Working with parents and Families Session 2

1. Working with parents and FamiliesSession 2 Jo Collett

2. Session Overview • Reflect on last weeks session and discuss any comments or questions that arose. • Look at values and assumptions relating to practitioners perceptions of who families are. • Look at our own family structures. • Look at how families have changed over the years.

3. Session 2 – Parents and families You are planning a big party – write down all the people that you would want to be at the party to celebrate with you.

4. Assumptions and beliefs • A conceptual framework is: a system of assumptions, beliefs and theories that inform practice. • A set of approaches and ideas that frame the way professional work with families

5. Parent and families are different and have different experiences. The role of the parent is central to ensuring that children make successful transitions though stages to adulthood. Governments need to provide support for parents as they are responsible for bringing up their children. Parents genuinely want what is best for their child.

6. Families are entitled to receive reports on their children’s progress and development. Children are more secure knowing that the adults who care for them know and respect one another. Families are entitled to representation in the governance of settings/services. Parents are legally responsible for their children.

7. “Parents and professionals can help children separately or they can work together to the greater benefit of the child.” Athey (2007:2009)

8. Re-thinking Families • Families in the 2000s are characterised by diversity, continuity and change. • Changes in family forms. • Changes in living arrangements. • Changes in work ethics.

9. Reacting to Change • Look at the documents in pairs and give a brief summary to the class of how these documents reflect the changes in society.

10. Families • Family Types: • Nuclear • Extended • Re-constituted • Lone Parent • Nomadic • Monogamous • Polygamous

11. Parenting styles • The American Psychologist, Diana Baumrind (1927 - ) believed that children’s behaviour is strongly influenced by their parents’ child-rearing practices and identified 3 styles of parenting. • Authoritarian • Permissive • Authoritative Baumrind, D. (1967)

12. Maccoby and Martin also suggested the addition of a fourth parenting style (1983) • Uninvolved Parenting or indifferent parenting

13. Are parenting styles predictors of child behaviour and outcomes? • Children with authoritarian or permissive parents often lack confidence and independence. • Children with permissive parents are more likely to take responsibility for their own behaviour. • Children with authoritative parents are more engaged in school life and are more likely to achieve well than those with authoritative or permissive parents.

15. Personal experience • Are you aware of a particular parenting style that you admire? • Are there parenting styles that make you feel uncomfortable or which you realise you are critical of? • How do you feel about those parents and their child?

16. References • Athey (2007) Extending Thought I Young Children, London, Paul Chapman Publishing. • Baumrind, D, (1967). Child-care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behaviour. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75,(1), 43-88. • Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56-95.

17. Contd. • Maccoby, E. E. & Martin, J. A. (1983) Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In P. H. Mussen & E.M. Hetherington, Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th ed.). New York:Wiley • Maccoby, E. E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialisation of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology, 28, 1006-1017.