Saturday, October 1, 2016

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF CHILDREN

1.  Nurturing the Infant’s Socioemotional Development
         Develop a secure attachment with the infant.
         Be sure that both the mother and the father nurture the infant.
         Select competent day care.
         Understand and respect the infant’s temperament
         Adapt to the developmental changes in the infant.
         Be physically and mentally healthy.
         Read good books on infant development.

*Personal Characteristics of Competent Caregivers
         Competent caregivers are physically healthy.
         Competent caregivers are mentally healthy.
         Competence caregivers have a positive self-image.
         Competent caregivers are flexible.
         Competent caregivers are patient.
         Competent caregivers are positive models for infants.
         Competent caregivers are open to learning.
         Competent caregivers enjoy caregiving.

2. Improving Young Children’s Socio-emotional Development in Early Childhood
         Be an authoritative parent.
         Adapt to the child’s developmental changes.
         Communicate effectively with children in divorced family.
         Provide the child the opportunities for play.
         Monitor the child’s TV viewing.
         Present positive moral models for the child and use emotional situations to promote moral development.

3. Strategies for Supporting Children’s Socio-emotional Development
         Adapt to developmental changes in children.
         Improve children’s peer and friendship skills.
         Create schools that support the child’s socioemotional development.
         Improve children’s self-esteem.
         Nurture children’s moral development.
         Improve the child’s emotional intelligence.

4. Strategies for Supporting Adolescents’ Socio-emotional Development
         Understand the importance of autonomy and attachment.
         Keep parent-adolescent conflict from being turbulent, and use good communication skills with the adolescent.
         Recognize the importance of peers, youth organizations, and mentors.
         Help adolescents better understand the nature of differences, diversity, and value conflicts.
         Let adolescents explore their identity.
 ing the Infant’s Socioemotional ASDGASDFDDevelopment

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPETENT CAREGIVERS

         Competent caregivers are physically healthy.
         Competent caregivers are mentally healthy.
         Competence caregivers have a positive self-image.
         Competent caregivers are flexible.
         Competent caregivers are patient.
         Competent caregivers are positive models for infants.
         Competent caregivers are open to learning.

         Competent caregivers enjoy caregiving

Friday, August 1, 2014

LOVE, COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE

Courtship and Mate Selection

Courtship is a social process engaged in by two individuals. It is a form of behavior seeking to win the consent of another for marriage.  It is progressive commitment leading to a succession of events towards the development of stable interpersonal relationship. Most significant is the development of love and affection

Ø  Courtship is a process which undergoes various stages:

                a.  Dating-getting acquainted
                b. Going steady – practice of dating one person exclusively
                c. Private understanding- open declaration of each other’s desire for marriage
                d. Engagement – public announcement of love, involving parents, relatives and friends


What is Marriage?

Marriage is another human construction to insure the continuity of the family and the eventual perpetuation of the human specie. It involves a certain behavioral processes and legal or religious practices which become patterned and organized  into the system of matrimony. Marriage is systematized and institutionalized for the purpose of begetting and rearing children and the regulation of sexual behavior. It is a special contract  of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. ( The New Family Code of the Philippines)

Marriage is socially recognized union between two or more individuals that typically involves sexual and economic rights and duties ( Light and Keller).  It is a social and legal norm by which the relationship of the two sexes is controlled and restricted by society.


Two views of marriage:

1. Legal point of view that posits that marriage is a contract.
                As a contract, it applies to a man and a woman who agree to live together as husband and wife and to fulfill to each other their corresponding duties and obligations. It is permanent, in contrast to other, ordinary contracts. Once the contract of marriage is valid, the status of being married is created between the parties. The law provides penal and civic sanctions, like criminal action, for adultery or concubinage. The law also allows legal separation, annulment or action for support.  Any party whose rights as stipulated in the contract have been violated can file a petition in court for the redress of his or her grievances.

