It has been acknowledged that the incarceration of people has various implications. These people are often vulnerable when they are trying to reintegrate into society. There are various programs aimed at helping these populations to become productive members of the community (McClure et al., 2015). Nonetheless, it has been estimated that two-thirds of released inmates get engaged in the unlawful activities, and approximately half of these people go back to jail (Berg & Huebner, 2011). It is also acknowledged that incarcerated parents or guardians are a distinct group as their children play a significant role in their reintegration as well as the rate of recidivism (Latessa, Listwan & Koetzle, 2014). This research concentrates on factors affecting recidivism in incarcerated parents or guardians. A survey design is chosen for this study as it enables the researcher to reveal peoples attitudes towards certain aspects, their experiences and factors that have an impact on the choices they make.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this research is to determine particular factors contributing to recidivism in incarcerated parents or guardians as well as analyze the effectiveness of programs aimed at assisting these people to reintegrate into society. It is important to note that the survey will generalize the experiences of these people, and it will be possible to develop certain recommendations concerning reintegration programs. Hallett and Johnson (2014) state that the family, as well as faith-based programs, are the most effective. This survey will attempt to identify the efficiency of these methods.
Research Questions
Do parents consider possible adverse outcomes of their incarceration for their children when thinking about committing a crime?
Do financial issues and the desire to better provide for children contribute to recidivism?
Are faith-based programs efficient?
Are programs based on the development of family ties effective?
Is visitation of children useful?
To answer these questions, samples will complete questionnaires. Likert scale questions will be utilized. The use of this type of survey question will enable the identification of participants attitudes towards programs and unlawful behaviors.
Hypotheses
Parents consider possible outcomes of their unlawful behavior for their children.
Faith-based programs, visitation of children and programs based on the development of family ties are efficient.
These hypotheses are measurable by identifying the way incarcerated people see the programs and their possible involvement in illegal activities.
Research Plan
This study focuses on the attitudes of incarcerated parents. Hence, the participants of the study will be young adults (18-45) who have a child or children or who are guardians. Members of reintegration programs and inmates who have been incarcerated for the second time. To generalize the findings, approximately 1000 people should participate in the study. The independent variable for this study will be the programs, the participants age, and family conditions. The dependent variable will be such factors as programs elements, employment, children visitation and family ties. The analysis of responses to questionnaires is an efficient method as it enables to identify particular factors affecting peoples choices. It is possible to determine some threats to validity. Thus, ambiguous temporal precedence can be one of the threats as it can be difficult to determine particular factors that have a more significant effect. It is possible to mitigate this issue by crafting the questions in the questionnaire. The researcher will obtain informed consent where the purpose and methods of the research will be outlined. Confidentiality and anonymity will be ensured. The questions will also be developed with particular attention to ethical issues that may arise.
References
Berg, M.T., & Huebner, B.M. (2011). Reentry and the ties that bind: An examination of social ties, employment, and recidivism. Justice Quarterly, 28(2), 382-410.
Hallet, M., & Johnson, B. (2014). The resurgence of religion in Americas prisons. Religions, 5(1), 663-683.
Latessa, E.J., Listwan, S.J., & Koetzle, D. (2014). What works (and doesnt) in reducing recidivism. New York, NY: Routledge.
McClure, H.H., Shortt, J.W., Eddy, J.M., Holmes, A., Van Uum, S., Russell, E., & Martinez, C.R. (2015). Associations among mother-child contact, parenting stress, and mother and child adjustment related to incarceration. In J. Poehlmann-Tynan (Ed.), Childrens contact with incarcerated parents: Implications for policy and intervention (pp. 59-83). New York, NY: Springer.
The first condition that would permit parents to allow their newborns to die is when there is negligible chance for growth and development. Normally, newborns are dependent on their parents for a short period during their childhood. In this view, parents have the responsibility of taking care of their children as they grow and develop until they reach adulthood. In the aspect of medical intervention, parents have the responsibility of making decisions, which promote the growth and development of their newborns.
However, when newborns have a negligible chance of growth and development, it is moral for parents to let them die. When there is negligible chance of growth and development, it means that newborns would be fully dependent on their parents throughout their lifespan and would live a poor quality life.
The second condition that would permit parents to allow their newborns to die is when there is a chance of great and continued suffering. Given that medical interventions aim to alleviate suffering, it is immoral for parents to employ futile medical interventions, which do not alleviate the suffering that their newborns undergo. In essence, parents should not compel their newborns to grow and develop while enduring pain and suffering. The third condition that would permit parents to allow their newborns to die is when the cost of treatment in very huge. The cost of treating newborns with abnormalities is enormous and places huge economic burden on parents.
When the cost of treating newborns is very huge, parents exhaust their resources and become impoverished, hence, making the lives of their children become burdens rather than gifts. Therefore, it is moral for parents to allow newborns to die rather than incur huge cost in maintaining their lives.
Ashley Treatment
Analysis of the cases shows that the case of Charley is morally the same as that of Ashley. The first feature that makes the two cases morally similar is that both Charley and Ashley had degenerative brain damage, which prevented them from growing and developing into adulthood with the ability to perform activities of daily living. The degenerative brain damage means that Charley and Ashley did not grow and develop because they maintained infantile stature in terms of physical and mental aspects.
The second feature that makes two cases morally similar is the reasons that parents gave when they requested for certain treatment regime. The parents of Charley and Ashley argue that their children require growth attenuation therapy, hysterectomy, mastectomy, and appendectomy to improve quality of their lives and ease burden of caring. Growth attenuation therapy stagnated growth of Charley and Ashley and made them maintain the size of infants and hysterectomy prevented them from experiencing excessive bleeding, enduring menstrual cramps, and saved them from possible sexual abuse. Mastectomy and appendectomy eliminated discomfort associated with their sedentary posture.
Given that the cases of Ashley and Charley are similar morally, it implies that Charley was permissible to undergo Ashley Treatment. Charley had considerable brain damage, which prevented her from growing and developing into adulthood as a normal person. In this view, parents requested for Ashley Treatment with a view of improving the quality of life of their child. Without growth attenuation therapy, conditions of Charley would have deteriorated because she would have grown and become too heavy for caregivers and her mobility. Hysterectomy prevented her from heavy bleeding during menses and saved her from possible sexual abuse.
Mastectomy improved comfort and reduced the risk of breast cancer, whereas appendectomy alleviated intestinal discomfort associated with sedentary life and prevented the occurrence of appendicitis. Overall, Ashley Treatment was permissible to Charley because it improved quality of her life significantly.
Parents have a duty not only to bring a child into the world but also to nurture the child to maturity. It is one of the most difficult tasks but with commitment and diligence, it becomes plausible. Every parent should desire to bring up his or her child in the best possible way to foster nation-building and societal morals.
Although James parents separated later when he was still young, they had contributed significantly to his life. His mother raised him after the separation and ensured that he acquired the necessary school knowledge up to high school (Silver 1). She also helped to shape his life choices and made him realize that he needed to take responsibility for his life after school.
Main Body
Mr. and Mrs. Connolly had a stable relationship that had resulted in the birth of Freddie Connolly. Freddie had some physical challenges. His adenoidal breathing made his breathing sound like there was some blockage. Despite this condition, he was a typical boy growing up in the neighborhood. His father seemed to dislike his habit of watching Television. As they head for the hunt in the wild, he plainly discusses it with him and James. He tells him that there was no Television where they were going. Mr. Connolly also compares him to his friend, James (Silver 1).
