How important are parents in a child's life?

Parents

How important are parents in a child's life? In my opinion, parents are extremely important in the raising of a child. Without the presence of a parent, a child will have a very difficult time growing up. There are essential things that a child has to be provided with. Those needs, I classified them into three important categories:

Love

Love is absolutely necessary in a good parent-kid relationship. It helps form stronger and better relationships. Things that parents do out of love will make kids appreciate them more. A lot of times discipline lessons, though sometimes harsh, are included in the "love package". Kids may not appreciate this right away, but in the long run they will realize their mistake and they will be thankful for those few slaps across the butt or the face. Most of the time a little discipline is all you need to make sure that kids stay on the right road in life.

Support

Kids need support in order to survive in the "real world". Parents are the only ones that can give them support in the arising of their lives. Kids will need emotional support to face some of the problems earlier in their life, because of sheer lack of experience. Not knowing how to solve some of the life's problems would only help them get hurt. That's when the parents play the key role in their life. Parents can talk one-on-one with their children, with patience and understanding. This is very important. When a child needs advice, or needs to open up, it is very important for parents to be wise and understanding. Criticism and getting mad will never bring closeness between a parent and a child. Another example of support is financial. Financial support is something not all parents can give, but if they can do it, then it would really help the kid. When I say financial support I do not mean giving them spending money any time they ask for it. What I mean is more like money for school activities and funds for later education in their life. This will give them many opportunities as they go through life. It is up to the children to take advantage of those opportunities.

Sacrifice

Good parents sacrifice many things in order to provide for their kids. Sometimes they will miss an important social event just so that they could stay home and help their kids with the homework or they would get off early from work, despite the managers warning, so that they would be at their kid's game and cheer them on. Some people would call this sacrifice, but I say they are wrong. It is a good investment in a relationship. Kids will grow up appreciating their parents.

I could not imagine a parent-kid relationship without love, in my opinion it would not be a relationship. Kids without support would be like young plants without a pole for support, they would just fall over and dry out. Sacrifice from the parent's side helps kids realize that there will always be someone at their side when they need them. In conclusion I think that these three categories are a must for a parent.