The Impact Of Culture On The Way Children Are Raised

Culture is, according to Matsumoto and Juang (2013), a system through which essential information and meaning are portrayed and passed on in order for a variety of basic needs for life and meaning to be met. This system, though not unique to humans, is made exceptional by the ability of humans to express and understand intention. Culture is diverse; the United States alone houses many different cultures which are influenced by a variety of different factors, even within the country. Importantly, culture influences a variety of behaviors. Culture can impact the way children are raised, people are perceived, and even how the self is perceived and formed, to name a few examples. Understanding multiple cultures is a difficult but necessary†¦show more content†¦Finally, what this course has been beneficial in developing in my personal sense of multicultural awareness is also meaningful. First, child rearing is one of the first encounters with cultural influence. Infants cross-culturally enter the world with similar sounds and patterns of language development (Zimbardo, n.d.a). From here, culture shapes and directs meaningful customs and behaviors. The influence toward cultural behavior begins nearly immediately with the source of caregiving. In the Hispanic culture, Orshan (2008) noted that, similar to the American culture, child care, and subsequent language learning, is primarily the job of the mother. This may be related to sex characteristics which enable mothers to be biologically related to a newborn infant in a capacity that is different than that of fathers or relatives. This is also likely related to the patriarchal society in which traditional male and female positions are preferred, which is a dominant society in the Hispanic culture. Another essential element to childrearing in this culture is the family-oriented customs, such as dinner times, which help s the Hispanic parent to reach the goals of being continually involved in the child’s learning, especially in geographic cultures other than their own (Fuller Coll, 2010). The