Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model and Its Importance Essay Example

Introduction

Bronfenbrenner's model has five systems which describe the socialization settings which influence the child in different ways. These systems are microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). The microsystem is comprised of the interpersonal relationships that an individual or the child has. This for a child could be his or her parents, peers in school and best friend. The mesosystem involves the relationship existing between two or more microsystems like the relationship between a parent and a teacher. There should be constant communication between the microsystems to make up a mesosystem. The exosystem is a relationship or linkage of two or more settings but with one more setting which is not in direct contact with the child (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). This is, for instance, a parents workplace but it still doe influence the child's life because if the parents are working, then the child can get necessities in his life. The macrosystem, on the other hand, is all about how the society impacts a child regarding what the values and policies which aim at making the life of a child better.

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The chronosystem involves historical events over time which will influence the life of a child. These systems are important for my friends to understand because a child needs the systems around the child to cooperate so that the child's behavior can be molded (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). For instance, if after taking the child to preschool and they never attend sports days or communicate with the teacher they would not know how the child is progressing. They will be viewed as parents who are neglective and as such the teacher would have a hard time understanding the behaviors of the child with other children in the class. The exosystem is also essential ad in this case the parents are supposed to ensure that they have stable jobs (Oswalt). The stable workplace will enable them to provide food and afford a good preschool for their child and without a salary, this would be difficult to achieve.

Parenting Style

Authoritative parenting style is a great style for their four-year-old because it involves a high degree of demand and responsiveness (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). With this parenting style, a parent can have fun with their child but at the same time be able to show them their mistakes and talk to them instead of shouting at them. With this style, the child is able to become assertive in a way that they can understand their mistake and correct it without having to be punished severely. This style would be beneficial because it would allow the parents to have a close fun relationship with their child as well as be able to have a conversation when they have committed mistakes to make them understand the consequences of their mistakes and as such understand why it is wrong.

As compared o the authoritarian and permissive styles, this style would be convenient in the growth of their child because the permissive style is more of not being able to correct the child because of the guilt of not being able to spend as much time with them (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). Parents who adopt the permissive style end up bringing up naughty children who become a nuisance to everyone and I would not want to see my friends' child being one of the children who cannot have relationships with friends because of their bad behavior.

Childcare Option

Center-based childcare is the best, and I would recommend this for my friends because, to begin with, it has trained and numerous staff and they would not have to worry of one of the staff did not come to work as there would always be a backup (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). Child-centered childcare is also convenient because the parent can also be allowed to come and interact with the child when they have a break from work during the day and this way they can monitor the progress of the child. This child care centers are also accredited by an accreditation body which makes it a safe place for a child to be able to have great nurturing (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). They do offer educational programs which would mean their child will have an all-round psychological and psychomotor development and learn how to interact with their environment. The social factors that they would consider when choosing this center-based center are that here there is safety, it is probably in an affluent neighborhood, and this would mean the other children brought there are at the same social par with their child and as such reduce parental conflicts.

Safe Technology

Eighty-five percent of children in the United States of America have access to technology regarding computer and television as well as video games among other technology. The technology can pose dangers to the children, and there are ways which the parents can apply to ensure that they keep their children safe (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). When it comes it the viewing of television the parents can take measures of blocking some of the stations which they believe are not appropriate for their four-year-old child. Secondly, regarding access to the internet, the parents should closely monitor the sites their children are visiting because some of these sites are channels for cyber bullying which could negatively affect the child's psychology (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012).

Media can influence a child positively because it enables them to learn educational material which would not have been taught in class. It also enables the child to develop the creativity of a child if the parent is there to explain what the child is watching. Another positive influence of media is that for screen media and the cartoons teach the children socialization skills and if the cartoons and movies depict good socialization skills the child will learn how to interact with real-life peers (O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). Media can also affect the child negatively in the sense that children interacting with audio media and listening to music that is violent may lead to a child developing aggressive and violent behavior. Some screen media may influence stereotype thinking which will lead them to believe that people of a certain race or color are associated with certain professions, and this hinders progressive thinking for the children (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012).

Importance of Culture and Ethnicity in the Development of the Self-concept

A child gains and develops concept form the interactions he or she has with their caregivers and their parents. The way these adult people behave is the way the child is likely to behave, and this will be their acculturation into adulthood (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). A child can belong to a certain ethnic group is they are a member of a group that adheres to certain cultures. Different cultures and families differ in the way they do things and such their children become assertive and are more likely to develop self-concept.

It is essential for children to learn about their cultures and ethnicities regarding how they dress and their art affiliation and how they relate with people as well (Marshall, 2001). Once they learn about their cultures they become self-actualized, and if these concepts of their cultures are instilled more by their caregivers, they will be able to learn themselves, and as such, they will develop self-concept. In this case, the parents of the four-year-old will encourage their child to ask questions about the cultures to learn more about themselves. The parents should also encourage and allow the child to interact with people from other cultures and this will prepare the child to know that the other children he or she will encounter in preschool have different cultures and as such are different from them.

Self-esteem

Participating in team sports can help a child to improve their self-esteem in the sense that team sports give children the chance to interact more with their peers (Morin). If they see their peers are paying attention, they will begin to believe in themselves. Individualized sports are much less likely to increase self-esteem because here the child is most likely on their own with their thoughts. Secondly, the classroom activities can also help to increase the self-esteem of a child when the teacher displays artwork of the children on the wall, and this will show the child that their skills are worth being recognized. I would recommend that these new parents encourage their preschooler to participate in team sports as here the child will be able to interact with a larger scope of peers (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012).

Importance of Socialization that Occurs in the Home and at School

The family should be a safe haven for a child in their socialization process. The family unit that is complete helps a child to learn how to interact when they see their mother and father interact amicably (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). Having siblings as well will enable a child to learn how to share and be friendly and kind to other people and a child therefore that has a stable family can have meaningful relationships in other microsystems. Altruistic motivation in a family setting will enable a child to learn how to be selfless and want the best for other people as he or she sees the parents interact (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). A school is a place where a child can interact with other people other than the family members. If a child is being bused to school they will be able to interact with peers in the school and as such the school facilitates the child to make friends.

Importance of the Teacher's Role in the Child's Life

A teacher is an important person because away from home the child looks up to the teacher as their role model. A teacher helps the child's cognitive growth because the child is taught various subjects which build on to their knowledge (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). When in class which is a microsystem, there are rules put in place that the child is supposed to follow and if not there are consequences (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). The teacher guides the child in recognizing their mistake and correcting it and as such the teacher is a scaffold for building the moral reasoning abilities for the child.

Importance of Positive Peer Interactions

Peer friendships should begin at an early age as this will enable a child to from a very tender age to learn how to interact. Interacting with friends who show them positive values is great for them (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012). Friends who are badly behaved would not reflect well on the behavior of the child, and as such, it is important for the parents to monitor what kind of friends a child is interacting with at an early age.

The parent can organize sleepovers with the child's friends who are of positive influence and monitor how they relate and correct them when necessary and this way a child will learn how to choose positive influencing friends (Bojczyk, Shriner & Shriner, 2012).

Conclusion

My future profession is to deal with children in day care which entails taking care of young children who are before preschool age. In this profession, I would be required to learn about how the specific family wants their child cared for, and as such, all children cannot, for instance, be fed or dressed the same way. For a childcare profession to succeed, they must have the motherly love, and this way will understand how to handle children without putting them at risk.

Understanding the theories of socialization will enable me to be able to handle each child with their uniqueness. Knowing these theories will enable me to know how to reinforce the behavior by rewarding and punishing the child...