Child Rearing Practices

Child Rearing Practices

Background

Child-rearing refers to raising children in line with the requirements, guidelines and standards set by society, subculture, cultural history and family. This process involves providing children with basic needs while ensuring they adhere to specific moral standards entrenched in the family. Although child-rearing practices are joined together by the commonality of purpose, they differ significantly across families, cultures and society. The methods of child upbringing vary in respect to discipline, degree of permissiveness and expression of affection. The factors that influence parenting include economic, culture, social support, politics, safety, neighborhood, religion, and hardship. The frustrations, depression, anger and sadness expressed by parents experiencing hardships, insecurity, violence, and poverty, affect their parenting styles.

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Tyyskä (2010) noted that cultural factors influence the disciplining styles used by parents on their children. Some members of immigrant communities tend to use harsh parenting styles in line with their traditions. However, the changing dynamics of modern society require parents to employ appropriate child-rearing practices to not only enhance their children’s satisfaction but also avoid legal hurdles. Parents are encouraged to employ parenting styles that promote self-control, independence, self-regulation and emotional stability. This discussion explores the styles of parenting demonstrated in an interview with an adult female from Pakistan. The paper also highlights the roles of parent-child interactions and the parent's values and expectations of their children.

Styles of Child-Rearing and Parenting

The child-rearing practice demonstrated in the interview is authoritative parenting. This parenting style describes a situation whereby the parents adopt unique strategies to balance being firm and supportive. In authoritative parenting, the parent discusses expectations and rules as a family. The parent sets clear disciplinary rules and discusses the reasons behind them with the children. Unlike the authoritarian parenting style, where corporal punishment is the norm, authoritative parenting embraces communication pegged on the child’s level of understanding. Communication helps children to understand that even though their input is appreciated the parent is still in charge. Children are allowed to give opinions on resolving certain issues in the family. In the authoritative style, the parents are nurturing and understanding and never subject children to corporal punishment (Banerjee & Halder, 2020). Discipline is utilized as a means of coaching and guiding the young ones while exploiting natural and logical consequences.

The interviewee was, however, quick to point out that the social setting played a huge role in determining the parenting style to apply. Since she is a single mother, she adopted a style that works best for her and her daughters. She pointed out that the failure to employ tough discipline contradicts traditions, culture and beliefs. In Pakistan, parents use corporal punishment to discipline their children. However, this strategy does not work but leaves children fearful and anxious. She clarified that talking to children makes them good communicators and increases their ability to resolve issues. It also supports the development of self-regulation skills in children. The authoritative style also reduces the chances of a child engaging in physical confrontations.

This parenting style is effective in immigrant populations. It helps children easily transition to new cultures and overcome challenges such as discrimination associated with immigration (Reitz, 2012). The parent acts as the children’s pillar while navigating cultural and social differences.

Parent-child interaction

Interactions between parents and children promoted social skills such as respect, cooperation, and respect. Janmohamed and Campbell (2009) noted that secure parent-child attachment promotes a child’s emotional, cognitive and social development. Children demonstrate positive social behaviors and learn to interact with others by emulating their parents. Positive parent-child interactions are essential for establishing secure relationships and friendships with peers. Importantly, children can regulate emotions when faced with challenging issues.

Parent-child interactions are influenced by a variety of factors including culture, parental knowledge of child development, time availability, economic burdens, the community, social support from the family, and geographic location. In most cultures, women develop positive interactions with children earlier since they mostly stay at home raising their young ones. Anne-Marie (2011) noted that in traditional Canadian culture, women performed most domestic activities including rearing children and cooking food, while men provided for the family. Tyyskä (2010) pointed out that most immigrant families demonstrate similar family trends. However, social and economic changes have transformed family roles with women becoming more economically empowered. Children are taken to school at a tender age thus minimizing their interactions with parents.

In the interview, the responses demonstrate positive parent-children interactions. The parent, however, noted that the interactions would have been different had the children been brought up in their original country. The positive interactions have contributed to the tidiness and respect demonstrated by the children. They are also able to maintain calm during stressful situations.

Parents values and expectations of their children

Parent’s expectations of their children are almost similar across cultures and geographical settings. These expectations are not influenced by culture or the disciplinary method employed by the parent. Notably, parents employ child-rearing styles that align with their values and expectations of the children. Parents generally expect their children to develop positive behaviors, interact well with people, practice independence and have a good life. Parents also expect children to settle at a decent marriageable age and manage their finances. Therefore, parents invest their time and resources in bringing up their children. Parents anticipate that the love, kindness, discipline, resources and patience invested in child-rearing will yield good results in prosperity, good behavior, and emotional stability in their children. Other expectations include the ability to adapt to the current environment, respect other members of the community, embrace personal hygiene practices and develop positive communication styles.

Conclusion

Child-rearing is a complex process of bringing up children per the standards set by family, culture and society. Parents employ parenting styles that fit the values and expectations of their children. These expectations include developing good communication skills, positive social interactions, emotional stability, and respect. The authoritative parenting style is common among modern families. This parenting style involves positive communication with children per their emotional and intelligence levels. In an authoritative style, the parent sets rules and explains the reasoning behind them to the children. This parenting style promotes reasoning capacity, cognitive development, and emotional intelligence in children.