Key to child developing: Parental guidance
Published: Dec. 6, 2010 at 11:11 PM
DALLAS, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says in the age-old debate about nurture vs. nature, effective nurturing of children by parents takes nature into account.
George Holden at Southern Methodist University in Dallas says parental guidance is key but child development researchers have largely ignored its importance.
Holden's model -- described in the current issue of the journal Child Development Perspectives and detailed in his textbook "Parenting, A Dynamic Perspective" -- says effective parents observe, recognize and assess their children's individual genetic characteristics and then cultivate their strengths by initiating trajectories, such as enrolling children in a class, visiting people and places, or taking kids to practices.
Parents sustain children's progress with encouragement and praise as well as material assistance. They also help children steer clear of negative trajectories, react to child-initiated trajectories and influence a trajectory by modeling desired behaviors.
"Some factors that also can influence trajectories include the family's culture, their income and family resources and the quality of the parent-child relationship," Holden says in a statement. "What this model of parenting helps point out is that effective parenting involves guiding children in such a way as to ensure that they are developing along positive trajectories."
No comments:
Post a Comment