Parenting Practices Over Generations
Rey writer
parenting_practices_over_generations.doc1
Running head: PARENTING PRACTICES OVER GENERATIONS
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PARENTING PRACTICES OVER GENERATIONS
PARENTING PRACTICES OVER GENERATIONS
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Parenting, governing nations and psychoanalysis are the three impossible professions this is according to Sigmund Freud (Wise, S. 2001). Yet parents continue to struggle find the best ways that they can be able to raise their children in a manner that will make them to be able to cope up with the futures life’s demands. This is why parenting practices seems to change over time due to the changing circumstances that each generation finds itself in. This paper will take a look at parenting practices of three generations of a family that I interviewed in order to understand the similarities and differences in parenting practices between the three generations the cohort effects that might have influenced the parenting practice of each generation as well as the contextual factors that might have also influenced the parental practices.
The table below provides a comparison of parental practices of three generations that were asked on the perceptions of their parents towards education, extracurricular activities, House chores as well as religious involvements. Their responses were given numerical representations with one representing weak support for the practice and three representing strong support.
|
|
Generation I 1940s (Male) |
Generation II 1970s (Male) |
Generation III 2000 (Female) |
|
Education |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Extracurricular activities |
3 |
3 |
2 |
|
House Chores |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
Religious Involvement |
3 |
2 |
1 |
According to the data gathered, the parents of generation did not have very high education expectations of their son and though they hoped he would go to college, it was not something that was really being viewed as being of high importance. Extracurricular activities for this generation was going out to play with other children in the neighborhood and in this the parents seemed to have had very strong expectations to the extent of sometimes chasing the children from the house to go and play. House chores which includes children spreading the bed and shoveling ice from the drive way was also considered highly. Lastly the children were always expected to attend mass without fail.
Generation twos parents on the other hand had moderate expectations in their child educational achievements sometimes checking on homework and expecting the child to attend college. Extracurricular activities were also greatly emphasized on with the parents encouraging the child to take up a sport in school while house chores for example setting the table were also highly valued. Though generation two was expected to attend mass, it was no longer compulsory.
Generation three on the other hand explained that her parents have very high expectations on her education and feels that university education is compulsory. The parents are also quite involved in her school work and they always check on her homework. On the other hand extracurricular activities are also encouraged but within certain areas for example school or in the house which means hanging out in the neighborhood is out of the question. House chores like setting the table and spreading her bed are also expected of her while there is very little insistence on her religious involvement apart from the occasional religious festivals like Christmas.
Similarities in parental practices involves paying more attention to factors that parents feel are more vital for the future success of their children for example an increased shift towards favoring education over other practices.
Cohort effect is described as being the particular impact of a group bonded by time or life experience (Kothchick, B. 2002). In this case it would refer the impacts of parents on generations. The times and experiences that individuals grow in tends to shape the kind of parents that they become. For example, the parents of generation one experienced the great depression and the war making them value self reliance in being able to work for oneself and turned more towards religion. Generation one also lived during WWII briefly experiencing the rationing of war thus laying emphasis on physical fitness on their children. Generation two began experiencing rapid technological advancement and job cuts shifting their goals toward education of their children.
Contextual factors that might have influenced parenting practices among the three generations include ethnicity, in that the family studied are Irish descendants which goes to explain the religious nature especially of the parents of the first two generations who were closer to their Irish roots, and community which explains the shift from having children have more freedom outside with less freedom in the house to more freedom in the house to less freedom outside as generations progressed (Vugt, M. 2013).
Individuals are more or less products of a society and as such one can only understand the parenting practices of a generation by looking at the times they grew up in as well as the context of the times they grew up in and when they are parents. For example generations that were parents in the forties and fifties were affected by the two wars and the depression while neighborhoods were safe. The enemy was in a foreign land compared to today’s parents who has to raise children in an environment where the enemy is within these being criminals, drugs and even pandemics like HIV that greatly affects parents perceptions.
References
Kothchick, B. (2002). Putting Parenting in Perspective: A Discussion of the Contextual Factors That Shape Parenting Practices. Journal of Child & Family Studies. Vol. 11. Retrieved from http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/7554170/putting-parenting- perspective- discussion-contextual-factors-that-shape-parenting-practices
Wise, S. (2001). Children & Parenting: The past one hundred years. Australian Institute of family studies. Retrieved from http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2001/fm60/as.pdf
Vugt, M. (2013). 5 Best stone age parenting practices. Psychology today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/naturally-selected/201303/5-best-stone-age- parenting- practices