2. The religious point of view posits that marriage is a sacrament.
                As a sacrament, it is an inviolable bond between  a man and a woman who take each other as husband and wife and that only death can separate the spouses. “What God has put  together let no man put asunder”

IMPORTANT LEGAL MATTERS ON MARRIAGE:

a. Essential  Requisites For Marriage

The Family Code  of the Philippines provides in Art. 2 : No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present:
                 1. legal capacity of the contracting parties (18 yrs. or upwards), who must be a male and a           female.
                 2. Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.

b. Formal Requisites of Marriage:
                               
                1. Authority of the solemnizing officer;
                2. A valid marriage license except in cases provided in chapter 2 of this title; and
3. A marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of the contracting parties before the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife In                 the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age:

 c. Annulment of Marriage

Annulment refers to the legal process  of filing a petition in the appropriate court seeking a judicial declaration of making a marriage null and void ab initio or from the  beginning as if no marriage took place.  The legal effect, if petition, is granted is that the couple can re-marry.

Grounds for Annulment
1. One of the contracting parties is 18 yrs. of age or over but below 21 and without parental consent;
2. Either party was of unsound mind;
3. Consent of either party was obtained by fraud, force or intimidation;
4. Either party was physically incapable of  consummating the marriage with the  other;
5. Either party was afflicted with a sexually transmissible disease found to be serious and incurable.

d.  Legal Separation
               
Refers to the legal process of filing a petition in the appropriate court seeking a judicial declaration of legal separation for married  couples.  The legal effect, if petition is granted, is that the couple are separated from bed and board but they cannot remarry.

Grounds for Legal Separation
1. Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner;
2. Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religion or political affiliation;
3. Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such corruption or inducement. 
4. final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than six years, even if pardoned;
5. Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent; 
6. Lesbianism or homosexuality of the respondent;
7.  Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage, whether in the Philippines or abroad.
8. Sexual infidelity or perversion;
9.  Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner; or
10. Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause  for more than one year.


FAMILY PLANNING (RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD)

Family planning experts define family planning as the process by which responsible and mature couple, if they wish, determine by themselves the timing, proper spacing and number of children born to them.


Three main aspects of family planning:


                1. Responsible parenthood
                2. Proper spacing of children
                3. Birth control


Family planning involves the rational utilization of effective contraceptive methods by married couples so they can space and limit their children to a desirable size in order for them to attain quality life.

Use of Contraceptive means prevention of unwanted pregnancy.

Responsible parenthood means responsible pro-creation and socialization of children. As responsible parents, married couples are prepared for the responsibility of rearing a child who can properly fed, clothed and educated.


TYPES OF FAMILY ORGANIZATION

A. Based on Internal Organization of   Membership

1. The Nuclear, Primary, or Elementary
       - composed of a husband, and his wife,   and their children in a union recognized   by the members of the society.

Two kinds of nuclear families:
a. Family of Orientation – the family into which,   one is born and where one is reared or socialized. The father, mother, brothers   and sisters
b. Family of Procreation – the family   established  by the person by his/her marriage and consists of husband, a wife,   sons and daughters.

Advantages of the Nuclear Family
  a. Motivates the husband and wife to work   out   a harmonious relationship based on a   congeniality of interest, mutual   understanding and sympathy.
  b. This type of family emphasizes   independent residence, strong allegiance   to the members, romantic love and sex   attraction.
  c. Since the family has to be independent and   economically self-sufficient, the members   tend to be imbued with values of   independence, initiative and self-reliance.

  2. The Extended Family composed of two or   more nuclear families economically and   socially related to each other.
           The extension may be:
a. Through the parent-child relationship - when the unmarried children and the married children with their families live with the parents.
b. Through the husband-wife relationship as in a polygymous marriage.  In polygyny, the man keeps a number of nuclear families and unites them under a larger family group.

Advantages of an Extended Family
1. Its likelihood for performance, for member can turn to his kin for help in times of crisis and thus withstand the stresses and strains of life.
2. In crisis diffused social relationships so the children learn to adjust to persons of varying age levels.
3. The children learn cooperation at an early age.
4. A wide range of protection is afforded its members and the aged relies on the younger members to take care of them.

