Historical and cultural perspectives on childhood

Views on child development have changed dramatically over the decades, during
medieval times it was believed that children were no different to adults and were
looked upon as miniature adults. Throughout the 16th centaury children were seen to
be born evil and it was the parent’s role to use harsh and cruel discipline to change
this.
During the 17th centaury a philosopher known today as John Locke said that children
were born as blank slates and their experiences in life and the environment in which
they live would have an influence on their development through life. Atkinson,
Atkinson, and Hilgard (1981)
From the beginning of the 20th centaury child development theories were established
these theories today are known as Psychoanalytic, Behaviouristic, Cognitive and
Social learning. The Psychoanalytic theory suggests that early child development is
dependant on the relationships that are formed in early life and what influence they
may have on the individual. The Behaviouristic theory is influenced by the
environment around us and a child’s behaviour can be changed by rewarding good
behaviour and using a punishment to stop bad behaviour. Cognitive constructivism
theory states that children’s behaviour is influenced by how they are thinking at that
time. Social learning theory is when a child’s behaviour is influenced by the actions
of people around them and what they witness on a regular basis. (Birch, 1997)
Irish culture has changed over time as a result of media influence, religious beliefs
being questioned, and economic changes. Today education plays a major role in Irish
culture as without a good level of education it is hard to get work, in the past Irish
people left school early to get work as families struggled financially so it was
everyone’s responsibility to contribute towards the house keeping. Religion in Ireland
was very influential and people tended to look to the church for guidance in life.
Today the Catholic Church isn’t as powerful as it would have been in the past and
people don’t tend to turn to their religious beliefs for guidance, As the Catholic church
no longer controls the running of schools and childcare in Ireland, Following
investigations carried out and the direction of the Kennedy report the Catholic Church
lost its power. In the 1980s the Health Board gained full control of the health and
welfare of the Irish. Following the closure of the industrial schools and homes for
pregnant women as investigations carried out highlighted the abuse, including mental,
physical, sexual and emotional that was inflicted on the children and how they were
forced to live in filthy unhygienic living conditions. It was still evident in Ireland that
there needed to be a service that catered for the needs of young mothers and their
babies; this eventually resulted in the opening of the unit I currently work in. In the
past teenage pregnancy was seen as a mortal sin regardless of the circumstances.
These girls were sent away to homes which are known today as the Magdalene
homes. As soon as the girls gave birth to their babies their babies were taken from
them some were adopted out to foreign families and in some cases the babies were
adopted out to families living in the area. These girls had no say as to what happened
to their babies. Today some of these mothers are still searching for their children. In
our service we promote the importance of the family unit; we support the girls in
caring for their new born babies, whilst remembering that they are still teenagers and
the adjustment to parenthood is very hard and a huge emotional upheaval in their life.
In our service we get referrals from time to time for clients from different countries
and we will always try to accommodate their cultural ways and beliefs but this at
times can cause problems and conflict as to how the rear their children. As some of
our clients will have come from a culture where it is still acceptable to discipline
children by smacking. So we try to teach the girls that there are other ways to deal
with behaviours, which brings us back to John Lockes theory by rewarding good
behaviour will eventually change bad behaviour.Atkinson et al.(1981)
Referencing
Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson, R.C., Hilgard., E.,R. 1981 Introduction to Psychology.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York.

Kennedy, E. (1970) The Kennedy Report. Department of Health.

