A two year old child in extended family - Essay Example

A two year old child in extended family Introduction My field work with a family of three who lived with extended family, making them a family of five, allowed me to observe a two year old child in his home environment. Though the act of observation should be confined to staying outside of the experience, the toddler once introduced worked to include me in their family interactions. The innocence of childhood would not allow a stranger to be excluded from his experiences. Through coming to me and taking my hand, showing me his toys, and watching me as much as I was watching him, I was a part of the experience as much as an observer. The following paper is a work of recursive writing which clusters experiences into themes and relates them to referenced ideas in order to support the observations made during the visits to the family. The Family As a project to create a case study on a family, I found that observing the family and not interacting was a very difficult act. The concept of family is an idea which is promoted through interaction between people and family can suddenly include those who visit the home for a brief time. Gilding (1997, p. 24) discusses that the family is a developing idea. When engaging with a very young child, people can enter into the space and have a modicum of authority in order to participate in the protection of the child. As an example, a visitor in the family will pick up a toddler who comes to them seeking affection. Observations of my case study family led me to understand that the meaning of family is an idea that is enacted through a core, stable group of people that is extended through a fluctuating series of others who come in and out of the home. Henry (1996, p. 32) writes that parents can meet the needs of children through mechanisms of secure attachment, but interactions with others through additional secure attachments can actually enhance childhood attachments with parents. Part of the socialization of a child is to create interactions with a variety of people and to help them engage the world (Edgar 1995, p. 5). As much as the intention of observing is to be on the outside of the family, I found that in my experience the intentions of a toddler will override the intentions of the observer and include them in the family process. The study of the family is the study of origins. Studying different families means studying their diverse cultures to see how differences have an influence, if any, on how children develop (Shimoni and Baxter 2008, p. 47). The family that I visited was Muslim and the structure of the family was nuclear with a mother, father, and extended family consisting of the paternal grandmother and grandfather with whom the parents and the child lived. The mother was focused on the activities of the child with the father being unable to be as focused on the development of the child as he was preoccupied with work for most of the time I observed. The motherhood ideology has mothers at the centre of reproduction and early childhood interaction (Reiger 1995, p. 48). The grandparents were very involved in the experiences of the child with an almost equal participation. Shimoni and Baxter (2008, p. 48) discuss a study by Wearing who determined that the ideology of motherhood still held that there is a “legitimate men’s social power and maintain women’s primary responsibility for child-rearing”. The study also determined that women feel that a ‘good’ mother was always available for her children and being a woman and being a good mother were an intermeshed identity. In studying my case study family I found that this framework of motherhood held true. Observing and Interacting One of the problems with observing is maintaining a barrier between the observer and the observed. During the course of my observations I became close with the family as the mother confided in me some of her concerns and the child interacted with me during the course of the observations. Beckett (1988, p. 140) discusses the nature of the parent/ staff member relationship as the definition of what should and should not be addressed is considered. What emerges from Beckett’s writing is an understanding that accepting families and the differences that make them unique is essential in creating meaningful relationships with parents in order to create significant and influential change where needed. Hughes and MacNaughton (2002, p. 16) show that caretakers of children both from a professional perspective and from a parental perspective need to collaborate in order to address child issues. In order to interact successfully, even as an observer, it was necessary to breech the barrier and become an active observer so that the family could benefit from their participation through interaction with an outside party. Bartlett Article Comparison The issues of the child are embedded in a larger context of the family. According to Bartlett et al (1997, p. 34) the dynamics of the entire family are relevant to the development of the issues of a young child. While the article states that it was originally intended for students to focus on the key issues that the child was having, the dynamics of the family emerged as relevant to the overall behaviours of the child. The three concerns listed by Bartlett et al (1997, p. 34) also seem to have relevance to the work that I did during my time