Child Rearing the Caribbean

Jacob Davis

ANT101

Professor Henninger

April 21, 2014

In society people tend to believe that child rearing can best be described as a term to best say "raising up a child" but it is more than having food to eat, a place to rest your head at night, or even that last piece of clothing to wear, it’s a term used to shape and mold the child's character, physical and emotional beings. Growing up I've always been fascinated by the culture and different cultures’ family views which sometimes make me wonder as to why they are different and how it affects their parenting styles and practices, behavioral expectations, affection, education, and physical punishment in child rearing practices. In this paper I intend to discuss the differences and similarities between the Belizean culture of Central America and the Trinidadian culture of the West Indies ways of child rearing. The two cultures follow two separate ways of rearing children in a study done by Annette Lareau; concerted cultivation and natural growth. Each of the two cultures I have chosen rear children in one of the two rearing styles discussed by Lareau.

To begin Lareau provides evidence that not only parents but the social class of parents play pivotal roles of childrearing; due to the cause that the social class of the parents assist in the manner in which a child is raises. In Lareau’s 2003 study she provided evidence and theories of two specific types of child rearing: concerted cultivation and natural growth. Lareau stated “Concerted cultivation is the child rearing method that middle class parents use focusing on not only caring for their child, but developing a personality by enrolling their children in many structured activities and developing language skills.” Whereas Lareau continues, “Natural growth is the child-rearing method that working class and poor parents use to raise their children because there is not a lot of time and money for structured activities and long verbal discussions with the children.”

Belizean families who are often lower class or poverty level, traditionally raise their children in a natural growth practice, focusing on providing the simple needs of children; the bare necessities: food, water, shelter and clothing. Belizean families are typically unable to place children in activities or worry too much about communication skills. In the culture of Belize; child rearing had a significant impact on the women who used cleaning as a supplemental tool, while men took off for work each and every day to provide the stability and care for the family. The parents of the Belizean culture were unable to provide the best child care system for the children so they were forced to be left with one of the family members to be there legal guardian while for the day as the parents head out to work. It came down to where the older sibling was put in the position to not be able to attend school anymore, but to be “father or mother" to watch over there younger brother or sister to provide for the family while the parents work long stressful hours. Throughout the Belizean culture cleanliness had an effect on some children which lead to hunger and starvation, while others in the suburban areas of Belize enjoyed the crowded and busy streets which was much worth living but the children still needed to be monitored at all times while parents were away at work. The distress of using different objects to show discipline became very known in the Belizean tradition when training a child to do what is right was a corporal punishment from teachers, police officers and even complete strangers. Some feel as when these objects are used with force that’s a form of child abuse, and they are being very concerned as to what the leading cause of the damage. This shows just how important social status is when raising a child, unlike the culture in Trinidad where families aren’t on such a tight budget, the Belize culture’s social impact leads their children to be raised more on a cherish what you have way of life. The Belize children are raised to be members of society, however the natural growth child rearing technique often has negative consequences as well: the main side effect is how they interact with others in society.

Unlike the child rearing in Belize, the child rearing in Trinidad uses a different method. Having a higher social status in terms of economics Trinidadians tend to raise their children using the concerted cultivated method. In this method of child rearing children are thrust into society head first. These children are placed in social situations with both children and adults where they learn to have meaningful conversations and learn to speak as equals. According to Lareau, “The children of concerted cultivation also have longer and more reasoning conversations with their parents which leads them to the sense of entitlement when dealing with institutions.” (Lareau). Unlike in Belize, in Trinidad when the children enter society on their own they tend to have more language skills than the children in Belize would due to the social situations they experienced as a child. A neutral characteristic of the children in Trinidad is the fact that because of their language skills they are able to manipulate rules and change situations in various settings. This is a disadvantage to society because rebelling starts here because the children have be taught to treat others as equals and have no real sense of authority. Similarly concerted children (Trinidadians) have a hard time managing time and knowing what to do with free time on hands, this is because of the fact that as children they were put into so many different activities that free play was limited, according to Lareau.

Belize are not raised poorly by any means, and in fact both cultures have similar values and milestones for children to benchmark, in both religion and moral values. The two cultures simply have different methods to getting their children to hit these milestones. Belizeans have minimal communications skills simply because they didn’t experience communication with adults as children, however Belizeans know the meaning of dollar more than a Trinidadian child would.

Belizean parents are often worrying about the next meal and basic care, when speaking to their children it is often simple phrases and to the point, with little need to discuss the topic at hand. The children who are raised with natural growth developed what Lareau started as a constraint. “Constraint was the disadvantage that natural growth children experience because of their lack of communication skills and the subordination they felt to adults.” (Lareau). These children later take on their parents attitude toward institutions and authority; feelings of being powerless and inferior with a lack of trust toward authority. This leads to generational issues, where the Belize children now teach the same attitudes to their children and so forth. This cycle happens in both methods of child rearing according to Lareau because children tend to fall into the same social class as adults as they did as children.

Another concept of concerted cultivation that Lareau discusses is the weak social ties with family. This is mainly because of time. Trinidadians have weaker ties with extended family due to each family having multiple activities going on at one time. Family holidays are often the only time extended family gets together. Unlike in Trinidad, in Belize many families, both immediate and extended share land and households, which lead to children getting to grow up together and have close knit relationships with cousins. This serves both as a relationship cause as well as an economical cause; in Belize not only do these ties provide a deeper meaning of family but also it allows for parents to go out and work longer hours to provide for their children with the peace of mind knowing that an older cousin can watch after their children if no one else is of age. I feel the lack of this in Trinidadian culture because I feel that family is significant in the upbringing and molding of a child. Family can give children an outlet when growing up, as well as give parents a break; meaning that often times I have noticed that children and parents alike can use another person going who has similar ties to help with their own troubles. In Trinidad however, this is often unfeasible and as a result their culture spends more time spending rather than mending relationships and lifestyles.

Both cultures have advantages and disadvantages in child rearing methods. However there are significant differences among the two because of social class. The main thing that it comes down to is money. Often times in society and in cultures other than the two I discussed is how much money a family makes determines the way their children is raised. Like Trinidad cultures with more money tend to use materialistic things as reinforces for their children, which lead the children to grow up with a sense of entitlement and we get the “silver spoon” concept. Likewise children in Belize are raised more on a nurturing and necessities way of life, but lack communications requirements to help them succeed in life. The differences between the two cultures impact the childs’ life and how they contribute to their society and their relationships with others as adults. Both cultures have issues in how they raise their children and how their children enter into society, however one thing that both cultures have is a sense of remembering where you came from. Whether middle class or lower class and poverty stricken both cultures raise their children in a way to try and contribute to the community where they live. After looking at the two cultures I found that child rearing was the only true difference among the two, I found it fascinating that while close in proximity they have such different ways of raising children.

Lareau, A., & Weininger, E. B. (2003). Cultural capital in educational research: A critical assessment. Theory and Society,32(5-6), 567-606. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:RYSO.0000004951.04408.b0

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Smith, D. E., & Mosby, G. (2003). Jamaican child-rearing practices: The role of corporal punishment. Adolescence, 38(150), 369-81. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/195935159?accountid=32521