Childrens Problems Begin At Home And End At Home Education Essay

Parenting is fundamental to the survival and success of the human race. Everyone who has ever lived has had parents, and most adults in the world become parents. Opinions about parenting abound, but surprisingly little solid scientific information or considered reflection exists about parenting.

Parenting is a job whose primary object of attention and action is the child. Children do not and cannot grow up as solitary individuals but parenting is also a status in the life course with consequences for parents themselves (Femmie Juffer, 2007)5.

“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.”

– Oscar Wilde (English humorist)

Since Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby discovered that children use their parents as a secure base to fulfill their attachment and exploration needs, an impressive body of empirical research has been devoted to the search for the origins and consequences of (in)secure child-parent attachment relationships.

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Secure attachment relationships have been associated with better social competence and with more optimal parent and peer relationships than insecure attachments. The concept of secure attachment relationships and the related concept of parental sensitivity appear to be highly significant for the clinical field, including the development and evaluation of attachment-based interventions for at-risk and clinical families.

The most important part of parenting is love and putting in time and energy to support children. Although love is the most important requirement, it is not enough. Unless parents understand their children’s unique needs, they are unable to give their children what children today need. Parents may be giving love, but not in ways that are most helpful to their child’s development.

“Without an understanding of their children’s needs, parents cannot effectively support their children.”

On the other hand, some parents are “willing” to spend more time with their children, but don’t because they don’t know what to do or their children reject their efforts. So many parents try to talk with their kids, but their kids just close up and say nothing. These parents are willing, but don’t know how to get their kids to talk. Some parents don’t want to yell at, hit, or punish their children, but they just don’t know another way. Since talking with their children has not worked, punishment or the threat of punishment is the only way they know.

“To give up old ways of parenting, new ways must be employed.”

The world is experiencing a crisis in parenting. Every day, there are increasing reports of child and teen violence, low self-esteem, Attention Deficit Disorder, drug use, teen pregnancy, and suicide. Almost all parents today are questioning both the new and old ways of parenting. Nothing seems to be working, and our children’s problems continue to increase.

Some parents believe that these problems come from being too permissive and giving children too much, while others contend that outdated practices of parenting, like spanking and yelling, are responsible. Others believe that these new problems are caused by negative changes in society.

Too much TV, advertising, or too much violence and sex on TV and in movies are pegged by many as the culprits. Certainly society and how it influences our children are part of the problem, and some helpful solutions can be legislated by the government, but the biggest part of the problem starts at home. Our children’s problems begin in the home and can be solved at home. Besides looking to change society, parents must also realize that they hold the power to raise strong, confident, cooperative, and compassionate children.

To cope with the changes in society, parents need to change their parenting approach. During the past two hundred years, society has made an historic and dramatic change towards greater individual freedom and rights. Even though our modern Western society is now organized by the principles of freedom and human rights, parents still use parenting skills from the Dark Ages.

Parents need to update their parenting skills to raise healthy and cooperative children and teens. Businesses know that if they are to stay competitive in the free market, they need to keep changing and updating. Likewise, if parents want their children to be able to compete in the free world, they must prepare their children with the most effective and modern approaches to parenting (John Gray, 2007)11.

Several social trends are now challenging parent-child relationships. Single parent families may be the most at risk. Although, there always have been single parents in the United States, the causes of solitary parenting have changed. Single parents of previous generations were primarily widows and widowers. Parents are now more likely to be single because of divorce or never being married. Single parents in today’s society may be more isolated and perhaps more disillusioned than the single parents of the past. The final report of the National Commission on Children, about 25 percent (more than sixteen million) children lived with only one parent in 1989, twice as many as in 1970.

Parental employment places a great strain on parent-child relationships. Parents may have to depend on other caregivers, for example, to set limits and provide guidance during their children’s formative years. Between 1970 and 1990, the proportion of mothers with children under age six who were working or looking for work outside their homes rose from 32 percent to 58 percent. Today, approximately 10.9 million children under six have mothers in the paid labor force (National Commission on Children, 1991) 74.

