Upbringing children is considered to be the most essential task within any community, due to which people are suggested to take preparatory courses prior to parenting so as to accomplish the role fully. These courses may be unnecessary for those who were raised with other siblings, thus some disagree with introducing the option. I, however, support the suggestion because the lessons may give broader insights for future parents and help to match their potential with their abilities.
As most of the families have got several children and the elderly assists their parents with looking after the younger ones, taking up a separate course may be considered as a waste of time. This mostly comes with the division of household chores, where not only does taking care of child involve amusing little brother or sister, but also looking after them when parents are busy. This makes people believe that the real-life experience gives older sibling closer understanding of raring process making the course out of demand. This practice is done in most of the Asian countries, where there are bigger families and children usually help with the most of chores around the house, resultantly becoming more prepared for further parenting as well. These types of families, however, constitute a tiny minority in the rest of the world, where extra parenting education seems to be more practical and reasonable.
The primary reason for me to support the idea is that pursuing parenting skills in classroom environment may equip people with deeper knowledge of parenting. As the lessons have pressure by teacher and there are responsibility requirements, people understand what makes a good parent. Moreover, these courses offer practical insight in parenting skills giving more experience by involving either role-playing or case study, which is usually done within any class. In Netherlands, for instance, most of the people acknowledge the vitalness of becoming parent and authorities introduced separate courses both for mothers and fathers, usually conducted in perinatal centres and these are conducted in the same manner as a school subject.
Implementing courses intended for future parents may also be beneficial for people to assess their abilities for the role. As becoming mother or father is very important step in life, people need to realize the influence they are about to bring to society with the help of academic knowledge in the courses. Here, as the course is likely to cover the whole range of aspects of parenting – baby care, financial condition, communal interests and legal concerns – people will definitely become more careful with making a decision whether to become a parent or not.
In conclusion, offering parenting schools are disagreed to be successful only in the countries with large families, where elder sibling may already have basic understanding of looking after the children. I, on the other hand, agree that such courses are essential so that future parents make conscious decisions to taking up the role with the help of clearly guided lessons and evaluation of their abilities for the role.