importance of parents in family essay

Importance of Parents in our Life

Aug 28, 2019 | Parenting | 0 comments

When a child is born, parents are the ones who assure unconditional love to them. The importance of responsible parenthood in our lives is something we have gathered ever since we were born into this world. A child learns the ways of the world through the eyes of his/her parents and gains knowledge to mediate through difficulties with the help of their guidance. The upbringing of children is entirely dependent on the parent’s love and care. Whether it is mental or physical growth, emotional or social development, career or financial establishment, our parents help us in every possible way. This shows the value of parents in our life . Whether it is a small decision on which storybook to read from next to making the right career choice, their help is unconditional. Ask about the value of parents to those who have lost theirs at a very early age. They know the hardships and struggles to lead a life without parents.

The importance of parents can be seen in different aspects of life. Parents have a high influence on children in many ways including how they walk, talk or act in front of others. In India, the younger generation still follows the advice given by their elders. So, they are like the roots which will make us strong enough to sustain any storm that can come in our life. The truth is that our parents are essential parts to help us overcome our insufficiencies and improve our attributes. Although it is a hard job, the importance of good parenting matters. The role of parents in education differs from the role of others, where the parents work multi-functionally depending on the role.

Types of Parenting:

There are different types of parenting like gentle parenting, authoritative parenting, and more; It depends on them to be the one for their kids. There are really lot of pros when it comes to Effective Parenting Practices. Like:

• Will create a healthy relationship between the parents and kids
• Helps in improving the mental health of the kid.
• Will build their skills in discipline, responsibilities, and more. 
• Self-confidence would be upscaled.
• Emotional development would be healthy.

Their contributions to a child’s development:

The importance of parents in a child’s development is the key to a better life and the strength in his/her character. The role of parents in students life / our life is a very significant one. They help us shape into better individuals and drive a child to develop as the best individual.

1. Unconditional love by them

We all know that god can’t be present everywhere so he made parents. These divine souls our parents are the ones who shower real love on us. They share our sorrows to reduce the pain. They multiply our happiness with their presence.

Love and care are equally vital elements and food for the soul like food and shelter is for every human being’s physical self. The ones who remain away from parents’ love may become a loner and face many tough times in their lives.

2. Parents’ guidance during the adolescence phase

Every child will go through the adolescence phase when they are teenagers and they feel a huge generation gap with their respective parents during this time. It is a tricky phase for parents as well. Parents often think that their children are still young and childish. They are prone to making mistakes by involving themselves in the wrong situations. This is where their parental instincts kick in, wanting to protect their children from harm’s way. Whereas the children who are now little grown-ups think they can manage themselves as they now want to exercise their freedom of choice and weigh out the pros and cons of the decisions they make by themselves. And they fail to understand the mentality of parents who don’t allow them to go on outings with friends, night outs or picnics to faraway places etc.

Communication is the key secret to this solution. Both parents and children should share all their inner feelings and desires so that things get easier.

3. Moral support by Parents

Having parents by our sides gives us moral support for every hurdle that we face. If a small kid falls and gets hurt, the mother provides immediate mental support and consoles the child. Even though our failures, you will never see them let you down, rather, they provide you with all the support and guidance you need to get back up on your feet. If a man ever faces difficulty at any point in time, his parents give the initial moral support and strength to tackle the situation.

Failure can come to us anytime and it is quite obvious for all of us. The knowledge given by our parents helps us to survive and manage that scenario.

4. Financial support by Parents

Many privileged people get financial support from their parents which helps to establish themselves in their careers or future endeavours. Sufficient financial assistance from parents allows them to perceive their hobbies or education without worrying about money. Having experienced the world, they also give their children financial advice so they can manage their expenses while saving their money for the future. 

Young people can achieve good posts in their parent’s company or with support they can even start up a new business.

5. Role of Parents in our Education

Parents’ endless effort to earn a living so that they can provide a proper education to their children is worth mentioning. When the child gets good marks in examinations, happiness can be seen on the faces of the parents.

Parents are the child’s first teachers in the early years. So learning starts from home and then follows to school. Parents make us understand the value of education through an exciting and meaningful learning process. Here they also establish the morals and values that we must nurture as an individual in society and garner the respect of those we meet which is a core element in every individual’s life. 

They pay attention to the minute requirements of a child by exploring nature, playing or doing activities , reading or cooking and spending many more precious moments together. T his is not just to teach them these activities but for them to enhance and sharpen their life skills that are a vital part of our lives.

6. Family support given by our Parents

Life surprises us at times and we face some failures. Parents are the biggest support when failures like divorce or accidents occur. They provide instant support and strength to deal with our failures and resume our normal life. Their efforts to make your lives easy signifies the important role of parents in your life . Similarly, we have seen a lot of times serious effects on the children of divorced parents as they become depressed in life.

Family support can be a great advantage. We even learn prayers, spirituality and other aspects to build our strength back after failure. Also, joint families are a real help when we are becoming parents. Our mother, grandmother or mother-in-law is very experienced in any queries related to childbirth and pregnancies . Their support during our pregnancy days or the initial days after childbirth is like a boon for us.

In India, where the family follows traditional family rules, parents also help us to make us understand the requirement and awareness of marriage. They even solve many minor or major compatibility issues between couples.

7. The basis for all beliefs

Each child’s profile of cognitive abilities, beliefs, ethical ideals, coping mechanisms, and prominent emotional states at each developmental stage is the consequence of several factors acting in complicated ways.

The most critical determinants of the different profiles, according to most students of human development, are inherited physiologic patterns known as temperamental attributes, parental practises and personality, school quality attended, friendships with peers, ordinal family place, and, finally, the historical era in which late childhood and adolescent years are spent.

Role of Parents in child’s confidence build up and in child’s success

Parents always want their children to succeed in life. So, they keep forcing us to follow the right path. We can see all over the world many successful human beings who are giving credit to their parents. Numerous success stories depict the guidance and advice given by parents. We can even write in detail an essay on parents role in our life .

The sole objective of parental encouragement is to build and boost their child’s confidence so that they grow up to be an independent respectable person. The child should become self-responsible and can easily climb the ladder of achievement. The importance of parents in our lives is so vast that in every step, and every milestone they are there to cheer us for any accomplishments and achievements we make, encouraging us to move further and become the best. This helps us become confident in ourselves and our potential in the talents we manifest in our lives. With this, you can figure out the role of parents in child life .

Childhood is the most precious period of life where we gain all kinds of experiences. We keep the lessons learned during this phase of life in our minds forever. Security and safety are the fundamental requirements for parents when a child is born. Children who grow up in a state of fear due to aggressive or impulsive parents find it hard to lead life properly.

Parents let their love flow through their verbal expressions, a touch of appreciation and various encouraging actions. Efficient and successful parents can convey their love to their children.

Our responsibilities towards our Parents

There are uncountable thoughts that can crowd our minds to show the importance of parents in our lives. More appropriately, parents are actually living for their children.

In this present world, how many of us are truly caring for our aged parents? Ask this question to yourself!

This is the time we should start realizing their worth and take a lot of care with an ample amount of love and kindness. We now know the value of parents and the compromises as well as sacrifices they make just so we can achieve our dreams and live the life we want. Our responsibility is to see them always smiling in their old age taking care of them just the way they took care of us, never once complaining. Take their blessings before they leave us as much as they can.

How to take care of your ageing parents

• Acknowledge their problems
• Please include them in every process
• Spend time with them
• Motivate them to work out or work out with them
• Encourage them to go out with people of their age
• Make sure their nutrition and sleep are up to the mark

Simple ways to make parents happy/Our duties for ageing parents

Be obedient:.

Obeying your parents isn’t something that you do only when you’re younger. Obey them in every stage of your life, however old you may be, always listen to them and carry out whatever they may ask of you.

Be Respectful:

Respecting your parents shows good character and your love for them. While you may have grown into your own person and might clash with your ageing parents, always try to respect them no matter what.

Be Grateful:

Being thankful and grateful for everything your parents have done for you is of utmost importance. Parenting a child can be hard, but parents do an amazing job of it, so show and tell them.

Be Helpful:

Always help your parents in life in different ways. It can be something small like with home chores, or it can be in a big way with getting them a new place or helping with any debts they may have.

Make them Proud:

Parents are happiest when they see their children achieve things in life. While these achievements may vary from family to family, always remember what they’ve taught you and abide by them to keep the family’s name.

Follow These Kind Gestures To Make Your Parents Feel Special

If you are planning to make your parents feel special, you can follow these kind gestures.

Share Memories

There are a tonne of wonderful experiences and priceless memories between all of the family members. You can share and recollect them with your parents to have a good time.

Celebrate Occasions

You can celebrate and cherish festive occasions with your parents to feel them so bonded. By celebrating and arranging for special occasions, you can get to know the role of parents in your life .  

Prepare Meals For Them

Consider the meals that your parents always look forward to and that make them happy. To make them feel special, you can prepare their favorite homemade meals for them. While preparing food, you can think about the importance of parenting .

Plan a Vacation With Them

If you want to create unforgettable memories together with your parents then what can be more worthwhile than planning a vacation with them? You can relax your parents from the daily domestic chores through a beautiful vacation. 

The parent-child connection is crucial because it shapes a child’s personality, life choices, and general conduct. It may also impact their physical, social, mental, and emotional well-being. Children are observant learners and inculcate everything they see which is why children who have a good relationship with their parents are more likely to form better and healthy relationships with others. Likewise, with their classmates, they can form solid ties and friendships.

Parents who are actively involved in their children’s daily lives are more likely to see improvements in their children’s social and academic performance.

others. Likewise, with their classmates, they can form solid ties and friendships.

Parents who are actively involved in their children’s daily lives are more likely to see improvements in their children’s social and academic performance.

1. What is the importance of parents in our life?

Parents are the primary caregivers for a child when he/she is born. The importance of the bond between parents and children can not be articulated in words. In addition to being pure and selfless, this relationship lays the foundation for the overall personality of a child and influences his/her perspective while forming various other relationships in life. ( 1 )  Parents reinforce feelings of dependability, love and care in a child that go a long way in helping a person trust people and become trustworthy as well.

2. Why are parents the best?

If you want me to explain the importance of parents in the family cannot be discounted. They are a child’s protectors, nurturers, guides and mentors. When the kids are young, they indulge the child in various minor games and act like a child to bring a smile to their kid’s faces. Subsequently, parents assume the role of a friend, teacher and companion as their child grows up and transverses through various stages of life.