It does not make Freddie happy. The way he said it tapping his sons forehead with his finger did not even please James. When they went into the forest for hunting, Freddie could not keep with the team. He started crying while snot came down thickly from his nose. It made Mr. Connolly furious that the hunt had to come to an unsuccessful ending (Silver 1). They went back and closed the camp to drive back home. His father dropped him about an hour before reaching home because he could not put up with him. James got concerned about his friend and waited for him to accompany him to the house. It did not help since even Freddie seemed to be unhappy with the treatment he received from his father. He does not even say goodbye to his friend, James.
The harsh treatment from his father affected him so much that it was slowly building hatred in him. One day as he played with his friend, James, they spotted a deer (Silver 1). Freddie went to fetch his fathers hunting rifle. Due to the push and pull, Freddies father heard the commotion and rushed towards them (Silver 1). As he tried to stop Freddie from shooting, it was too late because their struggle caused the trigger to pull off and kill his father. Parents should always keep away dangerous weapons from the reach of children.
Parents should also not teach very young children how to use weapons even for hunting unless they have grown up and can control their emotions. The fact that Freddie could obtain the gun almost immediately displayed how careless his father was in keeping the arm. He had also trained him on how to use it.
Mrs. Willing was another example of good parenting. She had a masters degree in Child Development and twenty years of classroom experience. A school is a place where parents take their children to gain knowledge. They spend much of their days with the teachers. Just like Mrs. Willing, they help develop the children socially and academically. She was able to identify the rude habit in Marcos before it could get out of hand (Silver 1).
She called the parents to give them the information she had gathered concerning their child. But it seemed that James and Melinda wanted to protect their son, Marcos, more than they wanted to help (Silver 1). Parents are supposed to support the teachers whenever an issue arises that is out of the ordinary. It gives the teachers confidence to handle childrens matters when they have the parents support. Instead of warning and correcting their son and finding out from the teacher how best they could help him, they lash at the teacher. It is also not correct to discuss the teachers conduct in bad faith in the presence of his or her student. It makes the child use bad language when referring to the teacher.
When Marcos told his dad that his teacher was fat, he took it very casually and went ahead to make it look like a joke. On the day of the suspension, James was angry and even interrupted a class that was going on. Because of his anger and tone of voice, the teacher had to advise him to come later for a discussion concerning his son. But James and his wife had made up their minds regarding the school administration and the teacher.
They did not want to discuss further (Silver 1). They were planning to take their child out of the school and look for a better school that can accommodate the behaviors of their son. It was a wrong motive on their part because they would not be solving the problem. They would rather solve the problem first and think of the transfer afterward. It is a problem with many parents who pamper their children. When a parent disregards the advice of such a qualified teacher in children matters, then he or she absolves the teacher of any future blame. The child also loses interest in anything the teacher says or does.
The writer uses flashbacks several times to enable the reader to grasp the concept. Every time one reads something that has some historical background, the writer goes back to give the narrative of the story. It helps to compare the current scenario with the past. When James and Melinda meet the teacher at the school, they discover that she has a large body. And James remembers that they are some of the reasons he fell in love with his wife. Her rubbing of fingers in the office reminded him of their dating experience (Silver 1).
Conclusion
James also remembers the incident when they wanted to go for the hunt. He wondered why his mother had to seek his fathers permission yet they had separated. She thought that she wanted to make the right decision for the upbringing of her son.
It is agreeable that parenting has got challenges. But when one shares the challenges, it becomes easy. The learning institutions have the responsibility to assist the parents in shaping the destiny of the students. The students also have to learn to respect their parents and their teachers. The parents and teachers can assist the students by helping them to do the right thing and stay obedient.
Works Cited
Silver, Marisa. Creatures The New Yorker. The New Yorker. N.p., 2015. Web.
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements Parents or older relatives should make essential decisions for their (15-18) years old teenage children?
I do not agree with this statement mainly because teenagers in the age bracket 15-18 years are capable of making personal decisions. Parents and older relatives should only come in to offer advice and guidance but should not be allowed to have supreme authority over the decision that is to be made. It is because it is generally accepted that parents inherently have the interests of their children at heart. A good example is when a teenage girl falls pregnant.
Most parents and/or guardians will generally perceive this as an embarrassment to their families and, as such many of them would recommend abortions under the guise of protecting their daughters education. Such radical decisions are sometimes made without seeking the opinion of the girl and the procedures are carried out using trickery. The resulting psychological trauma on the daughter as a result of the unconsented abortion may at times become too much to bear and cases of teenage suicide following such incidents have been reported.
The impregnated girl may also wish to procure an abortion, but sometimes based on the religious backgrounds of their parents, they end up being forced to carry the pregnancy to term and eventually stay at home raising a child that they were not ready to take care of. This leads to them becoming poor parents and, by extension breed irresponsible children.
Another example is when teenagers have to select the courses they would like to pursue in college. Most parents, and particularly those who have been immensely successful in their careers would like their children to follow in their footsteps. For instance, the teenage son of engineer parents may be very good in the sciences, and as such parents would like to see him go for training that will make him be just like them. However, irrespective of his performance in class, this son may also be skilled in soccer, and his dream is to play in the European premier league.
Given the chance to make decisions for this young man, it is obvious that the parents will, without a thought, enroll him in engineering school. On the other hand, if he is allowed to make an independent decision, he may choose to follow his dream and would most likely be very satisfied with his job, particularly if he becomes successful in the trade.
Those parents in jobs considered less prestigious have dream-job ideas for their children and would do all they can to make sure that such children grow into this dream. For instance, a man who works in the construction industry and his wife, who is a waitress at a local restaurant will most likely want their children to take up careers that are well respected, such as jobs in the medical field. They will, therefore, make every effort possible to ensure that the children they raise understand their (parents) expectations of them.
This is although the children may be extremely proud of their parents and would like to take grow up to be just like them. If the parents are to have their way they would never allow these children to go for careers in either construction or the food industry. The children, however, if given the chance will select the careers that meet their interests.
Many parent discipline-training programs strive to improve the quality of parenting practices, relative to their proficiency in reducing disruptive behaviors among their children (Hemmeter, Ostrosky, Artman, & Kinder, 2008). According to the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health (1998), more than 800,000 families participate in such programs, annually, but few of them report on their progress in the course of the training period, or after the training period. The purpose of this paper is to research the effectiveness of various discipline-training programs and the variables that make them effective. Implications for parent education will be discussed.
Some key words and concepts used in this study follow:
Program Efficacy This is the ability of a training program to produce desirable effects in parent discipline training (McIlvenny, 2009).
Child welfare Child welfare is a system designed to guarantee child safety and to improve the capability of parents or guidance to care for their children (Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, 1998).
Child Maltreatment This concept refers to the poor treatment of children through the presence of physical or emotional harm. Child maltreatment often occurs when parents or guardians adopt behaviors that are outside the norms of conduct (Purdue University, 2014).
Discipline This term refers to attempts to correct undesirable social behaviors (disobedience) either through punishment or through other measures that could correct disobedience (Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, 1998).
Parent Education parent education refers to a purposive learning activity where parents seek to know or understand better ways of interacting with their children, for purposes of promoting positive behavioral traits among them (Croake & Glover, 1977).
Child Behavior This concept refers to how children conduct themselves when they interact with other people, or when they are by themselves (McIlvenny, 2009).
Historical Overview
In the past, private and government agencies have educated parents on different methods of interaction to promote positive behavioral changes among their children. Before the 1800s, information about parent education was disseminated from European experts to American mothers (Croake & Glover, 1977). The first documented record of a parent education meeting in America happened in 1815. These meetings mainly comprised of mothers. They often adopted a similar name maternal associations. The main agenda in such meetings was to discuss child-rearing problems that the mothers faced (Croake & Glover, 1977).
