Parenting Practices Over Generations

Assignment 3: Parenting Practices Over
Generations

One
important issue to consider when studying child development is cohort effects.
To understand cohort effects, consider that the experiences of a child growing
up in the 1940s are different in many ways from a child growing up today.
Cohort effects can be studied by examining a family. Information about a family
can be organized in genograms. A genogram is a pictorial representation of
family members, much like a family tree. It shows members’ relationships to
each other, as well as where they lived, ages, dates of marriage, and dates
they passed away (Nichols & Schwartz, 2001). Typically, males are
represented with squares and females with circles, with their respective ages
in the center.

Interview
three generations of one family. Ask interviewees about their parenting
practices. You can also ask interviewees about their childhood experiences,
which would tell you about the previous generation’s parenting practices. Under
parenting practices, include matters such as sleeping arrangements, toilet
training, bottle weaning, breast-feeding, discipline, chores, responsibilities,
school and extracurricular activities, and rules for dating. Organize the
information you gather in a genogram or in a chart as shown below. Comment on
the noteworthy differences and anything that surprised you.

Present
the chart and your comments in a 3-page paper in Word format. Apply APA
standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention:
LastnameFirstInitial_M1_A3.doc. For example, if your name is John Smith, your
document will be named SmithJ_M1_A3.doc.

By Monday,
February 6, 2012, deliver your assignment to the M1: Assignment 3
Dropbox.

Nichols,
M. P., & Schwartz, R. C. (2001). Family therapy: Concepts and
methods.Needham Heights, MA: Allyn& Bacon.