Parenting Practices In The Past Three Generations (Research Paper Sample)

Parenting Practices In The Past Three Generations
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Introduction
Parenting practices do vary from generation to generation. In this paper I will discuss four different parenting practices and will describe the difference in these four parenting practices over three generations. Parenting a child is considered as one of the most important roles for parents be they biological or foster, actually it is said that the person who does the parenting is more important than the one who brings forth the child into the world. Parenting is influenced by a number of factors that could range from culture, social economics, non-normative life events and cohort effects.  According to Brittany Olivarez, parenting practices can fall in any of the processes that parents go through while bringing up their children and the skills of parenthood are acquired through their experiences. There are no formal schools that are established to teach parents on how to bring up their children but in every generation there are researchers who did some research on different parenting practices. Most researchers have found out that some parenting practices and styles continue from one generation to the next while others have changed dramatically to new practices in new generations.  Parents have been able to make their decisions and choices based on what they hear from other people, what they see and also what they read from the written materials about parenting as well as how they were parented while growing up. The information in this paper is from interviews of some of my family members and also some elders in my church. Some information was also acquired from the written and published materials from various researchers and from our text. Unfortunately I didn’t find any suitable parents and children to interview in Mexico while there, but I did keep my eyes open.  There are various factors that have influenced the changes in parenting practices over years.
Some of them are the growing economy, new technology, education and increased levels of literacy, government programs, and the information on parenting acquired through the internet, parenting classes, public media and books. Even with all the factors influencing change in parenting styles and practices, it has been noted that the family behavior as an institution takes time to change as compared with other institutions and this makes it more difficult to measure the extent of change in family behaviors. It is very vital for any parent to learn good parenting styles and practices that will enable them bring up their children to be better human beings and more resourceful (Kotchick and Forehand, 2002). Below are four different parenting practices through three generations.
Parenting practices through three generations
 

Generation 1: 1900-1940

Generation 2: 1940-1980

Generation 3: Years
1980-current

Parenting Practice 1:

Children were disciplined by elders and the parents

Children were disciplined by elders and schools

Children disciplined by parents

Parenting Practice 2:

breastfeeding was done by the mother

breastfeeding was done by the mother

Pumping and baby formulas which have reduced breastfeeding

Parenting Practice 3:

Children slept with the family

Children slept with either parents or in their own bed. Sometimes with siblings

Children sleeping in their own bed

Parenting Practice 4

Education was limited and there was a high level of illiteracy

children start attending schools by 5 or 6

Children attend pre-school at 2 and 3, and need to attend school until 16 years of age, most continue with school

 
Discussion of the parenting practices in the chart
Cohort effects refers to, "When people who were born at about the same time, such as during a given year or a particular decade, share various characteristics as a group" (Interactive Glossary Definition, (n.d)).
The chart above shows three generations from 1900 to current and some parental practices that were adopted in these generations. In the first generation which is between 1900 and 1940 children were very closely attached to their parents and almost every decision was made by the parent for the children. It was believed that the parent cannot harm what belongs to them and therefore there was no injustice done to a child by the parent since children were seen as property. In this sense a child would not stand to claim that their parents have done injustice or neglected their rights towards them hence children’s rights were looked down upon. This parenting practice has changed with the new generations whereby children have more rights and are allowed to make their own decisions. In the current generation, a child has a right to sue their parents for neglecting their parental duties like providing the child with basic necessities like education, food and shelter. The change of this parenting practice has been influenced majorly by introduction of some government policies that protect children’s rights (Kotchick and Forehand, 2002) such as the Department of Human Services, and the Child Welfare Division.  Also, in today’s world, there are Mandatory Reporting Laws and 48 states have mandatory reporters. Social Workers, Teachers, other school personnel, physicians and other health care workers, counselors, therapists and other mental health professionals, child care providers, law enforcement are some of the individuals required to report (}
During the early generations, it was the responsibility of every elder person to discipline any child who is doing wrong. The role of disciplining a child was not only played by the parents but also the people in the society. This parenting practice helped the society to instill discipline to every member of the society and children would have respect not only for their parents but also for the people in the society, and the "spare the rod, spoil the child" school of thought.  In the second generation, some parents had their children enrolled in schools and the teachers would have a duty to teach as well as discipline the children. In the current generation the role of disciplining the children lies upon the parent’s hands and not child’s elder people in the society. In fact, some parents would sue anyone who tries to discipline their child. The government has an influence on this as well as the growth of levels of education whereby parents feel that they are solely responsible for disciplining their children.  Grounding and reward systems are more in place now and parents and teachers use time-out as a consequence.
The other parenting practice is the issue of breastfeeding. In the first generation the parents would feed their children through breastfeeding them. This is one of the parenting styles that have been passed through all the generations though it has also changed a bit in the current generation. In the new era most parents have jobs outside the home whereby both the father and the mother are working. Due to the strict time schedule, mothers are given limited time for their maternity period so they breastfeed only for a short time, and then need to pump while at work or they introduce their child formula rather than the mothers’ milk. This change has occurred due to the different living styles and the hard economic times that have forced people in combining efforts to work and earn a living (Bornstein, 2002).
The other parenting practice that was pinpointed is the issue of education. During the early generation most children stayed at home and helped their parents with household chores especially the girl child. The society believed that education was majorly for men who were the sole bread winner of the family. Most of the boys attended schools while girls stayed at home and were even forced to early marriages so as to earn their parents some wealth through dowry. This parenting style has changed with time whereby the current generation values girl child educatio...