Speech Title

What Does It Take To Be A Good Parent.

Thank you to the Master of Ceremony for this opportunity given to me to deliver a speech on a
topic about What Does It Take To Be A Good Parent. Assalamualaikum and a warm
welcome to everyone. First and foremost, I would like to thank our very special guest, Dato
Rohani Abdul Karim, the Honorable Minister of Women, Family and Community Development
of Malaysia for being here. Thank you Dato Rohani for joining us today on our open day which
is the 5
th
anniversary of Brainy Montessori establishment. It is been a big pleasure to have Dato
Rohani on our big day for today.

I had also like to thank all parents and also to everyone who had make it to day to fill up this
hall. Once again, welcome and thank you for joining us today. Ladies and gentleman, It will be
nice if I introduce myself first. I am Puan Noor Aliya Binti Hamid the founder of
Brainy Montessori. It is been 5 year since the establishment of our Brainy Montessori.
Together we faced a period of up and down that come in our way in surviving many conflicts
until today. Today, we celebrate the 5
th
years of Brainy Montessori establishment and I want to
give credit for everyone for their effort to ensure that Brainy Montessori growing each day to
serve the community better. On this hilarious day, I will deliver a speech on a topic that has been
discussed by all over and over again entitled What Does It Take To Be A Good Parent. As we
know a childs early education begins at home. So parenting styles and quality plays a very
important role in shaping a childs personality.

Parenting styles and quality consist of many criteria that a mother and a father should possessed
to be called a good parent. Ladies and gentleman. What does it take to be a good parent? Is a
good parent someone who gives their child the best of everything? Giving a good education, at
an excellent school? Expensive sneakers, and name brand clothing? Is a good parent
someone who has time to attend every recital, basketball game, and debate match? Or is there
any other criteria that makes parent being a good parent ?

Bruno Bettelheim said that you cant teach children to be good. The best you can do for your
child is to live a good life yourself. What a parents knows and believes, child will lean on. That
means child personality development influence by how good you live your life. Either as a good
parent or a bad parent. Hence, a good parent lead by example. However, the definition of a good
parent varies from person to person, and sometimes we are considered a good or bad parent only
when our children are grown. People will evaluate our role as a parent either we are a good
parent or a bad parent by looking on our grown child. If our grown child success in their life and
have very good attitude, we are labeled as a good parent but if thing goes vice versa we will
be called a bad parent, because basically a grown child represent their parent action
and behavior. So, what really does it takes to makes us a good parent?

Ladies and gentleman, Let us take a moment and ask our self. Am I a good parent? Have I
being a good parent to my children ? There are many different things that we should take into
consideration when it comes to parenting. There are many ways for us to determine either we are
a good parent or a bad parent. But, there are eight criteria in particular that I think are very
important. First of all let us take a long breath and ready for what to come. Ladies and
gentleman, The first criteria that I think is very important is being a good example for your child.
Parents are examples for their child whether they like it or not. Children are very likely to imitate
what they see. So they are most influenced by their parents, both thinking and behavior. Child
learn habits from their parents, they learn how to socialize and they learn what is good and what
is bad. For example, kids saw their parent helping other people or picking a rubbish on the street.
As a result the kids will become what they saw. They will have a kind heart by always helping
others and protecting our environment from rubbish. So bad behaviors of parents lead
to bad results on their children and vice versa. Children a like sponges. They saw, they imitate,
they practice and it become part of their behavior or personality. Action of parent that they saw
oftenly are likely to be their behavior building guidance. So, advice for parents, be sure to show
will know what is good and what is bad so that they can avoid doing the same mistakes.
Furthermore, children are still fresh an need many encouragement and advice from their parent.
The fourth criteria of a good parent is having a good attitude. I believe that a reasonable attitude
makes a child feel pleasant and respect the teaching of his parent. Be rational and reasonable all
the time to our child. The best we can do as a good parent when a child acts in a harmful manner,
a good parent tells him that such behavior is unacceptable, suggest alternatives, explains this to
him and avoids statements such as You were bad. Advised must be given after we scolded
them. Mixed action make child unaware of their mistake, parents should explain nicely to help
them have a better look at themselves. Never do hitting to express how mad are we on that time.
Instead, avoid hitting, if possible just touch them gently and give them an advised. Is it necessary
to beat our children hard when they spilled milk on your shoes ? Or when they fail to spell a
word ? Does you act rationally? As a good parent, all of this should be taken into consideration
before taking any action. So the reasonable attitude helps parents educate their kids more
efficiently and it is surely a criteria of a good parent.

