Parenting and Education During Early Childhood by Tanvi Mehta

University of Phoenix

Human Growth & Development PSY/280

April 4th 2022

Parenting Styles and their Influences on Development during Infancy and Early Childhood

Parenting styles differ depending on culture, upbringings, values and traditions. Diana Baumrind identified three parenting styles with her study on 100 preschool children (Baumrind, 1967) that is used today to understand the effects of parenting on child development: Authoritarian, permissive and authoritative. Along with these three styles, researchers suggested a fourth style called neglectful or uninvolved parenting. Although Baumrind’s research is not representative of children and parenting styles globally, it is helpful to understand the different kinds of parenting styles and their impact on development during infancy and early childhood.

Authoritarian parenting is a strict approach, where rules are set, and misconduct calls for punishment. As this parenting style has high expectations of maturity, low warmth and low child to parent communication, these children become obedient, quiet but not usually happy as when things do not go well, they tend to blame themselves. Permissive parents do not have high expectations, do not enforce much discipline as they are accepting of the child as they are. This tends to make the children lack self-control, immature with friendships and lack of emotional regulation. Authoritative parenting, appreciated by most parents globally, is a balanced approach with rules being flexible and where children are heard. The goal is to guide the children, and if to be punished they must understand what can be done differently next time instead of harsh punishments. This parenting style creates high communication between parents and the child, where children grow to be ‘successful, articulate, happy with themselves, and generous with others’ (Pinquart et al., 2018). As the name suggests, neglect or uninvolved parenting is an approach where the parents are indifferent towards their children’s behavior, unaware of their child’s life. These children are unhappy, isolated and usually at risk of abuse.

Impact of Caregivers 

Attachment, synchrony and social referencing are three vital factors that impact the child’s development during infancy and early childhood. Attachment is the bond created between a parent and child, and the connection that grows with time (Ainsworth & Salter, 1967). It is essential for the child to be attached to at least one caregiver: parent, relative or daycare professionals. It can be troublesome for the infant if there is instability or frequent changes with who is fulfilling the role of the caregiver. Each infant needs to create a personal connection and get that one-on-one responsiveness. Synchrony is experience-expectant and is the coordinated early parent-infant interaction. The lack of synchrony can negatively affect emotional and brain development. Social referencing is when one looks for a guide to understand how to react to unfamiliar objects or events by noticing how the other person reacts. There should be a caregiver that synchronizes with the child, establishes a secure attachment and one who encourages exploration as a social reference in order to encourage a healthy development.

Impact of a Stay-At-Home Mother during Infancy and Early Childhood

Stay-at-home mother would have multiple benefits such as able to breastfeed, familiar voice for the child and language learning advantages too. With breastfeeding, a fluid called colostrum is secreted from the mother’s breasts. It is nutritious as it is high in carbohydrates, protein, anti-bodies and low fat, all pivotal for the infant’s development (Rehman et al., 2017). Breastfeeding is a type of bonding too. Hearing of the fetus starts to develop during the last trimester of pregnancy. They can hear rhythmic sounds such as the heartbeat as well as the voice of parents talking to them. So, after birth, repetition of the familiar voices could be helpful. A stay-at-home mother could talk to the child in their native language as well. Apart from learning their native language, early language development advances the infant’s cognition abilities. The more mothers talk to their infant, the infants tend to talk even more (Weber et al., 2017). Repetitions by the mother would also reinforce associations, making language learning much faster. To encourage mothers to stay at home with their newborn in the initial few months, in Norway mothers get about 11 months of paid leave. For proper care after this time, great-quality free day cares are available.

There are, however, some negative impacts too of a stay-at-home mother. A stay-at-home mother can get physically and mentally exhausted, and that can be sensed by her infant; the infant also starts to imitate emotions and expressions. Emotions such as fear and sadness have an impact on hormones and the brain. So, if mothers are depressed and the infant is sad and angry, this can make them fearful and depressed growing up (Dix & Yan, 2014). Another drawback is that the stay-at-home mother would have to balance managing her household chores, the family with her child. Hence not being able to give the child her full attention. 

Impact of a Daycare during Infancy and Early Childhood

Daycares have evolved over the years, now majority of them ensuring high-quality care. They have warm, professional caregivers who have certification and experience in early childhood education. Apart from active play, and modeling problem-solving behaviors, the daycare would also make sure to follow high safety and hygiene standards. This would help a child’s development in a trusting, safe manner whilst the parents are at their place of work. There is a positive correlation with early day care and multiple cognitive advances, especially in language as suggested by the Early Child Care Network of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (Berger, 2019, p. 279).    