Three aspects of parenting have been highlighted as central to children’s early language and learning: (1) the frequency of children’s participation in routine learning activities (e.g., shared book reading, storytelling); (2) the quality of caregiver-child engagements (e.g., parents’ cognitive stimulation and sensitivity/responsiveness); and (3) the provision of age-appropriate learning materials (e.g., books and toys).

Early and consistent participation in routine learning activities, such as shared book reading, storytelling, and teaching about the letters of the alphabet, provide children with a critical foundation for early learning, language growth and emergent literacy. A plethora of studies also indicate that the quality of parent-caregiver interactions play a formative role in children’s early language and learning (Tamis-LeMonda, 2009)52.

In the past, psychologists studying the development of children focused almost exclusively on children’s relationships with their mothers. Today, they have come to agree that fathers play a unique and crucial role in nurturing and guiding children’s development. Many experts now believe that fathers can be just as nurturing and sensitive with their babies as mothers. As their children grow, fathers take on added roles of guiding their children’s intellectual and social development. Even when a father is ‘just playing’ with his children, he is nurturing their development (Ross Parke, 2006)25.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

The National Commission on Children’s national survey titled Speaking of Kids (1991) reports that a majority of American adults, regardless of age, race, marital, or parental status believe that it is harder to be a parent today than it used to be (88 percent) and that parents today often are uncertain about what is the right thing to do in raising their children (86 percent). Compared to ten years ago, respondents believed children today are worse off with respect to their moral and religious training (53 percent) and the supervision and discipline they receive from their parents (56 percent).

Children themselves wished that their parents were more diligent in setting and enforcing rules. Thirty-nine percent of children 10-17 said they “sometimes” wished their parents were stricter or kept a closer watch over them and their lives. Another 8 percent said they wish this a lot. Only about 1 percent said they “never” wanted their parents to be stricter or more attentive. Because of the rapid pace of change in our society and an increasing awareness of and respect for cultural and values diversity, parents will continue to be challenged to expand on traditional styles of childrearing.

The well-being of our nation’s children is clearly at risk. According to the National Commission on Children (1991), one in four adolescents engage in social behaviors that can lead to serious longterm difficulty; many more are vulnerable for future problems (National Commission on Children, 1991)72.

Most parents do their best to provide a loving and nurturing atmosphere for their children. Poor parenting includes the following behaviors:

Abuse

An environment where there is a lot of arguing and conflict

Ignoring the child

Some parents are overwhelmed by their own personal situations and are unable to look after their children’s needs appropriately. The children who were ignored or who lived in high-stress households had trouble expressing themselves verbally. They also had trouble with social skills. Sharing toys was difficult for them, and they had trouble playing. The British study concluded that the disadvantaged children actually started preschool with underdeveloped brains.

The children who were having trouble with their social skills could be helped if they received intensive help from their teachers. Unfortunately, teachers are busy caring for the entire class and have trouble finding the time to give the children who are behind the level of attention they need (JC Redmond, 2009)66.

A study by UNICEF of 21 industrialized countries, An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries (2007), came to the remarkable conclusion that there is no strong relationship between per capita GDP and child wellbeing.

A government-funded review in Britain of research spanning 25 years found that the incidence of many mental health problems in children had doubled since the 1970s. Today, one in ten British children – that’s more than a million – suffers from a clinically recognizable disorder, such as depression, anxiety, anorexia or severe anti-social behaviour (Tom McGurk, 2009)71.

“Studies have shown that children who go through their parents’ divorce have

more conduct problems,

symptoms of psychological maladjustment,

lower academic achievement,

Social difficulties and problematic relationships with both parents.

In United States of America, reported statistics tells that Children from fatherless homes are:

5 times more likely to commit suicide

32 times more likely to run away from home.

20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders

14 times more likely to commit rape.

9 times more likely to drop out of high school.

10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances (become drug addicts)

9 times more likely to end up in a state-operated institution

20 times more likely to end up in prison.

3 million teenage girls have sexually transmitted diseases

At least 1 out of 4 teenagers (between 14years to 19years) suffer from sexually transmitted diseases (CRISP, 2009)73.

Some of the harsh realities faced by children in India are presented below:

Less than half of India’s children between the age 6 and 14 only go to school.

95 in every 1000 children born in India do not see their fifth birthday.

Amongst married women in India today, 75% were under age at the time of their marriages.

