Saturday, February 25, 2017

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Socialization Process For Infants and Toddlers

Peer relationships provide opportunities for children to learn cooperation and develop interpersonal skills. Adults help infants and toddlers experience social experiences with friends through their interactions of the people in their inner circle., Adults set the stage for promoting peer interactions and providing settings for infants and toddlers to interact with one another and offer suggestions to guide them through the process. For example, parents can take their children to playgroups or playgrounds to give them interaction with other children. This gives them the chance to learn to share, take turns and how to get along with other children. Parents can guide children through the process by saying things like, "It's (friends name) turn right now." Then give their child something else to play with. This will still cause them to cry and possibly throw a tantrum, but learning to wait for their turn is an important concept to learn. It's also helpful to have more than one of a specific toy when possible if it's a popular toy.




Saturday, February 11, 2017

4 Motivations For Becoming A Parent

Parent's beliefs are influential in the socialization process. A key area of research explored parenting beliefs such as a parent's motivation for parenthood. There are four motivations for becoming a parent. They were developed by Al Rabin and Robert J. Greene who were pioneers in research in the area of motivations for parenthood. They assessed the major reasons for becoming a parent and classified the motivations into four categories. They are: fatalistic, altruistic, narcissistic, and instrumental.

With the fatalistic motivation for parenthood procreation is the primary reason for our existence. This motivation displays strong cultural values for becoming a parent and has implicit value in many religious affiliations to procreate.

The altruistic motivation for parenthood reflects an unselfish desire to express affection and concern for children.

The narcissistic motivation for parenthood reflects the notion that children will reflect on the goodness of the person.

The instrumental motivation for parenthood is driven by specific goals that parents have for children.
These goals include helping children reach the educational level of college, saving own relationships, recreating own childhood, appeasing relatives or carrying on the family name. The instrumental motivation influences cultural beliefs and socioeconomic status. It illustrates the impact of expectations from family members and close friends.

Reasons for becoming parents are different for everyone and a person may have more than one of these reasons for becoming a parent. All  motivations of being a parent reflect the impact  of cultural, religious beliefs, values and society expectations. Parents have specific ideas for achievement in raising children and they differ in the types of strategies they use to teach their children.

Where everyone's motivation for being a parent is different and everyone's style of parenthood is different the strategies they use to teach their children will be different. As parents encounter other parents and find out what motivated them to become a parent and what their strategy is to raise their children it's important not to judge them. It's important  to understand their motivation and strategies are just different from yours-not wrong.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

5 Other Agents of Socialization

Where the family is the most important agent to socialization, there are five other groups that are agents of socialization that teach our children about socialization and how to socialize in different situations.

The community a child grows up in plays a role in the socialization of a child. A child's community includes neighbors, public library, transportation, and public activities offered. The community also includes crime, pollution and noise. A child's neighborhood and community reflects multiple households where friends and neighbors interact. A neighborhood could include families of different faiths and cultures and these elements affects a child's experience in socialization.

Culture is a set of beliefs and institutions of a particular group or nation. Culture is also physical objects that represent a culture such as clothing. Culture is a force that reacts to social, political and economic events that shape the meaning of events. For example, if a child grows up going to country clubs and resources are unlimited, that culture will shape who that child socializes with, how a recession affects them etc. Culture provides ways for children to see the world  and helps shapes beliefs, goals and practices. Cultures can  have similar goals and methods but the way they're implemented will be different. For example, every parent wants their children to have nice manners. In the western part of the U.S., a parent refers to a child not having nice manners as a child doing something wrong. In in the southern part of the U.S., a child not having nice manners as a child is referred to as a child being ugly- ugly meaning in their behavior, not outward appearance.

Religion is an important agent of socialization. It covers most of a child's culture. Parents instill religious values and promote the importance  of core values such as fairness and honesty. Children raised in a religious household participate in rituals of the family's religion such as going to church on Sunday and celebrating holidays of their faith.

The type of child care parents put their child in is a socialization agent for many children. Child care is the nurturing care of a child by an adult other than a parent. The needs of a child are met by two major types of child care: center based and family child care. Center based care includes part-time or full day preschools, pre-kindergarten programs and federal programs for low-income children such as Head Start. Family care providers care for children in their home for a fee, such as nanny. It can also be people who've become licensed to run a child car in their home by the state they live in.

When children become school age, the school they attend becomes a social agent. Children spend time with teachers, classmates, and less time with siblings and parents. Children learn social skills at school as they find friends and have to work with people they may not like or get along with. School teaches about the values of society and their community. Classmates and friends influence and teach beliefs and values such as what to think, wear and how to talk. Children learn social behaviors such as turn-taking and friends support and express the positive social behaviors that promote social competence. Before and after school programs affect a child's socialization as children of different ages are placed together. This gives older ones a chance to help the younger ones to find and advocate in the older ones as well as a role model.

Each of these agents of socialization is important and teaches children different skills and rules about socialization and the rules that society expects children to follow.