There seem to be three main ways in which parents and families may affect
the development of babies and young children. These include direct interaction,
identification, and transmission of family stories (Kagan, 1999). Principal tasks of
the early childhood years, including attaining self-efficacy, self-control, social
integration, and preparedness for education, require the development of adaptive
and competent emotional development (Stack, 2010). Several studies have
identified the importance of parenting style on the development of well-adjusted
and functional children across generations. Furthermore, a poor parenting behavior
was also associated with problematic offspring, including in to later life.
Nevertheless, despite the critical role of emotional competence on lifelong
development, little longitudinal research has assessed its effect on children's
cognitive, social, behavioral, and academic competence over time, or how parenting
affects the emotional functioning and later developmental outcomes in subsequent
generations (Stack, 2010).
During the early 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study on
more than 100 preschool-age children (Baumrind, 1967). This study helped to
identify the four main parenting styles used by parents across the world. These
styles include authoritarian parenting, where children are expected to follow the
rules as set by the parents. This style of parenting may be quite familiar to some, as
the parents do not explain the reasons the parents have set the rules and limits they
have. According to Baumrind, these parents "are obedience- and status-oriented,
and expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation" (1991).
The second style is the authoritative parenting example. Similar to the
authoritarian style, this type sets standards that children are expected to follow and
meet; however, these parents provide a more democratic scenario and even allow
questions to be asked. Baumrind suggests that these parents "monitor and impart
clear standards for their children’s conduct. They are assertive, but not intrusive
and restrictive. Their disciplinary methods are supportive, rather than punitive.
They want their children to be assertive as well as socially responsible, and selfregulated as well as cooperative" (1991).
The third style is permissive parenting, where the parents are much less
demanding of their children and generally have very low expectations. According to
Baumrind, permissive parents "are more responsive than they are demanding. They
are nontraditional and lenient, do not require mature behavior, allow considerable
self-regulation, and avoid confrontation" (1991). In this type, parents often try to be
more of their children’s friends than a rule-maker.
The last style of parenting is identified as uninvolved parenting. This is the
type of parenting that is the least involved with he upbringing of the children. The
worst-case scenario is when parents tend to reject or even neglect the things the
children need. There is little to no communication or guidance, and involvement
with heir kids.
Considering the four styles outlined here, I clearly feel that authoritative
parenting is the most effective style. In this situation, the children get guidance and
attention, but are also given a say in how and why rules are made. Children in this
type of household are given expectations, but are also encouraged to learn from
them.
There are also different styles for rearing babies. A study performed by Jean
and colleagues highlighted the importance of touching in the development of
socially functional and effective children. During mother-infant interactions, touch
has been shown to be an influential channel of communication for the mother-infant
dyad, occurring 55% and 81% of the time during face-to-face interactions. Its
presence impacts the quality of dyadic interactions and infants’ behavior by, for
example, reducing infant stress and increasing positive affect (Jean, 2009). In
addition, it was found that what is even more critical than the absence or presence
of touch the infant receives, is the quality of the touch overall. Furthermore, mothers
were found to adapt the quality of their touch depending on the increasing abilities
of their child.
For example, as children got older, a decrease in the duration of nurturing
touch, such as stroking and patting was observed. Moms may have lessened the
amount of stroking their babies when the babies began to exhibit more regulatory
abilities. It was also found that moms used less and less holding and touching as the
children got older, to be replaced with more verbal communication, such as cooing.
This was also associated with the appearance of the social smile.
Early childhood education and its influence on cognitive development is a
complicated and quite varied topic, but there are certainly excellent resources on
the subject. Nevertheless, many experts agree that early childhood education sets up
a mutually beneficial relationship between student and teacher that mainly has a
positive benefit for the child. As teachers and parents know, preschool children
engage in a lot of pretend play, at least in middle-class modern societies. Yet even
though play often has a distinctly social flavor, it seems to build distinctly cognitive
skills, and may thus constitute a bridge between the social world and the more
individualistic world of cognitive skills (Lillard, 2002; Saracho & Spodek, 2003;
Sutton-Smith, 1997). Although the child is pretending, they still need to use their
brains to fill in the missing pieces, as in when the child plays telephone by holding
their hand up to their ear. The child will need to learn to use their imagination, as
well as the difference between real and imaginary when it comes to the every day
life of the real world. Early childhood education allows the children to develop the
skills to fill in the gaps so that they wil function properly in an adult society in the
future.
References
Baumrind, D. (1967). Child-care practices anteceding three patterns of
preschool behavior. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75, 43-88.
Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent
competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56-95.
Jean, A. (2009) A longitudinal investigation of maternal touching across the
first 6 months of life: age and context effects. Infant Behav Dev. 2009 Jun;32(3):3449. Epub 2009 May 23.
Kagan, J. (1999) The Role of Parents in Children's Psychological
Development. Pediatrics. Vol. 104 No. 1 Supplement July 1999, pp. 164-167
Lillard, A. (2002). Pretend play and cognitive development. In Goswami, U.
(Ed.), Blackwell Handbook of childhood cognitive development, 188-205. Oxford, UK:
Blackwell.
Saracho, O. & Spodek, B. (Eds.). (2003). Contemporary perspectives on in early
childhood education. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishers.
Stack, D., et. Al. (2010) Parental Effects on Children's Emotional Development
Over Time and Across Generations. Infants & Young Children:
January/March 2010 - Volume 23 - Issue 1 - p 52–69
Sutton, Smith, B. (1997). The ambiguity of play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.