Comparing Parenting Milestone Expectations In Indian Australian Mothers, Anglo Australian Mothers, And Anglo Australian Fathers In An Essay.

Culture Determines Child Rearing Technique

Question:

Write a Report on Parent Milestone Expectation.

Culture to significant degree shows and determines the type of method to be used in child rearing. Ideally, different societies expect different types of behaviors in their children, and therefore, they will be compelled to employ child nurturing techniques that conform to the acceptable norms of the society. For example, western-oriented cultures emphasize attainment of self-reliance skills and communication at an early age compared to the Asian based culture where socialization skills like emotional control are encouraged earlier.  Australia being multicultural has both the western and the Asian cultures. The study aims at comparing parentage of the Indian Australian mothers, Anglo Australian mothers, and Anglo Australian fathers, based on the time children are expected to have acquired competencies of communication, environmental independence, emotional control, peer interaction, education and self-reliance.

People from different cultures have different competencies that are encouraged at early stages of development; these cultures are also expected to play a critical role in the achievement of specific skills. Analysis of parental goals and expectations in child development from distinct cultures in the world provides more light into the subject (Winskel, Salehuddin, & Stanbury 2013). An example is a comparison between the Japanese and American parent expectations, in which the Japanese showed that they expected the early development of competencies such as emotional strength and social courtesy compared to the Americans who anticipated the development of verbal skills and peer socialization skills at an early age (Winskel, Salehuddin & Stanbury, 2013). In another study, Indian mothers, Japanese and English mothers were put into comparison based on the time they expected competencies such as self-care, compliance, environmental independence, communication, emotional strength, and peer socialization. This study established that Indian care providers were late in all competencies except the environment-independence where they seemed to take place earlier as compared to English mothers but late in comparison to Japanese mothers (Pinquart & Kauser, 2017).

These studies show how parents from different cultures have different views of child development miles stones as well as different times when these developments are achieved. The parental childrearing goals and expectations get shaped by the culture and the type of behavior the society wants children to exhibit. Societies have different perceptions on which a person views themselves and how they relate to others (Wise & da Silva. 2007). The western culture reflects self-independence where uniqueness and separateness from others dominate, while the Asians value connections and relationship with others in the community. The western culture like America is individualistic, and therefore, verbal skill is emphasized compared to the collectivism among the Japanese that encourages emotional control and group harmony in skills at an early age (Ramaekers & Suissa, 2011).

Cultural Competency at Early Stages of Child Development

Individualists tend to use authoritative parental control, where a parent shows a high degree of care with simple rules that are well-understood by their children. Authoritative parents practice permissive child rearing and exercise minimal control on the child’s behavior (Lee, 2014). The form of parenting tends to allow children to make decisions that are inappropriate age wise. It the Anglo- Australians employs this style of parenting that makes their children individual centered. Studies have shown that authoritative parenting yields a good result to the child regarding psychological and educational growth (Park, Coello & Lau, A. S, 2014). Contrary, the Asians exercise the authoritarian style of parenting where a parent exercises full control on the child.   However, authoritarian style of parenting yield same results of right attitude to education and psychological development (Rubin & Chung, 2013). The two styles of parenting can only prove beneficial when applied to their native places due to the difference in cultures (Mesman, 2016).

The multicultural society of Australia shows the presence of both the western and the Asian cultures. Anglo Australians being the native lean on the western culture while the Indian Australians bear the Asian culture. Therefore parenting milestone expectations in these two groups will depict the variance in their respective cultures (Megalogenis, 2017). Based on the different studies on child development as carried out in the western countries and the Asian context, this report aims to draw a comparison among the Indian Australian mothers, Anglo Australian fathers, and Anglo Australian mothers.

The study was explored on 40 mothers-Anglo Australian, 40 fathers-Anglo Australian, and 40 mothers-Indian Australian. Every parent who participated in this study had a child below the age of 10 years. The age group of these mothers lied between 22- 48 years of age. The Anglo Australians, both mothers and fathers, were born in Australia. The study’s data was collected using a questionnaire that was translated into local languages and back to English through a competent interpreter. The local languages employed in the questionnaire ensure that all participants were able to give their contribution to the research comprehensively.

Results from 40 Australian Indian mothers, 40 Anglo Australian fathers, and 40 Anglo Australian mothers were compiled by use of analysis of variance series. The results are based on seven milestones which are education, peer interaction, compliance, emotional control, communication, self-care and environmental independence. It was found that Anglo Australian mothers were earlier in the attainment of education milestone in their children compared to the Indian Australians mothers.

Perception on Self and Relationship with Others

In self-care, mothers of Anglo Australians were earlier as compared to mothers of Indian Australians. On compliance mothers of Anglo Australians were earlier as compared to the fathers of Anglo Australians and mothers of Indian Australians. Peer interaction depicted closely similar outcome, and therefore, the expectations for the three groups vary by a small margin. On communication, there was little difference between the groups. On emotional control, mothers of Anglo Australians were earlier than the fathers of Anglo Australians and mothers of Indian Australian. There was little difference in the expectation of the groups based on environmental independence. 

