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Introduction
Parenting experience is different for each person responsible for caring for their biological, foster, or adopted children. Most people have happy and sad emotions after receiving newborns. I interviewed a thirty-year-old mother of two called Lilian (pseudonym). Particularly, she had an eight years old girl and a 4-year-old boy. Although being a parent is a privilege that most adults look forward to, without proper planning, it can become a burden that leaves a person feeling caged and insufficient.
Children Needs and Demands
The two children need parental love and care, which is mostly given through being present for them. In addition, they need to be provided with basic needs, including shelter, clothing, and food (Samadi, 2022). Lilian explained that her older child had cerebral palsy causing physical and mental disabilities. She has to attend regular physiotherapy, special needs school, and her nannies demand higher wages. The son is in kindergarten and still requires special attention such as to be taken to and from school. Lilian also explained that this child was passionate about playing music instruments. She decided to enroll him to a piano class as a way of cultivating his passion.
Joy and Challenges
Upon enquiring about the positives and drawbacks of being a parent, Lilian summed her explanation saying that no one ever prepares a person to be a parent. It is a full time job, that demands effort, yet lacks a check. Nonetheless, seeing the children grow brings a sense of joy, fulfilment and hope. Lilian said that although her girl had a disability, she loved her smile and vulnerability. She faces challenges of taking care of her, paying for her demands, stigma, and stress. Her son brings much joy to the family because he is a multi-talented genius. However, she barely has time to be with her friends or go out due to her mothering responsibilities.
Parenting Strategy
Lilian said that she identified as a liberal parent who was always ready to learn from new experiences. She does not have a specific strategy but tries to roll with the flow of life. She tries to balance between her employment and parental responsibilities, both of which are demanding yet necessary for her wellness (Swarnalatha & Sekar, 2017). There are people who assist her with the children while she is at work. She tried to discipline her children by giving them a time out or denying them some privileges when they showed undesirable behavior. Nonetheless, she is open to listening to the opinions and demands of her children and give appropriate responses.
Economic Challenges
The interviewee is a manager at a five-star hotel and has always been able to provide the basic needs of her children. However, she says that after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government setting up stringent measures to curb its spread, her finances were greatly affected (Fang et al., 2020). The hotel could no longer pay the salary. Notably, even after going through lengthy course work and assessment, financial analyst still failed to shield people from the inflation (Huddleston, 2019). With her lay experience in monetary planning Lilian had to depend on her savings, which was not much. She reduced her expenses and tried to make homemade cookies while selling to the neighbors to increase her income. Lilian cannot be entirely blamed for the financial crisis given that nobody ever prepared her for such an outcome.
Economic Forecast
The goal of Lilian is to provide her children with the best education, despite the ongoing issues that she deals with trying to look for finances. Lilian has good savings skills that she learned from her parents, and as a study predicts, she wants to emulate her childhood lessons now (LeBaron et al., 2020). Now that she is in her thirties, she wants to secure an education policy for both her children. Moreover, she just started a retirement plan where she gives money that will be given back when she is above 65 years. Her financial advisor said that she might be able to own a home by the time she turns forty years. Thus, by the time she is aging, she will be among the upper middle class.
Strategy for financial security
Lillian has now fully resumed her managerial position, she hopes to save a tenth of her salary in a fixed account every month and start a business as a side hustle at the end of five years. Lilian believes that like many people the COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opener for the need of having multiple streams of income. In addition, she has decided to always budget her finances instead of randomly spending her money on things that are not beneficial.
Interviewees Advice
The responsibility of taking care of another human by ensuring that they are well-fed, sheltered, educated, and their social, medical, and psychological needs are met are challenging even for loving parents. It is vital that mothers take time to rest without feeling guilty so that their responsibility does not take a toll on their health. In addition, financial planning and saving is important for securing the future of the children. It is never too late to start a savings plan even with a small income.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the lesson I got from the interview is that parenting is a challenging yet joyful experience. Children need responsible adults all the time to help in feeding and ensuring their safety. They have no money to pay back, but their smile is enough appreciation. Parents should try to be present for their children when they get from work early and during weekends.
References
Fang, Y., Nie, Y., & Penny, M. (2020). Transmission dynamics of the COVID19 outbreak and effectiveness of government interventions: A datadriven analysis. Journal of Medical Virology, 92(6), 645-659. Web.
Huddleston, C. (2019). Mom and dad, we need to talk: How to have essential conversations with your parents about their finances. John Wiley & Sons.
LeBaron, A. B., Holmes, E. K., Jorgensen, B. L., & Bean, R. A. (2020). Parental financial education during childhood and financial behaviors of emerging adults. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 31(1), 42-54. Web.
Samadi, S. A. (Ed.) (2022). Parenting: Challenges of child rearing in a changing society. BoD Books on Demand.
Swarnalatha, V., & Sekar, S. (2017). A relationship between emotional intelligence and work life balance professionals A conceptual perspective. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 2(1)107 -110. Web.
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