ParentChild Relationship Essay Research Paper ParentChild RelationshipThe

Parent-Child Relationship Essay, Research Paper

Parent-Child Relationship

The topic I have choose for my paper is that of relationship between parents and children. Some of the points that I will be discussing are child abuse, child neglect and how it can affect a child and the relationship with the parents.

A parent-child relationship is a special relationship that has a huge effect on the way that the child will turn out. This relationship is formed through pregnancy, adoption, and step parenting. Parenting requires a great deal of adaptation. The parents want to develop a strong bond with their child but they also want to maintain a healthy marital relationship and adult friendships. Potential parents often ask themselves what they will be like when they are parents and try to recall some experiences when they were children.

Mothers are the primary caretakers of the children. The fathers have had minimal care taking responsibilities. Many women, if they had a career before hand, have to give it up to stay at home with the child. Although, many fathers where the wives must work become important in the process of care taking because their role must increase to their children. Studies of human fathers and their infants confirm that many fathers can act sensitively with their infant (according to Parke & Sawin, 1980) and their infants form attachments to both their mothers and fathers at roughly the same age (according to Lamb, 1977).

A number of studies have been done on the caretaker’s effects on the child and suggests that the effects may have been caused by child’s behavior as much as by the caretaker’s (according to Bell 1979). The child’s aggression level can be affected by the parent’s authoritarian discipline. “Parents differ widely in sensing the needs of their infants. Some parents are able to quickly notice their child’s moods and periods of distress, this is called synchrony, and they then comfort their child’s needs. Another way that parents react may be slow or they may not even notice a need for action. That is called asynchrony”(according to Schaffer, 1977). In 1978 a group of researchers in infant development at the University of Wisconsin demonstrated that mothers’ synchrony with their infants’ needs prompts physiological responses.

The infant’s temperament may partially stem from the way in which the mother handles the child. The child is affected by the way that they are treated even when they are infants.

Frank Perderson and his colleagues in 1977 conducted research on what the link was between spouse relationship and parent-infant relationship. “Perderson and his colleagues believed that the three units of interaction (mother-father, mother-child, father-child) are interrelated” (according to Perderson 1977). This showed that when the wife and husband showed positive interaction towards each other (smiling and affection) they then would show their infant affection. When there was negative interaction between the wife and husband (verbal critic and blame) it was strongly linked to negative affection shown to the infant by the father.

A form of negative interaction by a parent with their child is child neglect. Child neglect is when the parent of the child fails to meet the child’s basic physical or psychological needs. Child neglect is the most common and most destructive form of child maltreatment.

Child Neglect can occur in any family, rich or poor, but neglectful parents tend to have little education, money, few friends, and many children.

Neglect can take many forms, such as inadequate clothing, shelter, or medical care. The three most harmful forms of child neglect are inadequate food (nutrition), safety and love. (According to the Encyclopedia of Psychology)

Inadequate Food (nutrition): This is the most basic form of physical neglect. In North America more infants die starving to death then dieing by brutality. Improper feeding doesn’t just have to be starving to death, it can also what the child eats and what the parents allow their child to eat. Feeding a child improperly may also result in obesity, which can cause severe damage of a child’s ego in middle childhood.

Safety: Inadequate supervision and precaution are examples of child neglect, and are present in ninety percent (90%) of the serious accidents that happen to children. “In North America more children die of accidents than the next six causes of childhood death combined” (according to the Encyclopedia of Psychology). This is not to say that parental neglect is the only causes of childhood accidents

Love: Older children are able to meet their own needs for nourishment and safety. Every child, no matter what their age, needs the love of their parents. Like John Lennon of the Beatles said “ All you need is love”. Although parents may meet their child’s physical needs but miss their psychological needs. Parental love takes on different forms. “The first year one-on-one interaction with a caretaker is important. The second year encouragement of exploration and language is vital. In early childhood cognitive development should be simulated. In middle childhood school achievement and friendships should be fostered. In adolescence growing independence must be balanced by continued evidence of parental concern” (according to “Psychology” by Don Baucum).

It is the parents’ jo