Having the child at a daycare is still different than the caring by a parent. There may be language barriers, if the child’s primary language is that of a minority within the country. This language barrier could become conflicting for the child. Mothers cannot breast feed, so would have to either pump or leave the formula milk for the child, thereby reducing one form of physical bonding. At a daycare, an infant would not usually get one-on-one attention from the caregiver as they look after a group of children. One-on-one attention would accelerate a child’s language learning. 

Evolution on Childhood Education and its Impact on Cognitive Development

Research and education have allowed parents and caregivers to be more aware of practices that would increase child survival rates and encourage healthier child development. Although Piaget’s Six Stages of Sensorimotor Intelligence strengthened one’s understanding of the first two years of a child’s cognition, his solely focus on senses and motor abilities limited his overall understanding on infant cognition. Information Processing Theory breaks down cognition between input and output through a detailed number of steps. The information processing also reveals indication of memory (Schneider, 2015). Cognition can be measured by computer analysis, muscle tension, brain scans, heart rates, gaze and signs of attention. This suggests that cognition is measured long before a baby can indicate understanding. Studies suggest that babies who focus intently and then turn away compared to babies who stare aimlessly, are more intelligent. (Bornstein & Colombo, 2012).  

More knowledge, and research on the importance of immunization reduced the deadly diseases such as polio and smallpox. Vaccination also has other health benefits that associate with stronger physical and cognitive development. There is a correlation between getting vaccinated and a reduction in stunting and wasting in children up to five years of age (Adair and Guilkey 1997). Significance of nutrition in young children have been central to many recent studies. Many day-care-centres have also increased the provision of healthier snacks for the children. Malnutrition is when one does not consumer enough, or enough of the right food to support normal growth. One of the best forms of protection against malnutrition is breast milk, which consists of specific fats and sugar making it more digestible and also helps in better brain development (Drover et al., 2009). Malnourishment not only leads to physical problems, but lowers IQ levels, reduced energy and curiosity levels, which then restricts overall learning.

Conclusion

Parenting and education play an integral role during infancy and early childhood development. Developmental psychologists have studied and continue to study the different kinds parenting styles and their effects on children’s development. Each family, culture or nation influences a certain kind of parenting, but research encourages some ways of caregiving over others. Research and better understanding of a child’s cognition, importance of immunization, nutrition and emotional development, have all contributed to the overall growth of early childhood education.  

References

Adair, L.S. and Guilkey, D.K. (1997) Age-specific determinants of stunting in Filipino children. Journal of Nutrition, 127, 314-320.

Ainsworth, Mary D. Salter. (1967). Infancy in Uganda: Infant care and the growth of love. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press. 

Baumrind, Diana. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75(1), 43–88. 

Berger, K. S. (2019). Invitation to the Life Span. 

Bornstein, Marc H. & Colombo, John. (2012). Infant cognitive functioning and mental development. In Sabina Pauen (Ed.), Early childhood development and later outcome. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 

Dix, Theodore & Yan, Ni. (2014). Mothers’ depressive symptoms and infant negative emotionality in the prediction of child adjustment at age 3: Testing the maternal reactivity and child vulnerability hypotheses. Development and Psychopathology, 26(1), 111–124.

Drover, James; Hoffman, Dennis R.; Castañeda, Yolanda S.; Morale, Sarah E. & Birch, Eileen E. (2009). Three randomized controlled trials of early long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on means-end problem solving in 9-month-olds. Child Development, 80(5), 1376–1384.

Pinquart, Martin & Kauser, Rubina. (2018). Do the associations of parenting styles with behavior problems and academic achievement vary by culture? Results from a meta-analysis. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24(1), 75–100. 

Rehman, R., Malik, F. R., Sabiha, Z. U. A., & Rehman, Z. (2017). Awareness of Mothers Regarding Duration and Benefits of Breastfeeding. Gomal Journal of Medical Sciences, 15(2), 78–82. 

Schneider, Wolfgang. (2015). Memory development from early childhood through emerging adulthood. Switzerland: Springer International. 

Weber, Ann; Fernald, Anne & Diop, Yatma. (2017). When cultural norms discourage talking to babies: Effectiveness of a parenting program in rural Senegal. Child Development, 88(5), 1513–1526.