Parenting Responsibilities
Dec 29, 2015
Parenting Responsibilities
Parenting: A Learning Process
Parenting: caring for children and helping them grow and develop
Parents Should◦ Have reasonable expectations◦ Develop parenting skills
The Stages of Parenthood◦ Image making (pregnancy)◦ Nurturing (Becoming attached Birth-2)◦ Authority (Determine rules 2-5)◦ Interpretive (Deciding on values 5-13)◦ Interdependent (Adolescence; establish
boundaries)◦ Departure (Child leaves home, empty feeling)
The Changes that Parenthood Brings
New responsibilities and role conflictChanges in lifestyle (sometimes
suddenly)Emotional adjustments (stop being
selfish)Changes in relationshipsEmploymentIrreversibility
Making Decisions About Parenthood
Emotional MaturityDesire for parenthood
◦A child cannot create miracles; saving of marriage, low self-esteem, attention issues, etc.
Health ConsiderationsFinancial Concerns (can you afford
a child)
Simple Truths“To Love a Child is Spelled T-I-M-E
”
MOTHERHOOD
Intensive Mothering Ideology
What mothers ought to provide:
Full-time attentionSelf-sacrificing
devotionExpert guidedLabor-intensive
involvement with the child
Child’s needs are more pressing than those of mothers
WHAT MOTHER COULD LIVE UP TO THIS EVEN IF SHE STAYED AT HOME.
WHAT IF SHE WORKED?
FATHERHOOD
Anxiety about abilities, baby, money.
Witnessing birth is a positive bonding experience with child.
“Nurturing father” is able to participate in all parenting practices – child benefits.
Fatherhood is changing fast.
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A FATHER
Some Facts:½ of all children will
spend part of their childhood in a father absent home.
32% of all children are born to unmarried women. Among African American it is 68%.
Children raised in two-parent families rarely experience poverty.
Data has linked growing up without a father to: ◦ Under achievement in school◦ Mental illness◦ Drug abuse◦ Youth suicide◦ Delinquency◦ Crime