Bowlby put forward the principle of monotropy, believing that the infant displays a strong innate tendency to form an attachment with one significant person, not necessarily, but usually the mother. (Gross, R. 2005). This was criticised by Rutter (1981), who claimed that the mother is not special in the way that the infant shows its attachment, as children will show a whole range of attachment behaviours towards a variety of people. Bowlby (1969), cited in Martin et al 2007 p. 546) claimed that the most important attachment behaviours are sucking, cuddling, looking, smiling and crying. According to Freud the newborn infant lives in a solipsistic world of ‘primary narcissism’ and experiences a build-up of tension with the need to suck the breast as an expression of his infantile sexuality.
The short story called, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." by 'Neil Millar' shows the most respectful approach of parents to their children rather than "Be-ers and Doers" by 'Budge Wilson' in many ways. I feel that the story by "Neil Millar" is told in a calmer manner of speaking rather than the one written by "Budge Wilson". Everyone grows up differently but the effects grow depending on the matter of time when you are taught to become responsible. Every parent teaches their child different aspects at different times. Some are earlier than others and some must be later.
Bowlby argued that the attachment behaviours in both caregivers and babies evolved ensuring the survival of the baby until maturity and reproduce. Babies produce instincts like crying and smiling which encourages the caregiver to look after it. Parents especial mothers as per to Bowlby have instincts to protect their baby from harm and nurture them ensuring their survival until maturity. Those babies and mother who don’t possess these behaviours have been less successful. A second most important concept in Bowlby’s theory was the idea of monotrophy a single attachment to one person who is most important to the baby.
The Four Parenting Styles The four parenting styles are known by parenting researchers as Permissive, Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Uninvolved/Neglectful. All four styles are considered to be “normal” styles of parenting. Quiz – What Type of Parent are you? Permissive If you chose more “A’s” than anything else, you are probably a “Permissive” Parent. Permissive Parents tend to be more responsive to their children’s needs than demanding.
Therefore, if there is no consistent caregiver over this period, it is highly unlikely that the baby will form an attachment. However, the amount of time adults spend with infants is not the only factor determining whether attachments will develop. The quality of the adult-infant interaction also becomes equally important. Accordingly, Bowlby believed that infants will develop an attachment to caregivers who have been associated over time with consistent, predictable, and appropriate responses to the infant’s signals, needs and desires (Lamb, Bornstein, and Teti,
(2007), proposes the idea of using family preservation services within adoptive families. The reasoning behind this there is a growing concern about children’s adjustment beyond the legalization of their adoption (Berry et al. 2007). Berry et al. (2007), speaks of a study that was done with adoptive families receiving family preservation services, to find if the services helped the families stay enacted six and 12 months prior to receiving services.
Parents who are authoritarian do not expect their children to question why they say the things they say. They are very into social status, and obedience in their children. They like for their children to have a structured environment, providing minimal emotional support towards their offspring. Children who come from a house with authoritarian parents tend to be average in school and show no signs of problem behaviors. These children, however, have poor social skills, and show signs of low self-esteem, while having high levels of depression (Partner, 2009).
Nurture strongly influences early human development. There has been much debate on whether nature or nurture determines the development of human beings over centuries, especially among the psychologists who are particularly interested in the development of new born infants. Although recent surveys demonstrate that both nature and nurture play crucial roles to affect people, this essay will mainly focus on the influence of environmental factors on early human development. There are two reasons to believe so, which will be discussed below, and one of them is that the environment is the key factor to stimulate the development of language ability and other motor behaviours; another one is that basically the surroundings cannot be reproduced, which makes each one of us unique as the personality varies from enormous range; yet the consideration of nature still needs to be recognised. A modern research indicates that the development of certain skills of the newborn can in a way be speeded up.
The way in which the child behaves during the strange situation is determined by the behaviour the care giver presents to the child. For example insecure children are associated with inconsistent mothers and absent child are associated with unresponsive mothers (Oates, 2005). The desired attachment categorise is secure attachment.secure children are confident that the attachment figure will meet their needs, that they will provide a safe base. The children are easily soothed and look to the figure during distress or upset, these attachments are formed if the figure responses to their needs and is sensitive to their signals (Oates, 2005). As described by winncot ‘ good enough mothers’.
Despite these challenges, researchers have uncovered convincing links between parenting styles and the effects these styles have on children. During the early 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study on more than 100 preschool-age children (Baumrind, 1967). Using naturalistic observation, parental interviews and other research methods, she identified four important dimensions of parenting: Disciplinary strategies, Warmth and nurturance, Communication styles and Expectations of maturity and control. Based on these dimensions, Baumrind suggested that the majority of parents display one of three different parenting styles (Maccoby & Martin, 1983) which I myself tried to analyze by observing parent-child relationship at a park. I was at The Prospect Park last week and was observing some parents and their children’s behavior and was really surprised to see a situation, of a 5-6 years old boy and his mother, which I am going to explain in details in this paper.