How hard is it to be a parent?  In one sense it is quite easy, but when it comes down to helping and advising your children it can be very difficult.

Parents always think they know best and that is part of the problem, we don’t.

Yes we have been through those difficult years so of course we know better than our children, but what we must remember is that times change and what was right for us may not be right for our children.

I have been rebuked so many times by being reminded that “Its different now” or “Mom that was years ago” and it seems the children are always right in that sense.

We try to guide our children by reliving our own childhood or teen years and the crutch of the matter is we have not moved forward to what is happening in the present time.

Children are growing up much faster and at the age of ten or eleven they are almost like young adults.  Your child will revolt about going to school in common or garden school shoes, they must have designer gear like other kids so as not to feel inferior.

You might rage about the cost, but try and think back to your own school years. You wanted to be like all the other kids and not stand out like a sore thumb to be jeered at.

Children just don’t realise that not all parents can afford to pay top prices for children’s shoes and clothes, but your own child will not consider that, he or she wants to be the same as others, and if the other children have it why can’t they!

Do you go to parent evenings?  Your child may not always worry about this but it does give you a good idea of how your child is developing in their studies, and in their behaviour at school.  If you take an interest it will encourage your child to try and do better.

It is no use going back to your own school days when trying to help your children with their school work, you will probably find yourself at a loss to understand, as even the teaching methods have changed.

Many lessons are now computerised and your child will probably be computer literate, so if you don’t have a computer at home and you know nothing about them don’t even think of trying to help them with their school work.

Due to the age we now live in most parents keep a strict eye on their children and going out alone is not an option for them, but as they reach the age of ten or eleven they may start rebelling against this as many of their school friends are already allowed to go off and play alone.

You now have to learn how to let go and give child some freedom so they can start their own learning curve on how to go it alone. You may have misgivings but that is all part of being a parent.

Sylvia White is an author and webmaster of http://www.sylviawh.co.uk  it is a Make Money Online website, also a blog about Making money, http://www.sylviawh.co.uk/blog