disruption, and under achievement; child abuse; unemployability; juvenile crime; and mental illness. These are serious in themselves but are even more important as precursors of problems in adulthood and the next generation." [BMJ Volume 316 23 May 1998].

Whenever you see a headline about a problem in society like crime or a health issue or education or drugs or teenage sexual behaviour – for each problem there will be a lot of complex causes and cures but – according to the British Medical Journal – the single biggest factor in any of them is what is happening, or what has happened, in the homes of people as they grew up.

If you are a parent, you are doing the most important job you will ever get to do. You are not just being a zookeeper or jailer – you are being a coach and mentor and your impact will last for a lifetime – probably for generations. You'll probably have lots of problems in your job as a parent: when you look closely, you'll see that a lot of them are actually nails, and that big hammer in your hand called good parenting will actually sort out a heck of a lot of them.
 
For a bigger, better hammer, check out theparentingplace.com.