The Challenges and Rewards of Parent

Parenting and Families

● Parenting is a job unlike any other
● Parents work hard but are not paid
● They are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week
● Fortunately, being a parent can bring unique rewards

Parenting: A learning process

Parenting: caring for children and helping them grow
● Requires understanding a child’s needs and meeting those needs with good judgment.
● There are times when parents need to know when to help and when to let children try a
task on their own.
● Parents need to decide when to encourage children to try different activities, giving them
the freedom to explore their own likes and dislikes.
● The skills parents need change as their children get older.

Developing parenting skills

Different ways to develop parenting skills
● Classes in child development
● Hospitals
● Schools
● Community groups
● Courses that deal with specific challenges
(behavioural, health, financial)
● Read reliable books, magazines, etc
● Gain experience working with or caring for children
● Ask advice of family and friends who have parenting experience
● Observe parents and children wherever possible

Challenges of Parenthood
1. New Responsibilities
● Parents can no longer think of only their own needs
● They have less time for themselves
● They just always consider their child’s needs
● Parents may feel overwhelmed with the many new responsibilities but friends, family,
organizations and support groups are there to help

2. Changes in Lifestyle
 ● Parents need to change routines in their daily lives.Example: a newborn needs to be fed
every few hours, be diapered, played with, comforted and supervised for safety
● Parents have less time to spend with their friends.
● Instead of unwinding after work they have to fix dinner, spend time with their children,
bath them and put them to bed
● Parents are better able to adjust to these changes if they prepare for them.

3.Emotional Adjustment
● Fear: of not being a good parent
● Frustration: at the loss of personal freedom and the addition of new responsibilities
● Worry: over money matters
● Jealousy: of the baby and attention he or she gets from the other parent, friends and
relatives
● Depression: due to exhaustion or to the physical changes of pregnancy and birth

4. Changes in Relationships
● Parents begin to notice changes in how they interact with each other and with family
members
● Parents may feel overwhelmed by concerns, negative emotions, and lack of sleep and this
may lead to arguing with one another
● One of the many keys to get over these trouble spots is for the couple to communicate
effectively.
● Parents may get info conflict with their own parents who are trying

5. Employment
● Some parents stop working or cut back their hours to care for their children
● People who were used to working overtime, on weekends, or travelling for their jobs may
be less willing to do so once they become parents
● Some employers are flexible towards new parents and sometimes have child care
facilities at or near their work

The Rewards of Parenthood

● Joy- in hearing a baby's first words or watching them take their first steps
● Happiness
● Pride
● Love- ha they never felt before
● Enriches a already strong marriage
● By helping children discover the world, parent often see it with the new eyes themselves
● Raising children can give parents a great sense of accomplishment 2
 Making the Decision about Parenthood: Five Areas of Parenthood Readiness

Making Decisions About Parenthood

● People considering parenthood should take a close look at what parenting involves.

1. Emotional Maturity
● To handle the changes and demands of parenthood, a person needs emotional maturity -
being responsible enough to consistently put someone else's needs before your own.
● Parents planning to have children should consider if they are truly ready to handle the
challenge of parenthood.

2. Desire for Parenthood

● Some prospective parents hope that having a child will help them solve some personal
problems such as low self-esteem ir marriage difficulties
● Not all the reasons for wanting children show a real readiness for parenthood.

3. Health Considerations
● Before pregnancy, it is best for both prospective parents to have a medical checkup. Some
medical problems can affect the health of the baby or the parent’s ability to care for a
child.
● The age of the mother should also be considered - if she is under 17 or over 35,
pregnancy is riskier for both the mom and the baby.

4. Financial Concerns
● Raising a child is expensive and it requires financial resources to pay for clothes, food,
equipment, and other expenses.
● Before deciding on parenthood, couples should consider the ghosts of having a child
during the first year and in the years that follow.
● If both parents work, they need to consider who will stop working to look after the baby
and who will look after the child when that parent returns to work.