3. Why are parents the best role models?

There is no undermining the fact that parents are the first heroes of their children. Parents personify the very essence of life as perceived by their little child. As a matter of fact, a newborn can identify his/her mother’s body fragrance and consequently responds by mouthing or some other action.  

Since parents have the closest and the most intimate encounters with their children in their formative years, it is safe to say that they are the best role models for their children. 

4. How can parents support their child’s goals?

Parents can encourage their children to creativity and active learning. They can help to set their kid’s goals and visualise how to address the problems ahead.    

5. How to maintain a positive emotional connection with my parents?

You can smile positively at your parents to let them know how you care about their well-being. Your body language can improve your relationship and can set the tone for your communication with your parents.  

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About Ipsita Sinha

A friendly mother, an engineering graduate, a teacher and a romantic genuine person in heart recently discovered a writer in me. Being a mommy blogger, thoughts keep flooding in my mind. I love to explore my life with new things including parenting and motherhood. I truly believe in the saying "keep your eyes on the stars and feet on the ground".

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• My Parents Essay

500 Words Essay On My Parents

We entered this world because of our parents. It is our parents who have given us life and we must learn to be pleased with it. I am grateful to my parents for everything they do for me. Through my parents essay, I wish to convey how valuable they are to me and how much I respect and admire them.

My Strength My Parents Essay

My parents are my strength who support me at every stage of life. I cannot imagine my life without them. My parents are like a guiding light who take me to the right path whenever I get lost.

My mother is a homemaker and she is the strongest woman I know. She helps me with my work and feeds me delicious foods . She was a teacher but left the job to take care of her children.

My mother makes many sacrifices for us that we are not even aware of. She always takes care of us and puts us before herself. She never wakes up late. Moreover, she is like a glue that binds us together as a family.

Parents are the strength and support system of their children. They carry with them so many responsibilities yet they never show it. We must be thankful to have parents in our lives as not everyone is lucky to have them.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

While my mother is always working at home, my father is the one who works outside. He is a kind human who always helps out my mother whenever he can. He is a loving man who helps out the needy too.

My father is a social person who interacts with our neighbours too. Moreover, he is an expert at maintaining his relationship with our relatives. My father works as a businessman and does a lot of hard work.

Even though he is a busy man, he always finds time for us. We spend our off days going to picnics or dinners. I admire my father for doing so much for us without any complaints.

He is a popular man in society as he is always there to help others. Whoever asks for his help, my father always helps them out. Therefore, he is a well-known man and a loving father whom I look up to.

Conclusion of My Parents Essay

I love both my parents with all my heart. They are kind people who have taught their children to be the same. Moreover, even when they have arguments, they always make up without letting it affect us. I aspire to become like my parents and achieve success in life with their blessings.

FAQ of My Parents Essay

Question 1: Why parents are important in our life?

Answer 1: Parents are the most precious gifts anyone can get. However, as not everyone has them, we must consider ourselves lucky if we do. They are the strength and support system of children and help them out always. Moreover, the parents train the children to overcome challenges and make the best decision for us.

Question 2: What do parents mean to us?

Answer 2: Parents mean different things to different people. To most of us, they are our source of happiness and protection. They are the ones who are the closest to us and understand our needs without having to say them out loud. Similarly, they love us unconditionally for who we are without any ifs and buts.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Family Values — The Importance of Family: A Foundation for Life

The Importance of Family: a Foundation for Life

• Categories: Family Values Marriage and Family

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Words: 627 |

Published: Sep 7, 2023

Words: 627 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, emotional support and connection, personal development and identity, social support and community, resilience and coping.

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Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8 (2016)

Chapter: 1 introduction, 1 introduction.

Parents are among the most important people in the lives of young children. 1 From birth, children are learning and rely on mothers and fathers, as well as other caregivers acting in the parenting role, to protect and care for them and to chart a trajectory that promotes their overall well-being. While parents generally are filled with anticipation about their children’s unfolding personalities, many also lack knowledge about how best to provide for them. Becoming a parent is usually a welcomed event, but in some cases, parents’ lives are fraught with problems and uncertainty regarding their ability to ensure their child’s physical, emotional, or economic well-being.

At the same time, this study was fundamentally informed by recognition that the task of ensuring children’s healthy development does not rest solely with parents or families. It lies as well with governments and organizations at the local/community, state, and national levels that provide programs and services to support parents and families. Society benefits socially and economically from providing current and future generations of parents with the support they need to raise healthy and thriving children ( Karoly et al., 2005 ; Lee et al., 2015 ). In short, when parents and other caregivers are able to support young children, children’s lives are enriched, and society is advantaged by their contributions.

To ensure positive experiences for their children, parents draw on the resources of which they are aware or that are at their immediate disposal.

___________________

1 In this report, “parents” refers to the primary caregivers of young children in the home. In addition to biological and adoptive parents, main caregivers may include kinship (e.g., grandparents), foster, and other types of caregivers.

However, these resources may vary in number, availability, and quality at best, and at worst may be offered sporadically or not at all. Resources may be close at hand (e.g., family members), or they may be remote (e.g., government programs). They may be too expensive to access, or they may be substantively inadequate. Whether located in early childhood programs, school-based classrooms, well-child clinics, or family networks, support for parents of young children is critical to enhancing healthy early childhood experiences, promoting positive outcomes for children, and helping parents build strong relationships with their children (see Box 1-1 ).

The parent-child relationship that the parent described in Box 1-1 sought and continues to work toward is central to children’s growth and

development—to their social-emotional and cognitive functioning, school success, and mental and physical health. Experiences during early childhood affect children’s well-being over the course of their lives. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when children’s brains are developing rapidly and when nearly all of their experiences are created and shaped by their parents and by the positive or difficult circumstances in which the parents find themselves. Parents play a significant role in helping children build and refine their knowledge and skills, as well as their learning expectations, beliefs, goals, and coping strategies. Parents introduce children to the social world where they develop understandings of themselves and their place and value in society, understandings that influence their choices and experiences over the life course.

PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

Over the past several decades, researchers have identified parenting-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices that are associated with improved developmental outcomes for children and around which parenting-related programs, policies, and messaging initiatives can be designed. However, consensus is lacking on the elements of parenting that are most important to promoting child well-being, and what is known about effective parenting has not always been adequately integrated across different service sectors to give all parents the information and support they need. Moreover, knowledge about effective parenting has not been effectively incorporated into policy, which has resulted in a lack of coordinated and targeted efforts aimed at supporting parents.

Several challenges to the implementation of effective parenting practices exist as well. One concerns the scope and complexity of hardships that influence parents’ use of knowledge, about effective parenting, including their ability to translate that knowledge into effective parenting practices and their access to and participation in evidence-based parenting-related programs and services. Many families in the United States are affected by such hardships, which include poverty, parental mental illness and substance use, and violence in the home. A second challenge is inadequate attention to identifying effective strategies for engaging and utilizing the strengths of fathers, discussed later in this chapter and elsewhere in this report. Even more limited is the understanding of how mothers, fathers, and other caregivers together promote their children’s development and analysis of the effects of fathers’ parenting on child outcomes. A third challenge is limited knowledge of exactly how culture and the direct effects of racial discrimination influence childrearing beliefs and practices or children’s development ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000 ). Despite acknowledgment of and attention to the importance of culture in

the field of developmental science, few studies have explored differences in parenting among demographic communities that vary in race and ethnicity, culture, and immigrant experience, among other factors, and the implications for children’s development.

In addition, the issue of poverty persists, with low-income working families being particularly vulnerable to policy and economic shifts. Although these families have benefited in recent years from the expansion of programs and policies aimed at supporting them (discussed further below), the number of children living in deep poverty has increased ( Sherman and Trisi, 2014 ). 2 Moreover, the portrait of America’s parents and children has changed over the past 50 years as a result of shifts in the numbers and origins of immigrants to the United States and in the nation’s racial, ethnic, and cultural composition ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ; Migration Policy Institute, 2016 ). Family structure also has grown increasingly diverse across class, race, and ethnicity, with fewer children now being raised in households with two married parents; more living with same-sex parents; and more living with kinship caregivers, such as grandparents, and in other household arrangements ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ). Lastly, parenting increasingly is being shaped by technology and greater access to information about parenting, some of which is not based in evidence and much of which is only now being studied closely.

The above changes in the nation’s demographic, economic, and technological landscape, discussed in greater detail below, have created new opportunities and challenges with respect to supporting parents of young children. Indeed, funding has increased for some programs designed to support children and families. At the state and federal levels, policy makers recently have funded new initiatives aimed at expanding early childhood education ( Barnett et al., 2015 ). Over the past several years, the number of states offering some form of publicly funded prekindergarten program has risen to 39, and after slight dips during the Great Recession of 2008, within-state funding of these programs has been increasing ( Barnett et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, the 2016 federal budget allocates about $750 million for state-based preschool development grants focused on improved access and better quality of care and an additional $1 billion for Head Start programs ( U.S. Department of Education, 2015 ; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015 ). The federal budget also includes additional funding for the expansion of early childhood home visiting programs ($15 billion over the next 10 years) and increased access to child care for low-income working families ($28 billion over 10 years) ( U.S. Department

2 Deep poverty is defined as household income that is 50 percent or more below the federal poverty level (FPL). In 2015, the FPL for a four-person household was $24,250 ( Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2015 ).

of Health and Human Services, 2015 ). Low-income children and families have been aided as well in recent years by increased economic support from government in the form of both cash benefits (e.g., the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit) and noncash benefits (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and millions of children and their families have moved out of poverty as a result ( Sherman and Trisi, 2014 ).

It is against this backdrop of need and opportunity that the Administration for Children and Families, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Education, the Foundation for Child Development, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine empanel a committee to conduct a study to examine the state of the science with respect to parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices tied to positive parent-child interactions and child outcomes and strategies for supporting them among parents of young children ages 0-8. The purpose of this study was to provide a roadmap for the future of parenting and family support policies, practices, and research in the United States.

The statement of task for the Committee on Supporting the Parents of Young Children is presented in Box 1-2 . The committee was tasked with describing barriers to and facilitators for strengthening parenting capacity and parents’ participation and retention in salient programs and services. The committee was asked to assess the evidence and then make recommendations whose implementation would promote wide-scale adoption of effective strategies for enabling the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Given the multi- and interdisciplinary nature of the study task, the 18-member committee comprised individuals with an array of expertise, including child development, early childhood education, developmental and educational psychology, child psychiatry, social work, family engagement research, pediatric medicine, public and health policy, health communications, implementation science, law, and economics (see Appendix D for biosketches of the committee members).

