Parental Engagement

The early childhood stage, 0 to 6 years of age, is mostly known for being the period in which kids learn to communicate their needs and adapt to the world. However, in children ages 6 to 12, it is crucial for parents to be involved in their children academic and personal growth. To put it another way, it is important for parents to engage with the school progress their children, ages 6 to 12, have. Parental involvement can help children learn more while imitating the habits of the parents, it can also improve the cognitive skills, and it can help develop important social skills as well as bring confidence to the child.

In order to understand how parental involvement can potentially have a positive impact on children’s lives, one must understand the different types of parenting styles. There are four different kinds of parenting styles; the authoritarian or disciplinary, the permissive or indulgent, the uninvolved, and the authoritative. The authoritarian or disciplinary has a strict discipline and punishment is often used. In this style of parenting, children do not get to say a word, the conversations or arguments are all made by the parent. The permissive or indulgent parenting is the more flexible parents. Most of the time the children have no rules, and in this style of parenting, the children are able to make most decisions by themselves and ask parents for guidance when needed. The uninvolved usually appears to not care and there is hardly any communication. There are usually no expectations and the nurturing are minimal. The authoritative have expectations, there is constant communication, and the rules are clear.

At a young age, children start imitating their parents. This is how the child starts saying its first words. Multiple times we see the father playing with their 1-year-old child, “say dadda”. Eventually, the child ends up saying “momma” first but that is no problem because the mother has also encouraged the child to say the word. Both parents repeat it so many times that the child uses a mechanism of imitation to then say the word back to their parents. However, this mechanism with which babies learn how to say their first words is later on used in a rather more influential way. Children ages 6 to 12, tend to always behave and build habits based on what they see their authoritative figure doing. In an article by PsychologyToday, the author used study findings in order to understand at what ages the child turned from imitating parents’ behaviors to start learning on their own which is based on making mistakes and learning from them. “At this early age, it’s a game to them; “First we put our toys away, then we have our (supper, snack, bath).”’ This is how the author described the child at an early age 6-7-8-9-years-old, saying the child would imitate your actions once you make them repetitive, it is like a memory game to them. Once they feel comfortable enough, they then will start imitating the parent’s actions. At a research I conducted at multiple locations of the Queens Library, I observed and took notes on the kind of interactions children had with their parents and how their parents behaved as well. One set of notes I took explained how the children of a married couple of parents behaved. “All three of the children went on to take some school materials out of their backpacks as well as grab some books, and they sat in a big round table” while this is the set of notes I took about their parents “The parents also took this time to do work of their own, they would take paperwork out of their briefcases, do some writing, some signing and send some texts.” With these observations, we can see how these parents have set a good example on their children. Also, the behavior and actions the parents perform frequently, are the same the children performed.

Being able to analyze and process data coming into your brain is not an easy process, sometimes even grown-ups find it hard. The process of thinking, reading, reasoning, remembering are the main cognitive skills which your brain uses in order to intake new information and decide to store it with previous knowledge to then use later on at the school, job, and in life. In children, small intake of information such as learning how to wash the dishes can be a challenge for their cognitive skills. They will process every bit of information as best as they can to, later on, perform the same action after every meal. Actions such as reading, by now we know it is difficult for the kids to learn how to read but sometimes it is not for the reasons we think. For some kids, it is harder to process information such as words, while reading a text they might not be able to find the correlation between words or letters, therefore, it creates a significant amount of stress. This is where the parental involvement comes in. As parents engage with their children, most of their time will be spent playing or learning something new. Playing a board game such as Monopoly can help the child enhance all his cognitive skills, from reading the cards, reasoning, and understanding what he has in terms of the game to making decisions such as selling or buying something in the game. Another way children use their time spent with their parents to learn cognitive skills is by observing their parents actions. Very often children will observe what the parent is doing, sometimes they will analyze the reason why the parent is performing this action or they will ask, then this information is stored to use later on. In the same set of notes from the observations I made at the libraries, I recorder “the children were very outspoken and sat properly at the big round table.” These children knew how to perform these actions without having their parent watching over them. Their parents have engaged with the kids often and as a result, their cognitive skills had been enhanced.

The act of going up to speak to someone is sometimes hard to perform, we see many teenagers and adults struggling with this. However, children also go through this stage of not feeling too comfortable or confident to go up to someone and speak freely to them. Social skills are those we use in order to engage with other, follow authorities and how we are able to empathize with others. Some social skills are; asking for help, be responsible for your behavior, have patience, listen and accept other’s differences. Social skills most of the time are taught at home. When parents engage in conversations with their children, they are allowing them to express their thoughts and emotions. Often times parents will start with a basic conversation such as “how was school today?”. This is an important moment in which the parent decides to either engage more with their child and give them an opportunity to express themselves, or some other parents would be satisfied with an “it was okay” answer and not ask any follow-up questions. Another social skill is following rules, “do not watch tv before doing your homework”, “if you see a door closed, knock before you open it”, “do respect your teacher”, “follow the signs in common areas”, etc. These might seem like such simple rules, but to children these are important. Setting rules is an important social skill just as important as it is for children to understand them and know when they are breaking these rules. At the library I conducted my research, I noted when referring to the children “talked among themselves about school and other issues that would matter to little people, such as what cartoons are playing the often on the tv.” These children spoke to each other and to their parents in multiple occasions. When they engaged in conversations they spoke as if they felt confident about their thought s and words. These actions one might say, are the product of parental involvement in these children’s lives. When they are in their regular school setting they will not have a problem raising their hand to speak or give their opinion on an issue.

