Introduction
According to DAVID LANCY, children in different societies around the world acquire gender roles and various patterns of conducts such as behavior, society rules as well as values of adults through a gradual process as they grow up. This does not depend on whether or not their parents have directly taught them on these values or even played with them. The question that arises from these facts is how a child is able to develop a particular culture that exists among adults. This is because according to several researches that have been done, the role of the mother may be attenuated while the role of the father may nearly be non-existent after the care given to the infants. This essay is discussing various strategies that are being applied by different non-western communities in order to shape the development of their children.
Childhood and culture
In the LANCY DAVID book, the main theme regards how the modern westerners perceive and handle their children in a different way compared to the annals of culture. According to LANCY, a child progresses from the time he/she is born into adulthood seamlessly without experiencing intervening stages. This means that, they follow a natural path of acquiring culture in a particular environment without being much affected by the contribution of their parents. According to the author, when children are being breastfed, the biological nature of human being ensures the mother cannot be fertilized again especially within the first six months as long as she is breastfeeding. This is an adaptation to ensure that, the child is with the mother for a long time for the weaning to take place. Such a prolonged time of a child with the mother is important because the child gets an opportunity to develop adequate knowledge, efficient skills as well as strength which are necessary for one to be a successful adult. (LANCY, 2008)
Western children are too dependant on their parents from when they are infant to when they complete college at the age of more than twenty years. In the non-western communities, it takes many years for a child to acquire typical cultural behaviors and therefore they have a good masterly of all skills needed. They are given much independence as they observe what adults are doing, engaging this into their plays. This kind of acquisition of skills in non-western societies does not require a lot of training and are not difficult.
Children develop their culture through subsistence activities without using any curriculum that must be mastered by the child as it is the case in the western communities. Research has shown that, even though there is no elaborate education in non-western communities, the indigenous traditions are rich in terms of both culture and religion even when they lack theology. Their political system is sophisticated though political science does not exist and everything they study is through practice. Much of the things that are practiced are not necessarily reflected or analyzed in effort to explain them. Children follow a natural way of learning and are not given rewards for being smart or able to memorize things from text books. However, if a child is polite and obedient, he/she receives rewards. Children are only required to listen and observe what adults are doing and are not given much chance to be heard as long as they are seen around. Therefore, it is the biological set up and the duration of childhood that determines if a child masters his/her culture quickly since childhood is both cultural and biological. (LANCY, 2008)
For several decades even before the invention of organized societies and other aspects of life such as agriculture, most societies had their way of living and means of earning livelihood. These included hunting and gathering and many other aspects of culture that were controlled by human instincts. They were comprised of all known instinctive means by which human beings acquire knowledge and all these formed the way of life of the society. This explains the instinctive way of life of children and the manner in which they receive all aspects of their culture. Children of hunters and gatherers among non-western communities mastered several skills that they needed and eventually became effective adults in their cultural set-up. Through anthropology, several children in African societies, Australia, South America, Asia and New Guinea gradually engaged in hunting and gathering. Despite their differences in language and culture, children in many communities are similar as they share many basics in the way they develop cultural aspects before becoming adults. Research has shown that, togetherness among children enables them to share and make decisions in a democratic manner. They are controlled by ethical system that encourage sharing of values especially those that are rich in culture such as music, games, artwork , occasional dances and stories that are time honored. This form of self education develops among children where they have to study enormous aspects of daily life that would make them successful adults latter in life. (LANCY, 2008)
Even when children have not interacted so much with their parents or have not received much of formal education, informal education plays much role and means a lot for them. The abilities of children to perform different duties in the society require physical skills acquired through continuous practice as well as ability to remember experienced skills. They also modify the existing culture through shared knowledge that is verbally exchanged such as how to prepare food. Most of these skills are obtained by the children without being taught in a formal school by the seniors or even their parents. Research has shown that, adults provide no curriculum or forms of motivation to the children for the development of culture to take place. They also do not give lessons and they have minimal supervision on the progress of the children. Children become part of their culture through observing the performance of the adults, playing with other children, and several explorations”. However, their parents occasionally give them some advice and even demonstrate on how to perform various tasks in a better way such as how to make their working tools in form of toys. Studies have shown that, such help is only provided by the adults when a child has desired to be assisted but cannot be initiated by the parents. Through experience, parents are aware that, children are capable of teaching themselves on issues regarding their culture. (LANCY, 2008)
