The first major takeaway from this week’s reading is the complex role nature of parenting. As a preschool teacher, I had an opportunity to witness the massive impact created by parental roles personally. According to Gestwicki (2016), parents fulfill various roles, ranging from workers to consumers and nurturers. I can confirm that many parents are virtually consumed, even overwhelmed by these roles. The constant deficit of time and possible conflicts between the roles create immense pressure on parents. Raising a child in good conditions is costly, which often forces parents to prioritize the worker’s role. However, emphasizing work sometimes leads to a lack of attention to the educator’s role, which can also hurt a child. In a way, I feel that my professional duty as a preschool education worker lies in helping those parents and their children.
Secondly, I can confirm the emotional responses and attachment types associated with parenting, as I have seen them in my work. Gestwicki (2016) described the following attachment types: secure, anxious-ambivalent, and anxious-avoidant. As a preschool teacher, I have to be especially caring and comforting while working with children who demonstrated anxious-ambivalent and anxious-avoidant behavior. From my perspective, such behavior is a warning signal, which has to be taken seriously and corrected by the teacher’s actions.
Finally, this week’s reading provided a list of reasons for parenthood, which define it as an emotional experience. People perceive children as an expansion of self, try to fulfill moral obligations, look for affection and fun, or follow certain achievements (Gestwicki, 2016). In regard to my work, I think that some of these reasons may lead to harmful consequences for a child. For instance, I feel that pushing a child into disliked activities to satisfy the parent’s ambitions is a traumatizing experience for a child. As such, an educational worker should communicate with parents and warn them if they spot any troubling signs. Parents may be responsible for a child’s upbringing; however, that responsibility does not turn a child into a property object.