Child-rearing practices the Hispanic and West Indies cultures - Research Paper Example

Child Rearing Practices Introduction Culture and personality are two aspects which really rely on each other. The culture in which a child is brought up in highly affects his/her perception to things and how he/she will handle issues in real life. In this paper we shall compare and contrast the child rearing practices the Hispanic and West Indies cultures to establish the effect of the cultures in the upbringing of the child. There have been deep studies into this matter with some of the analysts claiming that the culture one is brought up in does not participate in molding his perception while others claimed that we are products of our own cultures and the environment that we were brought up in. In trying to explain and merge the effect of the two in the way they affect our living, it was proposed that the environment we live in affects the institutions like schools that we attend and then the institutions work to determine the specific characters of the children (Levine, 1982, Murphy, 2009). The primary institutions that are affected in this situation may include the schools and the settlement patterns of a society we are interested in (Murphy, 2009). Culture and personality cannot exist without each other and they work to balance and define different societies (Murphy, 2009). By defining the different societies it means that the society will have its codes and practices that define it and so it will be defined as a culture. The similarities and differences in the two cultures will be established in terms of kinship and the familial relationship and upbringing, division of labor and how the two cultures handle the issue as a whole, the roles of the males and females in the society, economic organizations and political organizations of the societies in two cultures. To conclude, our discussion should be able to address a thesis statement: We are a product of the cultures we are brought up in. Hispanic American Culture The Hispanic culture is found among many societies in America and other parts of the world mainly due to the Spanish influence and the use of the language in many parts of the world. In America it is spoken in many countries as the national languages in countries like Mexico and Argentina. The formal and local set ups of the people in the different societies that are Hispanic differ greatly due to the geographical disparity and so our focus will be on the overall differences, and similarities. Anthropologists have argued that we gain intelligence and ability to learn from the way the early environment impacts on our lives (Steward, 1973). In fact he proposes that everything an adult will do is a function of the dynamic interaction between the person’s perceptions to the environment that s/he is living in (Steward, 1973). We have decided to talk about the American Hispanic culture due to the diversity of the overall Hispanic culture and the many societies that are termed as Hispanic. The Spanish cultures in America are defined from the people who live in Mexico, Cuba and other South and North America Spanish rich cultures. Majority of the societies referred to as Hispanic use Spanish language as their primary mode of communication. They are Christians mainly Roman Catholics but with time they are embracing other religions like Muslim. In the Hispanic Culture, the Father or the eldest male in the Contemporary society which maybe a family is referred as the head. Women are supposed to be submissive to their men and obey what they are told and the rules that are set by the men (Rasbridge and Kemp, 2004). This notion has however been eroded by time and nowadays it is hard to find such a simple society that is governed by such retrogressive ideas. The Hispanics have a medium level income and this has defined their economic organization. They are not as economically defined as the White Americans but they are middle level earners. With an average children number of 3.47 the Hispanic culture shows that it values children a lot. The children in the Hispanic culture are given different roles according to their gender though with time and advancement in technology, the cultures are slowly being eroded. The boys were well defined in the past and they were always related to their fathers while the ladies were related to their mothers. The parents have the responsibility of teaching the child the basic knowledge that they should have and guide them on how to perceive things that affect their lives. The parent also has a role of educating the child. The children remain in the care of the parent up to around 18 years of age. At this time the child has been educated and can be able to make his own decisions and handle life pretty well individually. Most of the Hispanic speakers are bilinguals or multilingual. Due to the interaction with the people who they interact with, they often happen to understand English language which is closely related to the Spanish language. The overall society has a role in shaping the child. This is because of the ethics and morals held by the society and which affect the child in their daily affairs. The identity given by a person belonging to a certain society will define the political and social aspects of that specific person (CDC, 2004). The media and the internet have both played a major role in defining the Hispanic culture today. The children mainly watch television to be entertained and from this they get to learn new things. The adults in this society have the power to choose the programs that their children will watch to enhance their overall good behavior and upholding of their morals. The Spanish also use the internet and it has played a