The crucial role of parental care in child development

FROM as early as conception, parents have profound influence over their children’s development.

- KELLY GEMMELL

Once a parent, this important responsibility never ends. Parenthood can be wonderful and rewarding but also challenging and fearsome.

Every year, on the 1st of June, we commemorate the Global Day of Parents to recognise and appreciate the vital role parents play in the lives of their children - and ultimately, in society. But why is the role of a parent so important? And what do South African parents need to fulfil it?

Nurturing care

To develop to their full potential, all children need to be cared for and nurtured. Providing nurturing care does not only mean ensuring that they are healthy and well-nourished. It also means noticing, understanding, and responding to their needs — ensuring that they feel safe and out of harm’s way, and providing them with simple and feasible early learning opportunities.

In the first years of life, parents and caregivers are the closest to the child and thus the best providers of this nurturing care. Nurturing care can be transformational, providing the environment necessary for optimal brain growth, including the formation of neural connections — the building blocks of learning and memory. Nurturing care provided by a loving and attentive parent enables a child to build relationships and develop a healthy sense of self-esteem.

Suboptimal development