Chapter Twelve Raising Children: Promises and Pitfalls.

Chapter TwelveRaising Children:

Promises and Pitfalls

ContemporaryParenting Roles

Parenting is a two-way street. As our children are learning, so are we.

Do you agree with this statement? “Parenting does not come naturally and is neither innate or instinctive”

Harry Harlow

Rewards and Difficultiesof Parenting

• Parenting can be rewarding but stressful.• Social theorists cite role conflict - when two

or more roles contradict • and role strain - conflicts that someone

feels within one role

Decreased Authority• Do Parents have less authority today

than in the past? Why?

• Do parents have increased responsibility?

Motherhood• About 70% of Americans say that mothers

today have a more difficult parenting job than did mothers 20 or 30 years ago.

• Almost 66% of children under age 18 live with two employed parents. • mothers continue to do most of the child

rearing and household duties.

Motherhood• Generally, the greater the father’s

participation in child rearing, the greater the mother’s satisfaction with her life.

Fatherhood: Ideal versus Realistic Roles

Fathers also experience role conflict and role strain…they may have little opportunity to learn parenting skills.

Sociologist Kathleen Gerson suggests there are three types of fathers.

–Breadwinner fathers - see themselves as primary earners, even if their wives work outside the home.

• See wife’s tasks the of raising the children and the household duties.

Fatherhood: Ideal versus Realistic Roles

Fatherhood: Ideal versus Realistic Roles

– Autonomous fathers—seek freedom from family commitments and distance themselves from both their former spouse and their children.

Fatherhood: Ideal versus Realistic Roles

– Involved fathers - extensive participation in the daily tasks of raising the children. • Try for equality in parenting.

Child development theoriesMead’s Theory of the Social Self

George Herbert Mead was a symbolic interactionist. He saw the self as the basis of humanity that develops not out of biological urges but from social interaction.

Piaget’s Cognitive Theory

Jean Piaget was interested in the growing child’s efforts to understand his or her own world. He proposed four major developmental stages that children go through in their quest to understand the world and to become older thinkers.

Some Theories of Child Development

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory Erik Erikson is one of the few theorists whose

explanation of human development encompassed the entire lifetime.

According to Erikson, there are 8 stages of development and in each stage is a challenge to development.

Some Theories of Child Development

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Typical Age Range

Description of Stage

Developmental Phenomena

Birth to nearly 2 years SensorimotorExperiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing)

•Object permanence•Stranger anxiety

About 2 to 6 years

About 7 to 11 years

About 12 through adulthood

PreoperationalRepresenting things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning

•Symbolic Thought•Pretend play•Egocentrism•Language development

Concrete operationalThinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations

•Conservation •Mathematical transformations

Formal operationalAbstract reasoning

•Abstract logic•Potential for moral reasoning

Parenting• What type of parenting did you

experience?• How were you encouraged to learn

certain behaviors/skills?• How were you taught responsibility?• How were you disciplined?• What would you repeat with your kids?• What would you not repeat?

DisciplineDiscipline means “to teach.” Sometimes

as parents we use verbal teaching skills or even corporal punishment, but deciding which is most effective for each child can be difficult.

Parenting StylesImportant Dimensions

– Parental Responsiveness– Parental Control

Styles (Diana Baumrind)1.Authoritarian (Too Hard)

2.Permissive (Too Soft)1. Indulgent

2. Indifferent

3.Authoritative (Just Right)

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

AuthoritarianParents are restrictive and punitive. Children tend to be socially incompetent, anxious, and exhibit poor

communication skills.

IndulgentParents are highly

involved but set few restrictions. Children have

poor self-control.

NeglectfulParents are uninvolved. Children have poor self-

control, don’t handle independence well, and low

achievement motivation.

AuthoritativeParents are nurturing and supportive, yet set limits. Children are self-reliant, get along with peers, and have

high self-esteem.

Parenting VariationsParenting varies based on socioeconomic class

and race in the United States.In 2005, only 26% of Latino children ages 3-5

were read to daily, compared to 44% of white, black, and Asian children. Reading is an important task for parents because it helps ready the child for school.

There are also variations in outings with parents across race.

Parenting and Social Class

• There are many variations in parenting approaches across social classes in America. • socioeconomic status (SES)

The Empty Nest Syndrome?Why are young adult children moving back

into the “empty nest”? These are boomerang children. For most, this is a temporary fix for their

problems until the children are financially able to care for themselves again.