Parenting and Children development in Australia

Overview of Parenting and Child Development

Parents are one of the most significant people in young children’s lives. Parents would include mothers, fathers, and other caregivers who serve as parents. In this significance, it can be said that from the moment they are born, children depend on parents to nurture and care for them so that they can be happy as well as healthy, and healthy enough to have proper growth and development (Jeong et al. 2021). However, on the contrary, it can be stated that sometimes parents would not have the information and guidance they need for effective parenting. Moreover, contextually, it can be stated that positive parenting would allow the child to confront non-social or any behavioural issues. In addition to this, it is to be seen that positive parenting is necessary for early brain development as well as emotional equilibrium, and intellectual growth of a child. Conversely, it is also to be noted that negative, hostile parenting can lead to depression, social and cultural issues. The significance of parenting stems from its function as a shield against adversity that could be poverty or bad influences or a facilitator of harm like, child abuse (Benner & Mistry, 2020). From this viewpoint, it is known that parenting typically involves biological parents, but it is not limited to them. Parents, carers, educators, nurses and others work with children as parents.

Contribution of Parenting and Child Development in Australia

Fundamentally, it is to be seen that contribution of parenting in child development is highly significant. Specifically, in context of social and living standards across Australia, it could be found that in Australia, parents are the glue that holds the family together. Furthermore, high quality and/or successful parenting would be characterised by support. This support could also include warmth and non-judgment, consistency and involvement in a child’s life (Neece, McIntyre & Fenning, 2020). Quality and/or high-quality parenting is associated with a variety of positive outcomes for children, including physical and mental wellbeing, cognitive development, and educational attainment. On the other hand, it could be found that low-quality and/or poor-quality parenting would be linked to substance misuse, unemployment, and juvenile offending. Contextually, this would certainly depict that quality and effectiveness could be affected by a variety of factors in Australia, including: parental health as well as parental education alongside culture and availability of resources. Therefore, in this context, it can be stated that parenting and socioeconomic status are positively related in Australia (Neubauer et al. 2021). Thus, it can be seen that supporting parents for providing high-quality and effective parenting would be seen as the key factor in improving children’s wellbeing and reducing social disadvantage.

Culture and moral values in Australian Society and the parenting system depends on respect and integrity, care for others and sharing. Specifically, considering respect across Australian societal values identified by parents as a number of different dimensions, such as self-esteem as well as respect for the parents, respect for extended family, respect for people in general, and respect for others (Tokatly et al. 2021).

Figure 1: Effective Parenting and Child Development

(Source: aifs.gov.au, 2024)

Moreover, the statistics show that in Australia, in 2011, the majority of children (71%) living with two parents were born into a two-parent family, but as they age, fewer children live with both parents (53% by age 17). In addition to this, step-families are observed to have more complicated living situations, with parents sharing time with each other. In 2011, 1 in 5 children in Australia aged 4-17 years were living in a shared time arrangement five years after their parents separated (Morelli et al. 2020). On the other end of the spectrum, it is to be seen that when it comes to parenting and child development policies in Australia, it’s clear that the Australian community’s lack of concern for children, from the patchwork and uneven delivery of child support services to the patchwork. Moreover, it is also identified that patchwork nature of children’s policies, plays a significant role in children’s poor moral, intellectual and social development. However, there are positive ways that early childhood development can be improved by changing the way families, schools and communities approach the problem (Roos et al. 2021).

Henceforth, to tackle Australia’s parenting and child development challenges, The “NQF or National Quality Framework” a plan agreed upon by all Australian governments.  The NQF is further seeking to improve the quality of “early childhood education (ECE)” and care services and support services in continuing to improve what they do. If one child is observed to have a good experience with their early childhood development and parenting, they are more likely to do well in school (Van Dijk et al. 2020). They are also more likely to be able to keep up with their peers, stay in school longer, and enjoy learning throughout their teens and into adulthood. Therefore, as parents, individuals are required to be wilful to feel comfortable knowing that child’s early childhood  care– whether it is a long-term day care program, a family day care program, an early childhood program, a kindergarten program, or an out-of-school hours care program – is delivering quality education and care.

Based on the above discussion and critical evaluation, it can be stated that parents’ involvement and involvement in the child’s daily life are the building blocks for a child’s social and academic development. Thus, a strong relationship with a parent is essential for a child to develop well socially, emotionally, cognitively and motivating (Haslam et al. 2020). In Australia, it can be seen that the characteristics of a parent’s personality – including agreeableness and conscientiousness; emotional stability; extraversion; and openness is observed to be linked to a range of child development outcomes, including language skills, vocabulary size and other language abilities. Therefore, it can be said that individual’s role as a parent is subjected to encourage, guide, and involve the child in activities that might become helpful for them to learn important skills. It is perceived that a child’s learning and social development is most likely to be affected by their family, as their family is their main social group. Henceforth, to secure child’s future in professional and personal setting and environment, it is necessary to ensure the practices of good parenting.

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Reference list

aifs.gov.au, (2024), Talking about parenting: Why a radical communications shift is needed to drive better outcomes for children, Retrieved from: https://aifs.gov.au/resources/short-articles/talking-about-parenting-why-radical-communications-shift-needed-drive [Retrieved on 26.02.2024]

Benner, A. D., & Mistry, R. S. (2020). Child development during the COVID‐19 pandemic through a life course theory lens. Child development perspectives, 14(4), 236-243. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7675461/

Haslam, D., Poniman, C., Filus, A., Sumargi, A., & Boediman, L. (2020). Parenting style, child emotion regulation and behavioral problems: The moderating role of cultural values in Australia and Indonesia. Marriage & family review, 56(4), 320-342. http://repository.ukwms.ac.id/id/eprint/29734/1/Parenting%20style%20Final.pdf

Jeong, J., Franchett, E. E., Ramos de Oliveira, C. V., Rehmani, K., & Yousafzai, A. K. (2021). Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: A global systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS medicine, 18(5), e1003602. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003602&type=printable

Morelli, M., Cattelino, E., Baiocco, R., Trumello, C., Babore, A., Candelori, C., & Chirumbolo, A. (2020). Parents and children during the COVID-19 lockdown: The influence of parenting distress and parenting self-efficacy on children’s emotional well-being. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 584645. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.584645/full

Neece, C., McIntyre, L. L., & Fenning, R. (2020). Examining the impact of COVID‐19 in ethnically diverse families with young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 64(10), 739-749. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7461180/

Neubauer, A. B., Schmidt, A., Kramer, A. C., & Schmiedek, F. (2021). A little autonomy support goes a long way: Daily autonomy‐supportive parenting, child well‐being, parental need fulfillment, and change in child, family, and parent adjustment across the adaptation to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Child Development, 92(5), 1679-1697. https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/cdev.13515

Roos, L. E., Salisbury, M., Penner-Goeke, L., Cameron, E. E., Protudjer, J. L., Giuliano, R., … & Reynolds, K. (2021). Supporting families to protect child health: Parenting quality and household needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plos one, 16(5), e0251720. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251720&type=printable

Tokatly Latzer, I., Leitner, Y., & Karnieli-Miller, O. (2021). Core experiences of parents of children with autism during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Autism, 25(4), 1047-1059. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1362361320984317

Van Dijk, R., Van Der Valk, I. E., Deković, M., & Branje, S. (2020). A meta-analysis on interparental conflict, parenting, and child adjustment in divorced families: Examining mediation using meta-analytic structural equation models. Clinical Psychology Review, 79, 101861. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735820300490