big role in boosting education together with corrosion of the society’s cultures. The internet helps the young people to embrace other ideologies and the ones they have stuck to are eroded away. Role of the Family in Child Rearing The Hispanic family formation is characterized by the presence of extended families rather than the simple fami9lies found in many of the other family set ups. The extended family consists of the members of one family tree who mainly live in close proximity (Zalaquett, 2010). The children in such a set up are given closely related morals and that small society will define how they live. The role of the family cannot be assumed in the Hispanic society. Members of the same Kin have strong bonds and respect is maintained at all levels (Zalaquett, 2010). These members often interact whether they are living in close proximity or far away. Cooperation among kin members is promoted and it is always advised that the interests of the family should precede the interests of an individual. This promotes collectiveness rather than individualism and it helps in the shaping of the child. The success of a society is often looked by how united they are and this applies to the Hispanic culture (Zalaquett, 2010). The West Indies Culture The West Indies include the islands found in the Caribbean basin and the ones found north of the Atlantic Ocean. The cultural practices and child rearing practices seen in this region has been influenced much by the visitors to the land which include those of Spanish, Danish and Dutch origin. The Commonwealth Caribbean is made up of English speaking islands (Lenisa, 2006). The child rearing practices in the Caribbean cultures is similar in many aspects to that of the Hispanic culture. The child is always a product of the society that s/he lives in and so the society is responsible for instilling the right morals that should determine who the child becomes in the future. Just like in the Hispanic culture the extended family is the dominant feature of the West Indies Society and it is made up of a number of families who have a same origin and they could be living in close proximity with each other. The parents in this society have the role of disciplining the children (whether they are yours or not) and ensure that the right styles of growth are observed. This means that the larger society have a great role of bringing up the child while compared to the nuclear family. The nuclear family is the first institution that the child is introduced to and so it serves to instill the first morals and determine the way the child will be perceiving things in the future. From the nuclear family the extended family and the society that the child is interacting with daily takes the role of determining how the child. Education is valued a lot in the West Indies culture. It is viewed as the redemption from ignorance and the educated people are highly respected in the society. From very small ages the child is shown the importance of acquiring education and the parent takes the responsibility of educating them. However, due to the economic status of some of the people in the society, education in the society has not been possible. This creates a social gap between those who have the power to educate their children and those who can’t. The educated children in the Caribbean islands hold the coveted positions in the society while the uneducated ones struggle to make it in the society. However, a study by Lenisa, 2006, has shown that there is a difference between being smart in class and being intelligent. Some of the people who make it in class are only smart in memory and they really struggle when it comes to the making of decisions in real life situations (Ince & Barrow 2008). The intelligent people may be defined by the environment that they are brought up in. There are strict differences between the genders in the West Indies where both have their responsibilities. Change in culture has led to abandonment of some cultures that favored the boy child over the girl child and now both genders have closely similar roles in the society involved. The parents uphold corporal punishment in disciplining their children and ensuring that they gain the right morals that will benefit them. Conclusion As observed in the analysis of the two cultures, it is evident that the culture a child is reared in determines the person s/he becomes in the future. The two cultures analyzed have many aspects in common in the upbringing of the child where the family and the society couple with the education institutions to instill morals into a child. These morals determine how the child will be perceiving things and how they will fit in the society. The differences depicted come in terms of language where most of the Hispanic speaks Spanish as their first language while the West Indies speak English. The economic and social organizations of two cultures are different but the role of the family still remains closely similar in both (Thorne, 2008). This analysis helps to support our thesis stamen on the role of the cultures in child rearing. It is therefore impossible to define the child without looking at the culture that they were brought up in. This will help in giving an insight of the factors that facilitated the child’s behaviors and what should be expected of them as the society determined. References Thorne, B. (2008). Sociology and Anthropology of Childhood. The Gale Group Inc. Ince, M. & Barrow, C. (2008). Early Childhood in Caribbean. Early Childhood Development. `Bernard van Leer Foundation. Joseph, L. (2006). Case Study of a Caribbean Family’s Perceptions of Culturally Appropriate Family-Centered Servie Provision. University of Maryland Press. iHisa Read More