Have you ever looked at your children and wondered what the future holds for them?

Parenthood is a job for life, no matter how old the children are. Parents of infants and toddlers have to look after them day and night as the kids are totally dependent. When they start going to school another period starts, with the parents worrying that they will not settle down and, when they do, if they will get good marks and register progress.

Soon the teenage years arrive, with fights over the time they should be home and preoccupation that they might have teamed up with bad company. Studying problems are now joined or replaced with worrying about whether they will find a job and, if they do, whether it will be to their liking.

Then comes the time when they leave home, either to live on their own or to get married or cohabit. Some might have children too – a full circle would have been made and the problems start all over again with grandchildren. The parents, now close to retirement age or past it, still have their grown-up children’s interests close to heart and, now, have to worry about the grandchildren too.

One important factor that should be kept in mind when the children are young is that they do not understand how adults think. Many times adults believe they are being understood by their offspring when they argue with them as if they are on an equal level.

This is not the case. Children do not understand how adults think. They live in an innocent world that for adults is hard to comprehend. One way of bridging the gap is for adults to remember how they felt when they themselves were young, possibly faced with a similar situation with their parents.

Many adults then try to live their dreams through their children. This is something that is not always healthy. Because not all boys want to grow up to take up their father’s profession and not all girls want to take up their mother’s career.

Not all kids share the same hobby as their parents. So it is, perhaps, useless for a father to take his son to a football nursery if he does not like football and prefers tennis or drama. It is useless for a mother to insist with her daughter to attend dancing lessons if she is happier painting or singing.

Parents should learn to allow their children as much freedom as possible in deciding what they want to do. It is only when children are spending time doing what they like to do that they are happy and, more than this, develop mentally. No amount of persuasion will get children to like what they do not.

Of course, there is no harm giving children the opportunity to try new things. But if they show no interest, they should never be forced to continue.

Studying is an important factor in a child’s life but, then again, life should not just be school and homework. Children need to have their own free time, be it at home playing, watching TV, surfing the internet or outside with their peers doing something they like.

Many of us adults remember times of unhappiness in our childhood when we were told to do something we did not really like. Many of us also remember times of unhappiness when we wanted to do something but were not given the chance to do so.

This should help us understand the world of children much better and, as a result, avoid repeating mistakes our parents committed with us.