Psychologist's Advice to Parents on Child-Rearing

A useful piece of advice from a family psychologist regarding child-rearing is this: "Raising children is a risky endeavor; success is achieved only through immense effort and care, while failure brings a grief incomparable to any other."

The greatest challenge parents face—and a frequent topic of questions for psychologists—is the issue of infantilism. Most problems in family relationships, including those between parents and children, stem from parenting errors—specifically, a failure to transition out of childhood at the right time. Children often fail to move from the stage of childhood (typical of ages 6–7) to a stage characterized by service to and respect for their parents. The result is the extremely serious problem of infantilism. A family psychologist’s advice regarding this issue is: "It is crucial to help the child develop positive character traits and a strong personality by the age of 16." If this period before age 16 is missed, repairing the relationship with the child later—even with the help of highly skilled psychologists—becomes both costly and extremely difficult.

Parents gather information on child-rearing from a variety of sources. A good option is to consult experienced individuals—such as other parents and psychologists—who already have adult children. Regarding child-rearing, a psychologist’s advice is that "every child is unique; therefore, it is advisable to consult with an analytical psychologist throughout the child's life, from birth until they reach adulthood."

If parents have not successfully raised their child or established a good relationship with them by the age of 16, then—even with the help of excellent psychologists—doing so later will be extremely costly and practically impossible. Regarding child-rearing, the following psychological advice can be offered to parents: "It is far more effective and much less expensive to utilize a psychologist's expertise while the child is under the age of 16."