Raising a child

Raising a child

Introduction

The function and the concept of parenting differ on the basis of cultures and education. It also differs on the basis of relationships between the caregiver and the child. Therefore, a child of USA experiences different style of parenting as compared to the child living in Malaysia. The main reason is the difference in the cultures of both countries. Using the data from different resources, the main purpose of this paper is to make an analysis on the different parenting styles in United States as compared to that of Malaysia.

Discussion

Different psychological theories have paid much consideration on the importance of parenting and their influences on the socialization of children. There are different behaviourist learning theories showing the importance on the parenting styles. Parenting style is the way through which parents influence their children. There is a huge influence of the cultures on the parenting styles. Through the parenting, the carers transmit the values and the ideas of the culture to the next generations. Therefore, the essence of culture is considered to be a very important factor in the proper parenting. The direct and the indirect cultural models can bring a huge impact on the parenting behaviors (Bornstein, 2002). The direct influence of the parenting behaviour is that it transmits the values of a culture to their children so that they can understand the morals of the culture and be productive and successful members of the society. The languages, customs also bring a huge impact on the parenting behaviors.

Thus, the parenting styles followed in Malaysia are far different than the parenting styles followed in USA. Malaysia is an Asian country with numerous races and religions in it. The population of Malaysia is 26.26 million. The country is comprised of three dominant ethnic groups i.e. Malays, Indian and Chinese. Therefore, it can be said that country is comprised of three ethnic cultures. The most followed religion in Malaysia as per the Department of Statistic Malaysia is Islam. Malaysia is a country which is comprised of the collectivist culture and values. The main features of collectivist culture and values are interpersonal relationships, cooperation, dependence, helpfulness and obedience. In the parenting of Malaysia, these factors are transmitted in the children. In Malaysia, the first thing which is being learnt by the children is the family socialization (Rebecca, 2006). The children in Malaysia learn rituals and traditions first through their carers. The carers in Malaysia believe that socialization is the main practice that can bring positive effects on the children so that they can gain the habits to adapt their culture.

In Malaysia, the children under Malay culture are very much influenced by their parents. There is a very important role of parents in Malay culture for the purpose of giving directions towards the right behaviour and attitude. It is the responsibility of the parents in Malay culture that they should communicate the teachings of religion and culture to their children. In the Malay culture, the parents are treated as ...