The Cradles of Child Development

The frame work of child development encompasses:

• Family
• Culture
• Community 

As Teresa M. Mcdevitt and Jeanne Ellis Ormrod wrote, 

"A happy and healthy childhood depends on a loving relationship with families, regular exposure to the traditions of a culture, and participation in a responsive community.”

Family, culture, and the community provide vital foundations for child development.  They show children who they are, how to relate to others, and what they can aspire. 

Family can be defined as two or more people living together and can be related by birth, marriage, adoption, or long-term mutual commitment.  There are many different types of family structures; for instance there are children who live with their mothers and fathers, single parents, step parents, grandparents, adoptive parents, and even foster care.  Family structure refers to the makeup of the family- the people who live with the child at home.  

Here is a link with some information regarding family structures:

Understanding Family Structures and Dynamics by Michael Meyerhoff, EDD http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/parenting/understanding-family-structures-and-dynamics-ga.htm

Family Process:The family process is the frequent interchanges that family members have with one another.  There are strong influences within families.

Ø  Family influence on children:  Parents and other heads of family are powerful agents of socialization. That is by encouraging certain beliefs and behaviors, as well as discouraging others, parents and other heads of family help the children to act and to think in certain ways in which their society considers appropriate and responsible. There are at least three influential practices:

1.      Parenting styles: the distinct approaches to care giving that blend affection with discipline.  Here are a few types of parenting styles:

•  Authoritative: This is characterized by emotional warmth, high expectations and standards for behavior, consistent enforcement of rules, explanations regarding the reasons behind the rules, and the inclusion of children in decision making.  
•  Authoritarian: This parenting style is characterized by strict expectations for behavior and rigid rules that children are expected to obey without question.  
•   Permissive: This style is characterized by emotional warmth but few expectations or standards for children’s behavior. 
• Uninvolved: Parenting style characterized by a lack of emotional support and a lack of standards regarding appropriate behavior. 

2.      Daily activities and preparation for school: encouraging children to participate in everyday routines. Parents and other heads of family informally teach their children essential skills during shared activities

• Guided participation: This is an active engagement in adult activities, typically with considerable direction and structure from an adult; children are given increasing responsibility and independence as they gain experience and proficiency.  

3.   Parents employment: providing children with resources and experiences related to parents’ own employment. 

Ø  Childrens influences on families:  Children are constantly expressing their wants and needs, often quite insistently while they are under parent’s guidance and control.  Through children’s request, demands, and actions, children influence parents, head of family, and siblings

1.      Children’s effects on parents/ head of family:  Children and their parents concurrently affect one another’s behaviors and they create an environment in which they live; this is known as reciprocal influences. 

2.      Siblings response to one another:  Children also impact their siblings.  Siblings have a relationship that is characterized by familiarity and emotion.  As siblings interact with one another, they express emotions.  Siblings serve many purposes for children:

• Presence of brothers and sisters creates the possibility that close sibling relationships will supplement parent-child bonds.
• Older siblings serve as role models, tutors, and playmates.
• Birth order: older siblings have a slight advantage academically; younger siblings show greater skills in interacting with peers.
• Only children: often stereotyped as lonely, spoiled, and egotistical.

 3.   Risk factors in families: the typically “good family” is one that fosters children’s physical, cognitive, and social emotional development.  Sadly, not all families are “good.” 

Child Maltreatment: this is the most serious outcome of an unhealthy family environment.

Click on this link to watch a short video on Child Abuse:
http://youtu.be/P9njhcQUlXc

Children in a diverse society: Due to immigrations patterns over the past centuries, the US has become highly diverse.  Here are some statistics:

-          1 in 5 children live with at least one foreign born parent

-          1 in 5 children speak a language other than English at home

-          1 in 20 have limited mastery of English

-          10 to 15% of English language learners in urban school districts have had interrupted formal schooling

Children experiences in diverse groups

• Ethnicity: membership in a group of people with a common heritage and shared values, beliefs, and behaviors.
• Ethnicity and socialization: families beliefs and practices
• Gender and diversity: Cultures socialize girls and boys differently.  An example would be engaging children (boys or girls) in stereotypical behaviors.  
•   Immigration and social change: When people move from one environment to another, like one state to another or country, cultural and ethnic differences become salient.  When different culture groups live in the same region, they tend to interact with each other and learn about one another.  As they engage and take on the values of the new culture, acculturation occurs.  Here are the four types of acculturation:

1. Assimilation:  when a person totally embraces a culture, abandoning a previous culture in the process.
2. Selective adoption:  When a person assumes some customs of a new culture while also retaining some customs of a previous culture.
3. Rejection:  When a person fails to learn or accept any customs and values from a new cultural environment.
4. Bicultural orientation: When a person is familiar with two cultures and selectively draws from the values and traditions of one or both cultures depending on the content.

Children from minority backgrounds face many challenges.  Some of the challenges include mastering language and learning the physical world, discrimination, racism and segregation.  Its im
portant to develop a strong ethnic identity, which is an awareness of being a member of a particular group and the commitment to adopting certain values and behaviors characteristics of that group. 

Community:

The community offers social and material resources that sustain children and their families.  Children are also influenced greatly by their community’s character and the incomes. The following are some factors that can affect child development. 

•   Type of community: Communities vary in population and geographic features which affect the development of children.
• Family income
• Children living in economic poverty: About 17% of U.S> children live in poverty. These children face various and numerous of problems:

§  Poor nutrition and health care

§  Inadequate housing and material goods

§  Toxic environment

§  Gaps in background knowledge

§  Increased probability of disabling conditions

§  Emotional stress

§  Lower quality schools

§  Public misconceptions