Participation of Parents in the Upbringing and Social Adaptation of Cildren with Facial Deformities - Essay Example

? IPA: Coping and Resilience Introduction All children face stress related to their social and academic development in schools. However, this is especially true in the case of students who suffer from some form or disability or disfigurement. There are a large number of studies on coping and resilience of vulnerable children which have indicate that there is a direct link between Parental involvement and attitude and the child’s social and academic outcomes. This research is focus on the theme of parental involvement and how it impacts on the social life and educational outcomes of the children with facial disfigurement. The research is based on the qualitative interviews of two mother-child pairs and the findings are discussed using the available literature on the subject. 2. Results Superordinate Theme – Parenting Attitude (Involved Parenting and Uninvolved Parenting) The theme relates to the type of attitude that the mother of a child has toward parenting and how it impacts on the child. Research has linked maternal attitude with maternal support that is available to the child (Barbarin, 1993) and this support is essential throughout the childhood and also through the adolescent years. But, the interviews showed that there were several themes that emerged related to the type of support that mothers provided depending on their own attitudes and understanding of what parenting requires. The following subthemes will be discussed – parental involvement in child’s social life, and parental involvement in child’s education. Sub Theme 1 – Parental Involvement in Child’s Social Life Two mother-child pairs were interviewed for the research - Felicity and her 11 year old son Lucus and Jackie and her 11-year old daughter Alicia. The following sections give the findings from the interviews that depict the ‘parenting attitude’ of the two mothers and the social life of their children. The findings will then be discussed under the section ‘Discussion’. Felicity reported that she decided to change Lucas’s school as he was being bullied in the last school. She said, “…Because we had to change course two and a half years ago where he’d get like ..problems that weren’t understood “.Lucas also reported that, “They get me out of tight spots, Oh tight spots like .. like people tease me about my face, I get angry and it .. gets me out of ..” Following this change, Felicity realized that while she was taking Lucas away from the bullies by changing his school, she was also taking him away from his friends, “and his immediate group of friends from school .. he lost those so we had to take him out to a wider area of activities to make new friends and they accepted him” Felicity reported that, to compensate for the loss of friends at school, she encouraged Lucas to enlarge his social circle and this could be done through participation in many activities. Lucas therefore participates actively in many activities like he reported, “.. but judo, football, violin, orchestra and choir, skiing, Scouts, archery and deaf .. activities which is like a deaf youth group for ..” Another thing that Felicity reported was about the time when she encouraged the school to intervene and make some boys from Lucas current school get disciplined because they were also bullying him. She said, “The school dealt with it very well and then he could really deal with it …Lucas said it was going on. And then in May it all flared up again and then .. it got better because all the teachers said ..” On the other hand, it was seen from the second interview that Jackie did not believe in getting involved in the social life of Alicia. According to Alicia,” Yeah well I think because it is very difficult with things like this if she comes home and says something you know you get upset and you don’t want to .. and sometimes some of the children are just sort of like oh I could wring their necks, how could they be so nasty.” This shows that Jackie wanted to avoid being confronted with the reality, and felt uncomfortable if Alicia came home upset. Alicia reported that, “I don’t see the point of it (talking about her face with her mother)”, and Jackie confirmed that, “ (Alicia) Don’t really need to.” This too shows that Alicia did not feel encouraged to talk about her feelings openly with her mother. Alicia is also found to trust and be emotionally dependent on her school friends. “When I’m upset my friends will go up to the person and go to them “You should not have right to say something like that” (Alicia). Sub Theme 2 - Parental Involvement in Child’s Education Felicity was involved with the education of Lucas as was seen from her commitment to ensure that he doesn’t fall behind in his studies even when he had to be absent from class during his operations. “When I was at .. when my granny was looking after me after an operation I didn’t really miss out on much ‘cos mum went to school every morning and got that work that part of my homework that I did with my gran.” (Lucus). Jackie did not seem involved with the education of Alicia as there was no mention of anything that Jackie did to support Alicia with her workload. “Maths. I don’t mind English ..” (Alicia). Alicia found some subjects difficult at school but there was no hint of how she or Jackie planned to overcome the problem. 3. Discussion The interviews revealed that Felicity was a highly involved parent and believed that she needs to be very supportive of Lucas’ social needs as well as educational needs. She was deeply involved with helping Lucas get more friends through a multitude of extracurricular activities and spent her own time driving Lucas around. She kept a close watch about the school’s attitudes toward Lucas and their safety and precautionary measures to prevent bullying. She meticulously ensured that Lucas got his homework everyday from the school. All these activities indicate that Felicity was committed and very involved in her parenting. Lucas trusted his parents to be there for him whenever he needed and he was well tuned into his own feelings – of unhappiness with the bullying, of frustration of not being able to tell his friends how he felt. Lucas was also confident and grounded and had faith that with his mother there for him, he will do okay in his life. On the other hand, Jackie appeared to have a non-involved attitude and she did not actively participate in understanding and supporting Alicia through all the bullying and name-calling. In fact, Jackie appeared as if she wanted to avoid getting upset by Alicia’s upset over name calling. This non-involvement and non-interference attitude of Jackie came out in the interviews, as opposed to Felicities over caring and completely involved attitude. It was seen that Felicity was completely involved in not only ensuring that Lucus had plenty of opportunities to meet new friends and have a good environment, Jackie had a let go attitude toward who Alicia met or befriended. While it