The Challenges of Parenting Chapter 2

1. The Challenges of ParentingChapter 2

2. Objectives: • Identify and describe Galinsky’s six stages of parenthood • Explain how knowledge of child development can help parents • Describe the challenges and rewards of parenthood • Develop a self-assessment for judging a person’s readiness for parenthood

3. Who needs to have good parenting skills? Parents Caregivers Teachers

4. 1. What is parenting? • Caring for children and helping them grow and develop. • Understanding a child’s needs and meeting those needs.

5. 2. Describe 3 actions you could take to make a positive difference in a child’s life. • Behave as a positive role model • Show interest in a child’s activities • Work on a project with a child • Volunteer in tutoring or scouting • Babysitting or camp counseling

6. 3. How can it help parents to learn about child development? • To be good role models: • To have reasonable expectations for children’s behavior

7. 4. What are some ways to develop parenting skills? • Classes • Workshops • Library resources • Experience • Advice • Observation • of parents and children

8. 5. Galinsky’s Stages of Parenthood

9. 5*. Why is it important to understand these stages? • Parents who understand these stages are more likely to be prepared and more likely to be effective

10. 6. What kinds of changes might new parents expect in their lives? • Less time for friends and self • Must consider child’s needs first • Personal freedom limited • Less time to spend with friends or just relax • Increased responsibilities

11. 7. What are the some of the negative feelings that you might expect as a new parents? • Fear • Frustration • Worry • Jealousy • Depression • Resentment toward grandparents giving advice

12. 7a. Which relationships may feel the strain of new parenthood? • Relationship of the couple • Relationships between the new parents and their own parents • Relationships between the new parents and their employers

13. 8. When new parents feel overwhelmed, they may argue with one another. What are some ways to get past those trouble spots? • Have patience • Try to be understanding • Communicate effectively

14. 9. What are some of the rewards of parenthood? • Happiness • Pride • Love • Sense of accomplishment

15. 10a. What are some examples of emotional maturity that are required of parents? • Able to put someone’s needs before their own • Able to control one’s temper • Able to manage being constantly “on call”

16. 10b. Desire for Parenthood • People should NOT choose parenthood to solve personal problems, such as: • low self-esteem (“I just want someone to love me!”) or… • marriage difficulties (Having a baby just to keep the other person in the relationship)

17. 10c. Health • Some medical problems can effect the health of the baby or parent’s ability to care for child. • Pregnancy is riskier if the mom is under 17 or over 35.

18. 10d. Financial concerns • Raising children is expensive • Couples usually have to change their way of life to meet these expenses

19. 10e. Resource management • Parents need to use resources (time, energy, money) wisely to provide for family.

20. 11. Give an example of a family goal that would require parents to use good resource management skills. • College expenses • First car for child • Family vacation

21. Section 2-2 Teen Parenthood

22. Sex and the Media • Nearly three out of four (72%) teens think sex on TV influences the sexual behaviors of kids their age “somewhat “ or “a lot”; but just one in four (22%) think it influences their own behavior (KKF, 2002). • Recent research that was reported in September 2004 by the RAND Corporation concluded that watching sex on TV predicts and may hasten adolescent sexual initiation. They noted that there were “substantial associations between the amount of sexual content viewed by teens and advances in their sexual behavior during the subsequent year.” Young teens began to take on the sexual behavior of older teens (Collins, 2004).

23. Sexuality • A person’s view of himself or herself as male or female. • Biologically • sexual intercourse/sexual contact in all its forms • medical concerns about the physiological/psychological aspects of sexual behavior. • Sociologically • cultural, political, and legal aspects. • Philosophically • moral, ethical, theological, spiritual or religious aspects.

24. Hormones • They cause changes that can affect teens emotionally and physically, including mood swings.

25. Personal Values and Sexual Activity • Trust • Self-respect • Respect for others • Commitment • Loyalty

26. STDs, STIs, and Effects • Infection or disease spread from person to person by sexual contact. • Sterility (can’t have kids!) • Brain Damage • Cancer • Death

27. From the CDC… The Importance of Prevention • Teen pregnancy and childbearing bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children. • In 2008, teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for nearly $11 billion per year in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.4

28. Pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school drop out rates among girls. Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, versus approximately 90% of women who had not given birth during adolescence.5 • The children of teenage mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement and drop out of high school, have more health problems, be incarcerated at some time during adolescence, give birth as a teenager, and face unemployment as a young adult.6 These effects remain for the teen mother and her child even after adjusting for those factors that increased the teenager’s risk for pregnancy, such as growing up in poverty, having parents with low levels of education, growing up in a single-parent family, and having  poor performance in school.

29. The Effects of Teen Pregnancy • 50% of adolescents who have a baby become pregnant again within two years of the baby’s birth. • About 50% of teenage mothers complete high school, making it less likely for teen mothers to have the skills necessary to qualify for a well-paying job. • Almost 50% of all teen mothers and more than 75% of unmarried teen mothers begin receiving welfare within five years of the birth of their first child. • Nearly 80% of fathers of children born to teen mothers do not marry the mothers. • Teen fathers pay less than $800 in child support. • Children born to teen mothers are more likely to have low birth weight and related problems such as infant death, blindness, and mental retardation. • Children of teen parents often receive inadequate parenting, are subject to abuse and neglect, and often have insufficient health care. • Children of teen parents are 50% more likely to repeat a grade, perform poorly on standardized tests, and ultimately less likely to complete high school. • Sources: • National Vital Statistics, Vol. 50, No. 50, 2002 • National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (2002). Not Just Another Single Issue, Washington, DC. • Maynard, R.A. (1996). Kids having kids: A Robin Hood Foundation special report on the costs of adolescent childbearing. New York, Robin Hood Foundation.

30. ***The ONLY GUARANTEED WAY TO PREVENT STDs and PREGNANCY IS… • ABSTINENCE

32. What are some of the problems associated with having a baby while you are a teenager? • Less likely to have proper nutrition • May not gain adequate weight • May not get the proper prenatal care • Limited financial resources

33. Why should teen parents make graduating high school a high priority? • Without a diploma, jobs will be hard to get and salaries will likely be low.

34. Why is it especially important to establish paternity when parents do not marry? • Both parents are legally responsible so the father’s identity needs to be confirmed.

35. How might relationships with friends change for teen parents? • May have less time to spend with friends. • May have less in common with them.

36. When teens marry because of pregnancy, what challenge do they face in addition to the challenge of marriage? • Must adjust to parenthood at the same time.

37. What special challenges do teens who are single parents face? • Bear the primary responsibility for caring for their children. • May feel alone • Need to find help and support from other parent and or family members and friends.

38. Describe two types of adoption. • Confidential (closed) –birth parents do not know the names of adoptive parents • Open – the birth parents and adoptive parents know something about each other.