WHAT IS PARENTING?

Conceptions of who parents are and what constitute the best conditions for raising children vary widely. From classic anthropological and human development perspectives, parenting often is defined as a primary mechanism of socialization, that is, a primary means of training and preparing children to meet the demands of their environments and take advantage

of opportunities within those environments. As Bornstein (1991, p. 6) explains, the “particular and continuing task of parents and other caregivers is to enculturate children . . . to prepare them for socially accepted physical, economic, and psychological situations that are characteristic of the culture in which they are to survive and thrive.”

Attachment security is a central aspect of development that has been

defined as a child’s sense of confidence that the caregiver is there to meet his or her needs ( Main and Cassidy, 1988 ). All children develop attachments with their parents, but how parents interact with their young children, including the extent to which they respond appropriately and consistently to their children’s needs, particularly in times of distress, influences whether the attachment relationship that develops is secure or insecure. Young chil-

dren who are securely attached to their parents are provided a solid foundation for healthy development, including the establishment of strong peer relationships and the ability to empathize with others ( Bowlby, 1978 ; Chen et al., 2012 ; Holmes, 2006 ; Main and Cassidy, 1988 ; Murphy and Laible, 2013 ). Conversely, young children who do not become securely attached with a primary caregiver (e.g., as a result of maltreatment or separation) may develop insecure behaviors in childhood and potentially suffer other adverse outcomes over the life course, such as mental health disorders and disruption in other social and emotional domains ( Ainsworth and Bell, 1970 ; Bowlby, 2008 ; Schore, 2005 ).

More recently, developmental psychologists and economists have described parents as investing resources in their children in anticipation of promoting the children’s social, economic, and psychological well-being. Kalil and DeLeire (2004) characterize this promotion of children’s healthy development as taking two forms: (1) material, monetary, social, and psychological resources and (2) provision of support, guidance, warmth, and love. Bradley and Corwyn (2004) characterize the goals of these investments as helping children successfully regulate biological, cognitive, and social-emotional functioning.

Parents possess different levels and quality of access to knowledge that can guide the formation of their parenting attitudes and practices. As discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2 , the parenting practices in which parents engage are influenced and informed by their knowledge, including facts and other information relevant to parenting, as well as skills gained through experience or education. Parenting practices also are influenced by attitudes, which in this context refer to parents’ viewpoints, perspectives, reactions, or settled ways of thinking with respect to the roles and importance of parents and parenting in children’s development, as well as parents’ responsibilities. Attitudes may be part of a set of beliefs shared within a cultural group and founded in common experiences, and they often direct the transformation of knowledge into practice.

Parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices are shaped, in part, by parents’ own experiences (including those from their own childhood) and circumstances; expectations and practices learned from others, such as family, friends, and other social networks; and beliefs transferred through cultural and social systems. Parenting also is shaped by the availability of supports within the larger community and provided by institutions, as well as by policies that affect the availability of supportive services.

Along with the multiple sources of parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices and their diversity among parents, it is important to acknowledge the diverse influences on the lives of children. While parents are central to children’ development, other influences, such as relatives, close family friends, teachers, community members, peers, and social institutions, also

contribute to children’s growth and development. Children themselves are perhaps the most essential contributors to their own development. Thus, the science of parenting is framed within the theoretical perspective that parenting unfolds in particular contexts; is embedded in a network of relationships within and outside of the family; and is fluid and continuous, changing over time as children and parents grow and develop.

In addition, it is important to recognize that parenting affects not only children but also parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents’ lives; generate stress or calm; compete for time with work or leisure; and create combinations of any number of emotions, including happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger.

STUDY CONTEXT

As attention to early childhood development has increased over the past 20 years, so, too, has attention to those who care for young children. A recent Institute of Medicine and National Research Council report on the early childhood workforce ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015 ) illustrates the heightened focus not only on whether young children have opportunities to be exposed to healthy environments and supports but also on the people who provide those supports. Indeed, an important responsibility of parents is identifying those who will care for their children in their absence. Those individuals may include family members and others in parents’ immediate circle, but they increasingly include non-family members who provide care and education in formal and informal settings outside the home, such as schools and home daycare centers.

Throughout its deliberations, the committee considered several questions relevant to its charge: What knowledge and attitudes do parents of young children bring to the task of parenting? How are parents engaged with their young children, and how do the circumstances and behaviors of both parents and children influence the parent-child relationship? What types of support further enhance the natural resources and skills that parents bring to the parenting role? How do parents function and make use of their familial and community resources? What policies and resources at the local, state, and federal levels assist parents? What practices do they expect those resources to reinforce, and from what knowledge and attitudes are those practices derived? On whom or what do they rely in the absence of those resources? What serves as an incentive for participation in parenting programs? How are the issues of parenting different or the same across culture and race? What factors constrain parents’ positive relationships with their children, and what research is needed to advance agendas that can help parents sustain such relationships?

The committee also considered research in the field of neuroscience,

which further supports the foundational role of early experiences in healthy development, with effects across the life course ( Center on the Developing Child, 2007 ; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009 ; World Health Organization, 2015 ). During early childhood, the brain undergoes a rapid development that lays the foundation for a child’s lifelong learning capacity and emotional and behavioral health (see Figure 1-1 ). This research has provided a more nuanced understanding of the importance of investments in early childhood and parenting. Moreover, advances in analyses of epigenetic effects on early brain development demonstrate consequences of parenting for neural development at the level of DNA, and suggest indirect consequences of family conditions such as poverty that operate on early child development, in part, through the epigenetic consequences of parenting ( Lipinia and Segretin, 2015 ).

This report comes at a time of flux in public policies aimed at supporting parents and their young children. The cost to parents of supporting their children’s healthy development (e.g., the cost of housing, health care, child care, and education) has increased at rates that in many cases have offset the improvements and increases provided for by public policies. As noted above, for example, the number of children living in deep poverty has grown since the mid-1990s ( Sherman and Trisi, 2014 ). While children represent approximately one-quarter of the country’s population, they make up 32 percent of all the country’s citizens who live in poverty ( Child Trends Databank, 2015a ). About one in every five children in the United States is now growing up in families with incomes below the poverty line, and 9 percent of children live in deep poverty (families with incomes below 50%

of the poverty line) ( Child Trends Databank, 2015a ). The risk of growing up poor continues to be particularly high for children in female-headed households; in 2013, approximately 55 percent of children under age 6 in such households lived at or below the poverty threshold, compared with 10 percent of children in married couple families ( DeNavas-Walt and Proctor, 2014 ). Black and Hispanic children are more likely to live in deep poverty (18 and 13%, respectively) compared with Asian and white children (5% each) ( Child Trends Databank, 2015a ). Also noteworthy is that child care policy, including the recent increases in funding for low-income families, ties child care subsidies to employment. Unemployed parents out of school are not eligible, and job loss results in subsidy loss and, in turn, instability in child care arrangements for young children ( Ha et al., 2012 ).

As noted earlier, this report also comes at a time of rapid change in the demographic composition of the country. This change necessitates new understandings of the norms and values within and among groups, the ways in which recent immigrants transition to life in the United States, and the approaches used by diverse cultural and ethnic communities to engage their children during early childhood and utilize institutions that offer them support in carrying out that role. The United States now has the largest absolute number of immigrants in its history ( Grieco et al., 2012 ; Passel and Cohn, 2012 ; U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ), and the proportion of foreign-born residents today (13.1%) is nearly as high as it was at the turn of the 20th century ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2015 ). As of 2014, 25 percent of children ages 0-5 in the United States had at least one immigrant parent, compared with 13.5 percent in 1990 ( Migration Policy Institute, 2016 ). 3 In many urban centers, such as Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City, the majority of the student body of public schools is first- or second-generation immigrant children ( Suárez-Orozco et al., 2008 ).

Immigrants to the United States vary in their countries of origin, their reception in different communities, and the resources available to them. Researchers increasingly have called attention to the wide variation not only among but also within immigrant groups, including varying premigration histories, familiarity with U.S. institutions and culture, and childrearing

3 Shifting demographics in the United States have resulted in increased pressure for service providers to meet the needs of all children and families in a culturally sensitive manner. In many cases, community-level changes have overwhelmed the capacity of local child care providers and health service workers to respond to the language barriers and cultural parenting practices of the newly arriving immigrant groups, particularly if they have endured trauma. For example, many U.S. communities have worked to address the needs of the growing Hispanic population, but it has been documented that in some cases, eligible Latinos are “less likely to access available social services than other populations” ( Helms et al., 2015 ; Wildsmith et al., 2016 ).

strategies ( Crosnoe, 2006 ; Fuller and García Coll, 2010 ; Galindo and Fuller, 2010 ; Suárez-Orozco et al., 2010 ; Takanishi, 2004 ). Immigrants often bring valuable social and human capital to the United States, including unique competencies and sociocultural strengths. Indeed, many young immigrant children display health and learning outcomes better than those of children of native-born parents in similar socioeconomic positions ( Crosnoe, 2013 ). At the same time, however, children with immigrant parents are more likely than children in native-born families to grow up poor ( Hernandez et al., 2008 , 2012 ; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2015 ; Raphael and Smolensky, 2009 ). Immigrant parents’ efforts to raise healthy children also can be thwarted by barriers to integration that include language, documentation, and discrimination ( Hernandez et al., 2012 ; Yoshikawa, 2011 ).

The increase in the nation’s racial and ethnic diversity over the past several decades, related in part to immigration, is a trend that is expected to continue ( Colby and Ortman, 2015 ; Taylor, 2014 ). Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Americans identifying as black, Hispanic, Asian, or “other” increased from 15 percent to 36 percent of the population ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ). Over this same time, the percentage of non-Hispanic white children under age 10 declined from 60 percent to 52 percent, while the percentage of Hispanic ethnicity (of any race) grew from about 19 percent to 25 percent ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ); the percentages of black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian children under age 10 remained relatively steady (at about 15%, 1%, and 4-5%, respectively); and the percentages of children in this age group identifying as two or more races increased from 3 percent to 5 percent ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ).

The above-noted shifts in the demographic landscape with regard to family structure, including increases in divorce rates and cohabitation, new types of parental relationships, and the involvement of grandparents and other relatives in the raising of children ( Cancian and Reed, 2008 ; Fremstad and Boteach, 2015 ), have implications for how best to support families. Between 1960 and 2014, the percentage of children under age 18 who lived with two married parents (biological, nonbiological, or adoptive) decreased from approximately 85 percent to 64 percent. In 1960, 8 percent of children lived in households headed by single mothers; by 2014, that figure had tripled to about 24 percent ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 ). Meanwhile, the proportions of children living with only their fathers or with neither parent (with either relatives or non-relatives) have remained relatively steady since the mid-1980s, at about 4 percent (see Figure 1-2 ). Black children are significantly more likely to live in households headed by single mothers and also are more likely to live in households where neither parent is present. In 2014, 34 percent of black

children lived with two parents, compared with 58 percent of Hispanic children, 75 percent of white children, and 85 percent of Asian children ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ).