Ecological systems theory

Bronfenbrenner is based on five environment systems. Microsystems, Meseosystems,

Exosystems, Microsystems and Chronosystem. This is where the environment
influences the way we think and live and how we react to different situations. The
Microsystems is the interaction we have with close peers such as family friends and
neighbours. The Meseosystem would be people we know from school or in the case
of adults people they have contact with in work. The Exosystem is the formal and
informal agencies we have contact with such as social welfare for child benefit
payments or children’s allowance, and if unemployed then where you receive job
benefit. If there is no support from family in a crisis then you would look for support
from other agencies such as the Social work department.
The Macrosystem is the culture we live in. The values and norm we are use to.
The Chronosystem is time throughout and individual’s life. (Berk 2007)

Bronfenbrenner says that ecological system is an active system, which continues to

develop. The size of an individual Microsystems changes evertime they change roles
in relationships like getting married or divorced, or when we move to different
surroundings such as moving house or changing jobs. Significant changes in child
development occur when a child moves through the school setting from primary to
secondary school. Joining or leaving social clubs, forming new friendships. This is
also the Chronosystem where life changes are forced upon us from external
environments. However these changes can come from within us, as we are able to
alter and construct several of own settings and understandings. The way in which this
occurs is affected by the persons age, their environment prospects, behaviour, and
logical characteristics. As a result the ecological system theory means an individual is
not determined by environment factors or internal characters. People are products and
creators of their own environments, therefore both people and their surroundings form
a system of mutually dependant effects. (Berk, 2007.p25)
The way people act and react to situations is dependant on where in the system they
are coming from, as this will effect their development through life
In the Social care setting each case is very different and is influenced as to where they
are situated within the ecological system. Currently I am working with a fifteen year
old who has recently given birth to her baby. Her ecological system is affected by
different factors for instance; Her Meseosystem consists of both parents and twelve
siblings whom all have different fathers to her. She currently has only contact with her
father who is a recovering alcoholic, Her father also has very strong links to
underworld activity and would be very out spoken about his contacts, Her mother has
had no contact with her since giving her up at the age of two, due to these
circumstances she has little or no contact with her siblings. Her microsystem consist
of her schooling which she has had to give up to care for her baby Within the
Exeosystem she has contact with many formal and informal agencies as she is in care
she has contact on a daily basis with Social care workers and Social workers on a
weekly basis, She has contact with the social welfare department to claim child
benefit, She attends teenage parenting courses outside the unit. The Macrsystem is
influenced by the culture she was brought up in. As alcohol addiction and criminal
activity would have been seen as a norm in her everyday life. And at times when she
has ran away she has gone on serious drinking binges and I feel she is going to find
giving up alcohol the hardest task to over come as it played such a major part in her
life growing up. When we are doing up her care plan which will decide the future of
her and her baby staying together I think we have to take in to account the ecological
system theory and how we can best meet her needs.
Referencing
Berk, L. (2000) Child Development, 5th edition, Allyn and Bacon, Massachusetts
Erik Erikson
Erik Erickson was a well known German psychologist whose theories were strongly
influenced by Sigmund Freud. Erikson used Freud’s theories to help broaden his
own.(Bee,1992) Although Freud’s theories were focused on the psychosexual aspect
of development. Erickson’s findings and studies helped broaden the psychoanalytic
theory. He also did a lot of research around the understanding of the personality, and
his theories suggest that each stage of development is a learning experience and is
formed over the whole life span and not in a limited time as Freud stated. Erickson
believed that each stage of development is focused on over coming conflict and
success, and failure in dealing with conflicts can have an impact on overall
functioning. He believes that everyday challenges and struggles help us to learn.
(Birch, 1997) Erickson’s main well known theory was the identity crisis, which he
developed from his own childhood experience. Erickson states that this is one of the
most common struggles that people endure in life, which causes a huge impact on
development. It also causes people to struggle when it comes to forming relationships
and may cause insecurities and issues around trusting peers.(Birch, 1997) Identity
crisis is more common in teenagers, where there is a conflict between feelings of
identity and where they fit in in society. This can cause them to get involved in
dabbling in illegal substances which can give them a false feeling of being removed
from reality which allows them to ignore what’s going on in the real world. Many
children who go through the health care system suffer from identity crisis, as they
come into care at an early stage and are moved from different foster families as these
placements break down due to behaviour management, I feel they find it very hard to
trust the families they are placed with as they have never experienced security, which
causes them to act out when boundaries are put in placed. They get moved around so
much that they lose who they are and where they belong. One particular case I worked
with a whole family who came into our care including the mother, and as far as all the
children were concerned them all shared the same father. The father passed away
about three years before they came into care, and on the fathers birthday, fathers day
and the date he died they all went to visit the grave and then they would all go out on
an outing afterwards and for dinner to mark the particular occasion, One of the
children was making his conformation and he was asked to bring his birth certificate
into school, when he read his birth certificate he realized that his fathers name wasn’t
the same name that he knew. This information had huge implications for this boy he
refuse d to speak to his mother or any other family member, And when we spoke to
him to try and help diffuse the situation he would tell us that he believed he no longer
fitted in with his family and believed they where like strangers to him. Within a few
weeks he withdrew himself from our services and refused to go to school, He started
to get involved with anti social behaviour and coming home drunk, he than began to
fight with his siblings and assaulted his younger brother and broke his arm. He then
had to be moved to a high support unit as his behaviour was getting out of control.
This placement eventually broke down as he continued to absconded and would be
gone for days sleeping rough on the streets, when he was present in the unit he would
assault staff and would have to be restrained. Last year he was murdered by a gang he
had got into trouble with. And to this day I wonder if he had never seen his birth cert
would things be different and would he still be alive with his family.