58% of India’s children below the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of these children do not receive any form of vaccination.

More that 50% of India’s children are malnourished.

More than 50 per cent of girls fail to enroll in school; those who do are likely to drop out by the age of 12.

CHILD LABOR

19% of children are employed for domestic help.

25% of the victims of commercial sexual exploitation in India are below 18 years of age.

Large numbers of children work simply because there is no alternative – since, they do not have access to good quality schools.

Poor and bonded families often “sell” their children to contractors who promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children end up being employed in brothels, hotels and domestic work. Many run away and find a life on the streets (Sharanam Centre, 2007)75.

Everyone knows good parenting is good for the health of children, but studies show that good parenting also results in children who grow up to be healthier adults. Research indicates that adults who had stressful relationships with their parents in childhood are more likely to suffer from disease in midlife. “Since parents are usually the most meaningful source of social support for much of early life, the perception of parental caring, and parental loving itself, may have important regulatory and predictive effects on biological and psychological health and illness” (Claudia M. Lenart, 2009)55.

Joint custody and shared parenting (i.e., joint physical and legal custody) have been studied for more than a quarter-century, with the majority of studies indicating significant benefits for children. When parents cooperate and minimize conflict, children do better with shared parenting/joint physical custody.

Parenting Can Override Effect of Genes in How Babies Respond to Stress, the study found both genes and parenting were important to the development of how infants’ brain which helps to regulate cardiac responses to stress. The findings suggest that although genes play a role in the development of physiological responses to stress, environmental experiences such as mothers’ sensitive care-giving behavior can have a strong influence, enough to change the effect that genes have on physiology very early in life (W. Roger Mills-Koonce, 2008)68.

It has been known for a long time that living in poverty damages children’s intellectual abilities. Good Parenting Raises Kids’ Mental Skills. Study Shows Better Parenting Skills Sharpen Minds of Kids in Poverty (Martin Downs, 2008)62.

Babies need predictability and security, which they get when their mother and father respond consistently, promptly, and appropriately to their cries, smiles and other signals. As a baby develops a relationship with his or her mother and father, he comes to prefer them to other adults, in a process known as attachment. Psychologists agree that babies with secure attachments to their parents have better chances to develop into happy, successful, and well-adjusted children and adults.

The investigator had personal experience about the effects of parenting both its ill effects and good effects. Investigator being specializing in the field community health nursing felt the need and was motivated to conduct the study on knowledge regarding the parenting roles among the couples of urban and rural community and teach them about parenting roles with the help of multimedia package.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

“A comparative study to assess the effectiveness of multimedia package on knowledge regarding parenting roles among the couples of selected urban and rural community”.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the existing level of knowledge regarding parenting roles among couples of the urban and rural community.

To assess the effectiveness of multimedia package on knowledge regarding parenting roles among couples of the urban and rural community.

To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the couples of urban and rural community.

To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the male and female parent of urban and rural community.

To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the male parent of the urban and rural community.

To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the female parent of the urban and rural community.

To associate the mean improvement of knowledge score on parenting roles with the selected demographic variables.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Effectiveness

Refers to the outcome of the multimedia package regarding parenting roles among couples of urban and rural community, which will be evaluated by the structured knowledge questionnaire prepared by the investigator.

Multimedia Package

Refers to logically designed information’s with the use of modern media to discuss and teach regarding parenting roles. This package consists of teaching material in the form of visual literacy and videos in a sequence which explains the parent’s role in general parenting, developmental milestones, cognitive development, moral development and learning disabilities.

Parenting

It refers to the performance of various roles and activities of raising a child rather than the biological relationship by the parents.

Parenting Roles

It refers to the role of the parents in raising the child. Roles included in this study are about

General Parenting which includes meaning and concepts of Responding, Preventing, Monitoring, Mentoring and Modeling;

Developmental Milestones which includes meaning, identification of age specific tasks of the children, ways to help the child to attain milestones;

Cognitive Development which includes meaning, stages of cognitive development and ways to improve the cognitive development;

Moral Development which includes meaning, stages of moral development and ways to improve the moral development of the child and

Learning Disabilities which includes meaning, causes, early warning signs and ways to take care of child with such problem.

