Childhood Patterns of Social Organisation and Cultural - Essay Example

Childhood Patterns of Social Organisation and Cultural Conventions There is no universal experience of "childhood" -- it is a construct entirely dependent on patterns of social organization and cultural conventions. Basically it is important to note that children are shaped by what they experience in their environment as well as how they are shaped by their culture. This concept of social organization and culture is the subject of many books and articles. In the book, The Four Agreements, Ruiz (1997), calls this concept the "domestication of humans" he says that we are all products of what we have been given by other people: As children, we didnt have the opportunity to choose our beliefs, but we agreed with the information that was passed to us…thats how we learned as children…we didnt choose these beliefs and we may have rebelled against them but we were not strong enough to win the rebelling (Ruiz, 1997, p. 7-8). This is the beginning of shaping a child to think and act like the parent. In this process, children are taught how to behave and how to move within their culture. Depending on how the child is treated they will either develop a strong character and self-esteem or they will develop one that is weak. A child is taught to perceive the world through their parents eyes and they willing accept this teaching. The biggest influence on childhood will be the culture, religion, economic and social aspects of the family. Rodd (1996) says that culture plays a significant role in childhood and it can be the mainstream culture or it can be a subculture (Rodd, p. 31). Shechtman Hiradin and Zina (2003) talked with adolescents in their study to find out whether there was a difference in how these children would disclose about them based on their ethnicity. Their study found that Moslem children were able to disclose easier than Druze children and they thought it may be due to how much acculturation each ethnic group displayed. Druze people re more traditional in their ways and less acculturated to the mainstream than Moslem and Jewish children according to their findings. This information shows that there is some truth to the idea that culture plays a part on how a child learns. It is the opinion of this writer that culture is a very big part of how children accept certain things in their environment. For instance, many children grow up and are abused in their childhood. Often this leads to abusive adults. The culture can also teach a child to love or to hate, to express themselves well or to be introverted and shy. There are a variety of cultural challenges to a child both inside the home and outside because they are constantly being bombarded by cultural situations. Harris (1999) says that what a parent does may not matter to a childs growing up. She gives examples of how one culture (that of the 1950s) taught parents not to spoil their children. Today, parents are taught to nurture their children with love and attention (Harris, p. 30). Whichever way they go though parents are the first people that children see and relate to because they are with them most of the time. Children learn to follow their parents and then they must learn how to fit in with their peers. This information they receive is part through trial and error and part through watching what the parents reaction is to their attempts at fitting in. However, Harris says that there are too many things that children cant do and therefore they cant learn effectively from their parents (Harris, p. 33). Another aspect of childhood is the socio-economic status of the family. Children who grow up in a privileged environment will have a different relationship with the world than children who grow up in poverty. Propper and Rigg (2007) looked at the affect of socio-economic status on behaviour and mental health in children. They studied 6000 children who had grown up in the UK and talked to parents and teachers for their information. They found that the "prevalence of poor behaviour [was] higher amongst children with low SES [socio-economic status] families (Propper and Rigg, p. 8). They saw that these children would exhibit a higher incidence of hyperactivity, conduct disorders, and overall inappropriate behaviours. They also showed in this study that when children are experiencing poverty in their environment, they are not exposed to the same things as children who are in a more privileged environment and this can have some bearing on their behaviour (Propper and Rigg, p. 8). Clarke and Akerman (n.d.) looked at how socio-economic status affected a students attitude toward reading. They surveyed over 8,000 students 12-17 and found that pupils who received free school meals (used in the study as an indicator of low socio-economic status) held more negative attitudes towards reading, rated themselves as less confident readers, and gained less enjoyment from reading than their peers. Pupils also reported having fewer books at home, more limited access to educational materials (books, computers, magazines), and receiving low levels of encouragement from parents to read. It is clear from this study that children in the lower income homes may not have learned an appreciation of reading before they came to school because they