My Summary:
The chapter starts by saying that for most people parenting is not an innate instinct, but with time and trial and error. This is when the chapter goes on to say that infants play an active role in their own development. There are several major theories that are applied to child development and socialization. There is Mead’s theory of the social self, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, and Erikson’s theory of psychosocial theory of development over the life course. Parents feel they experience a lot of complications while raising their children, but this is due to unrealistic expectations and believing in common myths about raising children. After explaining what people believe the complications of parenting are the chapter goes on to talk about the four different parenting styles. The different styles are authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, and uninvolved. These styles can be differentiated due to racial and ethnic groups and social classes.
There are many beliefs among how punishment should be handling with children. Most people feel that physical punishment is necessary, but many scientists argue there are more effective disciplinary methods than spanking, slapping, or verbal putdowns. There is also the point that parenting is the lifelong commitment that does not have an ending time period. This is why it is acceptable for adult children to live in their parents’ home longer for economic reasons.
LGBTQ parenting is similar to heterosexual parenting. The greatest influence on a child is their parents. Parenting can be stressful at times. The father not being involved, young children are latchkey kids, and if childcare are expensive or otherwise inaccessible.
A child’s well-being is always a contemporary issue to which there are negative and positive impacts. Some examples of this are electronic media, bullying and cyber bullying, and high child poverty rates. This is why there are many options for children who are not in a safe environment to be taken out of their bad environment and be put into a better one. This is why there are such things created such as foster homes. Many foster homes are beneficial, but create more problems than they solve.
My Opinions/Questions:
The point that I found to be very interesting was the topic of foster homes. I know it was originally meant to be a temporary solution, but now I feel like it is becoming more of a temporary solution. The reason I think this is because my cousin is not able to have children and cannot afford to adopt a child. So her solution to her problem was to enter the foster care program. The first time she got an infant at four in the morning and had her for a total of 24 hours and the child was given to a biological relative. This hurt my cousin because she was so attached to the child already. Then she got two kids and she had them for several months, but then they also suddenly were taken away because of a mysterious biological relative showing up out of the blue. My cousin was devastated and decided to pull out of the foster care program. I guess my questions about the foster care program are should they have the right to take the child out of the home at any time just because someone who is biologically related shows up out of nowhere? Also should people who have no children a and using this as a substitution for adoption use this program or should they be cautioned of the emotional and mental stress that will come with this process?
I do not think foster children should be taken out of the home due to a biological relative showing up when the adoption process has been finalized.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is that when people are adopting they should be informed about the emotional and mental stress that can take place while trying to adopt a foster child.
The system needs to be cleaned up, and some new laws should be passed. For instance one change could be if an adoption is already finalized with a foster child, the child should not be removed from one’s home unless the child is some how endangered. The child has formed a bond with the prospective adoptee. This could be psychologically damaging.
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ReplyDeleteI don't believe foster kids should be taken out if someone randomly shows up. I feel as though that person should have showed up at the beginning of the child's life when decisions were being made. It also provides an unstable environment for the child to immediately switch them from one environment to another. I think the family member should be able to keep in contact with the child and build a relationship with the child. I think it can be beneficial for someone who has no kids, but they should be aware of the dynamics of being a foster parent and what they're getting into.
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