Article 1
http://people.opposingviews.com/childrearing-beliefs-practices-indian-culture-8160.html
Child-rearing Beliefs and Practices in Indian Culture
by Marion Lougheed,
Child-rearing customs and beliefs are not the same for all Indians.
India is composed of a diverse population with assorted religious, political and cultural views on child-rearing practices. With so many differences among Indians, it is impossible to ascribe a unified set of customs and beliefs about child-rearing to the entire country. Influential factors on child-rearing practices such as socioeconomic status, education and individual experience vary from family to family.
Social Differences
According to Infochange, India has 375 million children. Around the turn of the millennium, approximately 75 million children did not have adequate nutrition. This is one example of how social differences can relate to discrepancies in lifestyle, including health, access to education and attitudes toward child-rearing practices.
Another example of differing attitudes emerges from data gathered by the Berlin-Institut. In some regions, such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, each woman has an average of more than four children. In others, the average is less than two. These numbers reveal that differences exist within smaller segments of the Indian nation.
Physical Closeness
Babyzone reports that Indian mothers spend a lot of time in close physical contact with their young children. As babies, Indian children might receive a daily massage and sharing a parent's bed is quite common. For the first six months, around 90 percent of mothers in India breastfeed, according to Childinfo.org. Some continue to do so for up to two years, but the numbers drop off sharply after the first half year of life. A 2008 University of Mysore study, "Childrearing Practices Among Kurubas and Soliga Tribes from South India," reveals that showing affection can greatly benefit a child's personality development.
Disciplinary Techniques
The Mysore study on tribes from South India found that mothers often take on the main role of both disciplinarian and nurturer. That is not to say that fathers do not participate in their children's lives; they generally do, but as more of a background player.
Discipline can take many forms, including physical punishment. In "Child Abuse and Neglect: Cross-cultural Perspectives," professor Thomas Poffenberger examines disciplinary techniques in India. "Although a peasant society such as rural India may dictate child treatment that would be considered abusive in the United States," he writes, "there is probably less of the extreme, irrational abuse that is common in the West." Poffenberger suggests that regular proximity of extended family members serves as a dampening influence on anger. Not all parents choose direct punishment; according to his research, some prefer methods such as deprivation as a form of discipline.
Gender Preferences
Many Indian parents prefer male children over females. The CIA's World Factbook indicates that there are more males than females in every age group in India except those older than 65. An NDTV article from 2010 acknowledges the ongoing fact that "female fetuses are often aborted after a couple sees an ultrasound." Similarly, Poffenberger posits that neglecting female children, even to the point of death, may meet with "at least passive support" in some regions of India. It is clear that male and female children are often treated differently, with girls regarded as less valuable in some families.
Article 2
http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4357:-traditional-indian-parenting-practices&catid=99:column&Itemid=462
Traditional Indian parenting practices
By Thomas Kulanjiyil
What are some of the salient features of traditional Indian parenting? What does traditional Indian parenting have to offer to the Indian American immigrant parent?
The traditional Indian parenting is shaped by the cultural and religious values of the land, generational wisdom, and life experiences. The goal of parenting is comprehensive development of children and it integrates the cognitive, emotional, and spiritual components of an individual’s growth. It includes both the personal and social dimensions of human growth and development.
Another characteristic of Indian parenting is that children are brought up in an atmosphere of emphatic richness. The supportive environment of the extended family system provides support and encouragement to parents. The parent-child bond is established by such child rearing practices as breast-feeding that provides not only nourishment to the baby, but also allows increasing physical contact between the mother and the child. Cuddling adds physical contact between the mother and the child and also provides a sense of security for the child. The strong emotional bond established between Indian parent and child during early childhood is said to be lifelong.
The traditional Indian parenting is value-based parenting. Deference for authority in social relationships is an expected behavioral norm. The family extends horizontally and laterally. People are bound up by their duty to family, to parents, to children, and to society. Parents are to be honored and cared for. The community is seen as the extended family. Values of interdependence and community are promoted. It is expected that one will live up to one’s family name, and also fulfill one’s dharma (duties) to the family and to the community. Norms of personal chastity and modesty in private and social behavior is reinforced. The practice of self-control is central to character formation.
The traditional Indian parenting is not without its share of disparagement. It is pointed out that the authoritarian type of Indian parenting limits individual autonomy. The stress on community and interdependence is detrimental to developing individual self-identity. Overprotective Indian parenting inhibits personal agency and assertiveness. Corporeal punishment, tolerated in traditional Indian parenting, is said to have long lasting emotional scars on children.
In spite of these criticisms, traditional Indian parenting has a great deal to offer to the Indian immigrant parent. Such features as the focus on comprehensive development of the child, the significance of character formation, the impact of empathic richness in Indian parenting, the thrust on personal chastity and modesty in private and social behavior, and the importance of community and interdependence, are all culturally appropriate parenting practices for the Indian immigrant parent to adopt.
Article 3
2009
From: http://www.indiaparenting.com/raising-children/253_1353/fatherhood.html
When a baby arrives in a home; it is a moment of joy and a new found status that is of being parents. Mothers are always acknowledged for their role in raising the child but fathers seldom get acknowledged. Fathers also play a major role in bringing up a child. They also share the responsibilities with the mother. It is time now to acknowledge them.
Jaya is a frustrated new Mom. Once the baby admirers had departed, she was left alone to cope up with her exhausted and weak body and a newborn who now dictated the household schedule. To make matters worse, her husband, who was equally overwhelmed by the entire experience, had begun behaving in a bizarre manner, at times even distancing himself from her and the baby.