Biblioghraphy
Birch, A. (1997) Development Psychology. 2nd edition, Palgarve, England
Bee, H. (1992) The Developing child. 6th edition, Harper Collins, USA
Infancy and promoting resilience

Infancy ranges between newborn and two years this is the most rapid stage of
development. A baby moves from being totally dependant on their Mother to being
able to move around and explore for themselves. Babies depend on their mothers from
the first day they are born as their main food source they begin by only being able to
drink milk they then move on to solids usually at 6mths and by one year will be
feeding themselves. As newborn they have to be carried so they can get around as
their muscles aren’t strong enough so they are all wobbly, this develops at a rapid rate
and by six month they are crawling around exploring their surroundings, And usually
around 12months to 18 months begin to walk this is normally occurs in girls first as
boys tend to be more laid back and slower to walk.
Murkoff, Eisenberg and Hathaway (2004)

Bonding usually happens between mother and baby from the minute they are born; I
believe this is mainly on the mother’s part as my son didn’t appear to be able to
distinguish between my husband and me as long as he was being given a bottle.
A baby doesn’t have instant social skills and can only respond by crying sucking and
grasping so it is essential that the parent or caregiver responds to the babies need as
this makes the baby feel comforted and secure. . (Murkoff et al. 2004)This promotes
the bonding phase at around 7 months the infant forms attachment with the mother or
a main care giver. Having formed a secure attachment generally promotes resilience
in an infant and although theorists say that resilience is something we are born with, I
feel we need to encourage children to feel secure and safe in their surroundings to
allow them be confident.
Horowitz (1987; 1990) sees the ’vulnerable’ child as starting life with a particular a
particular handicap, such as premature birth or ’difficult’ temperament. The ’resilient’
child will start life with a particular advantage, such as a sunny disposition. Horowitz
proposes that a child’s inborn vulnerability or resilience interacts with the
’facilitativeness’ of the environment. A highly facilitative environment is one where
the child has loving and sensitive parents and is provided with rich and stimulating
experiences. It might be supposed that the most favourable consequences would occur
for resilient infants brought up in highly facilitative environments, the least
favourable consequences would occur for resilient infants brought up highly
facilitative environments, the least favourable for the vulnerable infants in
unsatisfactory environments, with other combinations falling somewhere in between.
However, Horowitz suggests that a resilient child may do quiet well in a poor
environment. Similarly, a vulnerable child might do quiet well in a highly facilitative
environment, According to Horowitz’s model, it is only the vulnerable child in poor
environment that experiences extreme disadvantage. (Birch, 1997, p.3)
As I am working in a mother and baby unit that was specifically set up to try and give
teenagers a choice as to weather they wanted to keep their babies, as they would have
either come from disadvantaged areas or other residential units, and without proper
guidance and support would not be able to come to terms with the stress of becoming
a young mother. We encourage the girls to attend teenage parenting groups with other
teenage mums so they can bounce ideas of each other and give each other support the
group is facilitated by highly experienced staff who will go through the stepping
stones of child development, From the beginning as in breastfeeding to moving their
babies on to solids, the also encourage the girls to bond with their babies by showing
them different techniques on how to stimulate and play with their babies. This
encourages the babies to feel secure which allows the baby and mother to form a good
attachment. We also do a lot of work with the girls around dealing with stress in an
appropriate manner and how to do distressing techniques to prevent them from taking
their issues out on their babies, as some of our clients would have come from very
violent backgrounds and lashing out would be very normal to them. So we have to
teach them on the dangers of how stressful situations can impact on their babies.
Referencing
Birch, A.(1997). Development Psychology; 2nd edition. New York: Palgarve.
Murkoff, H., Eisenberg,.& A,. Hathaway, S,. (2004) 2nd edition. London: Simon &
Schuster.
Attachment and Resilience
Attachment is where an infant will seek closeness and a security bond from a main
caregiver which usually would be the mother but not necessarily it could be the Father
or another person who plays the main role in providing love and security to an infant.
When an attachment is formed it allows the infant to explore surroundings securely.
Young children are much more willing to investigate strange surroundings when
mother is nearby. The failure to form an attachment to one or a few primary persons in
the early years has been related to an inability to develop close personal relationships
in adulthood (Atkinson., 1997 p75.)