didnt have materials at home. In some cases reading may not have been a priority for the family. Perhaps children didn’t see their parents read so it wasnt seen as something that was necessary. Another idea here that this researcher thought about was the fact that maybe families in low income situations are more focused on obtaining tools and resources for physical survival. Therefore books and other reading materials wouldn’t be a priority. Kimguian (2004) wrote about the effects of religion on children. This is another area that I believe will influence how a child grows up. Her basic premise is that because of religion, children and women are exposed to medieval practices and believes that have created a dark time for children (Kimguian, par. 4). She explains that this type of practice stops children from creativity and deprives them from learning and science (Kimguian, par. 5). Although she is very negative in her thoughts in my opinion, she has demonstrated one idea of what religion can do to children. However, a report by John Bartkowski, a Mississippi State University professor who talked to parents and teachers of over 16,000 first grades, said that religion is actually good for children if both parents are involved in the same religion. When parents argue over religion their children have more difficulties ( Bartkowski, as quoted in Wenner, 2007, par. 4-5). He said that religion is good because it helps children with socialization, especially if parents are involved in social networks at the church. It also helps children learn good morals and they help families embrace parenting with "meaning and significance" (Bartkowski as quoted in Wenner, 2007, par. 6-8). Brown and Taylor (2003) support this view in their study of religion and education. They found that the more education a family had, the more likely they would attend church. If they had preschool children, this was also a reason to attend (Wenner, p. 18). So religion can play a part in a childs upbringing and depending on how it is treated, it can make a difference or be detrimental. A final area to look at to see how it affects childhood is the social network. This area encompasses the environment in which the child lives and can include the family, neighbourhood or school where a child lives. Wang, Stevens, et.al. (2007) studied children and said that parents have a very strong effect on how their children socialize. Their influence is both indirect and direct through modelling and other behaviours (Wang, Stevens, et. al. p. 2). It is clear from these studies that childhood experiences are different for everyone because we all have different experiences in childhood. Studies are done constantly on the way families interact together and the way individuals react in society. There is other research on attachment theory that says that how a person becomes an adult may be dependent on how they attached to their primarily caregiver in their early childhood. I think this is a very important research because if you look around at your friends you can tell that as adults many have a difficult time having relationships with others. This could be about their attachment as small children. It is up to everyone to do their best to move through the world and sometimes that is difficult because people are so different from each other. Of course if we werent different it would be so sad to have everyone be exactly the same. As these studies have shown in this paper, there are a number of ways to look at the world and there are a variety of ways that perception is taught to little children. Because of this parents must be careful how they attend to their children. With proper nurturing and direction, children can grow to be healthy adults. When that nurturing and direction is missing, children have difficulty when they become adults. Bibliography Brown, S. and Taylor, K. 2003. Religion and education: evidence from the National child development study. Department of Economics, University of Leicester, England. Available . [1 May 2008] Clark, C. & Akerman, R. n.d. What impact does socio-economic status have on childrens reading? National Literacy Trust. Available . [1 May 2008]. Harris, J.R. 1999. How to succeed in childhood. The Wilson Quarterly. 23(1). Available . Kamguian, Azam. 17 February 2004. The impact of religion on childrens development. National Secular Society. Available . [1 May 2008] Rodd, J. 1996. Children, culture and education. Childhood Education. [Online] 73:1 p. 31. Available Questia. . [1 May 2008]. Ruiz, D.M. 1997. The four agreements. CA: Amber-Allen. Propper, C. and Rigg, J. 2007. Socio-economic status and child behavior: evidence from a contemporary UK cohort. Case/125. Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE). Available . [1 May 2008]. Shechtman, Z., Hiradin, Ava., and Zina, S. 2003. The impact of culture on group behavior: a comparison of three ethnic groups. Journal of Counselling and Development. 81(2). Available Questia. . [1 May 2008] Wang, A., Stevens, B. et. al. 1999. The impact of family socialization practices on childrens socialization in China. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. 14 (1). P.91. Available . [1 May 2008] Wenner, Melinda. 24 April 2007. Study: religion is good for kids. Fox News. Available . [1 May 2008] Read More