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The Different Styles Of Parenting Essay

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The two different styles of parenting that are described in the book are concerted cultivation and natural growth. Concerted cultivation is typically seen in the middle class families. Whereas natural growth is mainly seen in the working class families. The book defines concerted cultivation as having “Organized activities, established and controlled by mothers and fathers…” (Lareau, 2011, p.1). And it defines natural growth as having “children experience long stretches of leisure time, child-initiated play, clear boundaries between adults and children, and daily interactions with the kin.” (Lareau, 2011, p.3). Essentially in concerted cultivation parents are focused in exposing their children in activities that will implement skills that they can use later in life. Some of the skills will be mentioned in the next paragraph. As for the natural growth approach, it is more concerned in letting the child acquire the necessary skills on their own. This parenting style views that the parents do not really impact the skills that the child learns. An example would be thinking that the child’s organized activity helps the child have something to do for a certain amount of time. They do not view the child’s activities as helping them acquire skills that will help them into adulthood. Throughout the book it has become clear that the differences we are seeing are not due to racial or ethnic background but rather to the parenting style that is implemented to the children. We are able

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