Background of the Study
The position of a parent is one of great responsibility. This is because it involves the process of nurturing, promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of the child. Section 576 of the 1996 Education Act defines a parent as all biological parents, whether married or not, any person who has parental responsibility for a child or any person who has care of a child or young person. According to the Act, having parental responsibility means assuming all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority that a parent has over a child by law. The term parent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2004) denotes a long time family care, which embodies past and present perspectives and deep emotional involvement in the rearing and socialization of a child. Hornby (2008) defines a parent as an individual’s father or mother, whether biological or adopted. A parent is an individuals’ father or mother Hornby, (2008). This can be adoptive or biological, adoptive refers to parents living with children that are not their biological children. Biological parents are parents living with their own biological children. Child on the other hand refers to any human being who is not yet an adult or below the age of 18years (Maduewesi, 2005; UNICEF, 2004). Whichever, parents are the facilitators of a child’s self-concept, interpersonal skills, achievement and sex role behaviour. Parents therefore, are those adults who are having significant input to a child’s life.
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Legally defined, a child is somebody who is yet to become an adult. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) defines a child as a human being less than eighteen years of age unless the law of his or her country deems him or her to be an adult at an earlier age, which is rare. The Child Rights Act (2003) also defines a child as a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years.
In child upbringing, the role of parent-child communication cannot be overlooked.A child is made wholesome or not depending on the influence of the parents’ communication with the child. This is because young children learn mainly from their communication with parents, caregivers, guardians and other environmental influences such as church, playground and schools. Parents, in most cases lay down certain specific attainment standards for their children especially in the educational field through communication on which the laid down vital issues needed for proper development of the child’s ability to experience and to control his/her own behaviordepends (Barnard and Kelly, cited in Ejide, 2002).
Communication is the sending of information from one person to another. Communication can be verbal, for example, one person talking to another or it can be non-verbal and for example a scowl on a person’s face that will probably let other people know he is angry or it could be done using signs and body communication languages. Communication is also a two-way process, which could be spoken, written, visualization and observed. Spoken communication has speakers and listeners who send and receive verbal messages from one another, in written communication there is a writers and readers, whereas in visualization and observation, the symbols and signs are included. Communication motivates, informs, suggests, warns, orders, changes behaviour, and establishes better relationships, to make interaction meaningful and make oneself understood. Communication is effective when a communicator is effective enough to communicate competently, simply, clearly, sincerely and dynamically. Communication can be termed as successful, if the receiver acknowledges it, that is, when a listener or reader understands, reacts, responds to communication and shapes his or her learning behaviour or does that which is communicated. Communication in the context of this study is a bi-directional means through which parents and their children share their feelings, ideas and opinions among themselves which is directed at motivating the child to learn. This can be intellectual, personal, spoken, observation or written in nature. This process of communication is present in all living things and is a fundamental and universal process. However, the present study is focusing on communication among humans in general and between parents and their primary school children in particular.
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. Children depend on their parents for the provision of their daily needs such as shelter, food, clothes, education and safety. Researchers in Developmental Psychology and Early childhood education categorize childhood into four stages which are infancy and toddlerhood (0-3yrears); early childhood (3-6years); middle childhood (6-11years) and adolescence (11-18years), (World Health Organization WHO, 2004; Laura 2004; Ngwoke and Eze 2004). But this study will concentrate on the middle childhood stage.
Middle childhood begins around age 6 or 7, approximating primary school age. It ends around puberty, which typically marks the beginning of adolescence. In this period, children are attending school, thus developing socially and mentally. This is the phase in life cycle when parent-provided experiences are believed to exert their most significant and salient influences on the growing being (Umeano, 2012). Also, at this stage of development, children depend on others, especially parents for their necessities and socialization. It is in view of this that Bandura (1997) points out that parental influence can affect a child’s behaviour and sense of motivation through vicarious learning experiences and supportive communication. This is because children exist within social systems and are continuously interacting with their parents. As a result, the communication does not only influence children’s socialization but development of basic traits and also provide observational models that will guide children’s motivation and interest in whatever they are doing especially learning in school.
Communication is the essence of human interaction and learning. The nature of interaction depends on the relationship between two or more people and understanding is constructed through that interaction. Communication is a basic human right and essential to our quality of life as a social species. Human beings use communication to relate to others, greet, call attention, socially connect, share feelings, express an opinion, agree, disagree, explain, share information, instruct, encourage, among others. SeverinandTankaw (2001) see communication as a process that has two participants- the sender of the message and the receiver of the message. The transmission of these messages activates the person and this response is the aim of communication. Communication influences the activities of a growing child especially in school. This is because, according to Bandura (2000) children learn mostly through social development which is a major failure of effective technologies of communication.
Communication can be verbal or non-verbal, positive or negative, effective or ineffective. It is very important for parents to communicate openly and effectively with their children. According to Zolten and Long (2006), open effective communication benefits not only the children but every member of the family. They stated further that relationships between parents and their children are greatly improved when there is effective communication taking place. In other words, if communication between parents and their children is good, then their relationships are good as well. Children begin to form ideas and beliefs about themselves based on how their parents communicate with them. When parents interact with their children in this context, it is referred to as parent child communication.
Parent-child communication is a form of communication between a parent and a child; it is a combined reciprocal action of a parent and a child that has an effect on each other (Elias, 2006). Parents communicate with their children in varies of ways depending on the intention of the parents at any point in time. However, parent-child communication in the context of this study will focuses on the child’s learning in school. Parent-child communication in terms of school learning can be described as the degree to which a parent interacts with children by prompting motivation for learning, helping with cognitive tasks and guiding in school behaviour (Seginer, 2006). Research shows that parent-child communication positively affects the child’s performance at schoolin both primary and secondary schools leading to higher academic achievement, greater cognitive competence, greater problem-solving skills, greater school enjoyment, better school attendance and fewer behavioural problems (Fan and Chen, 2001).
Parent-child communication can be positive or negative and effective or ineffective. Positive and effective parent-child communication entails parents who provide their children with plenty of love, understanding and acceptance while they communicate with the children (Bong, 2008). Parents can do this by making themselves available to their children when they have questions or just want to talk, giving warm responses and ready to interact with the children. Positive and effective communication benefits not only the children, but every member of the family. This is because parental affection and control styles are particularly strong predictors of child behavioural outcome both at home, school and in the wider society. More specifically, research from the field of attachment has demonstrated that positive parent-child communication characterized by parental sensitivity, responsiveness, emotional warmth and appropriate limit setting predicts a child’s academic and cognitive performance, emotional self-regulation and motivational autonomy (NeitzelandStright, 2003). In general, if communication between parents and their children is good, then their relationships are good as well. This is because children who feel loved and accepted by their parents are more likely to open up and share their thoughts, feelings, and concerns with their parents at home and with teachers in the school.
