How much influence does a parent have?

I am not yet a parent but I would respond to your post as a daughter.. I look up to my parents and I respect their opinions. I know that everything they tell me is for my own good. I believe that most children listen to their parents because they are their first teachers and they know that their parents know what is best for them.

I do not have any children of my own, but I have 11 nieces and nephews that I have helped raise. Believe me, they are listening, whether they show it or not. When one of my nieces was about 13 years old, she announced to me that when she turned sixteen, she was going to move in with her boyfriend. I told her that she should not do that. I told her that I had lived with my ex-boyfriend for nine years and it was one of the worst things I have ever experienced. A few weeks later, I found a report that she had written for school and she had repeated what I told her and vowed that she would never live with a man without being married. So far, she never has. She is now 19 years old.

I think a lot of influence the parents have on the children I am single and live with my parents. Its not that in everything my parents force me to do something. But they advice me a lot. I have seen most of the time before doing anything I think what my parents should have asked and liked in that matter and I work that way. So I think all good qualities and bad qualities of children are grown from parents.

Yes. I have a 5 years old daughter who is influenced by I so much. The way she says and acts just like the same as me. I am a single mother and trying my best to set an example for her to be independent, confident and hard-working. She is growing up and has her own idea now. But my advice is still helpful for her.

I'm not a parent yet...but I know my parent always be my guide.....Their attitude will be an example for me....but only for the good think. Thanks God that my parents always in God's way...so I always feel save with their care...and what they always tell me will always get listen by me. If you are a good parents, your children also will be a good person....and if you show the bad things...just prepare your self to find your children in trouble....^_^.

I can respond to you as a son.I always didn't listen to my mum in China and often made her angry with me.But when I went to New Zealand to study,I can feel that she is important to me.And I also think I should listen to her. I will do that when I came back China...

right now my teenager does just the opposite. It does seem after they get through the, know it all stage, we do make a lot of influence. I am ready to give up right now, though. I am beginning to think it would be easier to tell him things just the opposite as I would like him to do.

well from a kids's point of view (i'm 25) I tend to listen to what my mom says though there are times when i havent but at the same time I had to learn my lesson the hard way and my way you know.

I am sharing from the perspective of a daughter, it is true that when parents are just behind our shoulders we would listen to what they advice in a swish of an arm, but when we are far away from you guys, we tend to feel the extra freedom to do as we please, only to realize that the bottom line, when put in a difficult situation, we always turn back to our parents, to what they advice us to do. Parents will always be parents, they do not know absolutely everything though they act like they do, but at the end of the day, they still really know best. So it really pays to still listen to what they have to say.

Sometimes my sons obey me, sometimes they don't. They are grown up and have their own likes or opinion. Just recently my young son who is in 4th year high school must decide what course to take in college. He said he wants BS Accountancy coz his friends would go into that course too. I told him to take up engineering instead coz he is good in numbers or math. He still could not make up his mind. By the time he graduated and needs to enroll in college, then I would know if his friends better influenced him or us, his parents.

I think it depends on the child. My youngest daughter lives 300 miles away, calls me most of the time when she is not feeliing well. When she was at home and she would get sick it seemed like a Chicken Pot Pie was the cure all for her. It does make me feel so good that even grown that she still calls me to talk to me and by the time we hang up she is feeling some better. I really did like your post where you said he told the doctor that you made him go to the doctor. I just wonder if he told the doctor that you were so far away? I love it and can feel the bond that the two of you have.

You know, the way our children behave these days, you would think that they don't. My children behave the same way your son did: in one ear and out the other. I am a mother of 3 boys and I am constantly talking to them about various things. I heard that when children get older is when they realize that mommy and daddy were right and that appreciate it then, however it would be nice for them to acknowledge it now but better late then never right! :)

i'm not yet a parent, i want to say somethin about me and my parents,i did not listen to my parents when i was young. i think boys are more or less naughty. but when i grown up, i know that everything my parents tell me is thought for me, so i usually do what they said , i respect them and do not want to let them angry.