Child rearing is the way in which children are raised in a society. No matter their culture, parents play a significant role in helping their child become a respectable and contributing member of society. Parents accomplish this by nurturing their child, building problem solving skills, and modeling culturally acceptable ways of living. All cultures vary on what cultural style the correct way to raise a child, but all share similar ground ideals. These ideals include the importance of education and teaching honesty, responsibility, and communication.The major factor of child rearing is parenting. Parental acceptance, rejection, punishment, and expectations will shape how a child is raised In all cultures child rearing is considered to be …show more content…
The parents alone decided how to raise the child, what the cultural norms are, what pressures to put on the child, and how they want to be when they grow up. For example, in China toddles are selected by state run sports schools. The parents of these children can decide to send their one and only child off to these sport training boarding schools, where they undergo years of grueling training. But to these parent this is the best way to raise their child, because they have a slim chance of bringing honor to their family and to China and can have more opportunities for a successful career (Taboo). As the earliest and most durable source of socialization, a child’s parents are the first people with whom he identifies, and they remain the strongest influence in his development. This overwhelming importance of parenting has led developmental psychologists to take an intense interest in parent/child interactions(George and Rajan, 99). A study of the relation between child inhibition and parenting styles(Canada vs. China) has shown that, child inhibition was associated with mothers ' positive attitudes toward the child, including acceptance, lack of punitiveness, and encouragement of achievement among Chinese participants and with punishment and overprotectiveness among Canadian participants. In another study done by Sonia George and Amar Rajan, thirteen variables (factors) were identified as factors of child-rearing, which constituted how parents bring up their children. The factors include acceptance, punishment, protectiveness, responsibility, responsiveness, reward, understanding, non-critical, permissiveness, encouragement, rapport, emotional stability, and patience(George Rajan 101). To generalize all thirteen, the variables include: acceptance/rejection, punishment/reward, and behavioral
Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Society for Research in Child Development, 65(4), 1111-1119.
Chinese parenting is competent at times but there are other times where it is more suitable to follow other forms of parenting such as the Western style.These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of parent-child relationships. Whether it is Chinese parenting or Western parenting the relationship between family members is crucial. According to Amy Chua, Chinese parenting is more effective in helping the child attain a better future through the parents’ interests, while Western parenting style reflects mainly the interests of the child.
Aside from providing the basic needs, families also expose children to other people in the community, also known as socialization. Those involved in the child’s life offers assistance in preparing them to act and think in certain ways that is appropriate in their society. Alongside family, culture exposes children to multiple social practices, division of responsibility, and different values. A child’s culture is displayed through their relationships with others, how they view themselves and their behavior. Two core beliefs mentioned were individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
Amy Chua (2011) names off three reasons that support her argument in why Chinese children are more successful. First, she mentions that Westerners worry too much on how their child will accept failure, whereas Chinese parents assume only strength in their child and nothing less. For example, if a Western child comes home with a B on a test, some parents will praise the child on their success and some may be upset, while a Chinese parent would convince their child they are “worthless” and “a disgrace.” The Western parents hope to spare their children’s feelings and to be careful not to make their child feel insecure or inadequate, while Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe their children can get them (Chua, 2011). Secondly, Chinese parents believe their chil...
Parents and their parenting style play an important role in the development of their child. In fact, many child experts suggest that parenting style can affect a child’s social, cognitive, and psychological development which influence not just their childhood years, but it will also extend throughout their adult life. This is because a child’s development takes place through a number of stimuli, interaction, and exchanges that surround him or her. And since parents are generally a fixed presence in a child’s life, they will likely have a significant part on the child’s positive or negative development (Gur 25).
Child rearing practices altered as a result of the economic shift as well as intellectual shift. Child rearing had shifted from breaking the will of children by means of corporal punishment to mending behavior through psychology and emotional discipline. Different theories and methods of child rearing were disseminated through advice books. This was directed particularly at immigrant families as a way to assimilate them into the American society. Children fiction books became another method implemented to conform immigrant families. Scholars had proposed other theories describing children as not being with original sin but rather, a blank slate or born innocent.
Every family is unique in dynamic and nature. Parenting styles within families vary depending on circumstance and principal. What defines parenting styles is the approach that parents take on raising their children and the psychological and social effects it has on their child’s development. These parenting techniques influence the child’s lifestyle and beliefs throughout their life and have lasting effects on the child’s adulthood. In the research article Child self-esteem and different parenting styles of mother’s: cross-sectional study discusses that “Parenting style refers to the practices adopted by parents during their children’s growth and socialization stages and how the children are controlled.” Developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind
A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.
Throughout the decades, parenting has evolved resulting in altered child rearing experiences for adults. It has changed from the 1920s, when children had to work no matter where they lived, to now where you can't discipline your kid and society decides what is right. Punishing your child became customary over time, but today physical punishment is highly frowned upon. Looking into each of the decades since 1920, family life has been focused on the child and influenced by community expectations.
Growing up, two group of people, parents, and grandparents, took the time and the energy to raise me. Both of them had different approaches when raising me. These approaches were different parenting styles. According to Baumrind, parenting style was the “[capturing] normal variations in parents’ attempts to control and socialize their children” (Darling, 1999). To put it simply, parenting style goal was to lecture, influence, and discipline a child. In general, there are four parenting styles with their own specific benefits and disadvantages. Furthermore, parenting style, granted the dynamic of the family was understood, can be identified in families.
After reading the book “Summerhill- a radical approach to child rearing” I came to know that Summerhill school is most unusual school that I have ever heard of. This school is different than others because it is a democratic school and has a unique system of teaching the children which means students are let free to do as they please. There is no any strict rules and regulations or punishments like we do have in other schools. Here, children learn more through their experience. Reading this book was exceptionally indulging, because every word in this book made me feel that the author really cares and want to help children to be happy. Happy in a sense that children can find his interest in which he can spend their whole life that he can adore.
The universality versus cultural specificity debate both have aspects that make sense and can be applied to childhood development. On one side, supporters of the argument for the universality of parenting suggest that certain types of parenting styles will produce the same child development outcomes in different cultures. On the other hand, the argument for cultural specificity states that different parenting practices vary from culture to culture, and that culture ultimately determines the outcomes of child development. Each culture has specific styles of parenting that instill values on children particular to that culture. Each individual has characteristics of what their parents taught them, which gives every individual their own personality. Both sides present logical information on the cultural impacts of parenting on child development outcomes.
Talib, M. B. A., Abdullah, R., & Mansor, M. (2011). Relationship between Parenting Style and Children’s Behavior Problems. Asian Social Science, 7(12), p195.
Parenting in today’s society is extremely competitive. Raising children has become the new sport interest to the parents, and the success that the kids achieve in life is the gold medal. You see the articles in magazines, the websites online, and the ads on TV that promote the newest and greatest parenting methods used by mothers and father everywhere. The differences we see in parenting can differ from family to family, but the biggest contrast is between the different ethnicities of the world. How a Western mother raises her child may be completely different than that of a Chinese mother. These differences are the ones that are observed by author Amy Chua, as well as mothers who have read her works of literature.
Greenwood, Beth. "Child-Rearing Practices in Different Cultures." Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.