Disadvantages of an extended family:
1. The set-up may make the children overly dependent on relatives.
2. The wide range of kin relationship may result in confusion in values and norms

   Types of Families Based on Descent

1. Patrilineal descent- affiliates a person with group of relatives who are related to him through his father. 

2. Matrilineal descent – affiliates a person with a group related to him through his mother.

3. Bilateral descent- affiliates a person with group of kinsmen.
   
   Types of Families Based on Residence

1. Patrilocal Residence – requires that the newly married couple live with or near the domicile of the parents of the bridegroom.

2. Matrilocal Residence – requires that newly married couple live with or near the domicile of the parents of the bride.

3. Bilocal Residence gives the couple a choice of staying with either the groom’s parents or the bride’s parents, depending on certain factors like the relative wealth of the families or their status, and wishes of the parents, or certain  personal          preferences of the bride.

4. Neolocal Residence permits the newly married couple to reside independently of the parents of either groom or bride. 

WHAT IS A FAMILY?

Family is humankind’s most basic social unit. It is a social institution primarily established by society to ensure its continuity and to regulate sexual behavior of its members. Since the infant is born helpless and dependent, the family has been socially constructed  to insure that there will be adult members who will look after the infant’s biological and emotional nurturance and safety. The family is the primary group where the child is initially socialized and initiated in the ways of life of his group. It also provides the child’s social, psychological, and emotional needs : warmth, intimacy, affection, love, nurturance, care and security.

The Family is “The nursery of human nature”

Delicate and fragile as he is, the child is given the most special care and attention and nurturance in the family, so that he is better equipped with knowledge and adaptive skills before he is “transplanted”  to a more or less inhospitable forces of the bigger society.

The basic foundation of a society is the family without the family there is no society.The failure of the family to develop good citizens of the society will result in the society’s problems and imperfections.


What is a household?



Household is a group of persons living under one roof and sharing the same kitchen and housekeeping arrangements. 



FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY

1. Regulates sexual behavior and is the unit for reproduction. Within the marriage, sex expression is socially sanctioned.

2. Performs the function of biological maintenance.  The human infant is born helpless and the parents fill the roles of protectors, providers, and guardians.

3. The family is the chief agency for socializing the child.  It transmits the culture of the group- it patterned ways of living and values.

4. The family gives its members status. A child is born into a family, which gives him a name and a lineage.

5. It is an important mechanism for social control.  It continually pressure on its members to make them conform to what it considers as desirable behavior.


              OTHER FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY

1. Economic – production, distribution and  consumption unit.

2. Educational – transforms the biological man into a functioning member of the society by learning the values, customs, traditions and the proper way of doing things.

3. Religious - preserver of religious traditions.

4. Political - child’s first government; learns authority and discipline



5. Recreational - socialization; learns basic skills and attitudes necessary for successful participation in his group.




Cultural Variables that Influence Family Life

1. Folkways – These are everyday habits; customs, traditions and conventions people obey without giving much thought to the matter. People  who violate folkways are labeled slobs or eccentrics but as a rule they are tolerated. 
    Relatively weak norms which are only mildly enforced in a society. (not against the law)
     Examples:
Correct manners.
Appropriate dress.
             Proper eating behavior.

2. Mores – these are the norms people consider vital to their wellbeing and most cherished values; they are special customs with moral and ethical significance, which are strongly held and emphasized. Mores are coercive and compulsory due to their moral and legal sanctions.

     The strong and important norms of a society. Violation of mores will evoke severe punishment. (against the law most of the time.)
    
      Examples of Mores
               1. Bigamy
               2. Incest
               3. Cannibalism

3. Folklore is traditional customs, beliefs, dances, song, tales or sayings preserved orally among a group or people.

4. Language is the special manner or characteristics mode of expression significant for human intercourse.

5. Values are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile.  They are  the general ideas that individuals share about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable and undesirable. 


     - something deserving of one’s best effort, something worth living for and, if need be, worth dying for.