When you're busy trying to raise children while doing the million other tasks life demands, it's hard to think of the consequences your actions will have on your child in the next five minutes, let alone the next fifty years.
But new research has found that the way the attention parents give thier child and the way they treat them in their early years has a profound effect on how happy and stable they grow up to be.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, children who receive positive attention and care from their mums and dads grow up to report higher levels of happiness, better academic success, higher incomes and a stronger sense of morals.
A group of researchers from Kobe University in Japan looked into different approaches to parenting from the viewpoint of their children, and then survey them on their adult lives.
Carrying out a survey online, they asked 5000 participants about their relationship to their parents throughout their childhood, looking into their responses to statements such as "My parents trusted me," and "I felt like my family had no interest in me."
Through putting these two pieces of data together, researchers were able to identify four key factors that impact who a child would grow up to be.
And they were; (dis)interest, trust, rules, and independence.
Other things that had an impact was the amount of time spent together and the amount/type of experiences being told off.
As reported in Science Daily, the data collected by researchers identified six types of parenting, which are as follows:
SUPPORTIVE
"High or average levels of independence, high levels of trust, high levels of interest shown in child, large amount of time spent together."
STRICT
"Low levels of independence, medium-to-high levels of trust, strict or fairly strict, medium-to-high levels of interest shown in child, many rules."
INDULGENT
"High or average levels of trust, not strict at all, time spent together is average or longer than average."
EASYGOING
"Low levels of interest shown in child, not strict at all, small amount of time spent together, few rules."
HARSH
"Low levels of interest shown in child, low levels of independence, low levels of trust, strict."
AVERAGE
"Average levels for all key factors."
And the researcher found the people who reported being raised under the 'Supportive' structure tended to be the most successful as grown ups in different factors of their lives.
Lowest levels of happiness and highest level of stress were found in those realised in a 'Strict' household, despite being high earners and getting good grades.
Do these findings surprise you in any way?
Let us know on Closer Online's Facebook or Twitter page.