All of us may have followed the international sensational news of a Japanese boy, Yamato Tanako, a seven year boy and his story of survival in a bear infested dense wood. It speaks of the basic human instinct of survival and quite correctly have attracted the attention of the global media. The boy was left for a while as a disciplinary action to teach the boy a lesson. Instead, the boy got lost for their careless behaviour. The other news which came into the international media is about killing of a rare gorilla in a zoo in USA. Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard said he stands by the decision to kill 17-year-old silverback Harambe to save the child. The boy went under a rail, through wires and over a moat wall to get into the enclosure, according to the zoo. Footage shot by a witness shows Harambe dragging the child through the water as the clamor of the crowd grows louder. Zookeepers shot the 450-pound gorilla with a rifle, rather than tranquillising him.Developmental psychology and parenting
Developmental psychology examines the influences of nature and nurture on the process of human
development, and processes of change in context and across time
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
All of us may have followed the international sensational news of a Japanese boy, Yamato Tanako, a seven year boy and his story of survival in a bear infested dense wood. It speaks of the basic human instinct of survival and quite correctly have attracted the attention of the global media. The boy was left for a while as a disciplinary action to teach the boy a lesson. Instead, the boy got lost for their careless behaviour. The other news which came into the international media is about killing of a rare gorilla in a zoo in USA. Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard said he stands by the decision to kill 17-year-old silverback Harambe to save the child. The boy went under a rail, through wires and over a moat wall to get into the enclosure, according to the zoo. Footage shot by a witness shows Harambe dragging the child through the water as the clamor of the crowd grows louder. Zookeepers shot the 450-pound gorilla with a rifle, rather than tranquillising him.
The brief encounter sparked widespread Internet outrage over the decision to shoot Harambe and whether the childs parents were to blame for this carelessness. While one news brings us the reason for celebrating the basic human instinct of survival and the other one really creates a confused stage of survival, whether the killing of that gorilla was at all necessary, or just could have easily been tackled with tranquillising?
Another incident which came into local media is about a boy who took his life due to academic reason. This boy got GPA of 5 but failed in one of the subject for which he failed overall and thus ends his life. A very personal experience which I would like to share is of a daughter of my friend. The lovely girl, only kid of an Engineer-Doctor couple is quite articulate, smart and adorable kid. One fine morning in the school, the teacher asked her in the full class whether she was taken care of by parents properly and that she is getting fatty!! The experience traumatised her and she almost stopped taking food since then for last two months. Now the parents are busy for around last two weeks with this lovely daughter in the hospital as she is suffering from anorexia, almost halved her body weight in the last two months!!
Developmental psychology examines the influences of nature and nurture on the process of human development, and processes of change in context and across time. Many researchers are interested in the interaction between personal characteristics, the individuals behaviour and environmental factors including social context and built environment. Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why human beings develop over the course of their life. Originally concerned with infants and children. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including: motor skills, cognitive functions, moral understanding, language learning, social change, personality, emotional development, self concept and identity formation.
Parenting or child rearing is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, financial, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood.Parenting refers to the aspects of raising a child aside from the biological relationship.The most common caretaker in parenting is the biological parent (s) of the child in question, although others may be an older sibling, a grandparent, a legal guardian, aunt, uncle or other family member, or a family friend. The role of school to be particular the way the teacher has become more important in the present context as the kids spend major portion of the day time in the school.
Authoritarian parenting is where the parents establish the rules and expect that children will follow them without exceptions. Children have little to no involvement in problem solving or challenges. The attitude of Because I said so of the parents leave no or very little space for negotiation to the children. As a result, Children learn to follow the rules but in turn may create the issues of low esteem. Hostile or aggressive attitude may be seen among the children as they grow.
Authoritative parents also have rules that children are expected to follow, however, they allow some exceptions to the rule. They often tell children the reasons for the rules and they are more willing to consider a childs feelings when setting limits. Authoritative parents tend to use consequences instead of punishments. They also use more positive consequences to reinforce good behaviors and may be more willing than authoritarian parents to use reward system and praise. Children raised with authoritative discipline tend to be happy and successful. They are often good at making decisions and evaluating safety risks on their own. They often grow up to be responsible adults who feel comfortable expressing their opinions.
Permissive parents dont offer much discipline. They tend to be lenient and may only step in when there is a serious problem. There may be few consequences for misbehavior because parents have an attitude of kids will be kids. Permissive parents may take on more of a friend role than a parent role. They may encourage their children to talk with them about their problems but may not discourage a lot of bad behaviour. Kids who grow up with permissive parents tend to struggle academically.They may exhibit more behavioural problems as they will likely not appreciate authority and rules. They often have low self-esteem and may report a lot of sadness.
Uninvolved parents tend to be neglectful. They often do not meet their childrens basic needs and may expect children to raise themselves. Sometimes this is due to a parents mental health issues or substance abuse problems. They may also lack knowledge about parenting and child development or may feel overwhelmed by lifes other problems. Uninvolved parents tend to have little knowledge of what their children are doing. There tends to be few, if any, rules or expectations. Children may not receive any nurturing or guidance and they lack the much need parental attention. When parents are uninvolved, children tend to lack self esteem and they perform poorly academically. They also exhibit frequent behaviour problems and rank low in happiness.
In the context of present day society of ours, the issue of parenting has become so much critical that has never felt before. The rapid pace of development has brought the materialism at the forefront. As a result, gone are the days of our conventional wisdom and culture, the Eastern value system. If we as biological parents or the teachers in school do not really give proper parenting to our next generation, we really will face a challenge of humongous proportion which may really create a dent so deep that it may become the Achilles Heel to our society. It is time that we must look seriously into this subject and take adequate measures in order to advance for a better future for our country. We can site the example of resource starved Island country of Singapore which has converted itself to become the most competitive nation in the world simply by virtue of making the knowledge based growth model. Singapore gained formal independence on August 9, 1965, with Yusof bin Ishak serving as its first president and the highly influential Lee Kuan Yew as its Prime Minister.Upon independence, Singapore continued to experience problems. Much of the city-states three million people were unemployed. More than two-thirds of its population was living in slums and squatter settlements on the citys fringe. The territory was sandwiched between two large and unfriendly states in Malaysia and Indonesia. It lacked natural resources, sanitation, proper infrastructure, and adequate water supply. In order to stimulate development, Lee sought international assistance, but his pleas went unanswered, leaving Singapore to fend for itself. Fifty years ago, the city-state of Singapore was an undeveloped country with a GDP per capita of less than US $320. Today, it is one of the worlds fastest growing economies. Its GDP per Capita has risen to an incredible US $60,000, making it the sixth highest in the world based on Central Intelligence Agency figures. For a country that lacks territory and natural resources, Singapores economic ascension is nothing short of remarkable.
The highest allocation of BDT 29,213 crore in the education sector out of total budget for 2016-17 by The Government of Bangladesh shows the intent of Education being the priority sector. The unitary education system may be reviewed for implementation by the policy makers to create an enabling environment towards meaningful check and balance in the education. The address towards proper education system and training up of the population is the condition precedent for development of a nationWe look forward to the golden days ahead when our economy will be thriving towards excellence due to the positive results derived out of knowledge based economy. We will not only be among the rank of competitive nation but also will be able to increase our foreign remittances by way of exports of well trained human resources overseas in place of un/semi skilled manpower. As a Parent, we certainly look forward to the brighter future ahead.
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
