Parenting Techniques and Their Influences on Their Child’s Behavior and Habits.

A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.

Children do not come with guidelines or instructions. What they do come with is a crucial set of physical and emotional needs that need to be met. To raise children properly, parents duties are not limited to just food, shelter and protection. Parents are largely responsible for their children’s success in life. Parents are required to teach and educate children. They have to shape knowledge and character into their children to prepare them to face the real world. To be successful with this, parents must provide self esteem needs, teach moral and values and provide discipline that is both effective and appropriate. As the generations have changed, many parenting styles have evolved, as well.

Social class is a large faction of people who have similar positions in an economic system. In an exemplary world, all students would have an equal shot at success, excellent schools, and educators that dedicate themselves and their time to achieving this goal. However, social class can significantly affect a student's success, highlighting the correlation between low socioeconomic statuses and academic problems. In all social groups, class plays a significant role in the attainment of children in education. Unfortunately, this has always been the case and the effects are just more evident today. Families from high social classes are more likely to obtain a greater level of education than those in low social classes. Members of upper social classes tend to be better educated and have higher incomes; therefore, they are better able to supply educational advantages to their children as well. Being in a financially disadvantaged can also affect a child’s performance during school.  It is important, therefore, to examine the way in which education is distributed through social class. Between societal pressures, expectations and parental negligence, children can be negatively impacted in their pursuit for future success through their education as exemplified through “College Pressures” and “The Sanctuary of School”.

Regardless of social class most parents wish for their children to be happy, healthy, and successful; however, parents disagree on the best way to raise their children to be all of those things, which is when social class determines the parents’ child rearing method. Whether a child comes from a working class or middle class family affects the child’s development and socialization; and consequently the child’s future.

The question that has been debated for years is who is responsible for the children’s weight. In the articles that where researched during this paper the parents were responsible. The reason that they were responsible was because the decisions that parent make about their family and the lifestyle that they live affects their child’s health and it can also affect their health in the future. When you move out of your parent’s house you tend to mimic things that they did such as if they always bought Tide as their laundry soap when you got out on your own you probably bought Tide. Now when you were in a pinch one time you may have tried another brand because it was cheaper but for the most part you revert back to what you know. As a parent you should want your children to be as healthy as they can be a lot of parents that where talked to while researching the subject of childhood obesity seemed to just not have the knowledge about obesity.

The social gradient is a compelling SHD impacting on childhood obesity. In particular, poor social and economic situations can chiefly impact on a child 's health.

In addition to poor food selection in low-income neighborhoods, prevalence of childhood obesity is also significantly affected by family education. Several works of literature support the idea of the critical role of parents or caregivers in determining children's physical health and body mass index. The role of parenting and caregivers is crucial for young children because parents directly determine the child’s physical and social environment, and indirectly influence behaviors, habits, and attitudes through socialization processes; this means that overweight is a function of environment.10

Unequal Childhoods is a book based on the study of a variety of families ranging in class, race and family life. The author Annette Lareau objective was to analyze and understand how and if social life impacts the children pertaining to these different classes. Lareau also examines the affect social class has on those interviewed by following up years later in their transitions to adulthood. Regardless of ones race social economic status plays a role in how a child develops and learns the skills they will eventually grow up to use.

The cause of childhood obesity is widely debated. There are some who believe childhood obesity is caused by socioeconomic factors while others believe it is caused by media marketing junk food to children. As a response to this ongoing debate, food markers, mainly fast food, try to defend themselves by blaming childhood obesity on physical inactivity and the lack of parental influence on a healthy diet. Despite what many researchers may believe, childhood obesity is caused by a combination of key factors. According to a well-written article by Erica Roth, Childhood Obesity, she along with other doctors believes that obesity could be caused by many different factors. Some may include “family history, many psychological factors, and lifestyle” (Childhood Obesity). However, the causes of childhood obesity are not limited to these life threatening factors, childhood obesity is almost always

Laureau argues that a child’s social class can affect and shape the way a child feels about their place in the world. Middle class parents, regardless of race, tend to raise their children as Laureau would describe as “concerted cultivation.” This type of parent enroll their children in many extra curricular actives. These activities are organized and used as a means to develop the child’s talents and instill important life skills. Working class and poor families tended to utilize the “accomplishments of natural growth” model. These families did not participate in as many activities because they were often unable to afford them. These two different types of parenting styles affected the way the child views their social status. Middle class children had a higher sense of entitlement while poor and working class kids felt they had no identities or abilities.

