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Child development in our society
Child development in our society
Influence of social development on children
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What are you? It is one of the most common question people tend to ask me even though it can be inappropriate at times. The first thought that goes in my mind: how can I answer this question? I usually respond according to the context of the conversation, but I feel that my answers lack real meaning. It is surprising how just three words can throw me off balance, but they do. What is the world's obsession with having to place things in categories, especially people? In addition, when society places people into these categories, how do they react.
I am a woman. But, before that, I was a little girl playing with Barbie dolls. I wore frilly dresses and hosted tea parties with my stuffed animals. Though society saw me as a fragile being, I was a rude, selfish, and mean little girl. Running around and acting crazy, my mother told me to stop behaving like “those savage little boys next door.” I did not listen. What was so important that I needed to do not behave like my actual self? Society perpetuated that little girls needed to be “cute, quiet, and well behaved,” and I thought my cuteness factor helped cover the missing two-thirds. Apparently, it did not. My mom used countless disciplinary tactics trying to control my “wild ways.” Eventually, she found a way to soothe her “little beast.” Now, as a grown woman, I look back and feel sorry that my mom had to go through that, but my mom helped build the foundation of my behavior.
With age came maturity, so by the age of 13, I mellowed down with my “aggressive” behavior. Unfortunately, for my older sister, I did not grasp the emotions of the newly provided hormones surging throughout my body. Most of the time, the outside world would see me do two things: crying or scowling. I wore al...
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...who looked like me so people would not associate us together. It took until I became 19 that I felt comfortable being a person of color and branched out to have multi-ethnic friends. My acceptance of my ethnic background helped me understand one universal thing that everyone should take heed.
Though people are more than just one thing, society segregates people into different categories. Each category holds different experiences and aspects: both positive and negative. The roles I play help partially solidify the person I am today. I believe that societal roles are the necessary evil that helps humans survive on Earth today. Without these communities, there would be no art, science, and culture; there would be no motivations to better the world people live around on a daily basis. Each role a person takes not only defines them, but it defines a community as well.
The fourteen-year-old girl is a round and dynamic character with great depth. The round characteristics are seen within her broad and complex emotions. She has developed an aggressive temperament in response to abuse from her Apa and teasing from her sisters who call her “bull hands”, laughing at her masculine features. This temperament has led her to state: ”I began keeping a piece of jagged brick in my sock to bash my sisters or anyone who called me bull hands.” (Bausch) Her temper...
...t whole. I mean that if you are white, more than likely you were raised in a white family and the same with any other race. Such an individual would have the disadvantage of not knowing what the next race is truly like and therefore is lacking social "wholeness." In this world of ours, one needs to know how to deal with, talk to, and relate to all races of people. One cannot be intimidated by the next individual because of lack of knowledge of his background. Socially, I have an advantage, I know what to say, when to say it, and who to say it to. No one can be taught how to deal with "different" people. It is through experience and an open mind that one learns their most valuable lesson in life: everyone can encounter the same misfortunes, yet the dignity you display in dealing with them greatly effects the outcome and aids in completing the "circle of color."
First, in the fiction story “Girl” by Kincaid a mother is teaching her young daughter how to be a lady. The mother reinforces that the
For example, I have an aunt and cousins of Peruvian descent, and an aunt and cousins of Korean and African American Descent. Being in such close contact with people of different races, I have always been more sensitive to racial issues than my peers. It also just so happens that this has most likely influenced who I choose to be around. I don’t necessarily gravitate to people who are like me. My best friend is black, Filipino, and Puerto Rican, and my other best friend is African American. Being so close to them has opened my eyes to systematic racism that goes on in America. These friendships have drastically changed my opinions in politics and other social situations. Their countless stories about being racially profiled and abused by different authority figures has opened my eyes to the inequality. I have also been very fortunate to grow up around many LGBTQ people because most of my mother’s best friends are part of the community. As well as this, I have a brother who just came out as gay. Being around so many diverse people growing up, I never really realized that some issues-more specifically racism and homophobia- were such big problems still. As a young child, I can remember being confused when I was told that my family members were so different from me. Especially my cousins who I knew I shared blood with. Since we didn’t have cable television, and all I watched were Animal
Race has been a controversial issue throughout history and even more so today. The idea of race has contributed to the justifications of racial inequality and has led to the prejudice and discrimination of certain racial groups. Race and racism were constructed to disadvantage people of color and to maintain white power in America. Today, race has been the center of many political changes and actions that have affected people of color. The idea of race has played a role in how people from different racial groups interact amongst each other. Interactions within one’s own racial group are more common than interactions among other racial groups, at least in my own experiences. Therefore, because I have been positioned to surround myself with people from my own racial group since a very young age, I have internalized that being around my own racial group is a normal and natural occurrence.
