Culture's Impact on Child Development: Nurturing Beyond Origins

Within the world there are many different cultures that children are brought into and raised in. I think the environment and traditions make up the culture in someone’s life. According to an article I read “cultures are the shared systems of meaning in and through which humans live, shape the expectations and hopes that parents have for their children and how they understand messages about being parents from their families and friends as well as from professionals and the media.

”(Spicer, 2010) Infant and toddler development can be affected by their culture because there are certain expectations that are laid before them.

Sometimes children may not receive the attention they need or be allowed to experience different things because of their culture. In Africa there are not as many resources for the children like there is in the United States, therefore the development is surely not the same within the rate of accomplishing those milestones through toddler-hood. I think Nature vs.

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Nurture comes into play a lot when you think of under privileged children but I do think they are both important. I think nature plays a large part in raising children and their development because genes and traits can be passed down.

Nurturing is more important in my eyes because if you nurture a child in a certain way to learn new things, it does not necessarily matter where they came from. I think if you took an under privileged child and a ‘normal’ American child and had them being nurtured the same way through developmental milestones, I think they would be equally progressing.

I think culture is very important in the way children learn and develop but I think the way a child in nurtured with their culture is more important.

No matter where a child comes from, their development will likely be about the same, give or take some time. I think as long as the children have the right guidance and reassurance in their life, it doesn’t matter what type of cultural background you have. If I were to give a list of a few key practices to use when working with multicultural students I would have to say the first is understanding the different cultures and incorporating them into the learning process. Secondly I would try and focus on a common ground ithin the different cultures when working with multiple children. I would also suggest keeping to the principals of the fact that they are all physically the same and colors and shapes are universal. I would also possibly suggest sign language to be used if there are different languages amongst the cultures. Lastly, I would suggest interaction and understanding with the toddlers and knowledge of different cultures. As long as the children are working together there is no harm in keeping them informed on the different aspects and cultures around the world.

References

Spicer, P. (2010, March). Cultural Influences on Parenting. Zero to Three, (), . http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Spicer0310_2.pdf?docID=11341 McKenna, J. (2000) Sleep and Breathing In Children: A Developmental Approach JLoughlin, Jcarroll, CMarcus, (Eds.) Marcell Dakker , pages 199-230. http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/culturalarticle.html