Parental Counseling and Its Effects on the Formation of the Child's Personality

Abstract

Raising children is a challenge, as children grow, change, go through a series of evolutionary phases with different tasks and goals, which the parent often does not know. The child starts from the stage where his primary need is care until he has to detach from his parents to explore the world. Parental counseling is of fundamental importance regarding the physical, cognitive and psychosocial development of the child in the first years of life. The socio-economic status and the cultural context influence the way parents raise and educate their children. Many of the parents living in poverty and social exclusion, concerned about the conditions in which they live do not realize their parental style and its influence on the development of children, do not problematize the parent-child relationship and the importance of the first years of life for the formation of the child's personality. The article illustrates how through different sessions of parental counseling 50 Romani families from different marginalized communities in Alba Iulia were supported, in their educational role and in activating resources and skills for raising children. Families who have been parental counselors have become aware of the importance of children's education, the need to go to school, the value of attachment in building the parent-child relationship, and the future relationships that the child will have in the future, etc. Parental counseling offered parents a path through which to deepen, clarify, improve their educational style and family communication.