Parenting Criteria

It seems apparent that there are already many necessary criteria that must be continuously fulfilled in order to be allowed to raise children, and thankfully so. As a minimum, all state’s laws require intervention upon occurrence of “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.”

Beyond these bare minimums which are wonderful ideals to enforce, most states include various laws concerning neglectful parents. These mothers and fathers are frequently defined by the failure to responsibly provide “the child needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision such that the child's health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm.” Just as important are the clauses that further protect the child from “injury to the psychological capacity or emotional stability as evidenced by an observable or substantial change in behavior, emotional response, or cognition, or as evidenced by anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or aggressive behavior.”(Gateway, 2009) Some states go further by investigating cases of paternal illicit drug usage and cases involving child abandonment. Other states would do well to follow suit.

So, above and beyond the current system I may have to agree with my fellow students that too many further measures may become questionably unethical. Yet, I will suggest one further basic requirement. Every parent should have a basic knowledge of the course of child development; the government could fund a continuing education program in every community that ensured every parent was sufficiently prepared intellectually to foster optimal development.

Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget laid out the basic principles of cognitive development early in the 20^th century. Because of their natural curiosity, children constructed an understanding of the world with schemes. Then as new experiences are gained, they can be assimilated into existing schemes or used to accommodate a modification. Thus children are constantly losing and gaining equilibrium throughout the various stages of development.  According to Piaget, the only way to progress from the first to last stage was by effectively gaining all the skills necessary in the in between periods. Unfortunately his theory does not account for the unique progression each child actually experiences through these stages and lacks appropriate recognition of Sociocultural influences.

Lev Vygotsky proposed that collaboration with skilled partners provided children with the most important contributions to cognitive development. So called guided participation allows for a shared understanding of expert knowledge with a child. Depending on a child’s zone of proximal development, a parent can gauge the level of scaffolding that will foster the greatest learning for any occasion. Vygotsky recognized that private speech is children’s way of guiding themselves and is what will eventually develop into inner speech. His unfortunate early death prevented him from fully developing his theory, but nonetheless his contributions are very important.

The other main approach to how human thinking develops is based on considering the human mind to have both mental hardware and mental software. With the information processing view, children learn to accomplish specific tasks with a combination of these structures and programs. Essential to this argument is the ability to pay attention by orienting oneself to stimulus in the environment. Repetition leads to habituation, which helps reveal to infants what is significant when learning. With both classical and operant conditioning, children gain expectations and natural responses to stimuli in the environment. The information processing approach provides comprehensive accounts of cognitive change in specific domains and is best understood when used in combination with the other theories.

To boob, or not to boob...

Only in very rare cases would I advise the mother not to breastfeed. Such cases include when the infant is diagnosed with a rare genetic metabolic disorder, galactosemia, or if the mother has a medical condition that can affect the condition of human milk. Several such situations are when the mother has HIV or active tuberculosis, the use illicit drugs or when undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapies (Lawrence, 2005).  This list is by no means exhaustive, yet most mothers fortunately are not in one of these scenarios here in America.

Other than that, the benefits for both parents and child participating in this blessed occurrence are practically limitless. The bonding experience between mother and baby is a wonderful joy and feelings of warmth, comfort and relaxation have oft been reported by others when near a mother breastfeeding an infant. As worthy of note is the perfect nutrition that only the mother can provide. The mother’s body spent as long as 38 weeks assembling this bundle of awareness before introducing the world to another human being, it seems likely that the same body may know precisely when to provide what continuing for quite some time after birth occurs. As there are no electricity or transportation cost involved, the cost savings of producing your own formula can be reallocated towards the child’s future education. This illuminates a new point, the health benefits for both mother and child. Not only does breast milk contain disease-fighting antibodies, but breastfeeding also lowers the risk of breast cancer and type 2 diabetes.

A woman must be aware that breastfeeding is a learned skill requiring patience and practice, but the special occurrence is unique in that it is perfect for continuing optimum development. It is an amazing usage of time and will help develop the maternal bond that lasts throughout all of life.

Niche-picking: A Valid Compromise

A genetically inspired inclination in behavior is an extraordinary proposition. Although a developing human may have a chance to perform a large variety of physical maneuvers and intellectual tasks, how one comes to specialize into an individual involves practice with some abilities and dismissal of others.

The concept of niche-picking attempts to account for the processes of this phenomenon by suggesting each human is born with certain capacities which later cause related tendencies to seek out particular nurturing experiences. This selectivity of behavior would therefore be due in part to the unique sequences within inherited genetic codes and also to each human being’s exposure to external influences in the environment.

Many monotheistic interpretations of the events, occupations and outcome of an individual life are quite resolute in accepting that all they are and ever will be is already firmly recorded in the book of life, which is rather similar to the strictly nature approach. A more philosophical approach would lead one to encounter those who suppose that we are merely creatures of collected experiences mechanically responding to environmental influences under the illusion of free will, which reeks rather heavily of a strictly nurture argument. The theory of niche-picking seems most probable simply because it recognizes the combined effect of genes and opportunity upon human development.