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Influence of parents on children
Influence of parental involvement on cognitive development of children
Influence of parents on children
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Lareau calls the middle-class parenting style "concerted cultivation." It's an attempt to actively "foster and assess a child's talents, opinions and skills." Poor parents tend to follow, by contrast, a strategy of "accomplishment of natural growth." They see as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own. Lareau stresses that one style isn't morally better than the other. The poorer children were, to her mind, often better behaved, less whiny, more creative in making use of their own time, and had a well-developed sense of independence. But in practical terms, concerted cultivation has enormous advantages. The heavily scheduled middle- class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of …show more content…
experiences. She learns teamwork and how to cope in highly structured settings. She is taught how to interact comfortably with adults, and to speak up when she needs to. In Lareau's words, the middle-class children learn a sense of "entitlement." That word, of course, has negative connotations these days. But Lareau means it in the best sense of the term: "They acted as though they had a right to pursue their own individual preferences and to actively manage interactions in institutional settings. They appeared comfortable in those settings; they were open to sharing information and asking for attention It was common practice among middle-class children to shift interactions to suit their preferences." They knew the rules. "Even in fourth grade, middle-class children appeared to be acting on their own behalf to gain advantages. They made special requests of teachers and doctors to adjust procedures to accommodate their desires." By contrast, the working-class and poor children were characterized by "an emerging sense of distance, distrust, and constraint." They didn't know how to get their way, or how to "customize".using Lareau's wonderful term—whatever environment they were in, for their best purposes. In one telling scene, Lareau describes a visit to the doctor by Alex Williams, a nine-year-old boy, and his mother, Christina. The Williamses are wealthy professionals. "Alex, you should be thinking of questions you might want to ask the doctor," Christina says in the car on the way to the doctor's office. "You can ask him anything you want. Don't be shy. You can ask anything." Alex thinks for a minute, then says, "I have some bumps under my arms from my deodorant." Christina: "Really? You mean from your new deodorant?" Alex: "Yes." Christina: "Well, you should ask the doctor." Alex's mother, Lareau writes, "is teaching that he has the right to speak up".that even though he's going to be in a room with an older person and authority figure, it's perfectly all right for him to assert himself. They meet the doctor, a genial man in his early forties. He tells Alex that he is in the ninety-fifth percentile in height. Alex then interrupts: ALEX: I'm in the what? DOCTOR: It means that you're taller than more than ninety-five out of a hundred young men when they're, uh, ten years old. ALEX: I'm not ten. DOCTOR: Well, they graphed you at ten. You're—nine years and ten months. They—they usually take the closest year to that graph. Look at how easily Alex interrupts the doctor."I'm not ten." That's entitlement: his mother permits that casual incivility because she wants him to learn to assert himself with people in positions of authority. THE DOCTOR TURNS TO ALEX: Well, now the most important question. Do you have any questions you want to ask me before I do your physical? ALEX: Um…only one. I've been getting some bumps on my arms, right around here (indicates underarm). DOCTOR: Underneath? ALEX: Yeah. DOCTOR: Okay. I'll have to take a look at those when I come in closer to do the checkup. And I'll see what they are and what I can do. Do they hurt or itch? ALEX: No, they're just there. DOCTOR: Okay, I'll take a look at those bumps for you.
This kind of interaction simply doesn't happen with lower-class children, Lareau says. They would be quiet and submissive, with eyes turned away. Alex takes charge of the moment. "In remembering to raise the question he prepared in advance, he gains the doctor's full attention and focuses it on an issue of his choosing," Lareau writes. In so doing, he successfully shifts the balance of power away from the adults and toward himself. The transition goes smoothly. Alex is used to being treated with respect. He is seen as special and as a person worthy of adult attention and interest. These are key characteristics of the strategy of concerted cultivation. Alex is not showing off during his checkup. He is behaving much as he does with his parents—he reasons, negotiates, and jokes with equal ease. It is important to understand where the particular mastery of that moment comes from. It's not genetic. Alex Williams didn't inherit the skills to interact with authority figures from his parents and grandparents the way he inherited the color of his eyes. Nor is it racial: it's not a practice spécifie to either black or white people. As it turns out, Alex Williams is black and Katie Brindle is white. It's a cultural advantage. Alex has those skills because over the course of his young life, his mother and father—in the manner of educated families—have painstakingly taught them to him, nudging and prodding and encouraging and showing him the rules of the game, right down to that little rehearsal in the car on the way to the doctor's
office. When we talk about the advantages of class, Lareau argues, this is in large part what we mean. Alex Williams is better off than Katie Brindle because he's wealthier and because he goes to a better school, but also because—and perhaps this is even more critical—the sense of entitlement that he has been taught is an attitude perfectly suited to succeeding in the modern world.
