BECOMING PARENTS

BECOMING PARENTS Unit 4 – Chapter 10

Attachment • Attachment is an enduring emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver • According to Erikson, the infant-caregiver relationship is essential to the development of trust within the infant

Erik Erikson’s 8 Psychosocial Stages of Development Stage 1 Ages: Infancy (birth – 18 months) Basic Conflict: Trust vs. Mistrust Important Event: Feeding Outcome: Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability, care, and affection. A lack of this will lead to mistrust.

Attachment • The quality of the bond between caregiver and child is the foundation of personality growth and determines how well the child adjusts later in life • Infants whose needs are not met develop mistrust and see the world as undependable, unpredictable and possibly dangerous

Attachment • Attachment research has tended to focus on the mother-infant bond and has almost completely ignored the father-infant bond • Studies have found that secure infants have fathers that were more extroverted and agreeable, had higher levels of self-esteem and had more positive marriages • These fathers had positive work and family boundaries, with work demands that did not come before family commitments

Attachment • Fathers who developed a commitment to their infants during pregnancy maintained it after birth and were more likely to be involved in infant care • These fathers tended to be more caring, nurturing, child oriented and affectionate than non-involved fathers

Socialization of Children • Socializing children is one of the most important functions of the family and the key responsibility of parents • Socialization is the process throughout life by which an individual learns the knowledge, skills, attitudes, culture, values and appropriate social role behaviours in order to participate in society

Socialization of Children • As societies became more complex and as parents leave home to work, socialization is shared with other social institutions Ex. religion & education • Parents socialize their children by influencing and shaping their behaviour and children socialize their parents in a similar manner

Socialization of Children There are 2 preconditions for socialization: • The child must have the physical capacity to learn • The child must live in a society that has values, norms, statuses, roles, institutions and a variety of social structures • If a child is missing any of these preconditions, then socialization is not possible

Gender Socialization • Parents are the main agents of socialization for their children’s gender roles • Babies are socialized from the moment they enter this world to be masculine or feminine • Children view the tasks performed by their parents in the home and come to gender-based conclusions about who should perform which jobs • Parents may encourage gender-role stereotypical behaviour without even knowing it

The Mother’s Role • Women are traditionally the primary caregivers to children in all cultures, for many, parenting and mothering are the same • However, as more and more North American women stay in the workforce after the birth of their children, they are no longer at home to be the sole caregiver • The stay-at-home mom is now an anomaly • It is no longer assumed that the mother has to take the primary role, rather, parents negotiate their roles

The Mother’s Role • The Mommy Wartakes place within a new mother as she struggles to balance her desires and the pressures of society • Some women who choose to stay home feel judged and devalued by women who return to work, while at the same time women who choose to work feel judged by women who stay home

The Father’s Role • In the past, the father’s role were that of breadwinner and the head of the household • Today, couples play more equal roles in the family, and both parents are heads of the household • Parents now consider themselves co-parents and co-providers for their children • Fathers and mothers interact differently with their children

Parental Roles in Lone-Parent Families • The number of children living in lone-parent families is increasing, while the age at which they do so is decreasing • Children born to common-law unions are 3 times more likely to experience the break-up of their parents’ relationship than children born to married couples

Parental Roles in Same-Sex Families • Since their are no preconceived roles for same-sex parents, they can negotiate their roles together • Being raised by same-sex couples has not been shown to increase the odds that the children will be homosexual • Children of same-sex couples usually have role models of both sexes

BECOMING PARENTS