Issues on Parenting: Counselling for Positive Nurturing

Globally, general observations and trends as reported in news shows a great paradigm shift from how parents from generation x (1960’s) and y (1990’s) raised their children and the challenges confronting the twenty first century parents today. Parenting is a duty, which should be an intentional and a deliberate practice that parents activate into action on daily basis to nurture their children for healthy growth and development, with focus to basic human needs including physical, psychological, social, and Spiritual needs. This study interrogates some issues in parenting and also illustrates some parenting challenges and concerns that parents face while raising their children. They include economic issues, behavioural issues, changing times, increasing demands for survival of the home and family, among others. The study also incorporates some counselling blocks that could be adopted by the parents in this digital age for effective disciplines and behaviour management, communication, academic and social development, mental health and safety, balancing work and the family, and dealing with complex family dynamics and generational gap challenges, time management, availability for parent-child-bond in the digital age. In order to promote enduring positive responsiveness from parents to children, it is recommended that parents should be intentional and deliberate in the attention given to their children in early ages and as preteens, teenagers, and youths.