From the study, Anglo- Australian mothers and Anglo Australian fathers have close to similar expectations about children‘s education. On the other hand, mothers of Indian Australians expect their children to pass the education milestone at an early age. This shows a significant variation in the culture of the Indian-Australian and Anglo Australians. Culture to a great degree determines the expectations of child growth on the parents. The Anglo Australians believe more time should be taken before a child can count and write some alphabets. The Indian Australian mothers show that they expect a child to pass the education milestone at a lower age.

Anglo Australian mothers expect a child to develop self-care skills at a lower age compared to the mothers of Indian Australians and fathers of Anglo Australians. There is a close similarity between the Indian Australian mothers and Anglo Australian fathers, about the time a child should have self-care skills. The two allocate more time for the development of skills like eating without help, dressing alone and brushing teeth well. The Anglo Australian mothers contrary believe that self-care attribute should come early thus allocate less time. 

The study also shows that Anglo Australian fathers and Australian Indian mothers had almost similar view that children should take more time to develop compliance skills. The Anglo Australian mothers believe that a child should be able to listen and obey some instructions at an earlier age. It shows that Anglo Australian mothers expect children to develop virtues like obedience and respect at a younger age compared to the Anglo Australian fathers. Recognition of discipline among the Anglo Australian mothers is at a lower age. It is different from the Indian Australian mothers and Anglo Australian fathers who expect a child to take more time before they recognize and practice some form of respect to any person.

Parenting Styles

Indian Australian mothers and Anglo Australian fathers also have a closely similar view on the age at which peer interaction skills develop. The two believe that a takes more time before children build socialization skills. However, Anglo Australian mothers believe that children can interact with others without conflicts at an earlier age. It also shows that according to the leadership skills develop at an early age. The results on peer interaction skills show a difference in the cultures of the Anglo Australians and Indian Australians (Bornstein, 2017).

The three groups show almost similar view regarding the time at which a child can communicate. However, Anglo Australian mothers believe that a child should be able to communicate slightly earlier.  Indian Australian mothers still allocate more time for children before they can answer questions correctly, give out clear opinions, as wells ability to handle phone calls. Anglo Australians show that self-reliance starts as early as possible. Indian Australians seem to allow more time for development of socialization skills in children. It seems that interaction among Anglo Australians takes more time.

Anglo Australian mothers and fathers have an almost similar view on the age of which children can control their emotions.  However, Australian Indian mothers believe that children take more time before they can avoid crying easily, not showing disappointment with gifts and not show frustrations openly. It shows that the environment the children are subjected to contributes little to the development of emotional strength (Wise & da Silva, 2007). On the other hand, Anglo Australian mothers teach their children emotional control at a lower age. Their culture allows virtues of patience to develop earlier compared to that of Indian Australian.

The three groups tend to agree on the age of environmental independence. The caregivers seem to allow environmental independence at a higher age compared to other aspects of emotional control and communication. There is a slight difference between the Anglo Australian mothers for they expect environmental independence at a slightly lower age than the other caregivers in question.

Most of the aspects that get considered as milestones in child development come earlier according to mothers of Anglo Australians and later compared with fathers of Anglo Australians and mothers of Indian Australians. Self-reliance skills get acquired at an early age as per the expectations of the Anglo Australian mothers. Their children are more independent when compared to the Indian Australian children. The difference can get accounted for by the different conditions under which the children grow (Hartas, 2014). The culture of the Anglo Australians advocates for individualism, where one develops the competence to rely on themselves at an early age. Indian Australians, on the other hand, take more time to go past the development milestones.

References

Bornstein, M. H. (2017). Parenting in acculturation: two contemporary research designs and what they tell us. Current Opinion in Psychology, 15, 195-200.

Hartas, D. (2014). Parenting, family policy and children's well-being in an unequal society: a new culture war for parents. Springer.

Lee, E., Bristow, J., Faircloth, C., & Macvarish, J. (2014). Parenting culture studies. Springer.

Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2016). Culture and psychology. Nelson Education.

Megalogenis, G. (2017). The changing face of Australia. Australian Foreign Affairs, (1), 69.

Mesman, J., van IJzendoorn, M., Behrens, K., Carbonell, O. A., Cárcamo, R., Cohen-Paraira, I.,  & Kondo-Ikemura, K. (2016). Is the ideal mother a sensitive mother? Beliefs about early          childhood parenting in mothers across the globe. International Journal of Behavioral     Development, 40(5), 385-397.

Park, H., Coello, J. A., & Lau, A. S. (2014). Child socialization goals in East Asian versus Western nations from 1989 to 2010: Evidence for a social change in parenting. Parenting, 14(2), 69         91.

Pinquart, M., & Kauser, R. (2017). Do the Associations of Parenting Styles With Behavior Problems and Academic Achievement Vary by Culture? Results from a Meta-Analysis.

Ramaekers, S., & Suissa, J. (2011). The claims of parenting: Reasons, responsibility and society      (Vol. 4). Springer Science & Business Media.

Rubin, K. H., & Chung, O. B. (Eds.). (2013). Parenting beliefs, behaviors, and parent-child relations: A cross-cultural perspective. Psychology Press.

Winskel, H., Salehuddin, K., & Stanbury, J. (2013). Developmental milestone expectations, parenting styles and self-construal in Malaysian and Australian caregivers. Kajian Malaysia, 31(1), 19.

Wise, S., & da Silva, L. (2007). Differential parenting of children from diverse cultural backgrounds attending childcare. Australian Institute of Family Studies, 39.