Culture is defined as “the totality of socially transmitted behaviour patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions and all other human work and thought characteristic of a community or peculiar to a society or class”. It is the total of the attainment and learned behaviour patterns of a specific people, regarded as expressing a traditional way of life. (Hamner and Turner 1999).
Every culture is characterized, and distinguished from other cultures, by deep-rooted and widely acknowledged ideas about how one needs to feel, think, and act as a functioning member of the culture. Cultural groups thus embody particular characteristics that are deemed essential or advantageous to their members. These beliefs and behaviours tend to persist over time and constitute the valued competencies that are communicated to new members of the group. It also shapes parents’ beliefs on how to take care of their offspring. Thus, having experienced unique patterns of caregiving is a principal reason that individuals in different cultures are who they are and often differ so from one another.
Child rearing: Child-rearing practices are defined as the techniques used in a home to elicit a certain type of behaviour from a child. It is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood.
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Cultural Differences and Parenting
Culture helps to construct parents and parenting, and culture is maintained and transmitted by influencing parental cognitions that in turn are thought to shape parenting practices. Parents often face a seemingly endless array of choices when it comes to child-rearing. From deciding whether or not to work to selecting breast milk vs formula, to implementing permissive or authoritative discipline, it can be difficult for parents to decide on the right course of action. Global parenting reveals that child-rearing practices in different cultures are quite diverse in form and cultural influence plays a profound role.
One of the most widely debated issues in parenting is whether and to what extent a child’s individuality should be nurtured. Generally, there are 2 fundamental patterns in child rearing, individualistic and collectivist, explains communication expert Marcia Carteret on dimensions of culture. Individualistic cultures emphasize self-sufficiency, while collectivist ones emphasize the dependence of individuals on the group of which they are a part. Child-rearing practices change from culture to culture, from generation to generation and from social class to social class. What is perfectly acceptable in one culture or decade, may be seen as shocking in another. American culture generally values and rears girls and boys equally, many cultures give preference to male children.
The American standard of one child/one bedroom is a recent practice; promoted in an age of smaller families and perceived affluence. The practice is not common in other cultures. Historically, in all but the wealthiest homes, children shared not just bedrooms, but beds. Even today, Hispanic immigrant families believe that young children should sleep with siblings and/or parents. The practice, called “augusto,” translates literally as “being relaxed.”
Practices regarding children and money vary widely. Some American parents give children money, expecting nothing in return. Other parents give an allowance, but only with established chores. Still others don’t give allowances at all, but pay children for work they do for the family. American children generally use that money for whatever they want. Other cultures expect children who live at home, grown or not, to contribute to household expenses. But if that child or young adult needs financial help for something like schooling, the extended family comes to their aid, with no questions asked.
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Parenting Discipline
Personal child-rearing practices are based on whether a parent believes human nature is inherently good, or inherently bad. A parent who believes his child by nature will do the wrong thing unless taught otherwise may create an authoritarian, punitive environment with strict discipline. Another parent, believing that the child’s human nature is inherently good, may create the opposite extreme; an outright permissive environment where anything goes. Parents who take the middle road value their child, but create an authoritative, but nurturing environment, where rules are enforced, but lessons are learned by encouragement and natural consequences.
Values and Attitude
Children first learn the values and attitudes practised in their home environment, then from schools and peers. Depending upon a society’s values, the education system of an entire country may support a child-rearing practice. For instance, in America, schools place more emphasis on individualism. In Japan, teachers place more emphasis on group-consciousness.
Margaret Mead studied 3 primitive societies in New Guinea
Arapesh, both men and women were peaceful in temperament and neither men nor women made war. Their children were also found to peaceful as parents. “Among the Mundugumor, the opposite was true, both men and women were warlike in temperament. They used to give punishment to their children. Their children were found to be aggressive in nature, whereas, Tchambuli were different from both. The men ‘primped’ and spent their time decorating themselves while the women worked and were the practical ones. Their children were also found performing the same gender role. Culture reflects parenting and children are the reflection of their parents.