Different strategies used shape children’s development
Among major strategies used to make children undergo successful self educating process is to give them enough time to play and explore nature with minimal guidance. When children are young, they engage in playing almost all the time because their parents do not expect them to do much of serious work before they reach their late teens and this has equally been provided to both boys and girls. Most societies view their children as individuals who are complete and who have rights that compare to those of adults. Parents assume that, a child in his/her own accord has ability to make economic contribution after a certain level of development in readiness for specific tasks. Parents therefore do not see the need of making a child perform what he/she is not interested in. Studies have shown that, human beings can educate themselves and make positive cultural contribution because of living in communities that are evolving. This is enhanced when the child is trusted by the parents or other adults in the same environment. (LANCY, 2008)
When a child observes an adult performing various activities, he/she is able to incorporate the tasks into various plays and this is much valued by non-western communities even when the child’s role is passive. For example, in most Asian and African cultures, children directly observe patterns of activities such as construction of houses, cooking, healthcare services for both adults and infants and precautions to avoid rivalry among members of the same community. They also make healthy arguments that eventually shape politics in that particular culture. When all these observation are incorporated in the children’s play, they develop into skills that gradually become a real thing. It is therefore clear that, the division between real participation in activities and the playful participation by the children is not sharp. For example, an African child may playfully be using toy bows and arrows to hunt butterflies but later in life, they will playfully be hunting small animals. When such children grow up, they gain complex hunting skills that require complex hunting equipment. Boys and girls may also be building play huts that bear real model of a real hut after observing their parents building real houses. (LANCY, 2008)
Even when there is no one to encourage children to perform all these tasks, they accomplish them naturally because a child has a natural desire to mature up and become a successful adult. This desire to grow provides a powerful motivation to the children and therefore blends with playing as well as exploration. It is therefore evident that, children acquire culture if they are given enough opportunity to endlessly practice on the skills that they require to be effective adults. However, because of the fast globalization and complex advancement in technology, a modern child may have limited time to make observation on the unlimited skills needed to cope with modern life. This is caused by the limited time parents and adults may have on their little ones because most people work far from home and only return late in the evening. Ironically, it is the same mechanism that applied in the old days that applies today for the transition of culture from one generation to another. (LANCY, 2008)
Influence on Popular Culture
In the modern times, there are unlimited outlets through the media including movies, television, internets, music and magazines which are all exposed to children and are popular in shaping their culture. Most families pass ideas and believe through several generations but a great contradiction arises if children discover that, what they know from their parents is different from materials collected from the outside world. Family values may therefore influence a child to generate a positive as well as a negative outlook regarding his/her indigenous culture latter in life. Personality in a child may be shaped through several means but the greatest challenge is that, the unlimited access to the media causes a skew of identities among children. Research has shown that, popular culture is powerful in manipulating indigenous culture in children in both positive and negative manner. Enlightened parents have therefore taken the opportunity to control media exposure to their kinds in a constructive way so as to shape their development. The mode of shaping development in children through materials from the media has also been extensively used by teachers in formal set-up. (LANCY, 2008)
Conclusion
The principal approach in shaping a child development generally revolve around watching activities been done by adults, doing tasks as well as by listening. The manner in which these approaches benefit the child largely depend on emphasis placed on them in different communities. Other factors that effectively shape a child development are the daily tasks, peer group behavior, structures of social power and also social status given to the teachers handling the child. The facets to shaping development in children may therefore be summarized under content, context and employed strategy in passing skills from the time when a child is young to his/her old age.
References
LANCY, F. (2008): The Anthropology of Childhood: The anthropology of childhood: Cambridge University Press pp17-239.