Comparison Of Social Differences On Child-Rearing Practices

Social dynamics are those in which is the study of how one is able to react within and outside one’s self as well as having the ability to react and deal with all the changes that come about. Social dynamics is a huge part of society itself, for we are those that create society itself. The two articles I have chosen to compare and contrast are titled, Unmarried With Children by Kathryn Edin and Invisible Inequality by Maria Kefalas. Both of these articles depict how social class standing of a family impacts child-rearing practices. Social class standing has for centuries impacted child-rearing practices. In the articles, Unmarried With Children and Invisible Inequality, it is evident early on that because of the social factors that are at hand, those are the primary reasons that children are being engaged in child –rearing practices. These social factors include anywhere from economics, family structure, cultural views and most evident in both articles, the way in which parenting styles affects child-rearing practices.

In the article, Unmarried With Children, the main person that is discussed is a young lady by the name of Jen, who had a child at a young age and was not married. Jen like others that grow up in poverty, it is usually hard for them since it is hard for them to access resources that aren’t even readily available to them. For example, Edin and Kefalas states at the end “until poor young women have more access to jobs that lead to financial independence-until there is reason to hope for the rewarding life pathways that their privileged peers pursue-the poor will continue to have children sooner than most Americans think they should” (Edin, Read, pg. 605). Economically, if one is living day by day, it is an unstable en...

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... parent says and ask no questions. Another type of parenting style is where the parent allows for the child to question and allows the child to give their input for decisions.

Child-rearing is an important part of a child’s life as it should guide children in the right and productive direction. In the sense that because many of the characters discussed in the readings were poor and working class, much was concluded that if they were not poor, they would not be at as high of a risk for so many potential failures. This is heartbreaking in the sense that if one is poor, there is not much that one can do other than to persevere past it all. I for one know how that life is, living poor, but with motivation and determination, nothing should get in the way of prevailing. These two articles showed hope for the individuals, which is something that I haven’t come across.