INTRODUCTION
There is a Chinese proverb that Benjamin Franklin is famously quoted as sharing “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and understand”. Children may not always remember every lesson you’ve taught them along the way but they will certainly remember what you did and most importantly how you made them feel. When children see a modeled behavior where love affection and love are organically expressed they are able to emulate this same behavior in all aspects of their lives through adulthood. I posit that if a child is reared in a home in which affection was not expressed they are inclined to have issues with expressing love and affection with their partners. As parents demonstrate affection their children become …show more content…
The theory can be summarized as the giving and receiving of affection satisfies our needs. When we consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory of Motivation we recognize that our need for belonging and love (affection) implore us to strive to achieve strong relational ties in the pursuit of happiness. Otherwise, a deficiency in this area can lead us down a path of loneliness and even depression. The first proposition of the AET theory states “the need and capacity for affection are inborn”. We understand this to me that if this need is in fact not satisfied then there can be negative consequences for both the physical wellbeing as well as social development of an individual. If a child feels unloved or if there is a lack of emotional investment in him/her not only will he/she be unable to express love to anyone else but they may not be able to love themselves. This research paper will examine overall affectionate communication, relationship satisfaction, relationship maintenance and relationships by type (mother/son versus mother/daughter as well as father/son versus …show more content…
Boys are rough and tumble and girls are all things sugar and spice. Do mothers and fathers really parent or in this case show levels of affection differently based on the child’s sex? In the journal article entitled Dimensions of Mother’s and Fathers’ Differential Treatment of Siblings? Links With Adolescents’ Sex-Typed Personal Qualities the findings are that along with society parents are equal “of many socialization agents who pressure adolescents to conform to gender-role expectations, and it is parents’ responses to their offspring’s sex and sex-typed qualities that may create both similarities and differences between siblings’ family experiences” (Jenkins-Tucker, Crouter, & McHale, 2003). Evidence indicates that parents are more likely to spend more quality time teaching sons all things manly such as fixing a flat tire or taking out the trash while the girls are expected to do more household chores such as doing laundry or washing dishes. These gender role expectations can have a long lasting negative effect on children though. If girls are never encouraged to learn how to fix a flat tire for herself, will that make her dependent on a man as an adult? Similarly, if a boy never has to wash a dish will he become a slob and a headache for his future wife? I believe that it is because of the sex-type qualities that have been established by society that I am tougher on my daughters in terms of knowing how to get
There is a Chinese proverb that Benjamin Franklin is famously quoted as sharing “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and understand”. Children may not always remember every lesson you’ve taught them along the way but they will certainly remember what you did and most importantly how you made them feel. When children see a modeled behavior where love affection and love are organically expressed they are able to emulate this same behavior in all aspects of their lives through adulthood. I posit that if a child is reared in a home in which affection was not expressed they are inclined to have issues with expressing love and affection with their partners. As parents demonstrate affection their children become …show more content…
The theory can be summarized as the giving and receiving of affection satisfies our needs. When we consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory of Motivation we recognize that our need for belonging and love (affection) implore us to strive to achieve strong relational ties in the pursuit of happiness. Otherwise, a deficiency in this area can lead us down a path of loneliness and even depression. The first proposition of the AET theory states “the need and capacity for affection are inborn”. We understand this to me that if this need is in fact not satisfied then there can be negative consequences for both the physical wellbeing as well as social development of an individual. If a child feels unloved or if there is a lack of emotional investment in him/her not only will he/she be unable to express love to anyone else but they may not be able to love themselves. This research paper will examine overall affectionate communication, relationship satisfaction, relationship maintenance and relationships by type (mother/son versus mother/daughter as well as father/son versus …show more content…
Boys are rough and tumble and girls are all things sugar and spice. Do mothers and fathers really parent or in this case show levels of affection differently based on the child’s sex? In the journal article entitled Dimensions of Mother’s and Fathers’ Differential Treatment of Siblings? Links With Adolescents’ Sex-Typed Personal Qualities the findings are that along with society parents are equal “of many socialization agents who pressure adolescents to conform to gender-role expectations, and it is parents’ responses to their offspring’s sex and sex-typed qualities that may create both similarities and differences between siblings’ family experiences” (Jenkins-Tucker, Crouter, & McHale, 2003). Evidence indicates that parents are more likely to spend more quality time teaching sons all things manly such as fixing a flat tire or taking out the trash while the girls are expected to do more household chores such as doing laundry or washing dishes. These gender role expectations can have a long lasting negative effect on children though. If girls are never encouraged to learn how to fix a flat tire for herself, will that make her dependent on a man as an adult? Similarly, if a boy never has to wash a dish will he become a slob and a headache for his future wife? I believe that it is because of the sex-type qualities that have been established by society that I am tougher on my daughters in terms of knowing how to get