Child-Rearing Practices in England

v.
Child-Rearing Practices in Jamaica

Kara Doherty
Infant/Toddler Practicum
Anti-Bias Research Essay

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Parents in all societies grapple with how to raise their children in a way that prepares
them for the complexities of life (Yorburg, 2002). Cross-cultural research is an eye-opening
experience for most. It is a clear way to learn something about not only other, but also ourselves.
The family is one of the most dominant social groups that can exist. It prepares and shapes
children for the real world. The nurturing of a child will determine many of their mannerisms,
coping skills, the way they interact, whether or not they are successful adults, etc. Its important
for educators to better learn about different cultures child-rearing practices in order to
understand what strengths and weaknesses their students may be predisposed to. A better
understanding of student cultures can provide the educators with the knowledge of how to best
help the children succeed.
Brondenbrenner (1958) found that over time, cultures change their child-rearing practice
in respose to historical factors, level of accultuation, adaptationn, and survival forces. Childrearing is dependent on both the teaching skills of significant adults within critical contexts and
on the economic, political, social, and historial realities.While many countries are progressive in
their child-rearing practices, some still hold true to tradition. For example, n Jamaica, it has
been argued, traditional beliefs continue to exert powerful influences on child-rearing practices
(Morrison, Ispa & Milner, 1998, p.167). This essay will discuss many of these factors as well as
the outcome of staying with a cultures original child-rearing practices and not adapting to the
worlds changes.
Though many cultures, such as the United States and Sweden, have taken a strong stance
against physical punishment for children and shifted to a much more gentle approach in childrearing, some cultures still look to harsh discipline as the best answer. Jamaica, in particular,
holds disciplinary practices based mainly around physical punishment in the household. Some

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other cultures are still riding on the thin line between the two practices; a good example of this
would be England. This research essay will focus on the child-rearing practices of families in
England and Jamaica and on the psychological impact these practices have on the children and
adolescents. Parallely, most Jamaicans are descendants of British-owned slaves from Africa,
accounting for the blend of British and African traditions seen in the cultural rules and in some
child-rearing practices (Lambert, Knight & Weisz, 1989). Because of this link, many
connections can be made between both English and Jamaican child-rearing ways.
While Jamaica takes more of a children should be seen and not heard approach to
child-rearing, English parents can be known to adore children as long as they are quiet,
polite, clean, and dont interrupt (Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p. 257). It can
be beneficial to look right to the source and see what children are saying about their parents
practices. English parents are described by their children as less affectionate and supportive, as
less demanding and controlling, but as more punitive. Affection in the English family becomes
linked with indulgence, and perhaps because of this linkage, demands and controls are imposed
more inconsistently and enforced more by direct punishments than by reasoned explanations and
appeals to the conscience (Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p.266). Thus meaning
that the English are controlling of their families and if they dont get that respect associated with
control from their children, they will use strict punishment to reinforce that power and control
instead of talking through what the child did wrong and what needs to happen next time. If the
parents arent appealing to the conscience, it could become more difficult for the children to
assimilate what is right from what is wrong as they mature. On the other side, Jamaican
children often complain that adults, especially their parents, often publically humiliate them
(Smith & Mosby, 2003, p. 371). This leads us to the next questions, humiliate them how?

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Jamaican traditional discipline is severe physical punishment. Discipline becomes
severely enforced through shouting and flogging or beating. Children are punished in this way
for lying, stealing, disobedience, impoliteness and not completing their chores (Smith & Mosby,
2003, p. 371). Other unsatisfactory activities such as playing inside the house, crying too much,
and not eating the meals provided could also warrant a beating. Flogging is the most common
response from adults to misbehavior of their children. The flogging of children is carried out in
such a way as to appear almost brutal. The hand, a stick, a belt, a shoe, or a tamarind switch are
used to beat children to ensure compliance (Leo-Rhynie, 1997, p.44). Thus making the
dominant parenting style authoritarian. Democratic, as opposed to authoritarian, teaching styles
have been linked to childrens interest in learning and confidence in their own abilities (Stipek,
Feiler, & Milburn, 1995). Democratic would be the progressive example of child-rearing as well
as an example of what countries would use if they were adapting to the changes in the culture
and overall environment. Landmann, Granthan-McGregor, and Desai (1983) conducted a study
reporting that over 59% of Jamaican mothers (in their study) indicated that they used a belt or
stick to beat their children and 84% of mothers of preschool children in the study admitted to
beating their children. This authoritarian, dominating style is embedded in their head from such a
young age. In keeping with this traditional style, Jamaican parenting has been characterized as
highly repressive, severe, and abusive (Arnold, 1982; Leo-Rhynie, 1997; Sharpe, 1997).
Repression is a common denominator between both Jamaicna and English families. English
children, generally, though admittedly well mannered, seemed strangely unresponsive,
unchildlike, and repressed (Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p.257). The response
to these children not getting positively stimulated by parents and not getting the nurturing they
need is resulting in repression and unideal, adult-like behaviors.

