Summary:
In Chapter 12 we learned about:
- Majority of parents are emotionally and financially invested in the planning of having a child.
- As couples transform into the role of parents, they help each other learn:
• Roles of parenting
• What defines a good parent
• Sharing the responsibility of their child
- Parenting is not a natural instinct; it comes through trial and error
- Some role expectations of parenting include:
• Role conflict and role strain
• Unrealistic role expectations
• Decreased authority
• Increased responsibility
• High parenting standards
- Mothering comes naturally is a myth that creates 3 problems:
• It implies that a perfect mother has good parenting skills when she follows her instincts
• Implies that she is a bad mother if she does not devote 100% of her time raising children
• Intimidates the father and other adults to have bonding time with the child
- 3 types of fathers through a sociologist point of view:
• Breadwinner father
- Is the one who makes the most earnings for the family even if their wife is working outside of the home. He prefers a wife to do the domestic tasks and take care of their child
• Autonomous father
- Prefers to do other things rather than family commitments. Distances himself from his ex-wife and child after a divorce.
• Involved father
- Participates greatly in raising their child. They do not always share equal tasks in raising the child but they do try to have satisfying relationships with their wife and child.
- 3 Theories on child development:
• George Herbert Mead:
- His focus was based on social interaction as the primary subject to human development
• Jean Piaget
- He focused on child brain development.
- Examples of Jean Piaget theory are:
• Ability to think
• Reason
• Analyze
• Apply Information
• Erik Erikson
- He focused on combined elements of psychology and sociology perspectives to create a theory that encloses adulthood as well as childhood.
• On page 324, table 12.1 shows good examples of some theories of development and socialization
- 2 major factors in raising a child are:
• Spending time with your child
• Monitoring their activity
- 3 types of socioeconomic statues that is measured by social scientists are:
• Low-SES Families
• Middle-SES Families
• High-SES Families
- During the first year of an infants (from birth to approximately 18 months) arrival they require continuous care such as:
• Need to be talked to
• Listened to
• Cuddled
• Fed
• Cleaned
• Carried
• Rocked
• Burped
• Soothed
• Put to sleep
• Taken to the doctor
- Adolescence is considered to be a healthy process in human development.
- Adolescence is where a teenager is finding out who they are, and testing their independence.
- Different styles of parenting are:
• Authoritarian parenting
- Parenting style that is considered to be very demanding, rigid, and revengeful
- Parents are demanding
• Permissive parenting
- Is when the parents are usually warm, responsive, and undemanding
• Uninvolved parenting
- Are parents who are not supportive, and they are not demanding because they are not partaking in raising their child
- The 2 types of discipline are:
• Verbal punishment
• Corporal punishment
Interests/ Unusual Items Learned:
Considering that I am not a parent I found chapter 12 to be informative on what to aspect as a first time parent. This chapter also showed me how current social issues might affect a child.
Discussion:
The topic that I would like to discuss is regarding parent tracking of their teens. From the article on page 334, it appears that the teens’ points of view on this topic is mixed. Some teens find parent tracking to be intrusive which is understandable because according to the book, adolescents is a time where they test their independence, and in my personal opinion, a teenager cannot really have independence if they are being watched constantly. However, some teenagers do not mind the tracking method because they feel it’s less of a responsibility of checking in with their parents.
What are your thoughts on this subject? My feelings are mixed as well. I am not a parent, but I in a sense have a form of anxiety on having children. There is just a lot of responsibility and concerns in bringing a child into this world. If I could monitor my child with these tracking devices, then that probably would put me at ease with my worries. However, I would want my child to have a sense of freedom, and I would want to have a trusting relationship with them, and with these tracking devices I feel that they would interfere in freedom, and trust.
Natalie Sebula
I have a mother exactly like this. My mom has depression and anxiety disorder so needless to say she worries a lot. When I started to want to go out with my friends without parents it was a huge ordeal. Then she bought me a cell phone which was awesome, but then called me every hour on the hour. I think it depends on how the parents go about tracking their children because they can probably make their children so mad that they actually cause rebellious behavior or just make it so that they have a peace of mind.
ReplyDeletegood point Brianna!
ReplyDeleteMy parents are very lenient with what I do and where I go. I'm a commuter and when I have night classes, I have to wait on Liberty Avenue at 9:00 at night waiting for my bus to come (you can meet some very interesting people!) However, I ALWAYS have to call them when I am at the stop until my bus comes after I was approached once by someone when I was alone. This way, they know I am safe. Contrarily, my friend's parents didn't let her walk through her Wexford suburban neighborhood after dark. She sneaks out, drinks, and is always looking for a new opportunity to rebel. I think that if the parents place the responsibility on the child to stay in contact when they are alone or in potentially dangerous situations that it teaches the child to be smart about what they do, responsible, and comfortable with the parents knowing where they are. This stills offers the comfort of safety for the parents and the child both, while allowing the child freedom. At least for me, I think it a happy medium.
ReplyDeleteBonnie~ thats an excellent point of view as well. If I ever have kids I will have to take your advice on trusting them, and placing the responsibility to keep in contact!
ReplyDeleteI think a parent should give a child freedom and also give them rules. Enforcing those rules when a child takes their freedom too far is up to the parents. The more the child abuses the freedom the more they should have their privileges taken away. I think there needs to be a balance.
ReplyDeleteOne example that comes to mind is sometimes you see this happen with young girls and teen pregnancy. Instead of the parents allowing their daughters to maintain healthy relationships with boys (as friends or more) and educating them on how to be safe when in a relationship with a male, they forbid their daughters to date and seclude them. As a result, the girl goes out meets a boy completely unaware of how she should behave and ends up rebelling against her parents with a relationship or more extremely having a child.
Usually parents who are extremely strict keep their children in the house, don't allow them to interact within society see their children go out in society once they're a young adult and make the ultimate mistake doing the exact opposite of what their parents said. There's a relationship that has to be maintained between a parent and a child. We all make mistakes but as long as the parent and child are on good terms with one another giving and taking within the relationship, rebelling and making extreme actions is less likely to happen. And when things do happen the child is more likely to seek help. I feel as though children that are hounded by their parents go out and act crazy, not all but most, because they want to experience their freedom to the fullest. The harder a parent holds a child back the more rebellious they're likely to be once they are let go.