My parents were proud of being African American Guyanese immigrants, and they often speak about their grandparents who were Portuguese, British, and from St. Vincent. My parent’s sibling didn’t all look alike and their ancestors didn’t either and I never once heard them speak badly about them being lighter or darker. In fact, my father would boast about having ancestors that are White, Spanish and Indian. Gaining a sense of ethnic and racialized self both worked in my favor and against me. I live in a neighborhood surrounded by many different ethnicity, nationalities, and race. Along the years it changed, less and less Caucasian people lived in the neighborhood. I was raised around people of many different racial identity and ethnicities, this allowed me to accept them because I was exposed as an adolescent. My parents shared friends of various races in which they spoke highly about and they never instilled in me that I shouldn’t accept a certain race. However, I wish they taught me how to deal with those that are not so accepting of African
I wanted to wear brand clothes/shoes they did, I wanted to do my hair like them, and make good grades like them. I wanted to fit in. My cultural identify took a back seat. But it was not long before I felt black and white did not mix. I must have heard too many comments asking to speak Haitian or I do not look Haitian, but more than that, I am black, so I always had to answer question about my hair or why my nose is big, and that I talked white. This feeling carried on to high school because the questions never went away and the distance between me and them grew larger. There was not much action my family could take for those moments in my life, but shared their encounters or conversations to show me I was not alone in dealing with people of other background. I surrounded myself with less white people and more people of color and today, not much has
Women are only viewed by society as beautiful if they are tall enough, thin enough, have the right hair, wear the right things and act just the right way, and that’s how it has been for generations. Due to the way society has trained women they are raising their children to follow the standards that have been set instead of just allowing them to grow up and be themselves. Excellent examples of how these standards have influenced the way mothers raise their daughters are throughout the stories “The Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. Do this do that, never disobey in the introduction to “The Fat Girl” Louise’s mother explains to her nine year old daughter how she must act or else boys won’t like her; in comparison to how in the story “Girl” her mother gives exact instruction how she should live in order to prevent her from becoming a “slut.”
From a young age girls are taught how to act in society and how society wants girls to act. In the three stories by Jamacia Kincaid, Alice Munro, and Joyce Carol Oates, we see how the mothers teach and reinforce the gender roles placed on women by society. The daughters in Annie John, “Boys and Girls,” and “Shopping” are all subjects of a greater force while growing up, and they try not to conform to gender roles and the ideals of women that the mothers have. In Annie John Annie’s mother forces Annie to grow up and become a respectable woman; however, Annie refuses to follow the roles assigned to a woman. At a young age, unbeknownst to her, Annie learned certain gender roles.
Norms in society do not just come about randomly in one’s life, they start once a child is born. To emphasize, directly from infancy, children are being guided to norms due to their parents’ preferences and choices they create for them, whether it is playing with legos, or a doll house; gender classification begins in the womb. A prime example comes from a female author, Ev’Yan, of the book “Sex, love,Liberation,” who strongly expresses her feelings for feminism and the constant pressure to conform to gender. She stated that “From a very young age, I was taught consistently & subliminally about what it means to be a girl, to the point where it became second nature. The Disney films, fairy tales, & depictions of women in the media gave me a good definition of what femininity was. It also showed me what femininity wasn’t (Ev’Yan).She felt that society puts so much pressure on ourselves to be as close to our gender identities as possible, with no confusion; to prevent confusion, her mother always forced her to wear dresses. In her book, she expressed her opinion that her parents already knew her gender before she was born, allowing them t...
When I was young, I didn’t see race as much of an issue. It never posed a problem until middle school. When we began standardized testing, I could never identify as just black, and my mom couldn’t be considered white. Mixed was never an option. Friendships were no longer based on who you had the most fun with, but on your
As a child develops, their surroundings have a major influence on the rest of their lives; if boys are taught to “man up” or never to do something “like a girl”, they will become men in constant fear of not being masculine enough. Through elementary and middle school ages, boys are taught that a tough, violent, strong, in-control man is the ideal in society and they beat themselves up until they reach that ideal. They have to fit into the “man box” (Men and Masculinity) and if they do not fulfill the expectations, they could experience physical and verbal bullying from others. Not only are friends and family influencing the definition of masculine, but marketing and toys stretch the difference between a “boy’s toy” and a “girl’s toy”. Even as early as 2 years old, children learn to play and prefer their gender’s toys over the other gender’s (Putnam). When children grow up hearing gender stereotypes from everyone around them, especially those they love and trust like their parents, they begin to submit themselves and experience a loss of individuality trying to become society’s ideal. If everyone is becoming the same ideal, no one has a sense of self or uniqueness anymore and the culture suffers from
Role theory is explained as an essential to general social life, and since birth roles, obligations and privileges all get attached to your individual status that was preset for you. Society has a standard for how one should act depending on there labels starting from being a male or female. Once you are labeled in society they create a social norm for you to follow which is just a set of basic rules one must follow to be what society thinks as the right way to be. Boys playing with solders and girls play with dolls is one example of how society makes that a standard for families to teach there children. William Shakespeare said “All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts” (Henslin). This is an example of the general social life ever...
In my first years of life, I was the diva. I was the star. I was the only one that my mother ever paid any attention to. I was the bomb. Although my father worked very long days to provide my mother and me with a means of sustenance, there was plenty of love from my mom to nurture me as I grew into a bubbly young girl. Entering kindergarten at 4 years of age, I was similar to every other little kid. I was rambunctious, playful, naughty, and unstoppable. If I did not fall sleep in class, I would play with my dolls as the teacher lectured. Sure enough, I was reprimanded and given “time out” every time. But it was all right. My grades were average but I scored high enough to please my parents.
In this era, males and females both uphold household duties. Children watch and learn from their environment. A boy watching his father care for an infant is going to want to imitate his father. Playing with a doll is simply following what he has seen his father do. Taking away the doll is taking away that child’s future as a nurturing father (Gioia, 2010). Many men feel that their male child playing with a doll is not teaching him to be tough and will negatively impact their future, when in fact the boy will learn how to care and use their imagination by playing with dolls (Epand). Females are often praised when they are gentle and nurturing, while boys are not- causing boys to r...