From 1996 to 2015, the number of cohabiting couples with children rose from 1.2 million to 3.3 million ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ). Moreover, data from the National Health Interview Survey show that in 2013, 30,000 children under age 18 had married same-sex parents and 170,000 had unmarried same-sex parents, and between 1.1 and 2.0 million were being raised by a parent who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual but was not part of a couple ( Gates, 2014 ).

More families than in years past rely on kinship care (full-time care of children by family members other than parents or other adults with whom children have a family-like relationship). When parents are unable to care for their children because of illness, military deployment, incarceration, child abuse, or other reasons, kinship care can help cultivate familial and community bonds, as well as provide children with a sense of stability and belonging ( Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012 ; Winokur et al., 2014 ). It is estimated that the number of children in kinship care grew six times the rate of the number of children in the general population over the past decade ( Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012 ). In 2014, 7 percent of children lived in households headed by grandparents, as compared with 3 percent in 1970 ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ), and as of 2012, about 10 percent of American children lived in a household where a grandparent was present ( Ellis and Simmons, 2014 ). Black children are twice as likely as the overall population of children to live in kinship arrangements, with about 20 percent of black children spending time in kinship care at some point

during their childhood ( Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012 ). Beyond kinship care, about 400,000 U.S. children under age 18 are in foster care with about one-quarter of these children living with relatives ( Child Trends Databank, 2015c ). Of the total number of children in foster care, 7 percent are under age 1, 33 percent are ages 1-5, and 23 percent are ages 6-10 ( Child Trends Databank, 2015c ). Other information about the structure of American families is more difficult to come by. For example, there is a lack of data with which to assess trends in the number of children who are raised by extended family members through informal arrangements as opposed to through the foster care system.

As noted earlier, fathers, including biological fathers and other male caregivers, have historically been underrepresented in parenting research despite their essential role in the development of young children. Young children with involved and nurturing fathers develop better linguistic and cognitive skills and capacities, including academic readiness, and are more emotionally secure and have better social connections with peers as they get older ( Cabrera and Tamis-LeMonda, 2013 ; Harris and Marmer, 1996 ; Lamb, 2004 ; Pruett, 2000 ; Rosenberg and Wilcox, 2006 ; Yeung et al., 2000 ). Conversely, children with disengaged fathers have been found to be more likely to develop behavioral problems ( Amato and Rivera, 1999 ; Ramchandani et al., 2013 ). With both societal shifts in gender roles and increased attention to fathers’ involvement in childrearing in recent years, fathers have assumed greater roles in the daily activities associated with raising young children, such as preparing and eating meals with them, reading to and playing and talking with them, and helping them with homework ( Bianchi et al., 2007 ; Cabrera et al., 2011 ; Jones and Mosher, 2013 ; Livingston and Parker, 2011 ). In two-parent families, 16 percent of fathers were stay-at-home parents in 2012, compared with 10 percent in 1989; 21 percent of these fathers stayed home specifically to care for their home or family, up from 5 percent in 1989 ( Livingston, 2014 ). At the same time, however, fewer fathers now live with their biological children because of increases in nonmarital childbearing (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).

In addition, as alluded to earlier, parents of young children face trans-formative changes in technology that can have a strong impact on parenting and family life ( Collier, 2014 ). Research conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that, relative to other household configurations, married parents with children under age 18 use the Internet and cell phones, own computers, and adopt broadband at higher rates ( Duggan and Lenhart, 2015 ). Other types of households, however, such as single-parent and unmarried multiadult households, also show high usage of technology, particularly text messaging and social media ( Smith, 2015 ). Research by the Pew Research Center (2014) shows that many parents—25 percent in

one survey ( Duggan et al., 2015 )—view social media as a useful source of parenting information.

At the same time, however, parents also are saturated with information and faced with the difficulty of distinguishing valid information from fallacies and myths about raising children ( Aubrun and Grady, 2003 ; Center on Media and Human Development, 2014 ; Dworkin et al., 2013 ; Future of Children, 2008 ). Given the number and magnitude of innovations in media and communications technologies, parents may struggle with understanding the optimal use of technology in the lives of their children.

Despite engagement with Internet resources, parents still report turning to family, friends, and physicians more often than to online sources such as Websites, blogs, and social network sites for parenting advice ( Center on Media and Human Development, 2014 ). Although many reports allude to the potentially harmful effects of media and technology, parents generally do not report having many concerns or family conflicts regarding their children’s media use. On the other hand, studies have confirmed parents’ fears about an association between children’s exposure to violence in media and increased anxiety ( Funk, 2005 ), desensitization to violence ( Engelhardt et al., 2011 ), and aggression ( Willoughby et al., 2012 ). And although the relationship between media use and childhood obesity is challenging to disentangle, studies have found that children who spend more time with media are more likely to be overweight than children who do not (see Chapter 2 ) ( Bickham et al., 2013 ; Institute of Medicine, 2011 ; Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004 ).

The benefits of the information age have included reduced barriers to knowledge for both socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Yet despite rapidly decreasing costs of many technologies (e.g., smartphones, tablets, and computers), parents of lower socioeconomic position and from racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to have access to and take advantage of these resources ( Center on Media and Human Development, 2014 ; File and Ryan, 2014 ; Institute of Medicine, 2006 ; Perrin and Duggan, 2015 ; Smith, 2015 ; Viswanath et al., 2012 ). A digital divide also exists between single-parent and two-parent households, as the cost of a computer and monthly Internet service can be more of a financial burden for the former families, which on average have lower household incomes ( Allen and Rainie, 2002 ; Dworkin et al., 2013 ).

STUDY APPROACH

The committee’s approach to its charge consisted of a review of the evidence in the scientific literature and several other information-gathering activities.

Evidence Review

The committee conducted an extensive review of the scientific literature pertaining to the questions raised in its statement of task ( Box 1-2 ). It did not undertake a full review of all parenting-related studies because it was tasked with providing a targeted report that would direct stakeholders to best practices and succinctly capture the state of the science. The committee’s literature review entailed English-language searches of databases including, but not limited to, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline, the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science. Additional literature and other resources were identified by committee members and project staff using traditional academic research methods and online searches. The committee focused its review on research published in peer-reviewed journals and books (including individual studies, review articles, and meta-analyses), as well as reports issued by government agencies and other organizations. The committee’s review was concentrated primarily, although not entirely, on research conducted in the United States, occasionally drawing on research from other Western countries (e.g., Germany and Australia), and rarely on research from other countries.

In reviewing the literature and formulating its conclusions and recommendations, the committee considered several, sometimes competing, dimensions of empirical work: internal validity, external validity, practical significance, and issues of implementation, such as scale-up with fidelity ( Duncan et al., 2007 ; McCartney and Rosenthal, 2000 ; Rosenthal and Rosnow, 2007 ).

With regard to internal validity , the committee viewed random-assignment experiments as the primary model for establishing cause- and-effect relationships between variables with manipulable causes (e.g., Rosenthal and Rosnow, 2007 ; Shadish et al., 2001 ). Given the relatively limited body of evidence from experimental studies in the parenting literature, however, the committee also considered findings from quasi-experimental studies (including those using regression discontinuity, instrumental variables, and difference-in-difference techniques based on natural experiments) ( Duncan et al., 2007 ; Foster, 2010 ; McCartney et al., 2006 ) and from observational studies, a method that can be used to test logical propositions inherent to causal inference, rule out potential sources of bias, and assess the sensitivity of results to assumptions regarding study design and measurement. These include longitudinal studies and limited cross-sectional studies. Although quasi- and nonexperimental studies may fail to meet the “gold standard” of randomized controlled trials for causal inference, studies with a variety of internal validity strengths and weaknesses can collectively provide useful evidence on causal influences ( Duncan et al., 2014 ).

When there are different sources of evidence, often with some differences in estimates of the strength of the evidence, the committee used its collective experience to integrate the information and draw reasoned conclusions.

With regard to external validity , the committee attempted to take into account the extent to which findings can be generalized across population groups and situations. This entailed considering the demographic, socioeconomic, and other characteristics of study participants; whether variables were assessed in the real-world contexts in which parents and children live (e.g., in the home, school, community); whether study findings build the knowledge base with regard to both efficacy (i.e., internal validity in highly controlled settings) and effectiveness (i.e., positive net treatment effects in ecologically valid settings); and issues of cultural competence ( Bracht and Glass, 1968 ; Bronfenbrenner, 2009 ; Cook and Campbell, 1979 ; Harrison and List, 2004 ; Lerner et al., 2000 ; Rosenthal and Rosnow, 2007 ; Whaley and Davis, 2007 ). However, the research literature is limited in the extent to which generalizations across population groups and situations are examined.

With regard to practical significance , the committee considered the magnitude of likely causal impacts within both an empirical context (i.e., measurement, design, and method) and an economic context (i.e., benefits relative to costs), and with attention to the salience of outcomes (e.g., how important an outcome is for promoting child well-being) ( Duncan et al., 2007 ; McCartney and Rosenthal, 2000 ). As discussed elsewhere in this report, however, the committee found limited economic evidence with which to draw conclusions about investing in interventions at scale or to weigh the costs and benefits of interventions. (See the discussion of other information-gathering activities below.) Also with respect to practical significance, the committee considered the manipulability of the variables under consideration in real-world contexts, given that the practical significance of study results depend on whether the variables examined are represented or experienced commonly or uncommonly among particular families ( Fabes et al., 2000 ).

Finally, the committee took into account issues of implementation , such as whether interventions can be brought to and sustained at scale ( Durlak and DuPre, 2008 ; Halle et al., 2013 ). Experts in the field of implementation science emphasize not only the evidence behind programs but also the fundamental roles of scale-up, dissemination planning, and program monitoring and evaluation. Scale-up in turn requires attending to the ability to implement adaptive program practices in response to heterogeneous, real-world contexts, while also ensuring fidelity for the potent levers of change or prevention ( Franks and Schroeder, 2013 ). Thus, the committee relied on both evidence on scale-up, dissemination, and sustainability from empirically based programs and practices that have been implemented and

evaluated, and more general principles of implementation science, including considerations of capacity and readiness for scale-up and sustainability at the macro (e.g., current national politics) and micro (e.g., community resources) levels.