There are good arguments as of why parental involvement is crucial in order to help and understand children’s academic progress. However, those who disagree might argue that in order for children to grow into socially accepted people they must be thought to follow social norms and not to argue or go against traditional beliefs. In the reading “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, there is a mother dictating to her daughter what a proper well-mannered woman should look like in society’s eyes. One could say this parenting style is most similar to the authoritarian. One in which the child does not get to say much. One in which parents say what must be done, how it must be done and then expect the child to do it on their own. Sometimes children who are raised by a parental figure that is authoritarian feel as if they are not being loved or cared for. Also, they are more likely to stress over being a disappointment to their parents.

Saying that people should learn from their own mistakes is fairly what we have all been thought and is safe to say that all people learn this way once they are confident and grown enough to be in charge of their own lives. However, for children, this is not the case. Kids of age 6 to 12 need a parental figure who they can look up to and learn from. A parent who is going to teach them the bases of life and will be there to constantly be a mentor when needed. At a young age, children start learning and experiencing new things, they are more aware of what is new and what you never noticed before. Children have the need to express themselves, what they think and feel. When a parent is constantly engaging in practices such as asking how their day at school was, what homework do they need done, what they thought of the teachers, if they mad new friends, all these questions are enhancing the child’s cognitive as well as social skills. “kids with involved parents get better grades and are thought more highly of by teachers” When a parent is involved in a child’s academic progress, they not only get to track how good they are at reading and writing, but they are also showing the kids that they are cared for.

All things considered, parental involvement is very important on children’s academic and personal growth. Habits and actions parents take such as engaging in conversations or playing with the children can help them develop important skills that will help them in their day to day lives. Learn while copying and imitating the habits parents have, improving their linguistic skills and bring confidence and social skills can be some of the greatest impacts that parental engagement can bring to a child.

 

Citation Page

• Misra, J., & Strader, E. (2013). Gender Pay Equity in Advanced Countries: The Role of Parenthood and Policies. Journal of International Affairs, 67(1), 27-41. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24461670

 

• Lundberg, S., & Pollak, R. (2015). The Evolving Role of Marriage: 1950-2010. The Future of Children, 25(2), 29-50. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43581971

 

• White, R., Roosa, M., Weaver, S., Nair, R., & Murry, V. (2009). Cultural and Contextual Influences on Parenting in Mexican American Families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(1), 61-79. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40262859

 

• What Is My Parenting Style? Four Types of Parenting. (2018). Retrieved November 08, 2018, from https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/e-family-news/parenting-style-four-types-of-parenting

 

• Tips for Parents to Teach Social Skills in Children. (2016, May 11). Retrieved November 07, 2018, from https://www.apperson.com/classroom-management/tips-for-parents-to-teach-social-skills-in-children

 

 

Critical Analysis Self-Reflection

Writing this critical analysis essay was in a way much harder than the past essays we have written in class. However, I felt somewhat more familiarized with the format this essay had to be written on. I believe I have fulfilled the first-course learning outcome by analyzing some sources that were helpful to either the essay or to the way it was written. For example, during the writing process, I was not sure on how to add my research content. After reading two sources that focused on essays where you had to pick a side and provide enough facts and research findings in order to prove your argument was the better one. Based on these two readings I was able to find a way to fit in my research notes and observations throughout my essay making sure it provided enough evidence to help prove my argument.

For the second-course learning outcome, I think engaging in peer reviewing was very important in the writing process of my paper. Before writing our last draft, we wrote an outline. Thanks to this outline I was able to receive peer reviews not only from my group mates but also from my instructor. When writing my last draft, I understood the set up for every piece of the essay and where it had to go.

The third-course learning outcome was fulfilled since I identified every rhetorical term from my essay. The genre of the essay is argumentative and analysis since I had to prove my point of view by analyzing and providing evidence. The exigence of the essay was noticing multiple students who reflected their household problems or anything going on with their parents through their behavior and performance. The purpose of the essay was noticing by personal experience and from acquaintances how parental involvement can negatively affect the academic performance of their children. I think my targeted audiences are parents and guardians. I hoped that parents can understand how important they are in their children’s lives, not only emotionally but academically and psychologically. Thinking about the fourth-course learning outcome, writing this assignment I think we did a lot of collaborative and social engagement. For example, every single one of my peers and I had to go out to the field in order to make observations and gather notes on our research. When we had all gathered these notes, we shared them and analyzed notes of our peers that we thought were similar to our own.

To gather our resources that had information which helped us back up our point of view and also provided background information we used the library’s databases. We learned the basics on how to navigate the website during class hours and then it was up to us to do the right research. I personally beneficiated from having access to the databases online. I was able to read multiple articles which provided multiple information that helped me understand and use some of this information as evidence on the arguments.