What are the differences between parenting and child health

The core difference between parenting and children's health is that the former is a comprehensive parenting practice covering the entire cycle of children's growth, while the latter is a professional category focusing on the physical and mental state of children. The two are deeply nested but have completely different denotations and practical logics, and cannot be simply equated.

I met Xiao Min, a new mother, at a community parenting salon a while ago. She had always been convinced that "parenting is all about ensuring the child's health." Before her baby was 3 years old, she focused exclusively on feeding her baby. Her height and weight exceeded the median every time she went to child care, and she rarely got sick. She was a "model baby" in the mouth of the child care doctor. But when it was time to go to kindergarten, all the problems started popping up: the baby didn't dare to talk to his peers, would lie on the floor and roll around when he couldn't get what he wanted, and even struggled to feed himself. Then she panicked and kept saying, "I obviously raised him to be healthy, how could this happen?" In fact, many parents have similar misunderstandings and equate children's health with parenting. But in fact, the boundary between the two is clearer than we think.

Even according to the WHO's latest broad definition of children's health, which covers the complete state of physical, psychological and social adaptability, it is essentially a professional field with "state assessment and problem intervention" as its core. The corresponding execution subjects are mostly professionals such as pediatricians, child nannies and child psychologists. The plans given are standardized and have clear reference basis - such as how much milk to drink every day, how long to sleep, what stage of gross motor development is considered as reaching the standard, and how to intervene when hyperactivity tends to occur. These are all in the category of child health.

But parenting is different. It is the sum of every detail choice made by all caregivers in their daily life. There is no standard answer. Children's health can tell you that your 3-year-old child should learn to eat independently, but it will not tell you whether you should criticize him or accompany him to clean up when his rice is scattered on the floor. It can tell you that your child should ensure 2 hours of outdoor activities every day, but it will not tell you whether you should teach him to recognize plants or let him run around when outdoors. There is no clear right or wrong, and the choices must be made based on each family's educational philosophy and the child's personality traits. They are all within the scope of parenting.

There are a lot of related controversies now. Some people say that the current concept of parenting is too mysterious. Early childhood education, enlightenment, and quality education are all IQ taxes. Raising children healthy is better than anything else. This argument is actually valid. I have seen many ordinary families. Parents have not learned any systematic parenting knowledge. They just let their children play freely, eat and sleep on time, and the children will grow up cheerful, strong, and have strong adaptability. Some people also think that children's health is only the bottom line of parenting, and they cannot live by just sticking to the bottom line. Today's social environment has high requirements for children. If we only focus on health and ignore other things, it will be difficult for children to adapt in the future. This statement also has a basis in reality. Every year, we encounter many children who have no sense of rules before entering school and have a weak cognitive foundation. They have serious adaptation disorders when they first enter elementary school, which in turn affects their physical and mental health.

In fact, it is a bit like planting orange trees. Children's health is regular monitoring of agricultural conditions. It is necessary to check whether there are pests and diseases, whether the soil fertility is sufficient, and whether the branches are strong enough. This corresponds to clear detection indicators and intervention methods; while child care involves selecting pots, mixing soil, The whole process from watering, sunbathing to pruning and thinning. If you want the oranges to be sweeter, expose them to more sun. If you want the oranges to look better, prune more branches. It all depends on the needs of the grower. As long as the growth is healthy after monitoring, it doesn't matter how you plant it. When I usually consult with parents around me, I rarely deliberately break the boundaries between the two. After all, the basic purpose of parenting is to protect the health of the child. As long as you don't put the cart before the horse and squeeze out the child's sleep and exercise time in order to rush to learn things, or be too anxious about the child's growth indicators, even if the child is afraid of falling if he takes an extra step or eats an extra snack for fear of indigestion, it will make the child squeamish. No matter what choice you choose, it is not wrong.