For the 90% of the population that are heterosexual, the opposite sex parent is the person who teaches them how to have romantic relationships. There is a reason that little girls love their daddies and that little boys are mama's boys, which has nothing to do with incest or actual sexual behavior. Instead, healthy opposite sex parents allow children to practice flirting and inter-gender behavior in a safe environment, free from sexual pressure. In fact, it is when children are deprived of interactions with their opposite-sex parent that they tend to seek adult attention elsewhere, becoming vulnerable to molesters and other predators. The opposite-sex parent is also important in the life of homosexual children, because they help teach children how to relate to people of different genders. There are recognized behavioral differences between men and women that transcend sexual preference, and it is important for a child to learn to relate to members of both sexes. Finally, having two parents involved in a child's life can be essential to a child's well-being in a different manner. While a parent can involve other important role models in a child's life to help that child learn how to behave as a man or a woman and how to interact with men and women, role models are not a substitute for a parent. Role models, by their very nature, have less authority than a parent, which means that a child cannot turn to a role model for assistance and guidance like they would turn to a parent. The sad reality...
Parents can be unreasonable and they can let events from their pasts color their judgments of their children's actions. Having two parents involved in a child's life makes it less likely that a child's discipline and guidance will be arbitrary. Furthermore, even when a parent has made a decision that is truly in a child's best interest, the reasoning behind such a decision may be beyond a child's capabilities. Instead the child may feel betrayed and unloved. In those instances, it is important that the child have another parent to turn to, rather than feeling as if they need to seek adult approval and support outside of the family.
Family to Family Pipes, Jerry & Victor Lee. (1999). Family to family. Alpharetta: North American Mission Board, The Christian-focused psychology text Family to family offers family counseling with a spiritual orientation. The book is designed to address the difficulties many modern families face, including competing schedules, generational clashes, and having a sense of strong moral values in a secular society. Spending time together in a spiritual fashion can give families an oasis
"While biological and psychological factors hold their own merit when explaining crime and delinquency, perhaps social factors can best explain juvenile delinquency" which "is a massive and growing problem in America." (http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/stud7proj2.html) Reference: Doggett, a. "Juvenile Delinquency and Family Structure" http://facstaff.elon.edu/ajones5/Anika's%20paper.htm Goode: 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005; and Pfohl, Images of Deviance and Social Control, 1985. Social Disorganization at the micro level: Control Theories: Why most don't deviate?" Owner: Robert O. Keel. Last Updated: Monday, October
As one commentator notes; "What this adds up to is, in my view, a significant shift in the balance of work and family life. Roles are changing, the nature of care is changing, and the stress related to juggling the balance is increasing (Edgar, 1997, p. 149) A number of statistics also help to outline the nature of the family structure in a developed economy like Australia. In terms of
Family Dynamics Effect on Student Performance The objective of this study is to examine how family dynamics affect student performance. This work will examine the history of equal opportunity education and answer how it is that students receive opportunities they currently have in public education and what current issues are affecting equal opportunity education today. Finally, this study will answer as to how the obstacles to equal educational opportunities be addressed. The
At the same time, children being raised in single-parent families has doubled. Statistically, by the age of 18, over 50% of children in the U.S. are going to spend a portion of their childhood in a single-parent home. These numbers, experts say, make it crucial that we understand how the changes in the structure of the family influence many areas of children's lives, including educational outcomes (Schneider, Atteberry, &
For example, Walker and Hennig add that, "It has frequently been found that children (particularly boys) in divorced, mother-custody families exhibit lower levels of well-being than children in intact families, with more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and lower levels of cognitive and social competence" (p. 64). My son is also currently at a formative period that has special significance for single-parents families. For instance, Walker and Hennig also
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