Notable theories and models that have dominated this field include democratic parenting, therapeutic parenting, socially conscious parenting, and developmental parenting (Purdue University, 2014). These theories and models have used two focal points for developing parent education models. The first one is behavioral modification and the second one is democracy in child rearing activities. The future content of parent education is unknown, but experts agree most of them will probably have a group format. However, it is difficult to discern the efficacy of these efforts because of the changing social, political, and economic demographics of different societies. This is why it is important to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of parent discipline programs.
Statement of the Problem
Although there are different reviews of parent-training programs, most of them lack standardization and differ in scope. Similarly, some of the reviews that exist today are outdated and therefore irrelevant in understanding some of the problems facing various aspects of parental discipline today (Purdue University, 2014). Other reviews are contextual because their findings only apply to certain social contexts or countries.
Reviewing the effectiveness of discipline training programs is an important step in improving child welfare because the efficacy of the latter depends on the effectiveness of these programs. Different researchers have reviewed the efficacy of child welfare programs and found out that they are important in improving different aspects of a childs cognitive and emotional development (McIlvenny, 2009).
For example, there is evidence that improving child welfare programs could equally improve a childs intelligence quotient (Carter, 2011). Such knowledge is important in our research because it helps us to understand what training programs work (and do not work) for different families. For example, if courts understand what works and improves parent functioning, they could easily prescribe effective programs that would have the greatest effect on improving child welfare. The findings of this paper could provide guidance regarding how parents could improve their disciplinary functions.
Literature Review
In an article by Letarte, Normandeau, and Allard (2010), researchers evaluated the efficacy of a parent-training program for purposes of improving parental responses in disciplinary cases. The authors also intended to improve the parents perceptions of their childrens behaviors and their feelings of self-efficacy when engaging in such cases. The study sampled 35 parents who were in two groups. The first group consisted of the intervention group, which comprised of 26 parents. The rest were in a waiting group. The program implemented (incredible years) and lasted for four months.
The authors tested the efficacy of parent-child relationships, communication skills, and investigated parent support programs. To evaluate the effectiveness of parent training, the program used a repeated measures design. This method assessed parents feelings of self-efficacy, their perceptions of childrens behaviors, and their satisfaction levels with the program. The testing process occurred within a 19-week window where the researchers conducted two reviews for each participant. In the end, the researchers found that the training programs had a positive impact on parenting practices. The positive impact manifested through behavioral differences among parents, which included positive verbal discipline, fewer physical punishments and fewer harsh disciplinary practices (Letarte et al., 2010). However, the authors found no significant change on parents self-efficacy levels.
The researchers suggested that although there were significant challenges associated with implementing training programs, their findings could significantly improve parenting practices through the implementation of evidence-based parent-discipline programs (Letarte et al., 2010). The views contained in the article are insightful. However, they fail to tackle one important aspect of parental training program, which is the prevention of undesirable behaviors among children. Therefore, there is a need for future research to broaden the scope of analysis to include the prevention of undesirable behaviors, as opposed to tackling them when they happen.
McIlvenny (2009) conducted a study to analyze the communication of time-out during parent-child conflicts. The study had two main objectives. The first one was to investigate how a family assembles and coordinates its functions within the context of the familys role as social structure for improving childrens upbringing and the second one was to investigate how parents discipline their children within the embodied activities of the family (McIlvenny, 2009).
To meet the above objectives, the researchers analyzed the behaviors of one family (Gwilliams family), which comprised of two parents and three children. The researcher observed the familys behaviors through a British television program, known as The House of Tiny Tearaways (McIlvenny, 2009). The author conducted the research through a mediated discourse and conversation analysis and found out that although time-out had different characteristics; children could still contest or resist it (McIlvenny, 2009). The study also established that parent-child relationships are inter-spatial because a houses architecture affects a parents disciplinary practices (McIlvenny, 2009).
Through his findings, McIlvenny (2009) suggested that the time-out concept could help to solve some of their childrens disciplinary problems if they chose the right occasion and conditions to do so. I believe these views are important in adding to the body of knowledge surrounding when to apply time-outs because they may only work in situations where a house has the right architecture for its application (where parents can create space and distance).
Caughya, Millerb, Genevrob, Huang, and Nautiyal (2003) investigated the efficacy of a parent discipline-training program, titled Healthy Steps, which strived to provide support to parents through disciplinary training. The researchers visited 432 families who had two age-sets of children (Caughya et al., 2003). The first group of children were aged between 16 and 18 months, while second group had children aged between 34 and 37 months.
Parents were supposed to state their disciplinary strategies before participating in the program. The researchers contrasted their self-reports with the outcomes of the program, which included assessing the input of a specialist who supervised the use of home visits, enhanced well-child visits, and telephone support initiatives as ways of improving parent-child relationships. The researchers used statistical methods to analyze data and found out that authoritative forms of discipline had profound effects on toddlers. This disciplinary form was present in the healthy steps initiative, but race, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity influenced parents disciplinary practices at pre-school level by varying its adoption across these demographics (Caughya et al., 2003).
Caughya et al. (2003) believed that their findings could improve parenting practices across different populations, as they emphasized the need to formulate interventions that addressed contextual and cultural differences across different cultural settings. For example, the study showed that African-Americans and Hispanics were less likely to use inductive disciplinary practices even after undergoing the Healthy Steps program. I believe these findings could shed more light regarding the efficacy of parent education programs across different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic divides.
Linares, Montalto, Rosbruch, and Li (2006) conducted a study to evaluate the disciplinary practices among biological and foster parents. The purpose of the study was to explore the role of parent, child and foster care ecology in developing disciplinary practices. The researcher included 62 pairs of parents. Linares et al. (2006) conducted the study by using self-reports of discipline practices after asking them how they would rate their disciplinary practices according to three definitive disciplinary types positive, appropriate and harsh disciplinary practices.
The researchers found that biological and foster parents used similar levels of different disciplinary methods. They also found that positive cooperation between parents improved the effectiveness of their disciplinary strategies. They suggested that their findings could create a paradigm shift from simple presumptions of deficit in knowledge regarding parent education to modeling a supportive disciplinary framework by improving cooperation between foster and biological parents (Linares et al., 2006). Based on the nature of their study, I believe increased cooperation between foster and biological parents could help to improve the discipline of children raised in foster homes.
Portwood, Lambert, Abrams, and Nelson (2011) conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a program titled, Safe Kids Program, which was supposed to protect children against maltreatment. The researchers collected data by asking parents to give their views regarding the program and its effects in helping to protect their children from violence and abuse. The researchers assigned parents into different groups of analysis. There were two groups experimental and control groups. The experimental group comprised of 162 participants, which the comparison group comprised of 109 participants (Portwood et al., 2011).
The researchers used the experimental design to evaluate the efficacy of the safe kids training program. Their findings revealed that parents who underwent the safe kids program reported improved outcomes in parenting practices across several areas including verbal communication and physical communication because the program helped them to understand how to create environments, which protected children from violence.
The success of the study prompted the researchers to suggest its replication in different community settings (Portwood et al., 2011). Stated differently, they believed it was a successful model for improving positive parental responses to disciplinary issues. I also hold the same view because I believe the program provides a template for implementing effective discipline training programs across diverse community settings.
Saunders, McFarland-Piazza, Jacobvitz, Hazen-Swann, and Burton, R. (2013) conducted a study to evaluate the most effective methods of promoting supportive parenting. In the study, the researchers sampled 49 mother-child dyads. The evaluation method comprised of lecture-based only or lecture-based plus methods. In this analysis, the researchers evaluated the levels of success for supportive parenting by observing the behaviors of both sets of respondents (respondents who underwent lecture-based and lecture-based plus training methods) (Saunders et al., 2013).
