child rearing
To a great extent, culture determines the way children are brought up and raised. Child rearing practices vary from culture to culture. Families in all societies have three basic goals for their children (LeVine, 1974). First, families have the survival goal, which promotes the physical survival and health of the child. Second, there is the economic goal, which is used to foster skills and behavioral capacities that the child needs for economic self-maintenance as an adult. Lastly, there is the self-actualization goal, which is used in order to foster behavioral capabilities for maximizing cultural values such as morality, religion and achievement. While these basic goals that parents have for their children are similar, culture can produce variations in the behavior and beliefs of parents. These differences in behavior and beliefs the parents hold affect their child-rearing practices. The child-rearing practices among the Mexican-American families and Native-Americans are examined throughout this paper. The Mexican culture has a very rich heritage of both Indian and Spanish ancestry, which have great influence on raising children. Mexico was a patriarchal society under the Spanish legal system. Traditionally children w
Most aspects of life have spiritual significance, and there is an interdependence of spirituality and culture. For example, they eat when they are hungry and sleep when they are tired. To the majority culture, Navajo children may appear to be "spoiled". Traditional values and beliefs about spirituality respect for elders, and family guide the parenting process. The involvement, however, is typically physical and outdoor play (Bronstein, 1994). Both mothers and fathers discipline their children. The premise of Spanish family law was primarily unchanged until the late 19th century and was not significantly revised until the 1960s (Lavrin, 1991). Being part of a group and blending in are important virtues and children are not encouraged to assert their individuality. In accordance with traditional Native-American values, children are taught to respect elders, cooperate with others, and are discouraged from asserting themselves and from showing emotion (Atwater, 1996). If the family resides on the reservation there is typically more of an extended family. Navajo children typically do not ask permission to engage in certain behaviors. In both countries, fathers from lower socio-economic status families were less nurturing and used more frequent and harsh discipline styles (such as spanking and yelling) than fathers from higher socio-economic status families (Bronstein, 1994; Mirande, 1988; Fox & Solis-Camara, 1997). In traditional Mexican culture the male is the disciplinarian and his wife and children both respect him.
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