Fathers too need help to adjust
Jaya is not alone. Becoming a parent takes a little bit of getting used to - for both partners. The only difference being that the changing roles of the 'new Mom' is widely acknowledged, while that of the 'new Dad' oft goes unrecognised. Yet, he is the one who has to get used to taking the back seat, while shouldering all the new responsibilities. The sooner the couple understand that the father, Nitin, needs some time and space to get used to the drastically changed routine, the better it is for the couple and baby.
Parental responsibilities are increasing
With the changing face of families from the traditional joint family to nuclear families, the physical and emotional strains of new parenthood also increase, as couples have to cope with new responsibilities, by themselves, and without help and time-honoured advice from the elders. The outcome of all this is that romance and sex take a backseat and all the communication revolves around 'baby' topics. This often creates an awkward situation, and a strain on the marriage. The best way for the couple to cope would be to get Nitin involved in the caring and raising of the baby. This will not only strengthen the bond between husband and wife, but will also help raise a healthy and happy child.
The profile of the father is changing
The traditional profile of a father is still that dad works all day, comes home and spends a few hours playing with the kids at night, before having dinner and heading off to bed. It is generally believed that the caring and raising of children is best left to women. However the 'Millennium Age Dads' are changing and challenging this tradition. They are stepping in as real caretakers with their infants and toddlers, and are doing very well! Also research shows that active fathers who help in caring and raising their child create healthier and stronger marriages, and their children are well balanced.
Infants derive comfort from fathers too
Fathers have that special advantage over mothers, with the distinctly deeper tenor of their voice and 'the rise and fall rhythm' of their chest. Babies derive comfort from the vibrations of the male voice, and also from the warm feel and throb of the father's chest, which straightaway lulls them to sleep.
Tips on getting dad more involved
1. The role of a father is just as important when it comes to raising children. It is imperative that mothers give fathers certain responsibilities. Dads should try and watch all those TV shows which encourage father-child bonding, and should refer to books on 'infant care' or 'fatherhood'.
2. Couples should discuss and communicate anxieties about the newborn.
3. Sooner or later, as dad gets more involved in the upbringing of the children, he will realise the importance and significance of this involvement.
4. You as a father should try and draw out your own memories of childhood when raising your children. What did your father do right, and wrong? Learn from your own experiences.
5. As a wife, you could demonstrate to your husband how the newborn responds and relates to moms and dads differently. As much as the baby needs the tender caress of his Mom, he also craves for the reassuring, firm touch of his dad. Whenever your baby is in a good mood and recently fed, leave him in the care of your husband. Encourage him to interact with the baby, and guide him subtly if he still finds it difficult to bond with him. Try to discover the ways to make your baby gurgle with joy, and share these pleasures together.
6. Don't dole out advice or rush to comfort the baby everytime he cries. Let dad console him.
7. Give father and child him time and space, so they can work out their relationship and equations by themselves. Your husband will device his own ways of taking care of the infant and coping up with situations. In fact, you will be encouraged by the reassuring tips he will come up with, which somehow never occurred to you.
8. What a new dad hates most is watching his newborn cry, and being unable to soothe him or not knowing how to. Most dads avoid participating in infant care due to this very sense of helplessness and of being overpowered by feelings of inadequacy and distress. Help your husband overcome his uncertainties and master the techniques of baby care.
Remember, a father who is actively involved in his child's life (not just financially) by shouldering responsibilities and contributing to decisions on child-raising, plays a tremendous role in determining whether the child will grow up having strong family ties and a healthy, well-balanced attitude, or not. Such participation not only lays the foundation for a healthy bond between father and child, but also leaves the mother with more time on her hands for other work - and play!
Article 4
Could there be some minimal universal parameters for child rearing that could be considered with culture-specific ones in cases such as the one where two Indian children were taken from their parents by Norwegian child welfare, asks Rakesh Shukla
Any attempt to look in a balanced manner at the issues involved in the saga of two Indian children, Aishwarya and Abhigyan, taken from their parents in May 2011 at the ages of one month and two years respectively, by the Norwegian Child Welfare Agency involves a lowering of the emotional temperature. The construct of ‘warm, perfect Indian’ versus ‘flawed, cold Norwegian’ (read: western) childrearing practices does not enable us to do justice to the serious concerns thrown up by the tussle between the parents and social services. Regardless of an amicable settlement in the present case, thanks to the intervention of the Indian government, several issues remain.
The reality of the warm, effusive Indian family culture coexists with the findings of a government survey backed by the UN Children’s Fund that over 50% of children face child sexual abuse in India. Alongside the pampering and notion that childhood is a golden era is the reality of the National Commission for Child Rights’ recent findings that over 99% of children are caned, slapped, hit on the back, and get their ears boxed at school. Varying childrearing practices probably evolved in tune with preparation for development in harmony, and the eventual integration of the growing individual with the mores and norms of diverse societies.
The colonial era is long past us, and formulations premising a culture as superior to another do not enjoy much acceptability except among a chauvinistic section of society. Every culture has traits that appear positive and others that appear idiosyncratic, if not harmful, when viewed from the ‘outside’. This is applicable to childrearing practices as well. There are certain universal aspects in the growth and development of a baby, such as ravenous hunger which is satisfied by feeding. And there are other aspects of childrearing that are culture-specific, such as whether babies should sleep in a separate cot or bedroom. Disciplines like modern psychology originated in western societies, and the insights were understandably affected by the practices of the specific culture in which they evolved. However the formulations, in a sense, got severed from their moorings and acquired a universal hue. Now, understandings regarding growth, mental health, pathology and functioning of the human psyche are increasingly taking on board diverse cultures and societies.