They found no significant differences between the positive behaviors of the lecture-based only group verses the lecture-based plus group because neither of the two approaches promoted supportive parenting better than the other. They believe that their findings could contribute to the work of early childhood professionals who work with parents to improve their responses to disciplinary cases (Saunders et al., 2013). I also believe that the findings could have an impact in this regard, but it could also help to improve the design of parent support programs because they could provide a framework for improving parental responses to disciplinary issues.
Conclusion
This paper analyzed parent education as a key concept for improving childrens behavior and welfare. It formed the pinnacle for the development of child discipline. In this review, we analyzed different research articles that evaluated the efficacy of these programs. Key trends that emerged in this analysis include understanding the importance of contextual influences of parent education programs and improving parent-child communication.
Indeed, most of the articles sampled in this review highlighted the need for comprehending the effects of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, age and other demographic factors and understanding how parents could better communicate with their children to impart positive behaviors in them (Letarte et al., 2010; Linares, Montalto, Rosbruch, & Li, 2006). These reviews formed the key findings of this study. Since these research findings are limited in scope, new research should address the guiding framework that influences parental motivations for pursuing different disciplinary strategies. This way, we would better understand the influencing factors that could affect the efficacy of discipline training programs.
Implications
The implications of this research focus on improving the effectiveness of parental discipline training programs. They are also instrumental in reducing cases of child abuse and improving the communication levels between parents and their children. Adopting some of the recommendations highlighted in this paper would help to improve the design of discipline training programs and improve child welfare practices as well.
References
Carter, D. (2011). Parenting Coordination: A Practical Guide for Family Law Professionals. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Caughya, M.O., Millerb, T.L., Genevrob, J., Huangc, K., & Nautiyal, C. (2003). The effects of Healthy Steps on discipline strategies of parents of young children. Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 517534.
Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (1998). Guidance for Effective Discipline. Pediatrics, 101(4), 723-728.
Croake, J., & Glover, K. (1977). A History and Evaluation of Parent Education. The Family Coordinator, 26(2), 151-158.
Hemmeter, M.L., Ostrosky, M., Artman, K., & Kinder, K. (2008). Planning Transitions to Prevent Challenging Behavior. Web.
Letarte, M., Normandeau, S., & Allard, J. (2010). Effectiveness of a parent training program Incredible Years in a child protection service. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 253261.
Linares, L.O., Montalto, D., Rosbruch, N., Li, M. (2006). Discipline Practices Among Biological and Foster Parents. Child Maltreatment, 11(2), 157-167. Web.
McIlvenny, P. (2009). Communicating a time-out in parentchild conflict: Embodied interaction, domestic space and discipline in a reality TV parenting programme. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 20172032.
Portwood, S., Lambert, R.G., Abrams, L.P., & Nelson, E.B. (2011). An Evaluation of the Adults and Children Together (ACT) Against Violence Parents Raising Safe Kids Program. J Primary Prevent, 32, 147160. Web.
Purdue University. (2014). Identifying Parenting Theories in Family Life Education Materials. Web.
Parents have power in the family. Psychology professor David Geary emphasized that children need parents. They need them to train, educate, and demonstrate how to compete and succeed in society. Theres no other way to develop that social context without the family (USA Today, March 2002). Traditionally, it is the fathers role to provide food, shelter, and clothing to the family, while the mother takes care of the home and the children.
However, over the last 50 years, society has undergone many changes. One of the major changes in the family has been affected by the rise of divorce cases at present. It is said that only about half of all children in the United States in 1995 lived with both their biological parents (Hernandez, 1997).
If we ask what percentage spends their entire childhood living with both natural parents, the numbers are even lower. Donald Hernandez, in his remarkable book Americas Children (1993), estimated that only about 40 percent of the children born in 1980 have spent all their years up to age 18 living with both natural parents. Among African Americans, Hernandez estimates, this figure is only 20 percent, while among Euro-Americans it is about 55 percent. These figures are nearly double the rate of single-parent family experience over what occurred earlier in this century.
Single-parent families
The impact of having more single-parent families at present is that it can affect the growth and development of children. McLanahan (1997) concluded that children who grow up with only one biological parent are less successful, on average than children who grow up with both parents. These differences extend to a broad range of outcomes, and they persist into adulthood (p. 37). In his study, McLanahan (1997) found that children of single parents are about twice as likely to drop out of high school, twice as likely to have a child before age 20, and less likely to have a steady job in their late teens or early twenties.
These negative consequences seem to occur regardless of whether the cause of the parents absence is that the mother was never married or that the parents divorced. In contrast, children of widowed mothers, on average, do nearly as well as children reared by both natural parentsa finding for which we do not yet have any good explanations.
This does not mean that single parenthood is the cause of all evil. Rather, as McLanahan (1997) points out, it is but one of many factors that increase the risk that a child will do poorly in school or become delinquent. Nor does living in an intact family buffer a child against all problems. Many young people whose parents are still together nonetheless drop out of school or experience other significant personal problems. But, living with only one parent substantially increases the risks.
Both parents intact
In families that still have both parents intact, the traditional roles have not changed. The father is still expected to provide for the family, while the mother serves at home and rears the children. However, for economic reasons, the father and mother can act dual roles. A mother who begins working generally acquires more power in the spousal relationship, in part because she now has demonstrable earning power, and because she may feel more independent. Such power or self-esteem also spills over into her interactions with her children, perhaps especially with a daughter. For example, Bronfenbrenner (1989) finds that working mothers give more positive descriptions of their young daughters than do nonworking mothers.
Moreover, the mothers employment forces change in daily routines and interaction patterns simply because she is not at home for as many hours. Fathers in dual-worker families spend somewhat more time in child care and household tasks than do fathers with homemaker wives, although it is still true that working mothers do about twice as much of this labor as do fathers (Parke & Buriel, 1998). This change in the division of labor may then affect the quality of the parents interaction with children, as well as altering the role model each parent provides for the child.
Conclusion
All parents still play an important role in developing their childrens values, beliefs, and attitudes to work within the environment and society they live in. Because of the many changes in society in the last 50 years, parents have to adjust to these changes to raise the family well. In the end, theres nothing wrong with changes in the roles of a mother and a father in the family, whats most important is that both parents are present and share roles. The equal mother-father team should have flexible role definitions and permeable boundaries between domestic and public life. In cases of single parents, the challenges are even greater because they have bigger shoes to fill in their families.
References
Bronfenbrenner, Urie. Ecological systems theory . Annals of Child Development, 6 (1989): 187249.
Hernandez, Donald J. Americas Children: Resources from Family, Government, and the Economy. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1993.
Hernandez, Donald. (1997). Child development and the social demography of childhood . Child Development, 68: 149169.
McLanahan, Sara S. Parent absence or poverty: Which matters more? In G. Duncan & J. Brooks-Gunn (Eds.), Consequences of growing up poor (pp. 3548). New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997.
Parke, Ross D., and Buriel, Raymond. (1998). Socialization in the family: Ethnic and ecological perspectives. In W. Damon & E. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of children psychology (5th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 463-552). New York: Wiley.
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Parents are an important influence in shaping a persons behavior and personality. Parents of different cultures will raise their children very differently, explaining why cultural differences continue to exist throughout generations. Asian and Western parents have drastic differences in the way they rear their offspring.
Asian parents tend to be more authoritative whereas Western parents tend to be more permissive. As a result, Asians adults and Western adults become different in terms of personality and behavior.
