Child Development Research Paper - 275 Words

The Role of Parenting in Childhood Development (Research Paper Sample) Content: Childhood DevelopmentNameInstitutionThe Role of Parenting in Childhood DevelopmentAll children go through a serious of developmental stages (infants, toddlers, preschoolers, middle childhood, young teens, teenagers and adolescents) from infants to adults. The development of such aspects as physical, emotional and social occurs during the developmental stages (McCartney Phillips, 2004). The role of parenting takes the first place in childhood development because parents are those people who should provide support and encouragement. Moreover, they should remain the best teachers throughout life. The primary role of parents is to expose a child to appropriate challenges in order to develop necessary abilities and skills.Lots of parents believe that parenting should go naturally and that parent education programs are unnecessary. These parents often claim that their parents didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬t resort to any parent education and brought up smart children. However, in fact, p arenting is a very complicated process that requires a prior preparation. In other words, successful parenting, perhaps is the most challenging and rewarding task on the planet. Some parents are not able to develop their children into successful adults due to the lack of knowledge or experience. Therefore, all parents should know all aspects of child development in order to better understand all complexities and challenges of parenting and be able to handle with them. In this case, parenting classes or workshops are useful since they can help to receive valuable advices on child development and effective parenting techniques.A few people would start a complicated task without some training or education. For example, similar to parenting, building a house is considered to be a complex task. It requires substantial knowledge. Thus, to start building a house without the necessary knowledge is not a wise idea, as well as to start raising children without learning the essentials of paren ting. Acquiring the necessary knowledge about child development and parenting styles and techniques will increase the chances of successful parenting. According to statistics, the majority of Americans have a low-level knowledge of typical developmental stages. Parents who know the basics of normal child development and understand the fundamental elements of parenting can choose appropriate behavior-modification techniques for particular age groups and apply them in practice. These parents do not make such gross mistakes as the majority of those who have not been educated on parenting because they understood the essential role of parenting in childhood development. For example, experienced parents know that blaming a child for misbehavior cannot help to stop it.PreschoolersA child between 2-5 years is called preschooler (Neaum, 2010). The child involves from an awkward toddler into a curious explorer during preschool years. This developmental stage is also called the Wander Years. E ach child gains new experience at own pace. Some children go ahead in their development, and others may lag behind. Learning what is typical for children of a certain age can help parents to raise their kids successfully and early reveal deviations. Being a parent of a preschooler is both exhausting and exhilarating. All parents feel mixed emotions. Learning effective parenting techniques is an important part of improving parenting skills. The Wander Years is the time when children learn how to control emotions, mind and body and how to engage with the world. Therefore, parents should take into account emotional, cognitive, physical and social aspects of child development in order to lay a fertile foundation for the entire childhood.Parenting StylesAlthough each parent has own parenting techniques, psychologists have distinguished three major parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian and permissive (McCartney Phillips, 2004). Most experts claim that authoritative parenting wo rks best both for children and parents. Collaboration is the basis of this parenting style. Parents negotiate problems with their children and try to find a solution together. In other words, they encourage two-way communication. Authoritative parents raise self-confident children who able to respect others and demonstrate a high level of self-control. Furthermore, kids raised by authoritative parents are less rebellious and more goal-oriented than those raised in other parenting styles. An essential element of the authoritarian style is an immediate obedience. Authoritarian parents have a strict code of conduct. They enforce their rules through yelling and spanking. Children have no opportunity to speak their mind. As a result, kids obey because of fear. These children possess a range of self-esteem-related problems. Permissive style does not stipulate a lot of rules. Parents allow their children almost all they want. These children become aggressive, impulsive and self-indul gent.Parenting TechniquesKids between 2-5 years only start acquiring their habits. It depends on the parents whether their children become naughty or turn into organized and self-disciplined individuals. Responsible parents resort to a variety of parenting techniques. For example, parents who adopt an everyday schedule with regular bedtime and meals to their preschoolers know that this will... Child Development Research Paper - 275 Words Child Development (Research Paper Sample) Content: Name:Professor: Course:Date:The Role of Parents, Peers and Community in Childhood and Adolescent DevelopmentDevelopment of an individual from infancy, childhood, all through adolescence to adulthood is influenced by various factors. Some of these factors influence the individuals behavior and shape his or her character. Parents and siblings nurture the child in the primary socialization category. School and the teachers are also involved at this stage. In the adolescence period, the