Farrington (2002) cited “when
people are asked what they think are the main causes of crime, they often
nominate poor parental child-rearing methods and especially poor discipline or
control of children.”
Early Childhood is such a wide
field that I really found it difficult in choosing a topic to research. But for
the many years my little country Jamaica has been riddled with much crime and
violence and I wonder if it has to do with our early childhood system. Sometimes I wonder does it have to do with poor
parenting skills, the economy and other social issues. I ask myself questions such as why is the
ghetto system alive and well. Why do
young children continue to have children at a very tender age when there is so
much information on birth control in schools and there supposed to be laws to
protect our most vulnerable? And why do we choose to give our children guns
instead of giving them a good education? Why the government sees it so hard to
invest in early childhood when they know it can provide us with solutions to
the many issues that we are faced. Do we really lack vision for our country and
if so, are we really going to perish?
My research in early childhood
would focus on the social and emotional development of children. My primary
focus; however, would be to examine the impact of teenage pregnancy on the life
of the child in in the formative years. For the past four years as an early
childhood inspector I have discovered that many of the parents who send their
children to community owned basic schools give birth to the children between
the ages of 13 to 18 years. Another startling
discovery I made is that the fathers for these children are also very young or
the fathers are much older than the mothers. I also found out from some
practitioners that if the mother who has given birth was below the age of
consent many of the fathers’ information is not presented on the birth
certificate. We know that children from the time of birth go through social and
emotional changes and they also experience cognitive changes. I believe this research
will help to identify how poor parenting skills will affect the social and
emotional development of our children.
References
Farrington, D. (2002) Family
Influences on Delinquency. Retrieved from http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763760564/60564_CH10_Springer.pdf
Judy, what a heartbreaking research project; babies giving birth to babies. Do you feel that this is the cycle of life in families-mom had her baby at a young age, so daughter does the same? Are there any classes set up for teenagers to take on this subject? Teenagers being pregnant is a global issue and sometimes we, unknowingly, enhance the issue by putting childcare facilitates in high schools. I have seen many grandparents ending up taking care of their grandchildren because their teenage daughter does not have a clue on how to handle the issues involved. I also believe that poor parenting skills, no matter what age, affects the social-emotional and cognitive skills of the children.
ReplyDeleteJill
Interesting information, I agree it would be beneficial to understand the mindset and emotional development of families of young moms. There is a strong tie to parental skills and development of young children. I understand more and more the importance of empowering families so that some mistakes do not have to be repeated.. this makes me think of the saying" lessons unlearned are often repeated".
ReplyDeleteJudy,
ReplyDeleteWorking with Head Start families, I feel some of your frustration and concerns when it comes to working with families. Working with this population I have had many visits from child protective services. It makes my heart so sad knowing what the children go home to. I do my best at helping, educating, and role modeling to parents but unfortunately not all families are receptive. There has to be a better system to help families start off right from birth, I'm not sure what it is or how it would be made mandatory but something drastic must be done for the children's sake. Thank your for you post!
~Kristen
Judy, I do agree and enjoyed your blog. Farrington (2002) cited “when people are asked what they think are the main causes of crime, they often nominate poor parental child-rearing methods and especially poor discipline or control of children.” Farrington stated about crime is the top of poor parental.
ReplyDelete