This paper argues that the manner in which parents raise their children varies in accordance to culture; Asian parents raise children to be more collectivistic, while Western parents raise their children to become more individualistic.
The theory of individualism-collectivism is an effective way to compare how different Asian and Westerners turn out as a result of their parenting. In doing so, it is necessary to understand Baumrinds parenting style typology. The three types are, authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive.
Baumrind explained that early parent-child relationships influence the succeeding behavior of the child as he/she grows and becomes an adult (Keshavarz and Rozumah 69). Such parent-child relationship can be categorized into authoritarian and authoritative.
Authoritarian parents are: highly controlling and demanding but affectively cold, requiring children to be responsive to parental demand (Keshavarz and Rozumah 67). They expect their children to obey family rules, and therefore, they ensure that children know that disobedience is punishable.
They do not praise often; children of authoritarian parents are not very confident or aggressive. Authoritative parents, on the other hand, are warm, responsive and involved. They respect, more so than authoritarian parents, the childs viewpoint and opinions, which ensure that the children of this type of parents grow up more independent and confident (Keshavarz and Rozumah 68).
Keshavarz and Rozumah argued that in Asia or non-western regions where collectivist cultures are practiced, parents practice behaviors that are deemed to be consistent with authoritarian parenting styles by not practicing beliefs or attitudes that are characteristic of authoritarian style of Western parents.
Asian parents who are inherently stricter and pressure the child into being obedient, create generations of children who grow up to be collectivized. They tend to stick to family and follow a generic path in life set for them.
They respond to their parents needs and obey their parents demands. In contrast, Western parents are authoritative, raising children to become independent, confident and individualistic. Because they have been raised in an environment respectful of their opinions, Western adults exhibit more assertive and confident behavior (Burns and John 490).
Difference between Western and Asian Parents
Western parents are authoritative while the Asian parents are authoritarian. Asian parents are restrictive, dominating and hostile, since they are motivated by parental obedience.
According to Western parents, hostility or strictness is considered a demonstration of parental aggressiveness and domination, which might impact negatively on the growth and development of the child. Asian parents consider child rearing as a form of child training that the parent should fully undertake as an obligation (Chao 1113).
Asian parents emphasize a childs interpersonal interactions as opposed to inherent and personality qualities. Asian parents emphasize the social development of a child as opposed to the psychological qualities. This is totally contrary to the western parents where personality qualities are emphasized.
Western parents direct the activities of a child rationally and in a result-oriented manner. Western parenting emphasize the development of the child for an optimum psychological, academic and motivational functioning (Gorman 74).
Theories of Different Parenting Styles
There are three main theories of parental styles, which will be critically analyzed in this section: these are the authoritarian parenting that employs coercive techniques and demands children compliance; the authoritative parenting style which employs inductive disciplinary techniques and; the third one is the permissive theory of parenting.
These theories of parenting styles were largely influenced by Baumrind who conceptualized them in 1971. These parenting styles capture the following main aspects: maturity, communication styles, warmth, nurturance and involvement.
Authoritarian parenting: this theory of parenting posits that parents are supposed to be very strict and demonstrate some sense of harshness. These characters of the parent are aimed at obtaining the obedience of the child and to enable the child to yield to parental demands as opposed to the parent yielding to the demands of the child.
Permissive theory of parenting, on the other hand, posits that the parents attach few restrictions, rules or limits to the conduct of their children. Consequently, there is authoritative parenting theory, which implies that those parents that display some sense of flexibility and responsiveness to the demands of the child are still in control of their childs behavior (Ang and Dion 132).
Authoritative parenting is a characteristic of European American parents and it is instrumental in promoting the psychological growth and academic achievements of the adolescents.
Authoritative style of parenting is considered beneficial as compared to authoritarian and permissive style because it promotes better outcome from the child like enhanced psychological competence, adaptive functioning, self-reliance and high self-esteem, and it is taken to be the perfect parenting style aimed at optimal development of the child.
Whereas authoritative parenting is correlated with positive self-perceptions, authoritarian parenting is correlated with negative self-perceptions due to negative child and adolescent outcomes. Authoritarian parenting is common with Asian families and particularly prevalent in Chinese parents (Ang and Dion 132).
Concerning authoritarian parenting, children are expected to be submissive to their parents and the demands of their parents; in this regard, the parents are supposed to be strict and emotionally detached (Canadian Centre for Science and Education 217).
Collectivism-Individualism
The theory of collectivism-individualism is instrumental in analyzing the behavioral and the cultural environment that influence various types of parenting. Collectivism-individualism explains the way people identify themselves in regard to others.
Collectivism-individualism theory places a lot of emphasis on independent relationships between an individual and others. Individualism theory, on the other hand, stresses on individuals independence from others.
It is these societal and cultural factors that are associated with the diversities in collectivism-individualism that characterize the human behavior. Individualism-collectivism is related to the variations in human thoughts and conduct in such aspects as emotions, morality and objectives.
Societies that embrace individualism tend to develop some sense of emotional independence, autonomy and assertiveness. In this case, the link between individuals is very loose (Keshavarz and Rozumah 68).
Societies with collectivism tendencies are considered more sociable, and they value security, harmony and the integrity of their families. With individualism, different directions yield a variety of family interactions. Individualism theory places a lot of emphasize autonomy, distinctiveness and self-containment.
Collectivism describes functions by enhancing social and group cohesion. It also stresses that children should be in conformity with their parents. Collectivism and individualism are the two theories that indicate the existing differences in various kinds of parenting behaviors, children and adolescent outcomes in various communities (Keshavarz and Rozumah 69).
Comparison
Demonstration that authoritarian foster strong sense of collectivism while Western parents who are permissive; provide room for their children.
The different forms of parenting are influenced either indirectly or directly by the two cultural theories of individualism and collectivism. The two models have a lot of impact on parenting behavior. In countries practicing collectivism, parents are entrusted with the responsibility of promoting better values like interdependence, obedience, conformity and strict respect for principles of social conventions.
The practices of authoritarian parents in collectivist groups demonstrate that individuals have to suppress their requirement as well as, consider the interests and the demand for others. Authoritarian parenting is more relevant in a collectivist environment. The positive behavior of Asian children is linked to the authoritarian nature of their parents and parental warmth and acceptance that come with it.
This is opposite to the Western parents who consider such a behavior a negative dimension of parenting. Authoritarian parenting is associated with positive development of the child. Authoritarian parenting styles are understood to be caring and concerned in the context of the Asian environment but in the context of the European, they are treated to be dictatorial and domineering (Keshavarz and Rozumah 66).
Children brought up by authoritative parents demonstrate some sense of deviant behaviors and develop some rudeness in school while cultivating a difficult relationship with the parents and teachers (Supple 8).
How children in Western and Asian Grow
The collectivist asian children grow up having been poorly nurtured socially, but their conduct and behavior will have been strictly controlled due to the rigidity, strictness and the assertiveness of their parents who put limited emphasis on affection and nurturance. The individualism behavior of the western child enables him/her to grow with a lot of affection and is well nurtured.
Children brought up in a collectivist environment of Asian culture develop some negative outcomes like minimal self-reliance, with low self-esteem, reduced happiness, small achievement motivation and increased use of drugs.
Children growing up in an individualistic environment are considered to be the best and their development will be complete (Timpano, Keough, Mahaffey, Schmidt and Abramowitz 153).
In Asia, no child dares to bat an eye lid or dare refuse or complain when the parent makes a certain decision or decides to discipline the child; this is opposite to the development of a child in the west where a light reprimanding will prompt him to complain, or they will question the parent as to why that is being done to them.