5. Resource Management Skills

● Parents need to use the resources they have available wisely to provide for their family.
● Money is just one resource, time, skills, and energy are others.
● Because most resources are limited, applying a process for managing them can help:
1. Set goals - decide what is important and then turn those things into personal set goals
(sending the child to preschool).
2. Identify the resources - make a list of resources needed to achieve the goals (saving
money, a part time job).
 3. Make a plan - decide how to use the identified resources to achieve the desired goal
(how much to save each month, start looking for a part time job).
4. Put the plan into action - start working toward the goals using the steps outlined in the
plan (set up a savings account for extra money earned working part time).
5. Reevaluate from time to time - step back and take stock of progress; are more or
different resources needed?; was the goal achieved?; what are some new goals to work
toward? (family, vacation, bigger home).

Child Development and Child Development Theories

Why Is Childhood Important/Crucial?

● Childhood is a time of preparation for adulthood because of the brain development that
occurs.
● A baby's brian develops in response to stimulation, which includes activities that arouse
a baby's sense of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
● These activities improve a baby’s curiosity, attention span, memory, and nervous system
development.
● Babies and toddlers who are stimulated develop more quickly because their brain is able
to send messages faster and more clearly.

Theories About Development

● Child developmental theorists have provided information about how children learn and
develop skills.
● In general, researchers have found that child development follows five general rules:

1. Development is similar for individuals

● Children go through the same stages in about the same order.
● Example: all babies lift their heads before they lift their bodies.

2. Development builds upon earlier learning

● Development follows an order of steps and the skills and child learns at one stage build
on those mastered earlier.
● Example: a child learns to say single words before speaking in phrases or complete
sentences.

3. Development proceeds at an individual rate

● Each child goes through the same stages of development at his or her own pace.
 4. The different areas of development are interrelated
● Even though researchers tend to focus on one area of development at a time, changes
occur in many areas at the same time.
● Example; mind, body and emotions.

5. Development is a lifelong process

● Development does not stop and the rate of development varies.

Signmund Freud (1856-1939)

● Findings or Ideas: Believed that personality develops through a series of stages.
Experiences in childhood profoundly affect adult life.
● Significance: Childhood is much more important than previously thought, and its effects
are longer lasting.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

● Findings or ideas: The first to study children scientifically. Focused on how children
learned and believed that children go through four stages of learning.
● Significance: Children must be given learning tasks appropriate to their level of
development.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

● Findings or Ideas: Wrote that biological development and cultural experience both
influenced children’s ability to learn. He believed that social contact was essential to
intellectual development.
● Significance: Children should be given the opportunity for frequent social interaction.

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

● Findings or Ideas: Like Freud, he said that personality develops in stages. He thought
that each stage included a unique psychological crisis. If that Crisis is met in a positive
way, the individual develops normally.
● Significance: Parents and other caregivers must be aware of and sensitive to, children’s
needs at each stage of development and support them through crisis.

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

● Findings or Ideas: Argued that when a child’s actions have positive results, they will be
repeated. Negative results will make the action stop.
● Significance: Parents and other caregivers can affect a child's behaviour through the use
of negative and positive feedback.
Albert Bandura (1925-2021)
● Findings or Ideas: Said that children learn by imitating others. He disagreed with
Skinner and said that although the environment shapes behaviour, behaviour also affects
one’s environment.
● Significance: Caregivers must provide good examples for children to follow.

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)

● Findings or Ideas: Outlined layers of environment that affect a child’s development,
such as the child’s own biology, family/community, environment, and society.
● Significance: Child's primary relationship with a caregiver needs to be stable, loving and
lasting.

Influences on Development
1. Nature/Heredity
● Heredity: is the biological transfer of certain characteristics from earlier generations
(nature).
● Example; blood type, eye colour, hair colour, etc.
● In the past, many social scientists believed solely that human characteristics were
genetically inherited.
● Example: twin studies - Jim Springer and Jim Lewis.

2. Nurture/Environment
● Environment: refers to the people, places and things that surround and influence a person,
including family, home school and community (Nurture).
● Today social scientists believe that human development is a result of both nature and
nurture.
● Example: Isolated Children - Genie.
● Isolated Child: children raised apart from normal human socialization and experiences.
- “Wild Child”
- “Feral Child”