Introduction
The family development and life cycle theory provides an in-depth perspective of the processes and expectations that families experience after childbearing. Welcoming newborns into the family requires adjustments or changes in the roles of the caregivers due to the unique needs of the infant that are necessary for healthy physical and psychosocial development. In spite of the universal trends of family development, childbearing family nurses need to realize that unique features exist in timing and the sequence of the life cycle stages (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tobacco, & Hanson, 2014). Hence, the development of new roles and impacts to the parents especially on mutual responsibility for nurturing and caregiving. This paper discusses the changes in roles and the effects to the caregivers by reflecting on a family in the practice of nursing.
Task 3: Assuming Mutual Responsibility for Child Care and Nurturing
Nurturing and caregiving require the embracement or new roles that need to be shared equally between parents. In this case, emotional and physical energies have to be directed collectively towards the infant to foster the psychosocial development (The Center for Parenting Education, 2015). Thus, an in-depth discussion of the changing roles and implications to the caregivers would be essential in this regard.
Changing Roles and Impact to the Caregivers
In the nursing practice, responsibly informing the caregivers or parents in a particular family of the expected new roles is essential for healthy caregiving and nurturing. Therefore, the caregivers should allocate more time in additional household endeavors. The mother should anticipate assuming the role of breastfeeding as it is preferred to bottle milk due to its health benefits to both the parent and the infant (Kaakinen et al., 2014). Similarly, the father could bottle-feed the infant in the absence of the mother. The impact is that both parents assume the new role of ensuring proper nutrition to the newborn to facilitate health growth and development.
The mutual childcare and nurturing responsibilities imply that both parents need to be aware of the alternating roles in response to the different needs of the child. The nurse would engage in teaching the family on issues like proper changing, feeding, and comforting the child (Kaakinen et al., 2014). Thus, the caregivers have to agree to learn the new roles mutually and perform them alternatingly when the need arises. Consequently, the skills learned would inculcate the essentials of parenting that foster family development in that phase of their life cycle.
The family should know that it is its responsibility to create an attachment with the child to develop bonds, which are instrumental for the infant’s psychosocial development (Rackin & Gibson-Davis, 2012). Nurses should advise the family to consider interacting with the child regularly through carrying, playing, and babysitting in response to its needs. Besides, the parents could foster the attachment by maintaining eye contact, responding to sounds, calling the child by name, and interpreting different actions (Kaakinen et al., 2014). Ultimately, the caregivers assume the roles of socialization agents in the family setting.
Conclusion
Since welcoming a newborn to the family is exciting, instilling the notion of mutual responsibility in nurturing and caregiving is vital for sound development. Nurses can intervene in fostering the impactful new roles that include feeding, changing, carrying, teasing, socializing, and responding to communication among others. The new roles adopted imply various changes in the usual routines of both parents as they seek to respond to the infant’s needs.
References
Kaakinen, R., Coehlo, P., Steele, R., Tobacco, A., & Hanson, S. (2014). Family Health Care Nursing: Theory, Practice, and Research (5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.
Rackin, H., & Gibson-Davis, C. (2012). The Role of Pre- and Post conception Relationships for First-Time Parents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(3), 526–539.
The Center for Parenting Education: The Dual Role of Parents: Providing Nurture and Structure. (2015). Web.