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.
Lareau also reported that many working class and poor parents feel that educators hold the expertise, and usually fear doing the “wrong thing” in school-related matters (Lareau 357). What this usually leads to is trying to maintain a separation between school and home (Lareau 358). Working class and poor parents typically are deferential while middle class parents can be demanding toward school personnel (Lareau 358). More educators want poor and working class parents to be more assertive (Lareau 358). “Put differently, they wish these parents would engage in forms of concerted cultivation” (Lareau 358).
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
...parents were much more successful in the working world encouraged him to complete many daily activities such as choir and piano lessons. His parents engaged him in conversations that promoted reasoning and negotiation and they showed interest in his daily life. Harold’s mother joked around with the children, simply asking them questions about television, but never engaged them in conversations that drew them out. She wasn’t aware of Harold’s education habits and was oblivious to his dropping grades because of his missing assignments. Instead of telling one of the children to seek help for a bullying problem she told them to simply beat up the child that was bothering them until they stopped. Alex’s parents on the other hand were very involved in his schooling and in turn he scored very well in his classes. Like Lareau suspected, growing up
...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 more developed teaching methods there match the town’s urban society. The education is more formal and way more expensive. “One had to be fully and properly dressed, and speak French there”(51). José is aware that he is the only child who grew up on a plantation, “I was the only one of my kind”(128). All around him in school were kids who grew up in wealthy families. The children can afford to have lunch every day and have extravagant items José could only dream of having. “[. . .]Carrying leather schoolbags, pens with golden rings, and watches!”(128). The wealthy society of this town differed greatly from the poverty of José’s Black Shack Alley. Because the families were so wealthy in this area, schooling was not a privilege as it was in Petit-Bourg, so teachers did not encourage the students to do their best. “In Petit-Bourg the school masters saw to it that you learned your lessons and did your homework. [. . .]in this lycée, you did as little as you wanted”(129). The teachers in the lycée didn’t have a connection with José like Mr. Roc did. One of his teachers even said José was a “student of little interest”(129). José was isolated in the prestigious school of Fort-de-France, but thrived in his familiar environment in
In the beginning of the short story we learn Alan’s parents didn’t find out about his intellectual disability until he was 16 months old. We can assume the doctor wasn’t able to diagnose Alan for over a year, because he still went through the Sensorimotor Stage, just at a little slower pace than other children. In the sensorimotor stage we know that children learn object permanence and the use of their 5 senses. We know from the way Terry describes him, he is passed the first stage of development. This puts Alan into the Pre-Operational stage. In the Pre-Operational stage we know that children are very ego-centric meaning everything is their way. When they talk they only describe what they know, because they fail to understand other minds. Alan does just that throughout the story. For example Terry stated, “He was unpredictable. He created his own rules and they changed from moment to moment. Alan was twelve years old, hyperactive, mischievous, easily frustrated, and unable to learn in traditional ways.” (The Village Watchman, Pg. 29.) We as students and educators watch children go through this stage they are much like Alan. Children have a hard time sitting for long periods, they act out and if they can’t learn something easily they get frustrated just like Alan in the story. Most children eventually move passed this unlike Alan, because they learn from educators and get through the obstacles. Alan is not able to be educated through school and textbooks like most children in the story instead, he is learning through his experiences and interactions with the world helping him to develop cognitively. Terry tells us that he would vocalize whatever was on his mind with punctuated colorful speech. (The Village Watchman, Pg.30.) This tells us that Alan has yet to think through his actions. He does not know that he is being rude in
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
In the article Paul Groski tells about a high school teacher struggling to connect with her low-income students. The teacher Janet loves her kids but assumes they are just lazy. By assuming this she is agreeing that poor kids have a certain culture about them. Many others also think the same, that poor people have a certain culture to them. The fact is that students living in poverty do not have the same benefits as a wealthier family. Facts show that most kids in low-income houses have at least one parent who is employed and works full time year round. Having jobs that do not pay as much makes it hard to support a family working part time. That is why a wealthier family works fewer hours than the average poor family. Many teacher’s like Janet also believe the parents of the less wealthy kids are uninvolved are unmotivated to help their kids. Poor Parent’s want their kids to succeed just as a much as a richer Childs parents do. Many poor parents’ work night time jobs and cannot afford to pay for public transportation. This probably explains why Janet does not see many parents at the...