Ladies and Gentleman, let us move to the next important criteria. Any good parent should be
able to give their child a sense of being loved. A gentle cuddle, a little encouragement,
appreciation, approval or even a smile can go a long way to boost the confidence and well-being
of your children. Respect their privacy as you would want them to respect yours; for example, if
you teach your child that your room is out of boundaries to them, respect the same with their
room. Allow them to feel that once they enter their room they can know that no one will look
through their drawers, or read their diary. Other way to give them a sense of being love are by
giving them an attention, spending time together and always tell your child that you love them
and will do everything to keep them safe and they get the best on their life. Other than discipline
and criteria that I gave earlier, this criteria also determine whether you are a good or bad parent.
Parents should always show their love for their child. Nowadays, it is not a question whether
parent love their child or not because anyone and everyone can say they love their children. But
what really makes difference are how they showing their love because there are a saying that said
Action speak louder than words. A good parent must show their love not only by words but
through action. We do not always have to buy things to show it there are also other options. One
way a parent can show his or her love for a child is by doing one of the childs least favorite
chores one day out of the week. On Fridays, if our child did well in school, her father would mop
the kitchen for her. She hated mopping the kitchen, but because she did great in school, she did
not have to. This was a way of showing her that her father loved and cared about her. It also
motivated her to do well in school. Parents should also tell their kids that the love them. It take
out a little sacrifice on time and energy but don not worry. It worth compare to the consequences
shown by our child.

Ladies and gentleman, Being a good parent is not enough just by providing children's material
needs, namely a home, food, clothes, and so forth. But fulfilling their mental or psychology
needs are more important. A good parents should actively promote child's physical and mental
development. This include disciplining the child, habituating the child to physical exercises and
studying, providing the child with as best education as possible, and edifying or advising
the child on any problem he or she encounters during life. This will ensure our children ready to
faced the next challenge on their life. Most of these activities implies spending a lot of time with
children, which is in many cases problematic as adults usually have a lot of things to do in their
lives even with no parenting taken into account. But good parents should always procure
opportunities to spend with their children as much time as possible. The last criteria that good
parents should have is giving protection to their child. A good parents should protect their
children. It may imply protection of child's health, that is they should try to prevent the child
from getting ill and take care of the child if he or she however got ill. Parents should also protect
their children from any dangers both internal and external. An example of an internal danger may
be a possibility of getting hooked on cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. An external danger may be any
ill intention from any other people, like bullies at school. How parent can ensure their children
will not going through this ? Firstly, parent must be aware of their children friend attitude, hobby
and background. A good parent must be selective and are able to put barrier on their children and
friend time to socialize. Intervention from parent is a must. This is very important to make sure
they did not involve with bad activities. For example, our child is a friend of a smoker and
alcoholic. We must intervene, tell him or her to choose other friend and never involve with that
type of person again. Secondly, parent must have collaboration with his or her child school
management. If possible, every parent must know every detail on how are they doing at school?
is there any problem ? How is your friend or your teacher ? Are they being good or very strict
and not acting like how they supposed to be? All of this detail are very important for parent to
ensure their child are getting the right lesson and environment at school.

Ladies and gentleman, Let me conclude my speech for today. As a conclusion, parenting involve
lot of work, and I can guarantee it for you that it is not easy. There are many responsibilities.
Only a good parent and I mean a really good parent can withstand this demand to the end. Every
child is unique, and needs to be handled and addressed differently. You always have to be a role
model for your children. You also need to listen to them as well as discipline them appropriately.
To successfully raise your children it takes a lot of love and a lot of effort. Dealing with children
need a lot of sacrifice either in form of money, time or energy. This demand to raise our child
must be carried out with a good attitude and sincerity because through good attitude and
sincerity, our effort to give our child the best will be paid by God in term of a very
good personality of a grown child of our own that follow what we are hoping for them to be.
Ladies and gentleman, Raising children is one of the most difficult and rewarding jobs in the
world. With a little patience and acceptance of assistance, a person may become a good parent.
Not all parents are good parents. Some may think that just because a child gets everything he or
she wants the parent is a good mother or father. Being a good parent requires expressing love and
affection, spending time with children, and being a good role model. Good parenting is not the
easiest responsibilities, but it is rewarding after a child has grown up. So, ladies and gentleman,
Do we have the criteria it take to be a good parent? What do we lack in qualities to be a good
parent and what must we do to fill up this gap of criteria to be a good parent ? Once again, ladies
and gentleman, let us take a deep breath and start telling our self to do what are necessary to be
a good parent and say to yourself, I can be a good parent.

Thank You.