All families want their children to be happy, healthy, and grow. Social classes make a difference in how parents go about meeting this goal. In Annette Lareau book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, she promotes middle class parents as concerted cultivation. Middle class parents encourage their children’s talents, opinions, and skills. For example, engaging their children in organized activities and closely monitoring children’s experiences in school. According to Lareau, middle class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement through this pattern of converted cultivation. This causes a focus on children’s individual development. There are signs that the middle class children gain advantages from the experience of concerted cultivation. However, the working class and poor children do not gain this advantage.

Another defining factor for social class is education especially since education is seen as an achievement toward the American Dream. (Lareau, 235). Younger generations seem to place more emphasis on achieving higher education and the occupational opportunities provided for those who are well-educated (Cherlin, 113). The socioeconomic stratification corresponds to those with differing levels of education such as upper/middle class individuals have a college education while working/lower class have some college and/or minimal high school education (Cherlin, 118-119). These individuals and their given circumstances based on education and income have different values and trends about marriage, family and socialization/rearing of children. (Cherlin, 114-117). Family inequality is then based on direct obtainment for individuals who are head of these households such as employment of fathers and mothers (Cherlin, 111), which in turn affects the childhood/family experience of child within the socioeconomic status of their parents. (Lareau,

During infancy defined as birth to 24 months, a parent or guardian is in charge of a baby’s nutritional needs because the infant is unable to do so on its own. However the risk of obesity can be seen through parental feeding behaviors such as breast feeding or a powdered formula in a bottle. This risk can be seen through the differences in weight trajectories due to the family’s socioeconomic status(SES); based on a family’s occupation, education, and income. “Mother’s who belonged to a lower socioeconomic status are less likely to breastfeed and if they did breastfeed it was for a shorter duration than those Mothers who belonged to a higher socioeconomic status” (Wijlaars, L. M., Johnson, L., van

While all segment of the U.S population are affected by obesity, one common myth exists: all or virtually all the children of low- socioeconomic demographic are far more likely to be obese. There are some researchers that deny the existence of a relationship between obesity and socio-economic status but then there are others that verified that there is an actual connection amongst the two. Poverty is unanimously defined as the state of being poor: one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Low socioeconomic status influences the demographics’ exposure to predominant aspects, like the lack of nutrition: poor nutrition is well – known feature of deprivation; poverty and nutrition go hand and hand. There are countless aspects that threaten the nutrition status for the underprivileged population. Researchers argue that the idea of quantity vs. quality is number one amongst the numerous other reasoning’s that puts the demographic of low- income children at risk of becoming obese.

For centuries, a correlation between social class and academic achievement has existed and has been thoroughly studied. In addition to this it is known that the differences that exist between social classes, influences the educational outcomes in students. For example, low-class families cannot always afford nutritional food or have access to proper educational resources or facilities, which leaves students in a disadvantage when compared to their privileged peers. Furthermore, academic contexts can also hamper the academic achievements of the students that come from low-class families and facilitate the academic success of privileged students. The problem eradicates in the fact that the education system inherently favors cultural norms that are far more likely present in students that come from middle-class families. Some examples of the norms that are appreciated in schools are things like, body posture, hygiene, appreciation for art and literature, broad vocabularies and school knowledge. These traits that typically pertain to the middle-class families are known as the cultural capital. Students with high cultural capital not only have an inherent advantage over less-privileged students, but are also considered smarter (Goudeau, Croizet, 2017, p. 163).