Resilience In Unequal Childhoods

Resilience can be defined broadly as “the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to disturbances that threaten its function, viability, or development” (Masten, 2014a p. 10). As we can see this definition can be applied broadly to any individual, community, computer, economy or other system which has to recover from some kind of disturbance in its system. At a first glance resilience might seem as something not so important in children development however it has a greater impact in their life. And the authors point out that it is not an inborn trait; rather it is something which can be developed overtime by a few factors. Therefore in order to understand resilience we have to find out what are the factors that lead to it? And how we can use them to build a strong resilience? Masten and Monn claim that for healthy development and overall success in life, children need “care, nutrition, skills, health services, learning opportunities”, and many other economic and social resources. They also need an array of “learning, communication, and behavioral skills” that depend on brain development and socialization. Therefore promotive factors for positive

development include some internal capability a learning and a thinking brain, some external resources: educational system, culture, community and moreover some spirituality and religion, and a feeling of belonging (LOVE).

In her book “Unequal Childhoods” Lareau raises a concern towards 2 different types of parenting seen in different families, and how this types of parenting affect children’s success in the future life.

First of them “Concerted Cultivation” is practiced by MC families, which are seeing their children as a continuous project, a project in which they are constantly investing their time and money. And the second type of parenting “Accomplishment of natural growth” practiced by WC and P families. In this families parents are taking care of primary needs as food, clothing, shelter, healthcare for their children, and think that other investments are beneficial but not that important in children rearing. As a consequence they allow their children to choose what they want to do, hence emphasizing a natural

growth.
At a first glance one might think that Lareau’s 2 types of parenting are the only substantial ways which affect a children development and their further success however another research by Masten and Monn cast doubts her arguments. They are pointing out that a seemingly insignificant matter “Resilience” is actually essential in children rearing by explaining its effect in their further development. According to Masten and Monn Resilience (the ability to withstand and recover from significant disturbances that threaten its system) is the key of doing well in the future. Therefore they emphasize different traits as intelligence, self-control/motivation/confidence, hopes, beliefs, effective communities and cultural practices as primordial in achieving success by pointing out to different internal, external and spiritual factors as the ability of learning and thinking, religion, culture, relationships and communities. Hence an effective way to help a child to develop is by reducing the exposure to risky activities, boosting the amount of resources available to him and nurturing his basic adaptive system(internal, external and spiritual factors).