Asian children also sleep with their parents even at the age of five years as opposed to the west where even a new-born baby is made to sleep in the cot. In Vietnam, for example where authoritarianism and collectivism are practiced, the parents tend to be dictatorial hence leading to the development of children who are prone to conflict.
In this environment of parenting, children grow up having been depressed and with low self-esteem due to the harsh parenting styles (Nguyen 337).
Theory of Non-verbal Communication
Theory of non-verbal communication is instrumental in analyzing various parenting styles. Communication is instrumental in everyday relationship, and it enhances the quality of human interaction.
Asian children, due to their parenting styles place a lot of emphasis in non-verbal communication. In Asian culture, parents encourage their children to be obedient instead of encouraging them to be assertive. Americans parents, on the other hand, encourage their children to behave well since they consider it a very important instrument of social competence.
These cultural values play a role in the way children communicate with their parents and other people or how children will communicate at the course of their interactions. As a way of preserving interpersonal harmony and to avoid confrontations, parents of Asian culture value non-verbal or subtle communication as a way of instilling humility in their children.
In Asian cultures, parents value the most physical contact in parenting as opposed to vocalization hence children may be verbose very minimally and heavily rely on non-verbal or indirect communication. Children of Asian parents have been identified to display some sense of mutism.
The children normally behave well at home and perform exceptionally well in academics, but they exhibit noticeable shyness in class, particularly towards their teachers. This is considered as the failure of the parents to bring the children to conventional level of interaction (Sue and Sumie 238).
Theory of Power Distance
A family can be described based on its characteristics as a system as well as a power concept. The concept of power hierarchy and the proximity and distance in human interactions are used to explain the modern functioning of a family as an institution and parenting a part of a family (Wilkinson 149).
This theory explains how the parents or other superior members of the family are respected based on their power; it is the description on whether parents should allow power to be distributed equally between them and their children.
Power distance explains the extent to which children should accept their parents because of the power they wield more than them or that their decisions are right due to their higher position in the family.
Families conforming to this theory of power distance tend to have children who fear expressing themselves or are afraid to express doubts, and disagreements due to their strict parenting background.
In families where children and parents are very close and consult each other, it will lead to a scenario where they will consider themselves as equal. In families with large power distance, the children strictly fear their parents and the decisions of their parents are highly upheld (Triandis 139).
Conclusion
This essay has successfully demonstrated the ways in which Asian and Western parents raise their children and the differences in the techniques/styles. We can see that Western parents are more permissive and allow children to grow up and become more individualistic. Asian parents, in contrast, do not permit as much individualism, and instead reinforce collectivism by being authoritative.
This is why Westerners and Asians are very different; the way humans are raised has a significant impact on how the adult turns out. The styles of parenting vary from one society to another based on the cultures of those nations. The differences are conspicuous when comparing parenting styles in western and Asian regions due to the noticeable cultural difference between these countries.
The undertaking of research regarding various parental styles is an area of study that requires a lot of empirical research.
Having a vivid understanding of the societal culture in instrumental in predicting the difference in parental styles that is prevalent in a particular society and it will enable an individual to understand why particular differences exist, this notwithstanding, the beneficial effects of authoritative theory of parenting have been consistent in western and American societies.
Works Cited
Ang, Rebecca and Dion Goh. Authoritarian parenting style in Asian societies: a cluster analytic investigation. Contemporary Family Therapy 28.1(2006): 131-151. Print.
Burns, David and John Brady. Cross-cultural comparison of the need for uniqueness in Malaysia and the United States. Journal of Social Psychology, 132.1(1992): 487-495. Print.
Canadian Centre for Science and Education. Human development and Family Studies. International Journal of Psychological Studies 2.2(2010): 217-222. Print.
Chao, Ruth. Beyond Parental Control and Authoritarian Parenting Style: Understanding Chinese Parenting through the Cultural Notion of Training. Child Development, 65.4(1994): 1111-1119. Print.
Gorman, Jean. Parenting Attitudes and Practices of Immigrant Chinese Mothers of Adolescents. Family Relations, 47.1(1998): 73-80. Print.
Keshavarz, Somayeh and Rozumah Baharudin. Parenting Style in a Collectivist Culture of Malaysia. European Journal of Social Sciences 10.1(2009): 1. Print.
Matsumoto (Ed.). 2001. Handbook of Culture and Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nguyen, Peter. Perceptions of Vietnamese fathers acculturation levels, parenting styles and mental health outcomes in Vietnamese American adolescent immigrants. Social Work 53.4(2008): 337-346. Print.
Sue, Stanley and Sumie Okazaki. Asian American mental health: assessment theories and methods. New York: Springer, 2002. Print.
Supple, Andrew. Parental Influences on Hmong University Students. Parental Influences on Hmong University Students Journal 11.1(2010): 1-37. Print.
Timpano et al. Parenting and Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms: Implications of Authoritarian Parenting. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly 24.3(2010): 151-164. Print.
Triandis, Hentry. Individualism and collectivism: Past, present, and future. In David Wilkinson, Ian. Child and family assessment: clinical guidelines for practitioners (2nded). New York: Psychology Press. Print.
There is a common social belief that generally women are better parents than men and the previous experiences show that this has led to certain consequences. Of course, it would be brutal and unreasonable to state that there are no males, who can raise the children better than females, therefore I will not say that in all cases women are better parents than men, as ideally, the child should get the equal attention from both parents in order to get the proper upbringing, but in the majority of cases it is possible to say so. In the given paper I will prove the established before the statement that in most cases women are better parents than men.
In order to be reasonable and just it is necessary to regard the weak and the strong sides of both parties concerning this dispute, and how those weaknesses and advantages may affect the child. The fathers are traditionally imagined to be the money earners, who spend all their time working in order to provide their family with the necessary costs for living. Therefore, one can suggest that they do not have enough spare time for the upbringing of their kids, thus the latter ones may psychologically feel themselves short of fathers participation in their affairs, attention, love, and care.
But nowadays, certain social changes appeared in society, and women can be seen earning money from the early morning till the late night as well as men. So, it might be suggested that the above-described situation, when the child is left without care and attention, can also happen with the female parent. Nevertheless, looking around, one may firmly assert that still, the majority of the working parents are males; therefore, they can not spend enough time communicating with their children.
Because of historical and social reasons, women are likely to be regarded as much more forgiving and caring than men. Of course, it would be wrong to state that males are incapable of having such inner qualities, as everything depends on the personality of the parent. In some cases, womens parents can act with their children even worth than strangers. But, nevertheless, the various polls and public opinions proved that females are likely to forgiving and caring.
One may assert that those qualities are necessary, especially when dealing with the kids who unintentionally get into trouble, and they are afraid to tell their parents about that because of the fear that they will not understand and forgive them. In this case, the female parent is capable of providing her kid with the necessary understanding and forgiveness, which helps to avoid the psychological trauma in childhood, and thus, problems in the future that could have been caused by such trauma.
The men tend to be stricter with discipline and demand this from their children. This personal quality is also defined by historical and social factors. It is impossible to state that the discipline is unnecessary, but one may suggest that it is not a crucial element in the upbringing process. It even can be stated that the blind parents request for discipline from the child, may lead to psychological trauma, because the kid may become unsociable and reserved. Therefore, one may suggest that the discipline should be not very strict, but mixed with understanding and penetration of the parents, and women fit perfectly for the fulfillment of this task.
Another sad, but demonstrative example in defense of the view that females are better parents than males, is the issue of single mothers and fathers. It can not be stated that the men are not capable of bringing up their children perfectly, as numerous experiences showed that single fathers created happy and comfortable family conditions for their kids. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that in the majority of divorce cases, courts decide in favor of women, but maintain visits from men.
