Family values

Family values

Author

Institution

Introduction

The importance of values in the growth and development of children cannot be gainsaid. This is especially having in mind that children are exposed to various sources of influence in the contemporary human society, ranging from the media to the society at large. It is worth noting that family values seem to have been relegated to the periphery in the contemporary human society. This paper aims at presenting some academic works that have examined the place of family values in the growth and development of parents.

Grusec, J.E & Kuczynski, L. (1997). Parenting and children’s internalization of values: a handbook of contemporary theory. New York: Wiley

This all-inclusive handbook comes up with a detailed analysis of the complexities pertaining to the parental role in the moral development of children. It is worth noting that the phrase “family values” has become quite popular in the recent times especially in the political arena. As much as many people agree that parents impact heavily in the social and moral development of children, it is often a herculean task to pin down the mechanisms through which these values are acquired. It has been commonly held that, parents who combine firmness with consideration for the kid’s point of view are more effective than their counterparts who are strict disciplinarians. It is imperative that influences from the immediate community, culture, the relationship between the parent and the child, not to mention the kid’s own agency are considered to allow for an optimum parenting strategy. Grusec and Kuczynski use the book to offer a clear view of the socialization approach, as well as review the recent developments in research and theory pertaining to child development.

This book starts off with a historical outline of philosophies pertaining to child-rearing and parental influence. This outline provides the foundation for the examination that follows. The book then goes on to explore the developmental context pertaining to parenting strategies in young children, adolescents and toddlers.

The writers then concentrate on the ways in which parenting strategies affect transmission of values. They present and incorporate varied theoretical formulations so as to show how the strategies impact on value transmission. In addition, it covers parental influence in biological and social contexts.

Juul, J. (2001). Your Competent Child: Toward New Basic Values for the Family. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

This book presents a persuasive and radical approach to family and parental dynamics. Juul uses examples from families in numerous countries to challenge parents to view the years, that they spend with their kids, as an electrifying time for development and growth for the entire family.

In this book, Juul argues that present day’s families are at a crossroad relating to family values to which they should allow their kids to identify. The disparaging values that used to govern the conventional, hierarchical and authoritarian families have been largely modified. Instead, parents have the choice of embracing an entirely new collection of values that are founded on the assumption that families have to be built on reciprocity and dignity between children and parents, rather than on democratic tyranny or authoritarian force. Juul argues that children have the emotional competence in that they are always truthful as to how one feels. In essence, he argues that parents should not only listen to but also learn from the truthful feedback that their children give them. Jull posits that when individuals are dissatisfied or unhappy with a certain situation or issue in the family, it is highly likely that the dissatisfaction results from their inability to convert their feelings of love into loving behavior. In essence, it is imperative that individuals are concerned more about their emotional honesty than what they view as necessities, an aspect that Juul christens “personal honesty”.

Damon, W (1990). Moral Child: Nurturing Children’s Natural Moral Growth. New York: Simon and Schuster

William Damon was a professor of education at Brown university. In this book, he provides the first overview of the nurturance and evolution of kids’ behavior and moral understanding from their infancy through adolescence both in school and at home. Damon immerses into real life experiences of children to explain values such as equality and empathy, and progresses to the formation of value hierarchies that are more sophisticated. These values are found naturally in kids.

In this book, which was written for a lay audience of teachers and parents, William Damon sketches out the children’s moral development, all of which occurs within the social crucible of childhood, family, schools and adolescent friends. Rather than concentrate on naive morals, Damon concentrates of factors that would enhance moral development, as well as those that discourage the same. The discouragers include permissive parenting, being self-centered, authoritarianism and disconnected parenting, while the encouragers are termed as responsive engagement.

Damon offers a clear reasoning on the occurrence of moral development in childhood. He compares contrasts theories that pertain to what he calls “best parenting practices”, and offers an all-inclusive summary of how parents can foster the moral and emotional growth of their children. This book, therefore, provides an excellent outline as to how moral viewpoint of children is shaped by their own experiences in developing reciprocity and empathy, sharing, as well as understanding the expectations of the society.

Folbre, N. (2008). Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family. New York: Harvard University Press

The role of finances or material wealth in anybody’s life can never be gainsaid. This is especially when one takes into consideration the fact that wealth is thought to add to or enhance the quality of an individual’s life. In essence, it is not surprising that the traditional economists assume that parents get children just to have the pleasure of their company. This is the assumption that Nancy Folbre seeks to challenge in this book. Folbre states that children are taxpayers and workers of the next generation, in which case investing in them would bring a considerable payback to other stakeholder in the economy. However, parents especially mothers pay a large amount of the costs with the high childbearing price pushing many families towards poverty. Of course, this may have adverse consequences on the children themselves. Not only do parents spend money but also they invest their time on children. Yet the value of this time is mostly ignored when estimating costs of child rearing. In this book, Folbre comes up with an incredibly high but entirely convincing and credible estimate as to the value of parental time for every child. This estimate is made by posing the question as to the cost of purchasing a substitute that is comparable to the value of parental time. Folbre also lays emphasis on the need for enhanced public expenditure accounting on children over their life cycle. She describes the importance of rethinking the logic and structure of the welfare state, while arguing that an entirely new institutional structure would promote a more sustainable, efficient and cooperative commitment to the future generations.