The review of the evidence conducted for this study, especially pertaining to strategies that work at the universal, targeted, and intensive levels to strengthen parenting capacity (questions 2 and 3 from the committee’s statement of task [ Box 1-2 ]), also entailed searches of several databases that, applying principles similar to those described above, assess the strength of the evidence for parenting-related programs and practices: the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP), supported by SAMHSA; the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which is funded by the state of California; and Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, which has multiple funding sources. Although each of these databases is unique with respect to its history, sponsors, and objectives (NREPP covers mental health and substance abuse interventions, CEBC is focused on evidence relevant to child welfare, and Blueprints describes programs designed to promote the health and well-being of children), all are recognized nationally and internationally and undergo a rigorous review process.

The basic principles of evaluation and classification and the processes for classification of evidence-based practices are common across NREPP, CEBC, and Blueprints. Each has two top categories—optimal and promising—for programs and practices (see Appendix B ; see also Burkhardt et al., 2015 ; Means et al., 2015 ; Mihalic and Elliot, 2015 ; Soydan et al., 2010 ). Given the relatively modest investment in research on programs for parents and young children, however, the array of programs that are highly rated remains modest. For this reason, the committee considered as programs with the most robust evidence not only those included in the top two categories of Blueprints and CEBC but also those with an average rating of 3 or higher in NREPP. The committee’s literature searches also captured well-supported programs that are excluded from these databases (e.g., because they are recent and/or have not been submitted for review) but have sound theoretical underpinnings and rely on well-recognized intervention and implementation mechanisms.

Other reputable information sources used in producing specific portions of this report were What Works for Health (within the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Program, a joint effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin); the What Works Clearinghouse of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Services; and HHS’s Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review.

In addition, the committee chose to consider findings from research using methodological approaches that are emerging as a source of innovation and improvement. These approaches are gaining momentum in parent-

ing research and are being developed and funded by the federal government and private philanthropy. Examples are breakthrough series collaborative approaches, such as the Home Visiting Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network to Reduce Infant Mortality, and designs such as factorial experiments that have been used to address topics relevant to this study.

Other Information-Gathering Activities

The committee held two open public information-gathering sessions to hear from researchers, practitioners, parents, and other stakeholders on topics germane to this study and to supplement the expertise of the committee members (see Appendix A for the agendas of these open sessions). Material from these open sessions is referenced in this report where relevant.

As noted above, the committee’s task included making recommendations related to promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective strategies for supporting parents and the salient knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Cost is an important consideration for the implementation of parenting programs at scale. Therefore, the committee commissioned a paper reviewing the available economic evidence for investing in parenting programs at scale to inform its deliberations on this portion of its charge. Findings and excerpts from this paper are integrated throughout Chapters 3 through 6 . The committee also commissioned a second paper summarizing evidence-based strategies used by health care systems and providers to help parents acquire and sustain knowledge, attitudes, and practices that promote healthy child development. The committee drew heavily on this paper in developing sections of the report on universal/preventive and targeted interventions for parents in health care settings. Lastly, a commissioned paper on evidence-based strategies to support parents of children with mental illness formed the basis for a report section on this population. 4

In addition, the committee conducted two sets of group and individual semistructured interviews with parents participating in family support programs at community-based organizations in Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington, D.C. Parents provided feedback on the strengths they bring to parenting, challenges they face, how services for parents can be improved, and ways they prefer to receive parenting information, among other topics. Excerpts from these interviews are presented throughout this report as “Parent Voices” to provide real-world examples of parents’ experiences and to supplement the discussion of particular concepts and the committee’s findings.

4 The papers commissioned by the committee are in the public access file for the study and can be requested at https://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/ManageRequest.aspx?key=49669 [October 2016].

TERMINOLOGY AND STUDY PARAMETERS

As specified in the statement of task for this study ( Box 1-2 ), the term “parents” refers in this report to those individuals who are the primary caregivers of young children in the home. Therefore, the committee reviewed studies that involved not only biolofical and adoptive parents but also relative/kinship providers (e.g., grandparents), stepparents, foster parents, and other types of caregivers, although research is sparse on unique issues related to nontraditional caregivers. The terms “knowledge,” “attitudes,” and “practices” and the relationships among them were discussed earlier in this chapter, and further detail can be found in Chapter 2 ).

The committee recognized that to a certain degree, ideas about what is considered effective parenting vary across cultures and ecological conditions, including economies, social structures, religious beliefs, and moral values ( Cushman, 1995 ). To address this variation, and in accordance with its charge, the committee examined research on how core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices differ by specific characteristics of children, parents, and contexts. However, because the research on parenting has traditionally underrepresented several populations (e.g., caregivers other than mothers), the evidence on which the committee could draw to make these comparisons was limited.

The committee interpreted “evidence-based/informed strategies” very broadly as ranging from teaching a specific parenting skill, to manualized parenting programs, to policies that may affect parenting. The term “interventions” is generally used in this report to refer to all types of strategies, while more specific terms (e.g., “program,” “well-child care”) are used to refer to particular types or sets of interventions. Also, recognizing that nearly every facet of society has a role to play in supporting parents and ensuring that children realize their full potential, the committee reviewed not only strategies designed expressly for parents (e.g., parenting skills training) but also, though to a lesser degree, programs and policies not designed specifically for parents that may nevertheless affect an individual’s capacity to parent (e.g., food assistance and housing programs, health care policies).

As noted earlier in this chapter, this report was informed by a life-course perspective on parenting, given evidence from neuroscience and a range of related research that the early years are a critical period in shaping how individuals fare throughout their lives. The committee also aimed to take a strengths/assets-based approach (e.g., to identify strategies that build upon the existing assets of parents), although the extent to which this approach could be applied was limited by the paucity of research examining parenting from this perspective.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

A number of principles guided this study. First, following the ideas of Dunst and Espe-Sherwindt (2016) , the distinction between two types of family-centered practices—relational and participatory—informed the committee’s thinking. Relational practices are those focused primarily on intervening with families using compassion, active and reflective listening, empathy, and other techniques. Participatory practices are those that actively engage families in decision making and aim to improve families’ capabilities. In addition, family-centered practices focused on the context of successful parenting are a key third form of support for parenting. A premise of the committee is that many interventions with the most troubled families and children will require all these types of services—often delivered concurrently over a lengthy period of time.

Second, many programs are designed to serve families at particular risk for problems related to cognitive and social-emotional development, health, and well-being. Early Head Start and Head Start, for example, are means tested and designed for low-income families most of whom are known to face not just one risk factor (low income) but also others that often cluster together (e.g., living in dangerous neighborhoods, exposure to trauma, social isolation, unfamiliarity with the dominant culture or language). Special populations addressed in this report typically are at very high risk because of this exposure to multiple risk factors. Research has shown that children in such families have the poorest outcomes, in some instances reaching a level of toxic stress that seriously impairs their developmental functioning ( Shonkoff and Garner, 2012 ). Of course, in addition to characterizing developmental risk, it is essential to understand the corresponding adaptive processes and protective factors, as it is the balance of risk and protective factors that determines outcomes. In many ways, supporting parents is one way to attempt to change that balance.

From an intervention point of view, several principles are central. First, intervention strategies need to be designed to have measurable effects over time and to be sustainable. Second, it is necessary to focus on the needs of individual families and to tailor interventions to achieve desired outcomes. The importance of personalized approaches is widely acknowledged in medicine, education, and other areas. An observation perhaps best illustrated in the section on parents of children with developmental disabilities in Chapter 5 , although the committee believes this approach applies to many of the programs described in this report. A corresponding core principle of intervention is viewing parents as equal partners, experts in what both they and their children need. It is important as well that multiple kinds of services for families be integrated and coordinated. As illustrated earlier

in Box 1-1 , families may be receiving interventions from multiple sources delivered in different places, making coordination all the more important.

A useful framework for thinking about interventions is described in the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (2009) report Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders among Young People . Prevention interventions encompass mental health promotion: universal prevention, defined as interventions that are valuable for all children; selected prevention, aimed at populations at high risk (such as children whose parents have mental illness); and indicated prevention, focused on children already manifesting symptoms. Treatment interventions include case identification, standard treatment for known disorders, accordance of long-term treatment with the goal of reduction in relapse or occurrence, and aftercare and rehabilitation ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009 ).

The committee recognizes that engaging and retaining children and families in parenting interventions are critical challenges. A key to promoting such engagement may be cultural relevance. Families representing America’s diverse array of cultures, languages, and experiences are likely to derive the greatest benefit from interventions designed and implemented to allow for flexibility.

Finally, the question of widespread implementation and dissemination of parenting interventions is critically important. Given the cost of testing evidence-based parenting programs, the development of additional programs needs to be built on the work that has been done before. Collectively, interventions also are more likely to achieve a significant level of impact if they incorporate some of the elements of prior interventions. In any case, a focus on the principles of implementation and dissemination clearly is needed. As is discussed in this report, the committee calls for more study and experience with respect to taking programs to scale.

REPORT ORGANIZATION

This report is divided into eight chapters. Chapter 2 examines desired outcomes for children and reviews the existing research on parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices that support positive parent-child interactions and child outcomes. Based on the available research, this chapter identifies a set of core knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Chapter 3 provides a brief overview of some of the major federally funded programs and policies that support parents in the United States. Chapters 4 and 5 describe evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies for supporting parents and enabling the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices, including universal and widely used interventions ( Chapter 4 ) and interventions targeted to parents of children with special needs and parents who themselves face adversities

( Chapter 5 ). Chapter 6 reviews elements of effective programs for strengthening parenting capacity and parents’ participation and retention in effective programs and systems. Chapter 7 describes a national framework for supporting parents of young children. Finally, Chapter 8 presents the committee’s conclusions and recommendations for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective intervention strategies and parenting practices linked to healthy child outcomes, as well as areas for future research.

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Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the family—which includes all primary caregivers—are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger.

Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting.

Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

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Importance of Parents in Life

Table of Contents

Introduction

“There are no bad children, just bad parents”. The importance of Parents in one’s life is quite evident from this eminent quotation. Parenthood is a responsible venture and there’s no debate on that topic.

In this fast-paced era, it is quite difficult for parents to mark their presence in their children’s life.

Millennial children who are exposed to versatilities of distractions find it difficult to find a connection with the ordinary. Not to mention children are quite blinded by the reign of the virtual world. 

