Children of all ages need safe secure relationships with other adults such as teachers and coaches, relatives, close trustworthy friends. A word of caution about the adults you let into your children’s lives-be careful. I just finished reading a newspaper article about an accused serial child molester who allegedly had a notebook of victims and potential victims. This person specifically wrote a category of “Single Parent Boys” It seems to me from this article that this person specifically targeted boys from single parent families. Perhaps it was because of his perceived notion of lack of supervision that can occur in families with one parent. I don’t know the motivation, but it certainly renewed my interest to hover over my kids to protect them. In addition, I thought that point was important enough to include in this blog that focuses on the asset of including at least one other adult that does not live in the home to properly offer love and comfort to your child.
Teens really thrive when there are other adults who are interested in what they do and have to say. In medieval times children as young as seven years old were often sent away from to become a page and began training to learn how to work until he was 14 years old and then became a squire. As a squire, during the teen years, their responsibilities grew and he typically worked much more closely with the person training him learning the secrets of the trade in which he worked. Today teenagers can benefit from close relationships with three or more adults, which may also help them with their academic, artistic or athletic interests, and also to get in to a college, or career of their choice. The main goal of teen-adult relationships is to help the teens feel loved and important.
Elementary age children will benefit emotionally when other adults attend their school concerts, sports or other events. You could encourage relatives to send postcards to your child when they travel. Other adults can help with special school projects or join your school age child in a hobby such as collecting baseball cards or identifying insects.
Toddlers and Preschoolers also benefit from other adult contact. Friends and relatives should be sure to acknowledge and talk to your young child when they come for a visit or even talk to them briefly on the telephone. Simple activities like blowing bubbles with a toddler can give the parent a much needed ten-minute break while having fun with a youngster doing an activity that he or she loves.
Even though infants will want to remain close to their mother and father, other adults can do silly things like making faces to make them smile in order to begin establishing a healthy relationship.