CHAPTER 1 PARENTING IS A PROCESS

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CHAPTER 1PARENTING IS A PROCESS

• Pages 1-13, 22-27

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Parenting is a Process

• What is a Parent?
• A parent is an individual who fosters all areas
  of a childs growth
• Nourishes
• Protects
• Guides
• Societys expectations of parents and of itself
• Box 1-1, p. 4

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Parenting is a Process

• Why do People Take on the Job?
• Preprogrammed to respond positively to babies
• Society strongly encourages it
• Reasons reported by people
• Table 1-1, p. 6
• Study from the 1960s report that there are more
  joys than problems
• In the 1990s, informal poll reports that most
  parents would not do it over

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Parenting is a Process

• Reasons for not having children
• Restrictions
• Loss of freedom and time for other activities
• Negative feelings in relation to children
• Concerns about health of child
• Discipline difficulties
• Disappointment in child or self
• Concerns about child being poorly cared for

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Parenting is a Process

• Parenting is a series of actions and interactions
  on the part of the parent(s) to promote the
  development of the child
• Jay Belskys 3 influences
• 1. Childs characteristics
• 2. Parents personal history and psychological
  resources
• 3. Social context of stresses and supports

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Role of the Child

• Childs needs
• Survival needs
• Person has an irrational attachment to child
  over time
• Regular interactions over long period of time
• Childs characteristics influence interaction
• Goodness of fit
• Match between childs qualities and parents and
  societys expectations

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Role of the Child

• Childrens importance to parents
• Love and emotional closeness
• Opportunity for personal growth
• Childrens importance to society
• Insure that society will continue
• Traditions will continue
• Economic growth will be sustained
• Support for elderly members of society

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Role of Parents

• Nurture and protect children so that they grow
  into competent adults
• Box 1-1, p.4
• Parents bring to the situation
• Personal characteristics
• Human capital
• Skills, abilities, knowledge
• Financial capital
• Social capital
• Quality of relationship in and out of home

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Role of Society

• Society provides a set of beliefs about
• Roles of the parent
• Roles of child
• Roles of the extended family members and the
  community
• Goals of parenting
• Approved methods of discipline
• Cultural groups have varying beliefs about the
  above topics

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Legal Definitions and Enforcement of Roles

• Defining roles defined in terms of
  relationships
• What constitutes the parent?
• Box 1-2, p.11
• Basic requirements of parenting and penalties for
  failure
• Immunization before age of 5
• Education between the ages of 5 and 18
• Raise law-abiding children
• Defines childrens role
• Expected to follow parents rules and requests
• More freedom for teens for some medical
  procedures p.10
• Removed some protection Example p. 11

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Cultural Expectations of Parents and Childrens
Roles

• Middle class roles are portrayed in print and
  media
• Do not reflect all views
• Currently society has demanding roles of both
  parents
• Childrens role is now
• Learner
• Consumers of material goods and entertainment

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Providing a Protective Social Environment p.22

• Conclusions of Rochester Longitudinal Study
• Protective and Risk factors listed on p. 23
• 1.No one particular risk factor led to a poor
  outcome
• 2.Accumulation of risk factors led to poor
  outcome
• 3.Continuation across childhood
• 4.Power of disadvantaged environment
• 5.Combination of several factors have the
  negative effect

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Role of SocietyProtective factors

• In environment
• Fewer negative events
• Social support for families

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Providing ExperiencesMaximal Growth and Potential

• Many studies indicate positive parenting helps
  children reach maximum potential
• Animal studies with reactive rats and monkeys
• Kagans research with reactive infants
• Skilled parenting and intellectual development
• Swedish study on social development criminality

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Parents as Advocates

• Indirect influence by gathering resources and
  helping children use them
• Parents with children with delays and
  disabilities
• Changing societys view
• Promoting changes in education and accomadations
• Positive self-fulfilling prophecy

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Parents as Advocates

• Extra effort and commitment to help children to
  outstanding achievement
• Individual commitment
• Family support
• Outstanding instruction

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Indispensable Caring Figures

• There really is no substitute for a caring adult
  figure in a childs life, be it a parent, a
  relative, or a friend. p. 26
• Example from New Jersey, p. 26
• With social support, stress levels can be
  manageable