Of course, everything depends on the particular circumstances in every single case. But one can firmly agree with this, because of all of the above-provided arguments, moreover, one considers the visits of men (fathers) as a necessary condition for the mental health of the children, in order to avoid some future confusions or uncomfortable situations, and therefore, probable psychological traumas.
Following this, one may say that even in families, where children have both mother and father, the participation of parents in the upbringing process is not equal. Of course, every single case depends on various circumstances and shades, but as the practice shows, the common social belief that generally women are better parents than men seems to be rather convincing.
Traditionally, the role of raising children was the mothers. Therefore, it is often considered that women are better parents than men. However, today, circumstances have changed, and both the father and mother are responsible for bringing up the children. There is a stronger bond between a mother and child from birth. The relationship that a mother forms with the child during pregnancy is evident even after the child is born. Mothers will do everything to make sure their children are alright. This is unlike the fathers who always act aloof. This is an argumentative essay that aims to prove that mothers are better parents than fathers.
A Mother is Better than a Father Gender Inequality in Parenting
Mostly, fathers appear to have a weak bond with the children. Fathers are detached from their children and can quickly desert them, while women can not. One of the reasons why fathers seem less committed to their children is because most fathers are not sure about the paternity of the child. For mothers, there can never be such doubts. However, the father cannot be sure that the child is his, and this is the gender difference. Therefore, he is reluctant to support and spend his resources on a child that could be another mans (Kazanawa par 4).
Another reason for the lack of a strong bond between a father and the children is because men have a more significant potential to have more children than women. The men can get children throughout their lives while this is not possible for women after menopause.
Therefore, the men are not so attached to their children because even if they lose them, they can always have some more. That is why the majority of men can abandon their wives and children and move on to start another family. (Kazanawa par 7). Fathers may be considered biologically inferior parents. This discussion aims to prove that women are better at parenting than men.
Reasons Why Mothers Are Better Parents than Fathers
Many communities assign the role of caring for children to the mother while the father is expected to provide for the family and instill discipline in children.
The father is thus distanced from the children because they fear him as they view him as a disciplinarian. Today, there are no distinct roles expected of either the father or mother. In most homes, both the father and mother share the responsibility of providing for the family.
There are also many homes with one parent because of divorce or the death of one parent. The role of upbringing their children should be shared between the mother and the father since both of them go to work. However, fathers do not participate much in raising their children.
Mothers spend more time with their children and, therefore, the children form a better connection with them. A hormone called oxytocin enables the mother to bond better with the child than the father. It allows the child to feel secure as long as he/she is with the mother. When the mother leaves, the child gets upset and cries but is happy again when she returns.
This is the reaction of the hormone. It makes the child know that the mother will always be there and will never let him/ her down (Kuchinskas 31). From birth, the mothers spend more time caring for the child. At this stage, the child needs a lot of attention and specialized care, and the mother is the one best suited to do that.
The father only comes in when the baby is older. Therefore, women are better parents than men. Opponents of this position may argue that fathers are better at parenting since they provide financial support. However, active involvement in a childs life is the most important kind of support in family for children when they are growing up because it shapes their psychological development. Therefore, there should be no differences between female and male parenting.
Both parents need to be aggressively involved in the nurturing of the child. In any case, even mothers are in employment, and both parents share the responsibility of providing for the family. Therefore, men cannot excuse themselves from the role of nurturing the child based on providing financial support as their role is of great importance.
Impact on Childs Emotional State
Mothers are more emotional than men. They are more sympathetic and understanding of their children whenever they are in trouble (Weiten, Dunn and Hammer 344). A mother may even defend her children when their father is angry and wants to punish them. Children, therefore, see the mother as a source of comfort and protection and will seek help from her whenever they need something.
They will invariably run to her when they experience problems. The father is less emotional and less likely to sympathize with the children. Therefore, they will not feel free to share their issues with him. The children tend to love the mother more than the father. One might object here that being very emotional and soft on the children might spoil them and make them unprepared for lifes challenges.
One might argue that men are not overprotective and are rough with the children, and therefore, they teach them to be courageous and go-getters in life. They believe that softly treating the children will make them cowards and reluctant to deal with tough situations in the future.
However, the way men treat children may have a detrimental effect on them. This is because treating children harshly and aggressively may affect them emotionally, and this may impact on their future lives as adults. Research reveals that childrens upbringing affects how they relate with others in the future, how they perform in school, and the way they handle challenges. Children who experience violent treatment are impoverished at socializing with others (Attili, Vermigli and Roazzi 24).
Women have better rearing skills than men because that is what they grow up practicing. The parents assign their daughters the roles that involve caring and nurturing. Therefore, by the time they become adults, they have perfected these skills. As they grow up, girls will engage in motherly activities like caring for their dolls or younger siblings.
Boys, on the other hand, are not concerned with such roles. They are interested in rough games and machines, and these do not prepare them to nurture their children. As a result, they grow up without a clue about how to raise their children.
Furthermore, women tend to be gentler than men. They treat the children well while the men are rough and sometimes violent (Weiten, Dunn and Hammer 343). Raising children is a task that requires a lot of patience, gentleness, and tenderness. Women can withstand irritating situations like the constant crying and nagging of a baby. As such, many people believe that women make better parents than men.
Men do not possess such traits and will quickly get angry and impatient with the child. They might even be tempted to yell or hit the children. A child at this stage requires to be taken care of by someone with the right qualities.
Communication Shouldnt Be Neglected
Communication aspect should also be reviewed to answer the question Are women better parents than men? Women also have better communication skills than men (Weiten, Dunn and Hammer 344). As they grow up, children need to be listened to and understood. They also need to be advised and reproached. Women can achieve this through proper communication with the children.
Lack of communication between the children and the parents can lead to children looking for answers from other sources, like the peers and the media, which can be misleading (Kanazawa 2008). Mothers will, therefore, be seen as better parents because the children will always prefer to share their problems and concerns with them than with their fathers. Men are less expressive than women and this is another point why mothers are better parents.
Another reason why women are better parents is that they are more conscious and conscientious to the needs of their children than men. When babies cry, the mothers maternal instincts will enable them to know what they need. It is not easy for a father to understand what a crying baby needs.
A young baby needs to be understood and attended to accordingly. This makes the women better parents than the men (Frodi, Lamb, Leavitt and Donovan 190). Critics of this position may argue that fathers are good parents because they will be involved in caring for their children later when they grow older and no longer need so much attention. However, the father needs to be actively engaged in raising the child from birth because his involvement is most critical when the child is young.
Women are more sympathetic and softhearted than men (Costello par 6). Sometimes children go through experiences that require the parents to be compassionate and comforting to them. Mothers are perfect at this, while fathers are not willing to show emotion as it might be seen as a sign of weakness.
Fathers want to be perceived by their children as severe and in control. Most of them will always admonish their children. This alienates many fathers from their children as they will always choose to share their concerns with the mother. Of course, the father needs to appear tough so that the children can be well-disciplined, but overdoing it might scare them and negatively affect their relationship.
Do Women Make Better Parents than Men?
From the above discussion, it is clear that women play a more significant role than men in bringing up children. There are several reasons why mothers are more important than fathers in the family. They provide the right environment for the healthy upbringing of a child. They do this by actively participating in nurturing the child since birth. Carrying a child through pregnancy establishes a powerful bond between the mother and the child.
Mothers also provide comfort and sympathy, which is critical in a childs psychological development. Moreover, women are sensitive and understanding of the needs of the children more than men. On top of that, women are excellent communicators and will always lend an ear to their childrens concerns.