First, policemen showed up at Alex’s home to tell him that his uncle died in a car crash. He knew he was about to receive bad news by “the way the police stood there” (Horowitz 2). Alex always knew his uncle to be a safe driver, so when
...focus of attention by showing his watch to his friends so that everyone could be around him. The child showed the ability to differentiate between reality and pretend by interacting with objects and communicating with the other children.
The most influential part of a human’s life is their relationship with their parents. All independent adult actions are based on the initial interactions between parent and child. Burgess’s mother died shortly after his birth. Blamed for taking his mother’s life by his father, Burgess was sent to live with his aunt. The relationship between child and parent was absent throughout Burgess’s entire childhood, and it is because of this that Alex DeLarge has his own “mommy and daddy issues”. The first similarity between Alex and Burgess is discussed quite briefly when Alex comes home after a fun night with his droogs, or friends. After coming home late and going into his room to play loud music, Alex is full of pride and joyfully explains that “[p]ee and em (pa and ma, dad and mom) in their bedroom next door had learnt now not to knock o...
It can be said for most parents that they want their children to grow up to be successful contributing members of society. Being a parent is a difficult, yet rewarding task. But why do some types of parenting result in juvenile delinquency while others find success. There are four generally recognized parenting styles and are categorized: authoritarian, permissive, neglectful, and authoritative. This essay will break down the various styles, its type(s) of discipline and effectiveness.
Parenting styles are as diverse as parents themselves. Parenting is one of the most challenging and difficult responsibilities a person can face. The way a family is structured is called the parenting style. Parenting styles are collections of parental attitudes, practices, and non-verbal expressions that characterize the nature of parent-child relationships. Because individuals learn how to parent from many different examples including their own parents, role models, society and life experiences. Parenting techniques can vary greatly from household to household, however, experts believe that parenting styles can be broken down into four main categories which include permissive,authoritarian,authoritative,and neglectful.
Diana Baurmind and Alfred Adler have similar categories of parenting styles. Authoritative parenting can be compared to democratic and encouraging. Both of these styles offer love and security of the child. They express the parent is in control, but the parent also respect their child with explaining parental actions in a positive way. Permissive parenting can be compared to over-submissive parenting style. The child is rude, and demanding. The parent usually accepts the child’s behavior. In my opinion, the parent does not want to upset the child, or bother with correcting the behavior, so they will give in by rewarding the child in order to correct the child’s behavior. Authoritarian parenting can be compared to over-coercive parenting. These parents are very strict with children. My father can be compared to this parenting style. There was no reasoning, no communication, and his actions were final. This kind of parenting reminds me of being in the military. Finally, uninvolved parenting can be compared to neglecting parenting. I almost wanted to compare uninvolved to rejecting, but I cannot necessarily say the parent has denied acceptance. The parent is selfish, and does not even provide the bare minimum for their child’s necessities. I can compare this type of parenting from a 16 year old mother from the show Teen Mom’s. Jenelle had her son Andrew at a very young age. After his birth, she was distance and cared more about partying. Her