Parenting Courses Should Be Mandatory Persuasive Essay Sample
Parenting has been called one of the hardest jobs ever. But what if it didn't have to be the case? To raise good citizens that will love the world and make it a better place, we have to raise good kids. Raising good kids requires knowing what you're doing. Even throughout parenting. Parents figure out what to do and not to do, wouldn't it be better if they knew from the get-go? Parenting courses should be mandatory, helping parents feel more prepared, and lower the percentage of kids being in abused and/or neglected households.
Being prepared for any situation is also a good thing. Going into a math test, learning to drive a car, and even parenting. Being prepared as a soon-to-be parent can reduce fear and anxiety of what's to come. But when we are not prepared, then this anxiety and fear, our bodies end up going into fight or flight mode, which leads to making quick decisions that don't always have the outcome you were looking for. Having kids, especially little ones, have certain needs and always need to have your attention. Being tired and stressed and not knowing what to do when your child just won't stop crying or whining, so the only way they think it would stop them from misbehaving, breaking the rules, and crying. Is to hit their kids.
A total of 15% of kids from the ages of 5-16 are in abusive and/or neglectful households. As stated before, when parents are not being prepared or properly educated, or grew up in an abusive household themselves. Can lead to physical and/or mental violence. Being in an abusive and/or neglectful household can lead to risks in the future that can severely affect an adult's life. There are Higher risks for intimate partner violence, alcoholism and alcohol abuse, illicit drug abuse, smoking & drinking at an early age, severe depression, and also suicide attempts. For cases in 2015 alone, the estimated lifetime cost of lost worker productivity, health care costs, special education costs, child welfare expenditures, and criminal justice expenditures is over $830,000 per victim, just because they had to grow up in an abusive household. We could prevent this by an infant amount if parents were properly prepared.
Others may argue, what if parents don't pass the course does it mean they can’t have a kid or will lose custody of the kid? But, what do we do if the parent is already pregnant and failed the course? Can the parent take it again, or give it up for adoption? The whole reason for the compulsory parent course is to see if people are fit to take care of another human being, let alone themselves. If people take the test, pass and find out they can’t get pregnant or don't want to, they could adopt a kid from a parent that has failed the course. Taking kids away from their parents can be cruel, but leaving them with an unfit parent that will end up neglecting or abusing their child seems just a little cruller.
Lowering the percentage of children in abusive and/or neglectful households is the most significant reason why people should have to take the compulsory courses, helping the present and the future of citizens to make the world a better place with better people. We want to bring that 15% down, maybe even zero. Helping people feel more prepared for the future and all of the challenges that will go with parenting, hopefully, to be easily overcome. Parenting courses have been around for quite some time, some helpful, some not so much. High schools have compulsory courses because there are life skills that people should learn how to use, and just like parenting, there are certain skills that you should learn to be a good parent raising good kids.