with the family. Looking at these three general concerns helped to frame how the case study could be evaluated. The first concern is that practitioners should be open to the background of the family. In understanding the background of the family, it is clear that the cultural dynamics of the family related specifically to the issues that the child displayed. In relationship to the second concern, as an observer it seemed to be an influential presence as the parental participants tended to want to refer to me as they made their decisions. They would not only try to include me in their decisions they would appear more self-conscious about acting as disciplinarians. The issue of feedback was not directly relevant to the creation of the case study, but it was clear that the idea of discussions about the issues of the child were desired by the mother and that interactive solutions would be welcome (Bartlett et al 1997, p. 34). Work and the Father One of the overriding experiences with the family was that the father was largely disengaged from the activities of the child and mother. There was justification as this was due to work obligations that took him away from the time he could have spent with his child. While his work kept him from much of the time he might have had with the child, it was clear that when the opportunity was present to spend time with the child he was doing other functions for the family. While the couple seemed happy and both appeared to love their child, the father exhibited a removed relationship with his child. One of the ways in which good interaction with parents can be established is with the family centred approach in which the family as a whole is at the centre of their development. This family centred approach is based on the idea that the parents are partners in raising the child and encouraging developed (Hill, Stremmel and Victoria 2005, p. 119). One of the questions that emerged from watching this family is if the family centred approach can be utilized when the father is disengaged from most of the family activities. As stated by Hill, Stremmel ad Victoria (2005, p. 121) a family centred approach requires that the entire family be not only into consideration, but actively pursued as a goal for the family as they work on the issues of the child. Gonzalez-Mena (2007) recommends that parents learn to be active advocates for their child, something that could be discussed with this father if more specific data indicated it be necessary. Conclusion I found that the idea of family was a changing experience and that what made family was a daily reconstruction of interactions between people. People who entered the home but were not blood related got what might be called a ‘day pass’ which meant they were included in the family for a brief time and had a small amount of influence. Extended family visited my field work family while I was observing and they also had day passes through which they interacted and became a part of the family on the day they visited. Behaviours changed, which indicated to me that it was likely that some behaviours changed merely by my own presence. The practice of a child care professional is to become a part of the experience of the child while maintain professional separation with respect to the parents. The overall conclusion of my observations was to realize that the process of raising a child is a collaborative effort of all those who interacted with the family and the child. Bibliography Bartlett, Anthony et al (1997). Family issues: how important are they to us? Educating Young Children. Vol. 3, No. 4, 34-35. Beckett, Cynthia a’. (1988). Parent/staff relationships. In Anne Stonehouse, Trusting toddlers programming for one to three year olds in child care centres. Australia: Australian Early Childhood Association, pp 140-153. Edgar, Don. (1995). Families and social reconstruction of marriage and parenthood in Australia. In Wendy Weeks and John Wilson (eds). Issues facing Australian families: human services respond. Melbourne: Longman Australia, pp. 3-17. Gilding, Michael (1997). Sociology of the family. In Michael Gilding Australian families: a comparative perspective. Melbourne: Addison Wesley Longman, pp 18-42. Gonzalez-Mena, Janet (2007) Advocacy: Parents as advocates for their own children. In Janet Gonzalez-Mena. 50 early childhood strategies for working and communicating with diverse families. Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson Merill Prentice Hall, pp. 1-7. Henry, Margaret Bertha (1996). Needs must. In Margaret Henry. Young children, parents and professionals: enhancing the links in early childhood. New York: Routledge, pp. 25-33. Hill, Lynn T., Stremmel, Andrew and Fu, Victoria, R. (2005). A family centred model: Parent-teacher partnerships’ Teaching in early childhood education. Pp. 115-126. Hughes, P. and MacNaughton, G. (2002) Preparing early childhood professionals to wor with parents: The challenges of diversity and dissensus. Australian Journal of Early Childhood. Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 14-20. Reiger, K. (1995). Motherhood ideology. In Wendy Weeks and John Wilson (eds) Issues facing Australian families: Human services respond. Melbourne: Longman Australia, pp. 47-54. Shimoni, Rena and Baxter, Joanne M. (2008). Defining and describing families. In Rena Shimoni and Johanne Baxterr. Working with families 4th Ed. Pp. 2-25. Read More