There have been many studies done on children under the age of one to establish the
types of attachment that are formed. These studies were carried out by placing a
mother, infant and stranger in a room, when the mother then leaves the room and the
observation begins as to how the infant reacts, The observation showed that most of
the infants became distressed when the mother left but it was the reaction displayed
when mother returns which allowed to distinguish what type of attachment was
formed,. Whilst the mother is absent the infant who doesn’t appear to be distressed
and ignores interaction with the mother when she returns this is known as Insecure
(anxious / avoidant) When the mother returned the infants who immediately sought to
be comforted and held for awhile were categorized as having a secure attachment.
Infants who are in a loving environment, and who are also given constant reassurance
and support will go on in life to form positive relationships. They can also form
negative relationships but will have the ability to control themselves in these
situations. The infants who even if held didn’t react to mothers comforting continued
to cry and look to be put down were categorized as having an insecure(ambivalent)
attachment. On conclusion of these investigations it was confirmed that infants form
attachment by the age of one but the type of attachment depends on the response a
mother gives to different situations. (Atkinson, 1997)
The main theorists of attachment known today are John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth.

John Bowlby believed that the attachment bond which develops between an infant and

its mother forms the basis of all interpersonal relationships in later years. (Birch 1997,

p27)

Resilience is a coping method that we are born with that enables us to deal with

stressful situations. Although not all children are born with this ability as there are

abnormalities that are caused before birth that may affect this coping skill such as

prenatal trauma or premature birth. (Bee, 1992)

It is believed that resilient children are more likely to have formed a secure

attachment early on in life with a parent or main caregiver. They also have the ability

to form positive relationships with peers. They are able to deal with stressful

situations in an appropriate manner. (Bee, 1992)

Children who are born that don’t show signs of reliance in difficult stressful situations
find it hard to form positive relationships with peers; this can also affect their

attachment with their main caregiver. They will also find it very hard to adapt to new

situations and experiences. (Bee, 1992)

The connection between Attachment theory and Resilience theory supports the

significance of positive interaction from a caregiver from very early childhood, helps

to promote positive adaptation throughout life.

As I work in a mother and baby residential unit I feel it is so important to try and

promote the importance of positive bonding between mother and baby, As the girls

who are in our care are very young and in some cases have no contact with their own

birthing mothers, I think its really important to do individual work around bonding

and effects that positive parenting can have. As I feel that they are at disadvantage

because if they haven’t experienced in life the effects of living in a loving caring

environment can have, then they may find it difficult to display affection and love

with their babies.