Importance of Parents in Life - PDF

Child development lies its root in their parents. Nothing can overcome the rigidity of a child’s upbringing. A parent thereby acts as a visionary to their children. Some important points that talk about the importance of parents in child growth towards education are mentioned in the below Downloadable PDF.

Parents play a pivotal role in their children’s life. They are the pillars of support, guidance, and love. Family is where life begins and love never ends. No matter how old a child gets there’s nothing more comforting and soothing than their parent's arms.

The role of parents in a child’s life is beyond the idea of prompting.

Parenting takes action long before a child’s birth and eventually parents become their children’s alter ego and vice-versa. There is nobody like them who can shape and mould a child’s behavior and development. 

So parents should never seize to inspire and assist their children and thereby parents should strive to be the best teacher in their child’s life.

Maintaining a good Parent-Child relationship is the first step towards wise parenting. Right from the birth of their offspring, parents should be aware of the enormous reliability and accountability in their child’s life.

Studies show that a foetus’ character development is succumbed by the alterations in its mother’s thoughts during pregnancy. Not giving the proper guidance and love can seriously affect a child’s life and can have serious impacts that will lead to character defects.

The parent is the child’s first teacher and will remain a consistent mentor in a child’s life.

What is the role of Parents in a Child's life?

To develop skills.

Parenting is a never-ending skill. Once you sign for it there’s no looking back. You will have to take charge and make the most of your time. Parenting and child development are in a symbiotic relationship.

When one flourishes, the other automatically finds balance. And this is the basic rule of every parent-child relationship.

Parents contribute to the cognitive, socio-cultural, physical, mental, and spiritual development of an individual. Parental values and expertise play a vital role in the healthy upbringing of a child in all these areas. 

The foundation of all beliefs 

The profile of cognitive abilities, beliefs, ethical values, coping defenses, and salient emotional moods that characterize each child at each developmental stage is the result of diverse influences operating in complex ways.

Most students of human development agree that the most important determinants of the different profiles include the inherited physiologic patterns that are called temperamental qualities, parental practices and personality, quality of schools attended, relationships with peers, the ordinal position in the family, and, finally, the historical era in which late childhood and early adolescence are spent.

As children develop from infants to teens to adults, they go through a series of developmental stages that are important to all aspects of their personhood including physical, intellectual, emotional, and social.  

Support and guidance

The proper role of the parent is to provide encouragement, support, and access to activities that enable the child to master key developmental tasks. A child’s learning and socialization are most influenced by their family since the family is the child’s primary social group. Happy parents raise happy children.

Child development lies its root in their parents. Nothing can overcome the rigidity of a child’s upbringing. A parent thereby acts as a visionary to their children.

There’s nothing worldly that comes close to the sacrifices of parenthood. What parents do for their children out of love will always have an indelible remark on the child’s life.

A child who has never ceased to receive a balanced upbringing will continue to advance for the rest of their lives.

Parents also play a major role in the self-confidence of their children. If you want to increase the self-confidence of your child, read 6 Simple Tips to Build Self-Esteem and Confidence your Child.

Providing a good lifestyle

Education is one of the landmarks in a child’s development. A good education will hand over a rewarding career to the person and thereby they can serve society and return its bounties.

It is imperative to know how parents influence the lives of their offspring and plays an important role in the child’s physical, mental, financial, emotional, and career development.

How can Parents become successful in their roles?

The importance of parents is something that children should comprehend involuntarily. It is not something that can be put forward as a moral or ethical question.

Studies show that apart from earlier times, contemporary parents have a higher chance of failure to maintain a good relationship with their children despite the nuclear family setups that we have these days.

Here is how you can build a successful rapport with your child. 

Communication is the key

Be it any relationship, communication is the foundation. Talk to your child about topics other than school and studies. This helps in contributing to better bondage between both parties. 

Engage in activities with them 

You inevitably spent quality time with your loved ones. In this case, do something with your kid that is exciting for them. This will eventually help them polish their interests. 

Apologize when you mess up

Transparent and candidness can do wonders in your relationship. Throw away your ego and apologize for your mistakes. So that the child can stand up for themselves during future endeavors. 

How can parents' actions influence their children?

A recent study shows that parents who actively interact with children help them develop crucial cognitive skills, life skills, and eventually thrive to be successful. Parents contribute to developing focus, concentration, and self-control in their children.

They also improve critical thinking, empathy, perspective, making connections, and communicating. With a supportive parent, a child never regrets taking risks and this prepares a self-directed child. Parents' interactions have a huge impact on the child’s development, be it physical or mental.

Apart from genetic inheritance, children have a tendency to mimic their parents in almost any field. This increases the liability of a parent to be a role model for their children. The efforts from a parent’s side have great effects on their children. 

Even though each child is different and special in their capabilities, parents are the ones who can shape and assist their children without fail. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure a safe and sound environment for their children.

“The attitude that you have as a parent is what your kids will learn from, more than what you tell them. They remember what you are''; these words by Jim Henson alarm us about the role of Parents in a child’s life and justifies the impact and influence of parents in a child’s life. 

Parenting is sometimes about finding happiness in sacrifices. And these sacrifices will not seize to rapture you in the long run. A child with a remarkable upbringing will never fail to make their parents proud. Parents are responsible to provide the necessary food, clothing, shelter, and medical care insofar as they are able.

They are equally responsible for providing sound education and sound knowledge of their religion as well as the moral training of their children. In the same way, children are responsible to appreciate their parent’s promising efforts to ensure a good life for them.

Having said all these, parenthood is not just about sacrifice, it is also teaching your child to master their life on their own.

They should hand over responsibilities for their children so that they learn problem-solving skills at a young age. This will reduce the chances of being left out when they hit adulthood. 

Parents play a pivotal role in their children’s lives and each of their actions will solely depend upon the parenting techniques adopted by their parents. Our future is our children and in order to ensure a better tomorrow, we have to train and shape our children with care and love.

So it’s imperative that every parent decode their child’s peculiarities and assist them in their overall development and thereby contributing to a better tomorrow. When a child is happy, then parents are happy. Parents do almost all the things to make their child educated and well respected in society.

Whatever the situation or whatever is the problem that a child faces in life, parents should try and motivate and inspire them by their own examples to make a tough into good. Parents try to make the balance in their child’s emotional persistence that helps to improve tough situations faster. 

Importance of Parents' in developing Math

Parents play a major role in improving mathematical skills in their children. The most important thing is daily mathematical reasoning.

Early education experts stress reading to children every day, and math should be part of a daily regimen as well.

Since most parents use math in some form every day, they should be able to help their children develop mathematical reasoning without going too far out of their way to design lessons or learn more math themselves.

Parents can help their children apply maths in daily activities like shopping and this brings a lot of difference in their logical skills.

• The parent-child relationship is important because it lays the foundation for the child’s personality, life choices, and overall behavior. It can also affect the strength of their social, physical, mental, and emotional health. 
• Children who have a healthy relationship with their parents are more likely to develop positive relationships with other people around them. They can establish secure bonds and friendships with peers. 
• The healthy involvement of parents in their children’s day to day life helps ensure that their kids can perform better socially and academically.

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The Importance of Family (10 Powerful Reasons)

Family is important because it offers emotional support, nurtures a feeling of belonging, encourages educational growth, and fosters cognitive development. A family meets diverse needs throughout the various phases of life, from infancy through old age.

Families serve crucial societal functions, including socialization, values transmission, and social stability. Families can influence a child’s brain development, prospects of success in life, the formation of future relationships, health, and overall life satisfaction.

Table of Contents

What is family?

A family is generally a group of individuals who come together to provide a natural environment for the development of their children and the well-being of the family’s members. The relationships between the family members can be defined in many ways. Here are 4 common ways to define a family.

• Biological or blood relations : Traditionally, a family is defined as a group of blood-related people. This includes parents and their children, siblings, and extended relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
• Social and cultural definition : Socially and culturally, a family can include individuals who are not necessarily related by blood or law but are bound by emotional ties, care, and support. This can include stepfamilies, godparents, close friends, and others who play a significant role in an individual’s life.
• Legal definition : Legally, a family often includes those related by blood, marriage, or adoption. In the United States, this definition varies by the legal context. For example, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have their own interpretations and definitions of family.
• Personal and Emotional Definition : On a personal level, family can mean different things to different people. For some, it’s about biological connections; for others, it’s about who they share their life with, who cares for them, and who they care for.

What is the importance of family?

Here are 10 reasons why family is important.

Provide emotional support

A good family is a source of emotional support and unconditional love. Adults who received emotional support from their family during childhood are associated with experiencing fewer depressive symptoms, according to a 2004 study published in the American Psychological Association’s “Psychology and Aging” journal.

A healthy family with good parenting is associated with better emotional regulation, self-confidence, mental health, social competence, and resilience. Families can be a source of support in good times and in bad.

Foster belongingness and identity

Families shape an individual’s identity and belonging from a young age. As social creatures, belonging to a group is important for our self-concept. Families provide a sense of social identity, a sense of self, and a feeling that we belong to something larger than ourselves.

Promote education

Families facilitate children’s education by creating learning opportunities, providing intellectual stimulation, and modeling literacy and language skills.

Foster cognitive development and academic performance

Families provide an environment that stimulates cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and critical thinking and supports and encourages academic achievements.

Facilitate socialization

Families play a central role in socializing children and teaching social norms, cultural differences, manners, prosocial behavior, and beliefs. Family members help children understand social relationships and navigate community dynamics.

Maintain physical health

Families instill healthy lifestyles by educating family members about nutrition, exercise, and hygiene. These efforts lay the foundation for children’s long-term physical well-being. Additionally, families provide essential care and support during illness, aiding in recovery and managing health challenges.

Guide moral development

Parents shape their children’s moral development by modeling ethical behavior and teaching right from wrong. Many cultures hold family itself as a fundamental moral value.

Preserve cultural and traditional transmission

Families pass down language, rituals, customs, stories, and belief systems from generation to generation, preserving cultural identity and traditions.

Ensure economic support and security

Families provide material support, including food, clothing, and shelter. This economic support contributes to a sense of security and stability from childhood through older adulthood.

Uphold continuity and legacy

Families preserve cultural heritage and traditions, ensuring these are passed down through generations. A 2015 study conducted by the Manchester Metropolitan University indicated that a family helps individuals gain a sense of continuity by providing a shared history and a link to the past through narratives.

Why do we need a family?

Our families are one of the most important things in our lives. We need a family for different reasons at various stages of our lives.