was seen that Lucas trusted his mother and had confidence in his own self, Alicia is reflected as someone who needs other people (friends, boys in her class, Miss Jones, Miss Short) to help her. This in turn reflects on low self-confidence and a streak of dependence. Similarly, it was also seen that Felicity involved herself with ensuring that Lucus’ education never suffered, there appeared no such endeavour on the part of Kackie. While the interview did not focus on the academic outcomes for the two children, it could be seen that Lucus felt more confident about his life. The above findings are in accordance with what several researchers have found in their studies. For example, El Nokali, Bachman and Votruba-Drzal (2011) found that parental involvement was directly and significantly related to a child’s social skill development and lowered behavioural problems. The researchers however did not establish the same significant link between parental involvement and academic achievement. Similarly, another research by Calderon (2000) that assessed the deaf children’s reading skills and social-emotional development found that mothers that were more involved with their children’s education and used additional resources and service were able to make a positive impact on both the language development as well as social-emotional stability of the children. Another research on children suffering from Type 1 diabetes, found that in cases where the child and the mother were involved and collaborated with in managing the disease, the outcomes were more positive mood and less depression for both others and children (Berg et al, 2007). This is also observed in the case of Felicity, where she and Lucas are found to have established a mutually agreed dynamics about managing his condition, and the results too are observed as positive for Lucas. It also came out of the interviews that Felicity has altered her own life – social interactions, and the way she spends her time – to adjust for her child’s need. This is a common attribute of families or parents who have children with disability (Heiman, 2002). According to Heiman (2002), parents who adjust their own social and economic life in order to give support to their children with disability are able to cope better and also encourage their children to become resilient. Similarly, an exhaustive literature review conducted by Roach, Orsmond and Barratt (1999) on research and studies on parental involvement found that parents who were involved with their children were able to positively impact their social development as well as their academic achievement. Other researchers have highlighted the fact that parental involvement is reflected, among other things, in the form of the parent’s endeavour to provide the children with stable and secure home environment, to collaborate with the teachers and the schools and with parent child discussions (Cullingford and Morrison, 1999). All these factors were observed in the case of Felicity who encouraged Lucas to discuss anything with her, and who shared information with teachers and his school and who actively involved herself in making him widen his social circle. This was not observed in the case of Jackie, who came out as a non-involved parent who readily let things happen as they did and did not get actively involved in Alicia’s social or educational life. However, while this gives a potent indication of the parenting style of Jackie as that of ‘low-involvement’, there is some literature to indicate otherwise. For example, according Edwards and Alldred (2000), it is found that with age, the parental involvement with the child’s social and academic performance is lowered in all cases. Alicia being eleven could have justified the low-level involvement of her mother, but Lucas being eleven too undermines any such argument. 4. Conclusions The current research has therefore provided further evidence that supports existing literature on parental involvement and coping of children in their social and educational life. The current research provided useful insight in the form of a close-up view of parent-child involvement and its outcomes in the two cases that were considered for the study. The qualitative interviews that were conducted were undertaken in the form of real life conversations and not as formal structured interviews, and as such they provided a real-life snapshot of the situation as perceived by the respondents. However, the interview method suffered from the limitation of time and much deeper exploration of the themes, especially related to the parental involvement with the education and academic outcome of the children was not made. Also, since the interviews involved under-aged respondents, it was also difficult to maintain a balance between exploring the facts and also ensuring that the child was not disturbed or upset by the questions. Moreover, it was also difficult at times to understand the phrases or contexts used by the children, so substantial rephrasing and cross-questions had to be undertaken. It is therefore suggested that any future interview for similar purpose should schedule substantially more time and also the interviewer needs to take preparatory training in interviewing young children. 5. References Barbarin, O. A. (1993). Coping and resilience: Exploring the inner lives of African American children. Journal of Black Psychology, 19(4), 478-492. Berg, C. A., Wiebe, D. J., Beveridge, R. M., Palmer, D. L., Korbel, C. D., Upchurch, R. & Donaldson, D. L. (2007). Mother–child appraised involvement in coping with diabetes stressors and emotional adjustment.Journal of pediatric psychology, 32(8), 995-1005. Calderon, R. (2000). Parental involvement in deaf children's education programs as a predictor of child's language, early reading, and social-emotional development. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 5(2), 140-155. Cullingford, C., and Morrison, M. (1999) Relationships between parents and schools; a case study. Educational Review, 51, 3, 253-262 Desforges, C., & Abouchaar, A. (2003). The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment: A literature review. Nottingham,, UK: DfES Publications. Edwards, R, and Alldred, P. (2000). A Typology of parental involvement in education centring on children and young people: negotiating familiarisation, institutionalisation and individualisation. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 21(3), 435-455. El Nokali, N. E., Bachman, H. J. and Votruba-Drzal, E. (2010). Parent Involvement and Children's Academic and Social Development in Elementary School. Child Development, 81(3): pp. 988–1005. Heiman, T. (2002). Parents of children with disabilities: Resilience, coping, and future expectations. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 14(2), 159-171. Roach, M. A., Orsmond, G. I., & Barratt, M. S. (1999). Mothers and fathers of children with Down syndrome: Parental stress and involvement in childcare. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 104(5), 422-436. Read More