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While English families arent quite as physically abusive, emotional abuse comes at a
close second. English adults rear in other behaviors, such as using maximal personal influence by
bossing and commanding, making negative evaluations of children (disapproving, belittling),
threatening to punish or expressing dangerous emotions, expressing impatience with children,
being distant by being unconcerned or unaware, punishing, and being baffled by children
(Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p. 267). It is also common for English families to
send their children to boarding schools at a tender age and rarely see them on holidays
(Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p. 257). All these negative behaviors will affect
the children socially and emotionally as they grow through adolescence and adulthood. Both
groups of parents could benefit from learning to talk with their children, rather than always to or
at them (Smith & Mosby, 2003, p.373). Especially in Jamaica, cultural beleifs have given rise
to a parenting style that has been shown to negatively affect childrens psychosocial outcomes,
leading to serious concerns about the psycological adjustment of Jamaican children and
adolescents (Crawford-Brown. 1999; Leo-Rhynie, 1997). This could be why it is beneficial for
families to adapt to cultural changes as well as global changes. If the rest of the world is adapting
to a more sensitive, nurtuing way of child-rearing, the Jamaican children and adolescents will
have trouble making those connections with children outside their culture. They will also have a
harder time adapting to new environments.
In both cultures, the mother is primarily in charge of the child-rearing. In Jamaica, the
men are typically viewed as not reliable or involved in the family, but when around, are
controlling and peripherally engaged in household and child-rearing tasks (Yearwood, 2001).
The question of when they are around is subjective. Alternatively, childshifting is also a
frequent form of child-rearing in Jamaica. Typically in low-income households, the children will

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be raised by the grandparents or other relatives at different times. Not only the childs
grandparents, but other elders in the community are likely to share verbal authority over the
children (Bryce-Laporte, 1973; Grant et all., 1981). On the topic of child-rearing and the primary
caregiver, gender bias will commonly come into play. English parents generally differentiate in
the treatment of their sons and daughters. In the area of support, English girls experience
significantly more nurturance, companionship, and indulgence than English boys (Devereux,
Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p. 263-264). It it also more typical for boys to be punished
more regularly than girls, when it comes to spanking and scolding (Devereux, Bronfenbrenner &
Rodgers, 1969, p. 264). This could be because men are typically more aggressive than women
and in England, the men are more involved in the boys child-rearing. The fathers are more
concerned with sons, while the mothers are more concerned with daughters each parent seems
to accept somewhat more responsibility for the discipline, control, and socialization of children
of the same sex while being more lenient and indulgent with children of the opposite sex
(Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p. 264). This is different than the Jamaican childrearing because the mother is mainly in charge of all children; it isnt differentiated by gender.
Also, the punishment is equal between girls and boys, neither is generally favored over the other.
After generations of physical punishment on children, what kind of effect does it have,
psychologically?
Physical punishment, used even in moderation, has an adverse effect on psychosocial
adjustment and behavior. Use of physical force against children has been found to predict
impaired cognitive processes such as intelligence deficits and academic failure (Smith &
Mosby, 2003, p. 374). English childrens relationships with peers contained a significant amount
of dominance and compliance (Devereux, Bronfenbrenner & Rodgers, 1969, p. 268). This could

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be because they were raised to comply and they feel its now their turn to dominate another. It is
common for children who are raised in an environment with emotional abuse to grow up to
inflict the same kind of abuse on their peers and loved ones. In Jamaican children, psychological
damage can turn out to be pretty severe. The sociocultural norm [of] the right to beat the child,
embraced by parents, teachers, and parent surrogates does lead to instances of abuse and neglect,
and to repeated cases of abuse and the accompanying psychological damage (Sharpe, 1997, p.
267). Its important for educators to be aware of these practices in such a case that a student
should move to America or somewhere that physical punishment is very uncommon in schools.
It would significantly benefit the teacher to be aware of the cultural background of the child,
their family, and what type of environment they came from.
A teacher must be aware what affect this can have on a child and how they would feel
towards school and educators as a whole. The next step would be to start from the beginning and
help a child begin to feel that school is a safe environment for them. Teacher warmth has been
related to childrens task performance and secure relationships with teachers (Fagot, 1973;
Hamilton & Howes, 1992). Once a child accepts school as a safe space, they will be much more
successful in their learning and participation. Respectively, an educator should be aware of not
only Jamaican practices, but the English practices as well, and know why a child would want to
be in control of the classroom. In that case, it would be helpful to talk about healthy relationships
in class, how they are mutual and respectful, and how to be a good friend. Its also important for
educators to know that in Jamaican society, the disciplining of children [is] described as
inconsistant and developmentally inappropriate (Sloley, 1999). This is vital information to a
teacher or paraprofessional because if a student isnt acting as mature as his or her peers or isnt
hitting milestones at the normal times, it could be a red flag that they are being abused in the

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household. Not only is academic development to be observed and monitored in these students,
but also social development. The popular assumption is that the increase of antisocial behaviors
in that society emanates from an impaired sense of self-worth and psychological maladjustment
among youth (Smith & Mosby, 2003, p.370). It could be beneficial for these children to have
help adjusting to new customs and working to build their self-esteem.
Overall, child-rearing practices vary greatly from culture to culture. It is important as a
educator, parent, friend, and simply a functioning member of society to try and understand as
much as you can about other cultures. As a teacher, one must try and understand their students
on as many levels as possible and the way they were raised is vital information. The nurturing
styles of parents contribute greatly to how a child adapts in school and how they learn. Its
important, regardless of parenting style, that we help children to grow up to be autonomous, selfappreciative, strong, and knowledgeable.

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Works Cited
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