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Effect of parenting styles on child development
Effect of parenting styles on child development
Effect that parents have on child development
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Unequal Childhoods: Critical Book Analysis Jessica Kiene Kutztown University Spring 2015 April 3, 2015 Unequal Childhoods: A Critical Analysis The book Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life published in 2003, takes a close look into the lives of different families in the United States and how they are affected by race and social class and how their family lives differ. The Author, Annette Lareau, discusses how social class affects the parenting styles and how these parenting styles are affecting the children. Although Lareau’s book could use a few changes, it is well written and it is a good read to help better understand how social class and parenting styles can affect the lives of different children on a personal level. In …show more content…
Lareau studied these families by using qualitative methodology and observed twelve different families with the focus on children between the ages of nine and ten (third and fourth graders). The racial distribution of her study was six white children, five African Americans, and one multiracial family coming from two different school districts, Lower Richmond and Swan School. What bring the families together are the similarities and differences between their parenting styles. Lareau does an exceptionally good job at showing the advantages and disadvantages of concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth and how these parenting can or will affect the children’s future. Unequal Childhoods overall is a great book with many strengths and very few weaknesses. Lareau’s book has much depth because she was with these families morning, day, and night, and observed the each family’s daily routine firsthand. It is very impressive that she was able to conduct the study by observing these families so closely but never directly getting involved with what was going on. Lareau would sometimes interview the families’ and record their answers so accurately because it was crucial to the study to get every word they were …show more content…
Although it may not occur often Lareau fails to gives examples of different social classes using the opposite parenting style that is expected. Not every family is the same. In this book, every middle and upper middle class family focused on concerted cultivation and every working and lower class families focused on accomplishment of natural growth as their parenting styles. The book shows absolutely no example of a working or lower class families that raise their children under the concerted cultivation parenting styles and vice versa. From a personal standpoint, I was raised in the middle class and according to these two parenting styles it is likely that I will be raised in a concerted cultivation environment but in reality I was raised with a mix of concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth with more of an emphasis on accomplishment of natural growth. There are most likely many other families that may mix these two parenting styles together or use the one that is not commonly associated with their social class and Lareau failed to also represent those families in her
In Chapter 5 of the Gilbert text, when Lareau mentions the sense of entitlement that upper-middle class children feel and the sense of restraint that working class and poor children feel she is referring to the growth and development that the children have experienced growing up. According to Lareau, there are two types of child-rearing that occur in many cultures, which are cultivated growth and natural growth. Cultivated growth is often experienced by upper-middle class children, whereas natural growth is experienced by working class and poor children. Upper-middle class children feel a sense of entitlement and working class and poor children feel a sense of restraint through daily activities, language, and various institutions.
In Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau discussed the extensive amount of research she conducted employing observational and interview techniques. She collected data on the middle class, working class, and poor families. She was trying to understand the impact of a child’s early parental guidance on the child’s life. She was able to conduct this research with 12 families, all of whom had fourth graders. She gathered enough information to conclude the major differences in the parenting styles of each type of family, which was directly correlated to socioeconomic status. Annette Lareau opens her book with two chapters to give the reader an idea on what the examples she gives will detail.
People live in quite similar and yet vastly different Umwelten. In this reflexive paper I intend to explore for myself some ideas about the Umwelten of inner city, lower SES African American families (I taught in inner city Washington, D.C.) and white American suburban middle class families. Different Umwelten can lead to vastly different ways of thinking about what it means to be successful in life and, thus, how parents raise and what they desire for their children.
The purpose of this study, as well as the central argument, is very well addressed by Lareau in the text and leads to many well supported conclusions. Lareau’s main argument in the text is that when children grow up in certain environments, parents are more likely to use specific methods of child rearing that may be different from other families in different social classes. In the text, Lareau describes how she went into the home of the McAllisters and the Williams, two black families leading completely different lives. Ms. McAllister lives in a low-income apartment complex where she takes care of her two children as well as other nieces and nephews. Ms. McAllister never married the father of her two children and she relies on public assistance for income.
...oming to an understanding of the daily struggles of every person, who attempts to raise a child in the American society. Inferring from the book, the extent to which the scholar discusses race as a key influence of childhood inequality is not as extended as that of social class. This is clear evidence that the Lareau dwells much on social class as the principal and prevalent theme in the American society towards parenting and child bearing (4). Indeed, at some point, Lareau reports that while race produces childhood inequality, most outcomes for children, from interactions to education, largely depends with social stratification (4). Therefore, she discusses that social class is more influential in relation to race.
The theme in working and poor class parents is that they are not as attentive to their kids as middle class parents are. However, this does not mean that they do not love their kids. It is just a different approach to development. This ties back into the major concept Lareau: concerted cultivation or natural growth. Working and poor class parents adopt a “let kids be kids” mentality and do not intervene as much. Middle class parents are very involved in their kids’ lives by enrolling them in various activities, but because of hectic schedules they to do not have a great deal of down time to spend together as a
African-American parents and grandparents play a pivotal role in the socialization of children as they help
Parenting is one of the things in life where there is not a rulebook and there are a lot of beliefs on how to raise children. Parents tend to raise their children based on their childhood experiences whether they were good or bad. Some parents raise their children just like they were raised and some raise their children differently because they don’t agree with the way their parents raised them. Parenting styles are based on the ideals and beliefs parents have about raising their children. Research shows that parenting styles directly affect how children behave in and out of school. Students may be presented with
A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.
This research paper will explore primarily the impact of African American single-parent households on the children that live in these environments. This is a very important issue and more awareness is needed. Research has provided evidence that single-parent households are one of many risk factors that can negatively affect a child’s educational outcome, emotional health and social behavior. Although not all single-parent family households have disadvantages, the focus of his study is to shed more light on the issues and offer solutions. For example, more policies are needed to reinforce fathers to pay child support. This alone will provide mothers with more money to help them better raise their children.
McDevitt, T. M., and J. E. Ormrod. "Parenting Styles." Child Development and Education. 3rd ed. N.p.: Prentice Hall, 2006. 159-161. Education.com. Merill, 2007. Web. 27 Dec. 2013. .
Parenting, which is somewhat akin to teaching, should be regarded as one of the three cooperative arts. Thus conceived, it calls upon parents to assist their offspring in the process of growing up, doing so by observing carefully the steps the children themselves take in the process and doing what is necessary to facilitate their progress. Parenting departs from being a cooperative art, as teaching does also, when it tries to be the active and dominant factor in the process -- when parents or teachers think that what they do should be like the molding of passive, plastic matter.
Many times, teachers will make the mistake of pre-judging families from different cultures and misunderstand their communication styles and value systems. In order to prevent such misunderstandings, teachers should not be afraid to step outside of their own culture bubble in an effort to comprehend differences between their own culture and these parents. When interacting with parents, teachers should also embrace the commonalities between the cultures. Everyone deals with work, school, relationships, communication, and life in general. I am a Black man, going to school, raising a family and working, just like one of my friends, who is a Native-American. Often times, the things we see as divisions can actually bring us
middle of paper ... ... In the traditional society, the father’s only focus is on earning an income for the family which has a direct impact on the family members due to the lack of time spent bonding with his children and wife. The responsibility of the children falls on both parents’ shoulders, not just on the mothers. However, this is also an issue in modern society, if mothers rely too much on day-care and do not spend enough time with their children, then the same thing that happens to the father happens to the mother.
Parenting styles have the capacity of influencing a child’s social, cognitive, and psychological growth, which would then affect the child both in their childhood years, and as an adult.