Research and Writing

Running head: RESEARCH AND WRITING ON PARENTING STARTING DRAFT 1

RESEARCH AND WRITING ON PARENTING STARTING DRAFT 3

Research and writing on Parenting Starting Draft

Tyvesia Shingles

Professor Clark

November 5, 2018

Research and writing on Parenting Starting Draft

Introduction

Parenting is one of the important practices that adults can do to contribute to society positively. It entails the act of supporting and promoting the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development of a child from childhood to adulthood. For one to parent; one does not need to be a biological parent of a child, but as long as one is an adult, he/she has the duty of executing parenting tasks to the child. However, some individuals feel that parenting should only be done by the biological parents or guardians directly taking care of children. My position about parenting is that it is a great practice that all adults should learn and apply in all children that they come across. This is the only way that the society can bring up reliable and responsible children to adulthood, and they would also take care of the children during their time. Again, there are different types of parenting which include; authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful. This parenting essay shall focus on elaborating what parenting entails and the appropriate parenting style that can help parents to play their roles effectively.

Discussion

Understanding parenting

Parenting according to Shah, & De Sousa, (2015); is also known as child rearing and it is the process of supporting and promoting the social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development of the child from infancy to adulthood. This means that parenting is a long-term role that parents have to diligently execute to bring up mature, responsible, and disciplined children. Further, Shah, & De Sousa, (2015) claims that parenting roles are not only meant to be played by a child’s biological parents. They are roles that should be learned and practiced by all people who have attained the legal age, as they should all positively support growing children so that they can attain the maturity age successfully. Moreover, children also tend to learn from members of society which mean they make an impact in the lives of children. Additionally, some children do not have the joy of having their parents due to diverse reasons, and hence it is up to the extended family and voluntary guardians to play the parenting as a biological parent would.

Parenting roles and their importance

Children are vulnerable beings, and they need care and protection for them to grow up healthy and enlightened. It is also crucial to note that parenting roles start during inception as the two parents need to take care of the fetus until it is born. When a child is born, he/she is not aware of anything, and this is the time proactive parenting roles commences (Rezai Niaraki, & Rahimi, 2013). It is the role of the parent to feed the child, make sure that the child gets the right medical attention, train the child, and provide shelter for the child. It is also a parenting role provide the children with clothes and protect them from any harm that may negatively impact their emotional, psychological, and physical health.

In the cases where good parenting has not been applied, negative consequences have been experienced for instance children being molested, raped, and even killed. In the instances where child negligence is experienced as a result of bad parenting, the child is forced to make wrong decisions in life for instance joining immoral gangs or even becoming street children. The sad reality is that when bad parenting is applied, the entire society is affected (Carrillo et al., 2016). The reason is that the parent or foster parenting must advise the child when growing up so that the child can differentiate between the good and the bad. Failure to the let the child know the things to do and those to avoid as well as the right time and way to handle different issues; the child would end up doing things in a manner that he/she would think whether good or bad (Rezai Niaraki, & Rahimi, 2013). The society would suffer because when a child is not properly advised, he/she will engage in activities that will affect the society, for instance, stealing or even prostituting. The latter is in the sense that when a child becomes desperate, it becomes hard to remain in control of their mental and emotional stability.

Societal parenting role

The child is said not to belong to a specific person simply because of the natural right but also to the society as well. The reason is that apart from home activities, all other activities all done in the social domain. This means that the society occupies an important part of a child's life. According to Serbin et al., (2014); members of the community have a responsibility in taking part in parenting tasks. The reason is that when a child is growing up, he/she also looks up to other community members to learn from them and emulate as a result (Carbines, Dickinson, & McKenzie-Green, 2017). This means that even if members of the community do not directly provide basic needs and luxuries to the children, they have to provide a good example that the child and learn and emulate and grow to become a better person in the future.

By having a good example, parenting efforts made by parents and guardians become more effective because there is no point of contradiction. The society has the potential to compromise good parenting that the biological or foster parents have played in the past. The reason is that most of the time the child is with the society in school, church, and social events and due to the curious nature of children, the child is likely to get influenced (Bartholomeu et al., 2016). Also, society has the potential to rectify a child who has undergone a bad or no parenting at all. This means that society should act in a manner that aligns with good parenting.

Parenting styles and how they impact a child

According to Sinno, Schuette, & Hellriegel, (2017); parenting style determines the quality of a parent that an adult is. When a parent is too strict and dictates to the child, the style of parenting makes the child develop a negative attitude. Moreover, children are also human, and they appreciate being heard, when dictatorship type of parenting is applied, it causes more harm to the child than good (Carbines, Dickinson, & McKenzie-Green, 2017). It is even more hazardous when the parent adopts and uses the ignorant style of parenting because the child is left to do what he/she desired to lead to irresponsible decisions. Permissive style though it allows communication to take place but also denies the parent the chance to apply balanced power (Bartholomeu et al., 2016). This is also not a very good parenting style because children can only be shaped through the parent's power over their child being felt in the right way. Listening to the children without making the right move might not have any impact, and the child might never learn.

However, the authoritative style of parent is the best that parents should learn and apply (Rezai Niaraki, & Rahimi, 2013). The reason is that it allows open communication to take place and expectations are set to clear which the children are aware and informed on how to achieve them. It is also a style that allows punishment to be applied where due and also ample support and encouragement from the parent which children need for stable and reliable growth to be realized (Bartholomeu et al., 2016). Moreover, it is the open communication and application of true parental power that enables the children to learn the vital social skills that further helps in eliminating levels of vulnerability and children learn how to become independent and defend themselves.

Conclusion

Children are born unfamiliar with anything that surrounds a situation that makes them tedious and sensitive. Parenting is the only thing that provides the child with all the necessities that would enable the child to grow and become a responsible member of society. Nevertheless, it all depends on the amount of investment that the parent of the person taking care of the child is willing to invest. Limited or no investment on parenting would affect the child negatively as well as the society, and a good investment leads to a positive impact of the child. Additionally, society has a parenting role to play to make work of biological or foster parents effective in a child.

Sources

Bartholomeu, D., Montiel, J. M., Fiamenghi Jr, G. A., & Machado, A. A. (2016). The predictive power of parenting styles on children's social skills: A Brazilian sample. SAGE Open, 6(2), 2158244016638393.

Carrillo, S., Bermúdez, M., Gutiérrez, L. S., Camila, M., & Delgado, X. (2016). Father's Perceptions of their Role and Involvement in the Family: A Qualitative Study in a Colombian Sample. Revista Costarricense de Psicología, 35(2), 37-54.

Carbines, M., Dickinson, A., & McKenzie-Green, B. (2017). The Parenting Journey: Daily Parental Management in Families with Young Children. Comprehensive child and adolescent nursing, 40(4), 223-239.

Gelber, A. M., & Isen, A. (2011). Children's schooling and parents' investment in children: evidence from the head start impact study (No. w17704). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w17704

Rezai Niaraki, F., & Rahimi, H. (2013). The impact of the authoritative, permissive and authoritarian behavior of parents on self-concept, psychological health, and life quality. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 2(1), pp-78.

Shah, N., & De Sousa, A. (2015). Invest in family. Mens sana monographs, 13(1), 134. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381308/

Sinno, S. M., Schuette, C. T., & Hellriegel, C. (2017). The Impact of Family and Community on Children’s Understanding of Parental Role Negotiation. Journal of Family Issues, 38(4), 435-456.