• When babies are born, they need a family’s care and protection to survive.
• Children need a family’s guidance to learn. They also need a family’s assistance to grow physically and mentally.
• Teenagers need a family’s continued financial and emotional support. They also need a family’s to develop their independent identity.
• Adults need a family’s emotional connection to feel loved and belong.
• Seniors need a family to have a sense of purpose in life.

Is family the most important thing?

Yes, family is the most important thing to many people. In a survey conducted at the University of London in 1995 with 2,000 adult respondents, 31% mentioned relationships with family or relatives as the most important thing in their lives – the highest percentage for any item.

However, family is not the most important thing to everyone. In a 2015 study conducted at Kean University, 43.5% of 354 graduate and undergraduate students were estranged from their families. Reasons for estrangement included disagreement, financial issues, divorce, substance abuse, and abuse.

What is the importance of family in society?

The importance of family in society includes the following 5 factors.

• Socialization : Families instill values, beliefs, and norms in children that support a peaceful, well-functioning society. They teach kids fundamental social skills like language, customs, roles, and norms. They also shape children’s prosocial behaviors like cooperation, respect, and contribution to the community. Well-socialized children grow into productive adult citizens.
• Values transmission : Families are the primary way values such as responsibility, honesty, generosity, etc., are passed down to shape future generations and society.
• Social stability and structure : There is a strong connection between family nurturing and the well-being of society. Family is a basic building block of society, performing an important role in providing structure and stability. Strong family units contribute to a stable social framework, which is essential for the overall functioning and cohesiveness of the community.
• Community engagement and development : Families often participate in community activities and local governance, contributing to developing strong, supportive, and resilient communities.
• Economic support : Families provide economic support for children, the elderly, sick, and unemployed family members, reducing the burden on society. Families also contribute to society through consumption and production.

What is the role of family in child development?

Families play 5 important roles in child development.

• Shape brain development : Family experiences can impact brain development , according to a 2011 research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The research reviewed over 50 studies on brain development and found direct evidence that factors such as maltreatment and maternal deprivation during childhood could lead to changes in brain structure, volume, growth, and activities. Early experiences lay the groundwork for developing a healthy brain, emotional regulation, social competence, and resilience. 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02281.x
• Contribute to life success : Researchers have observed that parenting and the family play a crucial role in a child’s life and success in all the societies studied. For instance, a Harvard University study conducted in 1938 tried to determine the secret of raising successful kids. 268 male Harvard students were tracked for 70 years in the Harvard Grant Study, the first of its kind. Their mental and physical health, as well as their successes and failures, was analyzed. A loving family and healthy relationships are strongly linked to a successful and happy life.
• Influence future relationships : According to the attachment theory theorized by psychiatrist John Bowlby and psychologist Mary Ainsworth, family plays an important role in establishing children’s attachment styles. This early attachment influences the child’s emotional development, self-perception, and future relationships.
• Impact health and well-being : Numerous studies have consistently shown that family life is an important aspect of our well-being. A strong family unit characterized by positive, supportive relationships enhances mental and physical health. For example, a 2011 study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison revealed that family structure was significantly linked to teenagers’ behavioral issues, physical health, and emotional health. A supportive family environment fosters a sense of security and belonging, contributing to lower stress levels and improved health outcomes.
• Predict life satisfaction: In a 1980 study conducted at Indiana State University, life satisfaction levels at 4 stages of adult life from early adulthood (ages 22-34) to late adulthood (ages 65 and older) were examined. A strong family life was one of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction at each stage.

Why is family important to you?

Family is important to people in many different ways. Here are 10 potential reasons why family can be important to you.

• Family can offer unconditional love.
• Family gives you strength and support to face difficulties in life.
• Family models good values.
• Family provides companionship and a sense of belonging.
• Family helps you build self-esteem.
• Family provides you with shelter and safety.
• Family teaches you vital lessons in life.
• Family gives you a sense of security and stability.
• Family teaches you moral values.
• Family enhances mental health.

How does family influence your life?

A family influences your life in many different ways. Some influences are positive, while others are negative. From our earliest moments, our families shape our understanding of the world, our beliefs and values, habits and behaviors, and even our personalities.

Our families provide our first social interactions and environments for learning. Parents, siblings, and extended family teach us through their words, actions, encouragement, and discipline. Growing up, we observe how our families communicate, solve problems, express emotions, and relate to one another and the outside world. Consciously and unconsciously, we integrate much of what we learn from our families into our ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.

The family relationships and dynamics we experience can impact our self-esteem, mental health, worldviews, communication patterns, decision-making, relationships outside the family, and more. Healthy, loving family bonds often lead to positive development and outcomes later in life. Dysfunctional family environments can negatively shape us, too.

Our families leave lasting imprints on who we become as individuals. Their influences remain with us as we mature and start our own families, determining what values, behaviors, and environments we pass on to our children. For better and worse, our families shape our lives through the lessons they teach us and the models they provide.

Why should we help our family?

We should help our families because families provide not just basic needs for children but also emotional needs. A loved one can be a source of strength during hard times. By being there for family when they need us, we reciprocate this love and care they have provided us. When we support family members,  we reinforce our relationships and embody the family values of love, responsibility, generosity, and a sense of community.

How do families develop strong foundations?

To develop strong foundations, here are 4 ways to promote a strong sense of family.

• Invest in family support: Families provide not just basic needs for children but also emotional needs. A loved one can be a source of strength during hard times. Showing children unconditional love is one of the best ways to create a support system. It is their safe haven, so they know they can always come home.
• Improve communication : Open communication is critical to building close connections. Good communication means everyone should be able to speak up, including children. They can have open discussions and share their thoughts honestly and respectfully. Happy, healthy family dynamics rely on respecting each other’s thoughts and feelings and compromising when necessary. Each family member feels connected and is part of something bigger than themselves. 
• Cherish family dinner time : A 2006 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health highlighted its significance in the positive development of teenagers. This extensive study surveyed 99,462 high school students across the United States and discovered a notable positive correlation between regular family dinners and essential aspects such as commitment to learning, the development of positive values, social competencies, and a positive sense of identity. Conversely, it found that these family meals were inversely associated with high-risk behaviors, including substance use, sexual activity, depression, suicidal tendencies, antisocial behaviors, and violence.
• Prioritize quality time together : The value of family time lies not just in its quantity but significantly in its quality. Quality time goes beyond just engaging in enjoyable activities; it encompasses being present and supportive during your child’s challenging moments and actively participating in their life. These meaningful interactions are what constitute true quality time.

Do I need a family to be happy?

No, you don’t need a family to be happy. True happiness can come from within through personal fulfillment, self-discovery, achieving competence, a sense of purpose, and healthy relationships. What brings fulfillment varies significantly among individuals.

In addition, having a family does not automatically equate to happiness. For instance, children in abusive family environments often do not have a happy childhood . 

Similarly, parenthood doesn’t guarantee happiness. A study by the Berlin Social Science Center 2014 found that new parents were generally less happy than their childless counterparts.

Is it OK not to have a family?

Yes, it is OK not to have a family. In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau found that married-couple households without children under 18 were more common than married-couple households with children. Not everyone feels compelled to have children or establish a traditional family structure.

Your happiness and love for your life are what matter most. If not having a family aligns with your happiness and life goals, it’s the right path for you. There is no need to conform to societal norms or feel pressured to do what everyone else does. Prioritize what brings you fulfillment and joy.

References For Importance of Family

• 1. Bennett J. Narrating family histories: Negotiating identity and belonging through tropes of nostalgia and authenticity. Current Sociology . Published online April 20, 2015:449-465. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115578984
• 2. Bowling A. What things are important in people’s lives? A survey of the public’s judgements to inform scales of health related quality of life. Social Science & Medicine . Published online November 1995:1447-1462. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(95)00113-l
• 3. Conti RP. Family Estrangement: Establishing a Prevalence Rate. JPBS . Published online 2015. doi:https://doi.org/10.15640/jpbs.v3n2a4
• 4. Woodhams V, de Lusignan S, Mughal S, et al. Triumph of hope over experience: learning from interventions to reduce avoidable hospital admissions identified through an Academic Health and Social Care Network. BMC Health Serv Res . Published online June 10, 2012. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-153
• 5. Ainsworth MDS. The Bowlby-Ainsworth attachment theory. Behav Brain Sci . Published online September 1978:436-438. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x00075828
• 6. Langton CE, Berger LM. Family Structure and Adolescent Physical Health, Behavior, and Emotional Well-Being. Social Service Review . Published online September 2011:323-357. doi:https://doi.org/10.1086/661922
• 7. Elgar FJ, Craig W, Trites SJ. Family Dinners, Communication, and Mental Health in Canadian Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health . Published online April 2013:433-438. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.07.012
• 8. Medley ML. Life Satisfaction across Four Stages of Adult Life. Int J Aging Hum Dev . Published online October 1980:193-209. doi:https://doi.org/10.2190/d4lg-aljq-8850-gydv
• 9. Fulkerson JA, Story M, Mellin A, Leffert N, Neumark-Sztainer D, French SA. Family Dinner Meal Frequency and Adolescent Development: Relationships with Developmental Assets and High-Risk Behaviors. Journal of Adolescent Health . Published online September 2006:337-345. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.12.026
• 10. Pollmann‐Schult M. Parenthood and Life Satisfaction: Why Don’t Children Make People Happy? J of Marriage and Family . Published online March 4, 2014:319-336. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12095
• 11. . Married Couple Households Made Up Most of Family Households. United States Census Bureau. Published 2023. https://doi.org/https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/05/family-households-still-the-majority.html

Disclaimer: The content of this article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider for medical concerns.

The Role of Family in the Process of Socialization Essay

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Socialization is a fundamental process through which a family acquires cultural and personal identity. Each person undergoes natural, planned, negative, or positive socialization in his or her life, regardless of gender or age. A family is one of the agencies that introduce a child to aspects like culture, physical, and psychological identities or behaviours and environment, which are some of the major elements of socialization.

Commonly, there are three types of families, single parent, nuclear, and extended; each of the family may differently expose a child to the aspects of socialization. The main role of a family is to nurture, mould, and guide children in the society; therefore, a child who does not belong to any family may undergo a negative socialization process.

Since the adoption of the word society, different sociologists like Max Weber have come up with a number of social theories namely feminist theory, conflict theory, consensus theory, theory of ‘self’, concept of the human mind, looking glass-self theory, and symbolic theory among others. Therefore, according to sociologists, the dynamic environment and familial identity in correlation with the elements of socialization determine the social behaviour of an individual in both childhood and adulthood.