They are also more sympathetic and less aggressive towards the children than the men. Above all, women have maternal instincts, which always make them look out for their childrens safety. These qualities make most of the children to be more attached to their mothers than their fathers. Therefore, women are better parents than men.
Works Cited
Attili, Grazia, Patrizia Vermigli, and Antonio Roazzi. Childrens Social Competence, Peer Status, and the Quality of Mother-Child and Father-Child Relationships: A Multidimensional Scaling Approach. European Psychologist 15.1 (2010): 23-33. Web.
Costello, Victoria. Daddy and Baby: The Science of New Fatherhood. 2011. Web.
Frodi, Ann, Michael Lamb, Lewis Leavitt, and Donovan Wilberta. Fathers and mothers responses to infant smiles and cries. Infant Behavior and Development 1 (1978): 187-198.
Kuchinskas, Susan. The Chemistry of Connection: How the Oxytocin Response Can Help You Find Trust, Intimacy, and Love. USA: New Harbinger Publications, 2009.
Weiten, Wayne, Dunn, Dana S., and Elizabeth Hammer Yost. Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century. USA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Web.
Effective parenting has never been as important as it is in todays family setups. This notion stems from the fact proper parenting approaches go a long way toward shaping how children will behave in the future. Each aspect of education and upbringing can affect the individuals and society around them. Yet, are parents responsible for their childrens behavior?
Psychological and psychosocial studies have for a long time taught us that parenting without a reasonable basis can definitely result in confusion in the developmental process of any child (Commons and Miller, 2007). This is why many attempts have been made to improve parenting styles. Indeed, effective parenthood is a crucial job in the life of any person who decides to have kids. Many studies undertaken on the factors affecting child demeanors have discovered that parents are responsible for their childrens behavior, be it good or bad.
Although other factors such as peer influence and other experiences while growing up have been shown to affect the childrens behavior, parental involvement has been numerously cited owing to the level of influence parents have over their children as compared to other factors. Hence, parents are the ones who should be blamed for their childrens behavior.
Parents have moral and legal responsibilities towards their child. If they set a bad example to their children, they will definitely follow in their steps. In other words, they are the primary teachers and discipliners of their children. Many parents fail not because they are inadequate or lack love for their children but because they procrastinate and they give warnings that they do not follow through.
Parents should recognize that bringing up well-behaved children requires a thorough comprehension of how their behavior is connected with their childs behavior. Consequently, they should impart moral values such as respect and discipline to the children. All parents have a responsibility when it comes to raising their children, for no one will do it for them.
A study undertaken by the NASUWT teachers union concluded that lack of parental support is a major crisis behind pupils lack of discipline. More than two in three teachers identified lack of support from parents as the most fundamental factor that influences pupils behavior.
The teachers cited a lack of adequate support from the parents to help them maintain high standards in pupils behaviour. Thus they feel let down by the lack of parents support in shaping the pupils behavior. In fact, some parents even fail to send their children to school with the right material for their learning, for example, books and pens. Instead, they allow them to go to school with mobile phones, iPods, and MP3 players.
Mobile phones and other electronic gadgets will always cause disruptions in classrooms, and this makes the pupils not concentrate, leading to lower grades. Lack of concentration in the classroom also prevents the children from taking in valuable lessons that could influence their behavior (Vogler, Masters, and Merrill, 1970). Although some parents cited lack of funds as a source of their waning influence over their childs behavior, studies have shown otherwise.
Low-income families can still influence their childrens behavior by a great margin. Besides, some parents use this excuse as a scapegoat for escaping their parental roles. Some parents pay less attention to their childrens academic activities and hence may not even know whether children are attending classes or not.
The relationship between a parent and his/her child is a determinant of how well the child will adjust to life outside of the home, their performance in school, as well as what kind of relationships they will form with people outside the family setup. Most parents have failed to establish close relations with their children. They do not spend adequate time with their children, are always busy with work commitments, and some are very hostile to their children.
The relationship between parent and child significantly helps in a childs emotional and mental development. As parental affection and influence decrease and the amount of time children spend in non-parental care increases, an increased likelihood of behavioral problems both at home and at school is observed. Parents are critical in every aspect of a childs development (Cavell and Strand, 2002).
They can and should provide healthy, stable environments for their children besides providing a loving and nurturing relationship with them. All of these aspects are likely to promote the behavioral development of a child.
Parents are expected to spend time with their children and are expected to teach their children the behaviors that are embraced or shunned by society. They should be committed to building a strong relationship with their children and must actively contribute to building their childrens self-esteem and self-confidence.
Some parents even lack the confidence to face their own children and hence are not able to counsel their children on good behavior. When parents have a good relationship with their children, they are able to enforce positive values and acceptable standards of good behaviour and ensure that their children embrace these values in their day-to-day lives. Consequently, parents should create time for their children in order to establish a close relationship that can have a long influence on the childs behavior.
Authority, responsibility, discipline, and accountability constitute the foundation of a sensible behavioral structure in all persons. Parents fail to exert these four premises of behaviour in their children, and this has gone a long way into shaping their childrens failure to uphold moral values and etiquette.
A letdown in the display of proper protocols from parent to child could result in children taking up unwanted habits, and if further displays of bad conduct continue to be shown to the child, a potentially criminalized foundation could be laid. Parents do not let their children be accountable for their mistakes as they always cover them, and this makes the children believe that the act was not wrong. Parents should learn to discipline their children whenever they display bad behavior.
Besides, their reaction to their childrens behavior should be that of deterrence and a form of warning. Sometimes parents react passively. They give in to their childrens misbehavior because they do not feel like confronting the problem, and this only worsens the childs behavioral problems. When parents fail to understand the motives behind their childrens bad or wrong behavior, their children tend to end up in dangerous and catastrophic situations, such as becoming juveniles.
They should always evaluate their childs behaviour, discipline them appropriately, and say no to their demands when necessary (Newman & Newman, 2011). A child should learn at an early age that consequences follow undesirable behavior. This will assist the child to grow into a productive member of the society.
Parents should, at times, not be blamed for their childrens behaviour, for they always try their best to instill good morals in them. It is the wish of all parents to bring up children with good morals. Critiques have argued that parents should not be blamed for their childs behavior as behavior is shaped by various environmental aspects. The critics forget that parents are the first people who instill discipline in their children. Hence, whatever foundation they lay on their children will be carried for the rest of their life.
Conclusion
Parents play a very vital role in their childrens development, and the success of the children will mainly depend on the foundations imparted to them by the parents. Most studies show that parents are to blame for childrens behaviour. Hence, parents must take a greater role in shaping their childrens future regarding the embrace of morally acceptable behavior.
They must bear in mind that childrens development at home should take precedence. In addition, they must be committed to building a strong relationship with their children and must actively contribute to building their childrens self-esteem and self-confidence.
Influencing the childs behavior should begin with establishing a close relationship with their children and making proper use of their authority over their children, but not in a coercive manner. If parents are not held responsible for their childrens behavior, who is to be blamed then? It is their duty to make the children grow into disciplined and responsible members of society.
Reference List
Cavell, T.A. and Strand, P.S. (2002). Handbook of dynamics in parent-child relations. CA: Thousand Oaks.
Commons, M.L. and Miller, P.M. (2007). How Early Negative Caregiving: Experiences Relate to Stage of Attachment. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 13: 1417.
Newman, P. H. and Newman, B. M. (2011). Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach. NJ: Prentice Hall.
Vogler, R.E., Masters, W.M. and Merrill, G.S. (1970). Shaping cooperative behavior in young children. Journal of Psychology, 74, 181-86.