Knowledge

Refers to the ability of couples to understand and answer the question on parenting roles as elicited by structured knowledge questionnaire.

Couples

Husband and wife of selected urban and rural community with 1-6 yrs of married life having children.

ASSUMPTIONS

Couples may have some knowledge regarding parenting roles.

Adequate knowledge on parenting roles may help the couples to provide effective parenting.

Adequate knowledge regarding parenting roles may prevent many childhood problems.

NULL HYPOTHESES

NH1: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles among the urban and rural couples at the level of p<0.05

NH2: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the urban and rural couples at the level of p<0.05

NH3: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the male and female parent of urban and rural community at the level of p<0.05

NH4: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the urban male parent and rural male parent at the level of p<0.05

NH5: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the urban female parent and rural female parent at the level of p<0.05

NH6: There is no significant association between the mean improvement knowledge score on parenting roles and selected demographic variables of the urban and rural couples at the level of p<0.05

DELIMITATIONS

The study is delimited to a period of four week.

The study is delimited to the couples living under the same roof.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A conceptual framework or model is made up of concepts that are mental image of a phenomenon. These concepts are linked together to express their relationship between them.

The conceptual framework is based on TRANSTHEORETICAL MODEL/ SOCIAL CHANGE MODEL (JAMES.O.PROCHASKA). This framework consists of the following elements.

PRECONTEMPLATION:

The theory says that the Individual has the problem (whether he/she recognizes it or not) and has no intention of changing and goes through the process of Consciousness raising (information and knowledge), Dramatic relief (role playing) and Environmental reevaluation (how problem affects physical environment).

In this study the researcher perceives the importance of the problem and prepares the multimedia package with extensive review of literature and expert’s opinion to improve the knowledge of couples in selected urban and rural community regarding the parenting roles on general parenting, child’s cognitive development, developmental milestones, moral development and learning disabilities.

CONTEMPLATION:

This stage involves the Individual’s recognition of the problem and he/she is seriously thinking about changing and goes through the process of Self-reevaluation (assessing one’s feelings regarding behavior).

In this study the researcher approaches the couples of selected urban and rural community and obtains their consent to participate in the study after providing adequate information regarding the need for the study and benefits thereby makes the couples to become aware of the problem.

PREPARATION:

In this stage the individual recognizes the problem and intends to change the behavior through the process of Self-liberation (commitment or belief in ability to change).

In this study the researcher conducts the pre test assessment of knowledge regarding parenting roles among the couples of selected urban and rural community with the help of the structured questionnaire. The structured interview schedule consists of demographic variables like age, gender, educational status, occupation, family income per month, religion, type of family, no of years of married life, no of living children, age of the child, place of living, mode of getting information about parenting and structured questionnaire containing questions regarding parenting roles on general parenting, child’s cognitive development, moral development, developmental milestones and learning disabilities. The researcher prepares the couples for gaining the knowledge regarding parenting roles.

ACTION:

In this stage the Individual has enacted consistent behavior change through the process of Reinforcement management, Helping relationships, Counterconditioning and Stimulus control.

In this study the researcher by providing the multimedia package which consists of lecture in the form of pictorial and video shows regarding parenting roles on general parenting, child’s cognitive development, moral development, developmental milestones and learning disabilities provides a helping relationship to gain adequate knowledge to provide good parenting to their children.

MAINTENANCE:

In this stage individual maintains new behavior. In this study the researcher conducts the post test assessment of knowledge after one week from the day of intervention using the same structured questionnaire which was used for pre test to know the improvement in the knowledge. If couples had adequate knowledge reinforcement was given by providing booklet as maintenance of knowledge and couples with inadequate knowledge reassessment was done.

OUTLINE OF THE REPORT

Chapter I : Dealt with the background of the study, need for the study, statement of the problem, objectives, operational definitions, null hypotheses, assumptions, delimitations and conceptual framework.

Chapter II : Deals with the review of related literature.

Chapter III : Presents the methodology of study and plan for data analysis.

Chapter IV : Focuses on data analysis and interpretation.

Chapter V : Enumerates the discussion of study.

Chapter VI : Gives the summary, conclusion, implications, recommendations and limitations.

The report ends with selected Bibliography and Appendices.