Bibliography

Birch, A.(1997). Development Psychology. 2nd edition, London: Palgarve.

Bee, H.(1992).The Developing child. 6th edition, USA: Harper Collins

Atkinson R,& Hilgard, E.(1981) Introduction to Psychology.New york: Harcourt

Brace Jovanovich.
Self-awareness, self-concept and self-esteem
Recently in class we covered Self-awareness, self-concept and self-esteem, we started
by watching a DVD on different families and how they interact with their children.
The DVD showed us how children become self-aware, we observed parents putting a
red mark on their children’s forehead and placing them in front of a mirror if the
touched their forehead instead of the mirror then they had become self-aware.
Psychologists say that self-awareness doesn’t occur in an infant until they are about
two years of age. Another way to distinguish if a child has become self-aware is by
showing them a picture of themselves and see if they say their name .When children
are self-aware they become very independent and like to do tasks for themselves and
refuse any help given. During this time children don’t like to share their toys and
everything becomes ’mine’. This is also the terrible twos stage, Children also become
embarrassed about things like going to the toilet if they are still in nappies then they
will hide when they need to go to the toilet. Empathy is another stage of self-
awareness children will hit out and think it’s funny if someone pretends to cry but
when they have learned empathy they will try and comfort the person in pain. Bee
(1992)
Self-concept is where a child defines themselves as to what tasks they can do for an
infant this would be by saying, ‘I walk, I run, I can swim, As they move on in years
this becomes more subjective with feelings of desire, sadness, distress and anger, for
instance children learn to express how they are feeling towards situations more.
Atkinson, Atkinson, and Hilgard suggest that because the child’s behaviour is
continuously being evaluated by parents and others (sometimes positively and
sometimes negatively), the child soon learns to discriminate between thoughts and
actions that are considered worthy and those that are not. The unworthy experiences
are then excluded from the self-concept, even though they may be quiet valid or
natural experiences. Atkinson et al. (1992, p. 400)
Self-esteem is an element of self-concept. It is how we see and evaluate ourselves as
people. What is important for self-esteem is how one regards themselves. A child with
low self-esteem sees themselves as unable to achieve something and in some cases
they see themselves as worthless. Low self-esteem is very common in children who
are abused when they are constantly told they are nothing and verbally abused they
will start to see themselves as nothing and this leads to low self-esteem. Low self-
esteem is very evident in people who suffer from psychological disorders such as
depression where someone constantly feels sad and in a dark mood, they have a very
low self regard. Children who have high self-esteem see themselves as being able to
achieve a task or goal; they generally have a positive view of themselves and are
confident in their appearance and way of life. They are generally high achievers
academically as they see themselves as being able to succeed. Birch (1997)
Children who come into care as a result of abuse or neglect generally have very low
self-esteem and self worth, as they were belittled and constantly put down by their
parents and because others hold them in such low regard so they themselves believe
they are worth nothing. They come to believe that the abuse they have received was
due to their own fault and as a social care practitioner this opinion of themselves is so
hard to change. We feel it is so important to constantly do life skill work to try and
build up their self image, we aim to help build up their self-esteem and self-concept of
themselves by using constant praise and encouragement of any of their achievements.
And the more we do this then hopefully they will eventually start to feel better about
themselves. Self-awareness in my line of work is so important as any negative
feelings we have will transfer on to the clients we are working with, also how we
present ourselves and our use of body language in dealing with situations can either
have a positive or negative effect so we need to always have a check on ourselves
before we jump in to deal with a situation.
Referencing
Birch, A. (1997) Development Psychology. New York: Palgarve
Bee, H. (1992) The developing child. USA: Harper Collins
Atkinson, R,L. Atkinson, R,C, and Hilgard, E,R. (1981) Introduction to Psychology.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanavich