PARENTAL ROLE AND MENTORING: CONSEQUENCES ON THE SOCIETY

Abstract

Parental mentoring provides proper guidance for children based on a combination of training and personal first - hand experience to Foster psychological adjustments, physical, emotional and spiritual development in ensuring maximum realization of their potentials. This study therefore assesses the efficacy of the role/ mentoring of parents in terms of socio- economic, spiritual guidance and discipline in stability of the family, causes of moral decadence among contemporary youths and anticipates negative effect of parental negligence of role/ mentoring on the society. The study employs descriptive survey research design while proportionate stratified random sampling technique was adopted in choosing a sample size of 150 respondents from various households out of four hundred, thirty- nine thousand, six hundred & forty-six parents in Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State. The instrument used was the structured questionnaire and was validated by experts. Mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing the data collected. Results of the findings indicate that bad parenting makes a child more prone to exhibit criminal behaviors which has adverse effect on the society, nonchalant attitude, nature of parent's occupation contribute immensely to the moral decadence of children and that negligence of parental role/ mentoring gives room to peer group influence, child abuse, poor development and juvenile delinquency. The study concluded that child- parent relationship has a great significance on most aspects of child development but factors limiting this relationship must be drastically reduced in order to have a good society. The study recommends that since every parent is the child's first teacher, child- parent relationship is essential and should be developed, maintained and also good parenting skills and styles be adopted so as to promote a stable and peaceful society.