If you are an observant parent, you would discover the effect of your stress on your child’s behavior. Also, young adults may be able to remember their parents’ stress or happy moments and how they influenced their childhood.
It is saddening to admit that stress in parents has a way of taking its toll on children. Parental stress impacts kids at different levels. Children are most likely to pick on everything, and so, they tend to react to their parents’ stress.
If you’d love to learn more about the impact of parental stress on a child’s grooming and behavior, continue reading this review.
Ways Parental Stress Impacts Child’s Grooming and Behavior
- During Pregnancy
Stress in a pregnant woman is very dangerous to the child. This kind of stress is often referred to as Antenatal Stress. It is usually very problematic as it negatively affects the development of the fetus.
When a pregnant woman undergoes stress, the stress hormones send a signal to the fetus’s developing brain. This puts the fetus’ developing brain at risk.
Studies show that such impairment in brain development often leads to anxiety and disorders like ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
These disorders may contribute to low self-esteem, communication and behavioral challenges, troubled relationships, and difficulty at school or work.
- After Childbirth
Children are not only affected by their maternal stress level during pregnancy but also after childbirth.
Importance of Varying Parenting Styles in Child Grooming
What’s more?
Parents’ stress is a genetic factor that impacts a child even after birth.
When parents are stressed during their child’s early years, some genes in the child involved in insulin production and brain development are greatly affected. This leads to discoverable changes in the child’s `epigenome’ which would affect the child even till adolescence.
During their early stage in life, their brains get used to being in a stress-filled environment. Hence, they take on the character traits which their parents exhibit during their stressful moments.
- Academic Performance
No doubt, parents’ stress usually takes its toll on a child’s academics. Parents who are always stressed out would hardly get involved in their children’s study life.
These parents do not show concern for how their child performs academically nor would they have the time to go through the child’s school work and homework.
Thus, they slowly drift away from their children’s academic life. Most kids from such parents perform poorly since they lack parental support and encouragement.
However, some of these kids still thrive to perform excellently in their academics with or without a parental guide.
- Family time
Stress in parents has a huge influence on the time they spend with their kids. Stressed parents would always want alone time to rest. And so, their children miss out on quality family time.
They lack the time to chat with their parents, play games, see movies or go on outings together. Family time helps to strengthen the bond in the family as parents also get to understand their children better.
However, where this is absent, most children become alienated from their parents. These parents would hardly understand their children’s personalities since they were present but not entirely involved in their upbringing.
They grow up feeling neglected by their parents.
Conclusion
The effect of stress on a child is usually very difficult to correct. Therefore, parents must ensure not to allow their stress to impact their children and if possible, avoid it.
Also, pregnant women must avoid stressful engagements.