COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES - ‘Serve and return’

Under the "serve and return" philosophy of childrearing, parents are required to precisely understand the signals that their newborns offer and appropriately react to those signals. The fundamental tenet of the strategy is that how caregivers engage with children in the context of child care centers has a significant impact on how the kids grow (Centre on the Developing Child, Harvard University, 2015). This means that childcare providers can either establish an environment that promotes healthy growth or inhibits it for the infants in their charge. Thus, under this approach, daycare givers need to appropriately read the communication signals that the babies give and respond to the signals appropriately to facilitate positive responses from the children. Hence, the signals that the children give should be met with the most appropriate responses from the caregivers. This approach reinforces particular communication and behavioral attributes of the children.

Question 2

There are two types of parenting that are evident in the essay: over permissive parenting and strict parenting. Over-permissive form of parenting relates to the way parents are very lenient with their children. Parents who are lenient with their children avoid becoming firm on the children when the children err. Also, over permissive parents respond to the whims of their children. Therefore, the parents lose control over the children sooner than later.

On the other hand, strict form of parenting entails parents who are in charge of the lives of their children. Strict parents are conversant with a lot of things that they children are doing. Strict parents, therefore, set rules and expect their children to live by the rules. Moreover, strict parents are willing and ready to discipline their errant children (Paul, 2010). Thus, strict parents seek to control their kids and actively shape the behaviors and lives of their kids according to models that the parents believe are the best.

These two types of parenting produce totally different results. On the one hand, permissive form of parenting gives rise to individuals who cannot live by the rules. This form of parenting normally gives rise to delinquent children because when parents adopt it, they do not correct the mistakes that their children commit. Therefore, children who are raised up using this form of parenting learn tht they can have their way at all times. as a result, such children grow up to become difficult individuals who are inclined on crime and other forms of unacceptable social behavior because they cannot respect authority.

A strict form of parenting normally produces obedient children. The children are obedient because they fear the repercussions of breaking the ground rules established by their parents. Moreover, this form of parenting may give rise to disciplined individuals who respect authority and play by the rules. However, in some instances, children raised using this approach may become rebellious when they desire more freedom. Finally, a form of parenting that avoids these extremes is the most appropriate one for children in the current age.

Question 3

Adolescents have various special needs. One, adolescents need a non-judgmental listener. In general, a non-judgmental listener to teenagers is a person, usually an adult, who can listen to them without rushing to either condemn or praise them. Normally, teens tend to be impulsive and hypothetical in their thinking. The teenage years provide a time during which the individuals experiment with various things in their lives. Also, it is during this period that teens attempt to develop their sense of moral and ethical compass. Given that the teens are likely to be sensitive about what other people say about them, it is necessary for the teens to have access to adults who can listen to them (Zimmering, Safrin, & Wortis, 1952). Teens rely on such individuals to share their fears, aspirations and other private feelings.

Second, adolescents need to develop a sense of identity. Identity is one of the most important attributes of one’s personality. It is based on the aspect that one develops the self concept. Self concept is a detailed explanation of who a person thinks he or she is regarding behavior, past, the present and the future. It's based on self concept that one’s behavior and character development. During the adolescent years, teenagers need to develop a sense of identity. During the adolescent years, individuals attempt to answer particular questions about who they think they are, why they think so and what this means in their daily lives (Gladwin, Figner, Crone, & Wiers, 2011). Also, individuals will attempt to think about their present lives as well as their lives in the future. Therefore, adolescents require an environment that makes it convenient and comfortable for them to think about their lives and develop a good sense of identity.

Third, adolescents need a sense of trust and responsibility. It is normal for adults to be suspicious of the activities and intentions of adolescents. The suspicions arise from the feeling that adolescents are normally hard-to-control individuals who are prone to mistakes. Moreover, adult suspicions of the intentions of adolescents arise from the perception that adolescents are prone to making decisions and choices that may easily ruin their lives. However, adolescents need to live in an environment in which they feel that the adults in their lives trust them.

The needs of adolescents reveal a lot about the parenting styles that they have been exposed to. For example, when adolescents show the need for an adult who listens to them, it reveals that the adolescents may have been exposed to an environment in which the parents do not listen to them. In most cases, adolescents who have been brought up under an authoritarian regime tend to show an enhanced need for someone who listens to them without necessarily judging them. The reason for this relationship is simple. When parents use an authoritarian regime, they tend to focus on quashing every aspect of the behavior of their children that they judge to be inconsistent with the model that they may have in mind. Also, under such a regime, the parents tend to focus on the negative aspects of the behavior of their children with the main aim of correcting them using punishment. However, this approach creates a situation in which the kids desire to be listened to in a friendly environment.

On a different note, the desire by adolescents to have a sense of freedom is usually a sign that the adolescents have been brought up in an environment in which they did not have the freedom to explore their thoughts and communicate their desires freely. Normally, parents who are very strict with their children tend to suppress any urge to express one’s self in the children which may be inconsistent with the accepted norms. Also, under such a parenting regime, children feel that they do not have a sense of responsibility at all and that they are constantly being monitored by the adults. Later on when the children get into teenage years, they fail to be responsible individuals. Also, the adolescents may have a strong desire for freedom (Stewart, 2016). Normally, the desire for freedom is an expression of rebellion against a repressive regime that the adolescents may have been exposed to during their childhood.

In conclusion, the manner in which adolescents express particular needs is a reflection of the kind of parenting they have been exposed to during their childhood years. Basically, adolescents need to develop a sense of identity, experience a feeling of freedom and feel that they are trusted as responsible young people. However, the manner in which they express these needs shows the kind of parenting regime that they have been exposed to back at home.

References

Gladwin, T. E., Figner, B., Crone, E. A., & Wiers, R. W. (2011). Addiction, adolescence, and the integration of control and motivation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 1(4), 364-376.

In Worobey, J. (2016). Infant feeding: Parental perceptions, behaviors, and health effects.

Paul, D. (2003). Communication strategies. Victoria, Australia: Nelson Thomson.

Paul, D. (2010). Communication Strategies: Level 2. Singapore: Heinle.

Stewart, B. (2016). Addicted teens. Venice, CA: TMW Media Group Inc.

Zimmering, P., Toolan, J., Safrin, R., & Wortis, S. B. (1952). Drug addiction in relation to problems of adolescence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 109(4), 272-278.