The Pros And Cons Of Child Rearing

Superior Essays
Many parents put in a lot of work to ensure their children’s success. Other parents are less involved in placing their children in several activities to ensure their children’s success. What is the best way to raise children? What are some factors that affect child rearing? Several factors are known to affect how a child is raised, and determining a superior child rearing method is complex, with many pros and cons associated with each method.
There are two primary ways to raise children: concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth (Lareau, 2011). Concerted cultivation is the type of child rearing seen mostly in middle-class families while accomplishment of natural growth is primarily seen in working-class, poor families; therefore,
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With accomplishment of natural growth, children play daily with members of their family, and there is division of adults and children (Lareau, 2011). There are downsides to this rearing method. These children often live in small spaces where there is not a lot of privacy (Lareau, 2011). Some children want to be in activities but may not be able to participate due to finances, not having a means of transportation, and not a lot of programs available to them (Lareau, 2011). According to Lareau (2011), “Many were also deeply aware of the economic constraints and the limited consumption permitted by their family’s budget,” (p. 351). Lareau (2011) also says, “Working-class and poor parents sometimes were not as aware of their children’s school situation (as when their children were not doing homework),” (p.347). Children from the working-class poor typically could not get rules to work for them as middle-class children mostly could (Lareau, 2011). Lareau (2011) states about middle-class children, “Family schedules are disrupted,” (p.351). Children from this child rearing method did not spend as much time with their family members (Lareau, …show more content…
They used data the third-grade data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99, which contained a 21,260 sample of children (Covay & Carbonaro, 2010). Extracurricular activities was the dependent variable, and participation in music lessons, sports, dance lessons, art lessons, art activities, and clubs in the past year outside of school hours were the independent variables (Covay & Carbonaro, 2010). They also closely examined socioeconomic status (Covay & Carbonaro, 2010). Family structure and home environment were controlled (Covay & Carbonaro, 2010). The first part of the study was related to how socioeconomic status relates to the level of participation in extracurricular activities (Covay & Carbonaro, 2010). Sixty percent of children with families in the socioeconomic status quartile that is the lowest are involved in an extracurricular activity, but 80.6 percent of the next quarter participate in extracurricular activities (Covay & Carbonaro, 2010). Covay and Carbonaro (2010) state, “We find, as Lareau (2003) suggests, that students from high-SES families are more likely to participate in EAs,” but they also say, “In contrast to Lareau, we find that race is related to extracurricular participation.” Students who were white were more likely to participate in extracurricular activities (Covay and Carbonaro, 2010). The

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