individuals undergo secondary socialization. This is when new people start influencing his or her behaviors. Adolescents join peer groups and also pay more attention to the social media, hence acquiring new behaviors. Other factors such as emotional developments also influence the way individuals grow and develop. This paper seeks to analyze the role of parents and peers in childhood and adolescent development (Bukatko and Daehler 476-506). It also seeks to unveil their influences and comp are their contribution.Parents influence almost all the aspects of development in a child. Firstly, the parenting styles used to bring up a child influence its development. Decent parenting skills ensure wellbeing of a child and its social mobility. Parents have a crucial role especially in the educational activities they offer to the children at the early stages of development. Parents ought to have a good home learning atmosphere so as to aid in childhood developments. Another vital role is the need for parents to have good relationships among themselves. This should also be extended toward their children so as to nurture them in a good manner. Parents should also be fully involved in what the children do in the household. Parent involvement is very crucial as the childs cognitive ability thrives. Parents also have a role in ensuring that the child is in good health. Here, obesity is mainly watched out and tackled at an early stage if it appears. The major factor that parents shou ld observe is setting up a good example towards the children. Parents have a duty to strive and be good role models to their young ones. If a parent is a good role model, the child tries to emulate the goodness, hence healthy moral development. Peers also have a role in supporting children in childhood development (Campbell 230). Another demanding task for the parents in childhood development is interaction. Interaction ensures that a trusted relationship is established, therefore, perfect development. Parents should also have good emotional identification. This helps the child realize the world and the things in it, the ones that are good and those that are bad and harmful. Family stories should also be narrated to children by both peers and parents. Positive stories help raise a childs esteem.Peers also influence childhood development. A child is defined by the United Nations as any individual below the age of eight years. As every child develops, he or she tends to make friends a nd form social groups. Here, younger children tend to imitate the behaviors of the older ones, hence their childhood development process is altered (Ladd 49). Peers aid the children in teaching them new vocabularies and socializing them into the larger society.Another stage in the development of an individual is during adolescent period. At this period, adolescents require a new way of handling them and the parents also aid in the development. Parents have a duty of establishing a supportive relationship with family member and other friends. This gives the adolescents a sense of having a supportive family, hence they will have a positive transition and development. Parents also have a duty to monitor the adolescents and ensure that they disclose what is in their minds. Monitoring ensures that the parents keep track of the adolescent as disclosure aids in realizing daily activities and notice any deviation. Parents are also tasked with respecting the sense of autonomy in their adoles cent children as well as ensuring that their information is well kept. Parents have a duty to realize the beginning of adolescence and expect change of behaviors. Conflicts are a common scenario during this stage and parents should know how to tackle them in most cases.Peers also play a significant role in shaping an individuals personality. At adolescence, peer groups are easily formed and shape the adolescents to face different life happenings. Peers and peer groups help adolescents in getting along with other people. This enables children to develop the necessary social skills and also realizing the dos and the donts. Peers also allow individuals to embrace moral values especially with parental guidance. Peers now have a chance to learn the required socio-cultural roles. They set their ambitions and life goals at this stage and a good peer group supported by parents works well to shape the adolescents. Peers facilitate better achievement of personal independence in various forms such as emotional support, social support, physical support and intellectual support (Levesque 75-101). The peers also set a good ground for experimentation with different identities and varying experiences. Here, peers develop sense and also maintain and practice many cognitive and communicative roles.In the past, an assertion emerged that friends played a bigger part in the development of an individual than the parents. I tend to support this stand mainly because children interact with their peers more than they do with their parents. This is a classic example of peers influence during adolescence where adolescents detach themselves from their parents. If an individual meets a peer group that is morally insane and joins it, the parents would do little to stop the individual. This does not wholly suggest that parents do not offer to their children, it means that friends and peers influence the development of individuals more than parents.The community is also a major contributor to the development of a child. The adjacent community determines the development of an individual. A child who is born and grows up in a harsh environment can grow to be a deviant. For instance, a community that has many deviants such as villains, drug dealers and addicts poses a poor environment for rising up children. Families and the communities influence the development of children and affect their development to full potential. The type of available food and nutrition in the society influences the growth and development of individuals.A technologically advanced society also determines the kind of education offered to the children. Technology b...