Relations between the children and their parents are the basic criteria on which the development of the child is based. In this period of life, the parents are the most influential adults for an infant. Healthy family relations are of a great importance for the proper infants development.
Infants attachment for the concrete persons appears at the age of 6 months. As usual, but not always, it is a mother who is the object of the first infants attachment. In the course of a month or two, an infant begins to show the affection for a father, and for the other members of a family. The object of an infants bonding can better than anybody else calm him. Moreover, in the majority of cases, an infant applies for calming to the object of his attachment.
In the presence of parents, an infant more rarely feels discomfort in a strange situation. This infants attachment plays an important role from the point of view of the self-protection. It gives him the feeling of security in his experiencing the outward things, in the acquainting with a new situation for him. This attachment becomes more evident when the infant feels anxiety.
Playing with the new person, the infant may pay no attention to the parents if they are near. However, if the infant is frightened or excited, he looks for assistance from the mother or the father.
With the help of the object of attraction, the infant estimates the degree of the danger level. For instance, a kid approaching the unknown and bright toy stops and looks at the mother waiting for her reaction. If there is an anxiety on her face, or in her voice, the kid will evince the vigilance too. On the contrary, if there is a smile on the mothers face, or the approval in the voice, the kid will take the toy.
Though, infants have the inherited ability to feel the emotional attachment, its strength, as well as the infants choice, in a good manner depends on the parents behavior towards the child.
It is very important for adults to feel and to answer all infants calls, whether they are crying, smiling or babbling. It is necessary to look out for their signals and cues and how they are exploring the environment (Murray, 2014). As usual, infants feel attachment for those, who positively react on their initiatives. In the common games with the child, parents should make the efforts in order to pass gradually the initiative to him. It is necessary to respond on all the infants cues, at the same time without interruption of his purposeful activities.
Investigations of different researches, while characterizing the types of parents, make possible to distinguish several parental types. This distinction is based on the certain dimensions such as communication, expression of warmth, attitude to discipline, and expectation for maturity.
- Communication is the parents ability to understand and to be understood by their children and their patience in communication with them.
- Expression of warmth is the parents expression of their feeling towards children, whether tender or cold and critical.
- Attitude to discipline is the approach of the parents to the methods of childrens bringing up.
- Expectation for maturity is the parents understanding of their children behavior, and the self-control they demand form their children.
Based on these principles four major parenting styles are distinguished.
The permissive parents are characterized by the low demands to their children, and by the intention to avoid confrontations of any type. These parents consider themselves as friends to their children. Their expectations of maturity are low, as well as their demands for discipline. Children of these parents are properly minded as the infants, but while growing up they pay no attention to the parents and their rules and orders.
The opposite type is the authoritarian parenting. Parents of this type are highly demanding and strict. They except from their children to obey their order without hesitations. They establish a set of rules for their children to be complied without any discussions and the expressions of the personal opinion. The discipline violation in such families is always punished, sometimes even physically. The infants of authoritarian parents have the lack of warmth. They rarely seek the comfort from their parents and sometimes they show anger toward them. These infants often grow up either seditious and cold, or submissive and meek.
The next type is the authoritative parenting. These parents are responsive and demanding at the same time. In discipline their methods are rather supportive than punishing. As usual, instead of physical punishment these parents are apt to forgive their children, making them to realize their fault at the same time. They consider their children to be the mature persons, recognizing their possibility of making a mistake. Their infants are securely attached, but separated from the parents they feel discomfort and anxiety. Nevertheless, these infants grow up as confident and trustworthy adults.
The least effective type is considered to be the uninvolved parenting. The parents of this type lack of exactingness, as well as tenderness. In many cases, the parents are unsuccessful in their relations with the children. Their infants are often depressed, and while growing up they often have a great variety of problems of the different character from the learning disabilities to the various problems of psychological character.
Many parents of this type are suffering from poverty. At the same time, there exist the special national educational programs. The example of it is the Head Start, the national federal program that provides pre-school education and social services for the children from the poor families (Rose, 2009)
As to my opinion, the most effective style is the authoritative parenting. The parents, who belong to it, bring up their children as the individuals. They are strict to an adequate degree, but not severe. This quality makes it possible to bring up an adequate person, who is not spoiled by the total absence of authority and who does not consider their parents to be tyrants. This type of parenting is the golden mean, I think.
The question concerning the advantages of home nursing and the day care is rather disputable. Making this decision depends on the parent. However, many researches emphasize the fact that the day care encourages the improvement of the social and cognitive development of the infant.
One of the main advantages of the day care is that the child is always in the constant communication with his age mates. The child is involved in different developing games and programs proposed by the professional psychologists. Multiple studies have found that children, involved in the high quality day care programs, are apt to show better language and cognitive skills.
Another great advantage of the day care is that it develops the infants self-dependence. Being separated from his parents, the kid, willing or not, comes across the situation in which it is necessary to act without parents support.
However, the final decision should be made by the parents because they are the best mentors for their child.
Reference List
Naughton, L. (2014). Profile parenting. Community Practitioner, 87(9), 18-19.
Rose, E. (2009). Poverty and Parenting: Transforming Early Educations Legacy in the 1960s. History of Education Quarterly, 49(2), 222-234.