This means it is not ‘universal’. Stephen Wagg said ‘childhood is socially constructed, it is in other words what members of particular societies at particular times and in particular places, and say it is. There is no single universal childhood isn’t “natural” and should be distinguished from mere biological immaturity’ this basically means that even though we all go through the same stages of development throughout our lives different cultures all have their own outlook on what childhood is. In the western cultures children are seen as vulnerable and unable to look after themselves, but other cultures do not see these differences between children and adults. Sociologists say that the best way to look at how childhood differs across different societies they take a comparative approach, which means they look at how differently children are seen in other cultures and in the past and compare them to the way we see
There is a belief that children’s lack of knowledge, experience and skills call for them to be nurtured and socialised for a protected time before they are ready for adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it. Pilcher believes that the most important feature of childhood is separateness and that childhood itself is seen as a clear life stage which causes a separate status between children and adults. This separateness is emphasised in many different ways, for example, there are laws which regulate what children can and cannot do. Related to the idea of separateness of children’s status is the idea of childhood as a ‘golden age’ of happiness and innocence. However, this innocence means that children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection from dangers of the adult world.
HOW WE ‘CONSTRUCT’ CHILDHOOD TODAY (western societies). Western societies have definite ideas - cultural norms – about childhood • It is a special and distinct time of life - separate and different (like middle age, old age etc – a very precise ‘phase’ of your life). • Because of this the status of children is very different from adults – this means that – • They are treated as unequal – not the equals of adults • They have special laws which prevent them from doing things • Because they are regarded as vulnerable there are special laws protecting them which don’t apply to adults • The separateness of childhood is re-enforced by the idea that they should wear different clothes and behave differently and have products and services which are for them only • Children are not yet .mature’ and fully formed – they cannot run their own lives – so….. • Children need a long period of training, education and socialisation into the ways of our society before they can be fully fledged ‘adults. • The vulnerability and specialness of children means that they are exempt from normal adult activities like paid work and spend their time protected in the family and at school. • There is also an idea that childhood is somehow a
This also relates to how children are seen to be young adults. We tend to view children in the UK and western world as incompetent and dependant but this isn’t the case through out the world. An example of this would be childcare. It is illegal for a child under the age of 14 to look after another child unsupervised because of incompetence and being irresponsible. In other cultures these policies are non exsistant.
• Describe how being supported to live at home can benefit an individual. (3022 1.1) Living at home can benefit an individual as it helps to promote independence. Promoting independence is important as it means that they are more willing to help themselves if they are able to. Also if they are able to become more independent, they are more likely to become more confident, which means they may be able to do more things for themselves, therefore making them more independent, which therefore benefits the individual as they are in a positive atmosphere. Another reason why living at home can benefit an individual is that they may have more time spent with loved ones and are more likely to get visits from friends and family.
Daycare is an essential issue in child Psychology as there is a debate regarding whether it is positive for development as it offers stimulation or whether it is detrimental as it takes children away from their natural caregiver. Daycare is a situation where a child is cares for by someone other than its parents for some part of the day. It can vary from short-term care in a crèche to full-time care in a nursery. Belsky is a critic of daycare and used the strange situation to determine the impact that intensive daycare has on early childhood attachment. He found that early and intensive daycare results in children being insecurely attached than children where the onset was later and less intensive.
There are, however, some processes which make it more possible that children will replicate the behavior that the society terms appropriate for its gender (Akers, 2009). First, children are more likely to listen to and emulate those individuals they perceive as similar to themselves. As a result, they are more likely to emulate behavior exhibited by individuals of the same sex as them.
Also, because the teachers have middle class values as well, the cultural deprivation theorists believe that they will have a bias against the working class kids and therefore they will not be able to teach them properly since their values and cultures conflict. Compensatory education is a policy that was designed to deal with the problem of cultural deprivation, by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas. Compensatory education programmes were introduced to intervene early in the socialisation process to compensate children for deprivation they experience at home. The most comprehensive programme was Head Start. It involved health care, social services, and education.
An Effective Parenting Styles Being a parent can be one of the most difficult jobs a person will ever have. It may be especially challenging when the child is in their adolescent years. Most parents want their children to become independent, productive and able to cope with the world. The older methods of parenting do not work in today's society. Teenagers, like everyone else, want to be treated with respect and seen as individuals with there own ideas.
Numerous obstacles must be achieved in order to earn freedom, and even in that case, full freedom may never be fully achieved. Most people in society have a clear image of what children will be like and a certain approach that must be taken in order to have the ‘ideal’ child. With many cases, the tight rein of the adults on their child becomes looser as the child moves out or graduates high school, rather than when the particular individual has made enough life mistakes to earn their freedom. In the short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a polar-opposite life-experience is that of Benjamin Button. Kelly 2 In the exclusive case of Benjamin Button – the man born old and aging backwards – he already has philosophical knowledge of the world and the skills of an old man in the first days of his life.