Introduction to how varying International Perspectives affect Child Rearing

One of the many ways to define child rearing is “The training or bringing-up of children by parents or parent-substitutes. It is used also for child rearing practices in different societies, at different economic levels, in different ethnic groups, etc. It differs from parenting in that in child rearing the emphasis is on the act of training or bringing up the child and the interaction between the parent and child, while parenting emphasizes the responsibility and qualities of exemplary behavior of the parent.”(http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/Ch/Child+Rearing.html) Child rearing is a term that can be divided by physical and human made borders. Some physical borders that may affect a families perspective on child rearing, may be a family living in a underdeveloped mountainous region versus a family who lives in a thriving city. Some of the human made borders may include, varying country borders, different cultures, and differing religious views.
Child rearing is carried out by the way that each individual child is socialized into their specific society. Having a child socialized to their own society does not necessarily mean conforming to every standard that society has put on them but rather adapting to those standards.( http://www.roxbury.net/images/pdfs/casintro.pdf) The way in which a child is socialized into their society may be greatly influenced by who (gender wise) runs the household, cultural norms, etc. However in a study done by Anne M. Ferrari, it seems that ethnicity is the most influential cause on how a child is reared.
Another important factor to think about when talking about child rearing is of how various governments play a factor in this subject. For example the American government has much more strict child labor laws in comparison to third world countries. In light of this one may assume that the way a child is brought up in a third world country may be much different the way in which a child is brought up in America.
No matter of how you look at child rearing, it is important to understand that this is an essential topic to learn about when talking about family life across the world.

Some key questions to keep in mind when thinking about the international perspective on childrearing would be

1. What is the impact of child abuse on childrearing?

2. How does adoption affect the way a child is reared?

3. What are the expectations of the way a child should act based on region lived, and cultural influences?

4. What is the “Western” view of how a child should be brought up?

5. How do race, ethnicity, and gender roles affect children differ from on a another?

Ferrari, Anne M. “The impact of culture upon child rearing practices and definitions of maltreatment,” Child Abuse and Neglect 26, no. 8 (2002): 793-813. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-468CBDF-1&_user=1075869&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F2002&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000051322&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1075869&md5=9aab88977155fcc2213c5a2e74bf7695

Cahill, Spencer E., Gerald Handel, Frederick Elkin. “CHILDREN AND SOCIETY
The Sociology of Children and Childhood Socialization First Edition, http://www.roxbury.net/images/pdfs/casintro.pdf

Patel-Amin, N. & Power, T. G. (2002). “Modernity and childrearing in families of Gujarati Indian adolescents.” International Journal of Psychology, 37(4), 239-245. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a741933849

This post was presented by: Annika Ecklund, Carolyn Kaufman, Sally Pitcher, Stephanie Vassillion, Karl Daruwala, Elissa May