A family is a fundamental institution that assists an individual or child to develop into an acceptable member of the society. Although each parent in a family has a role in the upbringing of a child, in many cases, the mother initiates the socialization process in a child.

Besides giving the sense of belonging or identity, a family imparts culture, traditions, norms, social roles, and values into the child (Merton, 1957, p.10). The processes of listening, language learning, and respect to authority start at the family level. Furthermore, it is the role of the family to provide a decent living environment for the children.

All children are a product of their environment; thus, to impart positive social values in a child, parents should choose an environment free from any negative influence. Drug abuse, criminal activities, and immoral behaviours are some of the negative aspects an environment might impart in a growing child. Most children learn from their friends, peers, parents, neighbours, and schoolmates.

Therefore, parents should familiarize with the friends of their children to ensure that the children do not deviate from the conventional social behaviours through external forces. In the light of this revelation, it suffices to conclude that, a family is a social institution that ensures that a child conforms to the acceptable standards of the society. The societal attributes that a family instils in a child include personality, skills/knowledge, social stability/order, cultural transmission, life aspirations, and social discipline among others.

The elements of socialization that a family imparts into a child are three. The first aspect is the inheritance of physical features and the psychological well being of a child. Parents pass their physical features to their children while psychological satisfaction of a child occurs when he or she grows up (Herman & Reynolds, 1994, p.17).

If a child experiences traumatic events like violence, or rape, he or she undergoes psychological instability even in adulthood. Secondly, environment is a crucial element of socialization especially to young stars.

The home, school, or institution in which a child lives in, determine the moral conducts of the child. A child who undergoes physically torture at home may become a drug addict, abuse alcohol, and/or venture into criminal activities like robbery or even commit suicide (Homans, 1962, p.34). The final concept is the element of culture whereby, a family initiates a child into specific cultural attributes. Depending on the sexual identity, parents bestow different gender roles to their children.

Mothers guide girls/daughters on their roles as wives and future mothers while fathers teach boys/sons on their roles as future fathers. In addition, each family or community has different cultural practices like initiation, dress code, and other formalities, which a family passes to its children to ensure they fit in the immediate society. Thus, physical and psychological inheritance, environment, and culture are the key elements a family fosters into a child.

Although most families have similar ways of socialization, some aspects instilled in a child differ from one family to another. A child from a nuclear or single parent family may have limited interaction with other relatives or members of the society.

Each family ensures that its children learn and practice the prevalent culture; however, a child from a single parent family may only learn culture from one parent. Moreover, each parent/family has diverse ways of imparting social skills to children. While some parents are harsh and strict, others rely on dialogue to instil moral values in their children.

Some parents enrol their children into boarding schools, others restrict their children from interacting with relatives or other members of the extended families, others employee house helps to monitor their children, and others quit their jobs to raise their children. Therefore, the methodology adapted by families may differ, but eventually the norms, values, and morals instilled have a similar relationship in one way or another.

The different theories of sociology attempt to correlate social science with other disciplines. For instance, the functionalism theory relates sociology to other scientific phenomena like research and biological organisms among others to explore the society/sociology as a subject.

Fundamentally, each of the adapted sociological theories exclusively focuses on one subject or phenomenon. Therefore, if an individual reads the social theories concurrently, he or she will understand the concept of sociology. Thus, the socialization theory plays a role in effecting the adaptation of exemplary personality or social attributes like obedience and compelling individuals to conform to their societal practices.

Sociologists have adapted different sociological theories to try to explain the subject of sociology. Also referred to as the consensus theory, functionalist theory describes the integration of human beings in the society through the sharing of the common cultural practices (Layton, 1997, P.20). The functionalist theory defines socialization as a functional requisite that leads to a stable society through the establishment of permanent social norms.

According to Durkheim, many systems, both physical and scientific, interact to determine the social behaviour of an individual (Michener, 1999, p.50). The systems are usually independent of the social laws surrounding the individual. The balance or equilibrium between humans and the society maintains a stable society. Religion, culture, and tradition are some of the elements, which shape up the society.

The society establishes specific social control tactics, which conform to the desired values and practices. For instance, if an individual adapts unbecoming behaviour like sneering through condemnation from the people around him or her, s/he will learn to discard the behaviour. Therefore, in relation to family as a channel of socialization, the functionalist theory describes a family as a societal institution established to ensure that there is continuity of a stable society.

Adopted from the ideologies of Karl Max, conflict theory describes socialization as competition, in which human beings not only interact, but also disagree and fight to maintain power (Clause, 1968, p.5). Therefore, the tenacity to compete for wealth and power defines the society as an unequal environment where a person or group decides to dominate over the others. Hence, capitalism, oppression, class systems, and materialism are some of the permanent characteristics of the society.

According to Max, the political, social, and economic stability of the society is in line with the conflict theory (Westen, 2002, p.40). Through family as a socializing institution, an individual must fall in some of the aforementioned groups. A child from a ruling class family will fight to maintain the status quo in the society. The conflict theory gives a sense of belonging to the society especially during socialization.

The family, as a social environment, may change due to external and internal forces like conflicts, divorce, emigration, death, and other natural calamities like floods. Due to the above issues, a child may abruptly change his or her living environment, which may also change the course of his/her socialization process. Similarly, a child may lose a parent in early age leaving him or her in the care of stepparents, foster parents, and grandparents.

The unfortunate ones end up as street children. The new environment may neglect or expose the child to new social practices or impart negative social practices in them. Political instability is among the elements that may scatter a family, and consequently affect the transmission of social norms in children. Furthermore, some of the traumatic events may also divert or impart negative social values like hatred in children.

Gardener Murphy has developed the theory of ‘self’ as a fundamental aspect in socialization. According to Murphy, an individual or self is a reflection of the environment especially the people one interacts with in life (Mead, 1967, p.80). The theory of ‘looking-glass self’ describes an individual’s characters as the mirror of the society. Appearance, judgment, and self-feeling of an individual develop through social interaction with the society (Mead, 1967, p.75).

Similarly, George Herbert Meads’ theory of ‘self’ describes the relationship of parentage or family to social development of the child (Mead, 1967, p.60). Before a child adapts to the external environment, he or she will initially practice the behaviour of the parents (Westen, 2002, p.50). Through the family, a child learns that to develop her awareness he or she will have to interact with others in the society, thus, socialization. In connection with the family, the theory of self describes a family as a fundamental unit in socialization.

Although the family is the commonly known social environment, other social institutions like the state, school, and church play a vital role in building an individual’s personality. The diversity of a social environment determines the conduct of an individual in adulthood. A child who visits religious gatherings like churches, temples, and mosques will attentively listen and shape his or her moral conduct according to the sermons.

On the other hand, a parent who does not worship in any church will pass the similar attributes to their children or generations. Secondly, the state drafts and enacts laws that each citizen has to uphold. Different states/countries or societies have different laws, which the members have to live by, and a breach in any of the laws leads to a punishment.

Apart from family/home, the school imparts social attributes in children. Knowledge, skills, and aspirations are some of the virtues a child/individual picks from school. Sometimes, children may adapt the behavioural conducts of their teachers or instructors. Finally, while at school or home, children acquire playmates who sometimes determine their behaviour. A child or an individual will adapt the behavioural conduct of his/her peers; therefore, negative or positives social values may originate from playmates.

Depending on the surrounding environment, a child conforms to its social norms; similarly, a child will pick up a new behaviour if he or she changes the environment. Thus, it is the role of the society to ensure the social conduct of its environment is not only acceptable, but also safe for the future of an individual. A dynamic environment may confuse a child, which leads to psychological trauma. Therefore, parents should ensure their children stay in a stable environment.

In the contemporary world, the social norms or values are not only dynamic, but also acquired through other channels other than the family, school, or church. Globally, the technological development of computers and the Internet services has led to the adaptation of diverse ways of socialization.

Globalization promotes multiculturalism, interracial marriages, and other diverse social interactions (Goffman, 1961, p.10). Contemporarily, children learn both negative and positive social aspects through social sites like facebook, tweeter, and LinkedIn among others. Sadly, the current upward trend in globalization rarely instils positive values in the young stars.

Besides practicing unacceptable social behaviours like pornography, young people also disregard physical social interactions. Whether at school, home or in the public, children concentrate on their mobile phones, surfing the Internet or interacting with friends or strangers through the social sites. In addition, the young stars have the unfortunate chance to choose what is right or awry without the seasoned guidance of the adults.

In the same light, entertainment channels like television, cinemas, and music playing systems promote different social values into teenagers or individuals. The aforementioned systems are among the common environments that a child in the current society faces as he or she grows into adulthood. Unfortunately, with the fast changes in globalization, there is poor assimilation of children into the society.

Modern parents concentrate on careers and, as a result, they neglect their roles in parentage; therefore, they leave their children to learn vital social values from peers or immediate environment. Consequently, children end up adopting criminal behaviours while some may not even fit into the society. Therefore, the family, as the primary social institution, should integrate into the dynamic environment in the present worldwide; otherwise, the next generations may lack vital social norms.

In conclusion, a family is the principal unit in socialization. The family imparts cultural practices, determines the living environment, and the physical and psychological identity of the children. Socialization, as a subject, has led to the adoption of different sociological theories that have enabled the effective study of the subject.

Marxist, conflict, and consensus theories are among the common theories studied in sociology. Social institutions like family, schools, churches, and mosques also instil positive social practices in individuals. Finally, the dynamic environment and globalization have led to the adaptation of new social practices; unfortunately, some of these new socialization trends promote antisocial behaviours among the youths.

Clausen, J. A. (1968). Socialization and Society . Boston: Little Brown and Company.

Goffman, E. (1961). Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction . London: Macmillan Publishing Co.

Herman, N. J., & Reynolds, L.T. (1994). Symbolic Interaction: An Introduction to Social Psychology . New York: Altamira Press.

Homans, G. C. (1962). Sentiments and Activities . New York: The Free Press Of Glencoe.

Layton, R. (1997). An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mead, G. H. (1967 ). Mind, Self, & Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviourist . Chicago: University of Chicago press.

Merton, R. (1957). Social Theory and Social Structure revised and enlarged . London: The Free Press of Glencoe.

Michener, H. A., & John D. (1999). Social Psychology . Harcourt: Brace College Publishers.

Westen, D. (2002) Psychology: Brain, Behaviour & Culture . New York: Wiley & Sons.

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Life Lessons I Learned from My Parents

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The Value of Hard Work

Resilience in adversity, the importance of kindness and compassion, the value of family and relationships, the pursuit of lifelong learning, conclusion: a legacy of life lessons.

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