Comparison of Child Rearing Practices

Parenting

• contributes in central ways to the course and outcome of child development
• itself is shaped and afforded meaning by culture

Cultural variations

• exert significant and differential influences over mental, emotional, and social development of children.

Every culture

• is characterized, and distinguished from other cultures, by deep-rooted and widely acknowledged ideas about how one needs to feel, think, and act as a functioning member of society.

Two basic patterns of child rearing

• Individualistic Cultures
• Collectivist Cultures

Individualistic Culture

• emphasize personal achievement regardless of the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition
• United States and Western Europe

Individualism Examples

• Sleeping solitary
• Encouraged to take part in feeding process as soon as possible
• toilet training is an important step in teaching or encouraging the child independently to take care of his/her own toilet needs

Collectivist Cultures

• emphasize family and work group goals above individual needs or desires
• China, Korea, and Japan

Collectivism Examples

• Co-sleeping
• may spoon-feed children through toddler-hood and beyond
• toilet training starts when the infant is just a few months old--baby held constantly so caregiver responds immediately to signals that baby needs to urinate or have a bowel movement--called elimination training

Japan/ China

• infancy stage--child has innate tendencies that under no circumstances can be reshaped by adult control and mothers should be completed committed to rol
• early childhood--adults seldom punish or praise but allow child to self-regulate performance out of desire to obey rules
• community and society with parents are responsible for sharing the training

United States

• Infancy stage--child seen as inherently primitive, needing to be socialized at an early age; self care and emotional detachment should be accomplished as early as possible and women are expected to balance motherhood against other roles.
• early childhood--believe child should be trained at an early age to do a variety of chores
• social and moral training seen as an exclusive responsibility of family and accomplished through control in form of reinforcement and punishment

The Inuit of the Canadian Arctic

• Growing up is largely seen as a process of acquiring thought, reason, and understanding (ihuma)
• Young children don't possess these qualities and are easily angered, cry frequently and are incapable of understanding the external difficulties facing the communities
• Because they can't be reasoned with, and don't understand, parents treat them with a great deal of tolerance and leniency. It is when they are older and begin to acquire thought that parents attempt to teach or discipline them.

Tonga: Closer to insanity than adulthood

• Children are regularly beaten by their parents and older siblings
• They are seen as being closer to "mad" people than adults because they lack the highly prized quality of social competence (poto)
• Regularly told off for being clumsy and a child who falls over may be laughed at, shouted at, or beaten. They are thought of as mischievous. Want to feed simply because they are naughty. Most beatings between age of 3 and 5
• Parents believe that social competence can only be achieved through discipline and physical punishment

The Beng in West Africa

• Assume very young children know and understand everything that is said to them, in whatever language they are addressed.
• Believe children lived in spirit world before born, therefore know all languages and understand all cultures
• They remain in contact with other world for several years and may decide to return if they are not properly looked after, therefore parents treat young children with great care so they are not tempted to return.

The Fulani of West Africa

• by age of four, girls are expected to be able to care for their younger siblings, fetch water and firewood
• by age of six, they will be pounding grain, producing milk and butter, and selling these alongside their mothers in the market

The Yanamamo of Amazonian rainforest

• Girls are expected to help her mother from a young age and by the age of 10 will be running a house. By age of 12 or 13 she is probably married and will start to have babies
• Boys, on the other hand, have far fewer responsibilities. They don't marry later than girls and are allowed to play well into their teens

One thing in common

• when raising up a child, all cultures want their children to grow as better and stronger persons,
• and as responsible, and healthy people.

References

• Montgomery, H. (2013). Different cultures, different childhoods. Open Learn. Retrieved from http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/different-cultures-d... Baldelomar, J. (2009). Culture Differences in Child Rearing; A Comparison of Japanese and U.S. Culture. Shepard Broad Law Center. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1606924 Carteret, M. (2013). How Individualism and Collectivism Manifest in Child Rearing Practices. Dimensions of Culture. Retrieved from http://www.dimensionsofculture.com/2013/09/how-individualism-and-collectivi... Bornstein, M. (2013). Parenting and child mental health: a cross-cultural perspective. World Psychiatry. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3799257/ Rapperport, L. (2015). Child Rearing & Culture. eHow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_7532523_child-rearing-culture.html Culture differences on Child Rearing Practices, (2012). Eclectic Me. Retrieved from http://www.eclectic-me.com/?p=20