CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The overriding joy of any couple throughout the world is to bear children. The arrival of such as child is a momentous occasion which is celebrated in different ways. While it is important for the couples to bear children, most of them often neglect the vital aspect of caring for their offspring. Every child needs love, care, protection and security from their parents and the society in which he lives. This foregoing assertion is supported by (Lee, 2002) she stated that young children are actively dependent on adults for their care and survival and that each child is expected to be looked after by his parents in the society in which they live.
Moreover, the issue of giving adequate care to children is quite vital because the quality of a nation depends to a large extent on the children. The way children are cared for in Esan South East varies depending on the financial strength of their parents.
Parenting is an activity rooted not only in one’s own childhood experiences, but in the culture one grew up and lives in. culture can have a powerful effect on parenting styles and practices, according to the centers for disease control and prevention. For example, a culture in which the father is expected to be a stern disciplinary and the breadwinner will have a different effect on child-rearing practices than one in which both parents work full time and parenting responsibilities are shared.
BEHAVIOURAL EXPECTATIONS
Parents have behavioural expectations about their chdirlen that are similar in many cultures, according to the centre for disease control (2013) among the areas of consensus; children should be respectful and polite, not interrupt, be honest, share and do well in school. However, some cultures have additional expectation. Parents expect children to exert self-control, while fathers often feel their children should have a religious or spiritual foundation. In Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State, fathers often expect their children to be assertive, independent and willingly take responsibility for their mistakes.
AFFECTION
One are in which cultures often differ is in the ways parents display affection towards their children. West African communities often stop such practices as kissing or fondling a child once she becomes a to0ddler. However, some cultures consider physical attention such as bathing, skin care or braiding a child’s hair to be appropriate physical ways to express affection. Monetary rewards and praise are also signs of affection in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State.
EDUCATION
Many parents see educational attainment as desirable for their children. In some families however, physical punishment might be used to induce children to study hard and get good grades, according to the national foster and kinship care conference, 2012. Furthermore, parental involvement in activities such as checking a child’s homework also varies by culture. The center for public education reports that 82% of white parents check homework, while 91% of Hispanic and 94% of Black parents check homework. In Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State, only few parents are interested in their children academic performance. They poorly check their children home work and also not fully involved in the academic welfare of their children.
PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT
Physical punishment is another area in which parents of different culture act differently. Most parents view spanking as a last resort strategy, but felt it was acceptable, according to the center for Disease Control (2013). Black parents were more willing to spank a child in a public place because they felt the need to immediately respond to misbehavior. White and American Indian parents were less comfortable to use a belt or strap for spanking for serious misbehavior, while Asia-American and American Indian parents felt that they should only use their hands.
These differences in caring for children is not peculiar to Esan South East Local Government Area alone. For instance, Hake (2000) examined that, the adoption system is practice in some part of Northern Nigeria where a child may be sent to live with a favoured native so that the child might take the advantage of better educational and occupational activities in the urban areas.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS
The study tends to look into the practices of child rearing in Esan South East Local Government in Edo State. The problem encounter in the courses of raising up children is what the study tend to discuss. Most parents do not have concern for their child they do not care about their child upbringing and so this research work will help to tackle the problem faced by these children and help to bring up children in proper way.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is;
- To find out how children are cared for in Esan South East Local Government Area during the formative years.
- To investigate whether the advent of white collar jobs has affected the ways parents take care of their children and how working mothers are able to rear their children while keeping a fulltime employment at the same time.
- It is also to examine how traders and business couples in Esan South East Local Government Area care for their children when they are always on long journeys for several days or weeks whether they leave their children in the care of house girls, their elder children or ages women or nannies.
RESEARCH QUESTION
In the course of this research work, the following questions were deduced in order to find out information about child rearing practices in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State.
- Do parents have concern in their children welfare?
- Do parents care about their child upbringing?
- Do cultural practices have any effect either negatively or positively in the child rearing?
- How often do your parent concern about you?
- Do parents have any affection for their children?
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study of child rearing practices in Esan South East Local Government Area, efforts will be restricted to some selected secondary. Due to the fact that the researcher cannot go round the whole Edo State. I decided to choose five secondary schools in Esan South East Local Government Area.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The under-mentioned words are defined as follows;
Joy: This implies happiness
Couple: A couple is defined as a relationship involving husband and wife.
Rearing: This can be defined as the process of bringing up.
Esan: these are groups of communities of people that speak Ishan language as popularly known in Edo State.
Parenting: Is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting raising a child aside from the biological relationship.
