Conference Proceedings
ABSTRACT
According to Hollman, (2015) parental intelligence is what parents use in their attempt to comprehend their child’s mind. Moreover, it is characterized by discovering meaning in the child’s behaviour, the attempt to understand the underlying features of the behaviour, and how to clarify that behaviour (Hollman, 2015). In contrast to this definition, we suggest that parental intelligence emerges with a parent's awareness of his own self, his history, background, experience, and aspiration which underlie his decision-making process in his behaviour with and in relation to his children (Ben Salmon and Erez, 2021). According to our previous publication, parental intelligence is a conceptual abstract entity that has structure and mechanism. It is therefore directs the parent's daily behaviour as well as his decision-making process while facing challenges in his parenthood. As with any conceptual entity, we can only observe its concrete attributes which are evident in the behaviour of the parent in relation to his children as well as with his parents (Ben Salmon and Erez, 2021). In addition, we can observe the impact of parental intelligence implications in a child's reactions towards the parent’s practices.
Based on our practical experience as parental therapists, we conclude that parents usually perceive themselves as reactive in nature.
Nevertheless, parents must acknowledge their primal position as mature adults, who are responsible for the setting in which the child is fostered. Therefore, we suggest an alternative perspective, which relates to children as reactive to their parents. Thus, adjusting the order of cause and effect in relation to parent-child relationships.
In this article, we suggest elaboration upon the different characteristics of parental intelligence and their reflections on parents’ practices. In addition, this review will suggest how parental intelligence can be extended.