Description
Link to article:Prison Babies: Raising Infants Behind Prison WallsLinks to an external site.A link to the article for this assignment is found above and the rubric used to assess your paper is at the bottom of this page. After reading the assigned article and Chapter 5 in the textbook, use the assigned concepts and theories to analyze the impact of the described circumstances on the child and parent, and their relationship. Your analysis will consist of 4 parts:
1. Provide a brief explanation of the purpose of this article. (What did the reporter want to know?)
2. Describe the child, parent, and their living arrangements.
3. Analyze the effects of the family’s situation on the parent-child relationship as follows:
a. Use each concept or theory separately. (Separate paragraphs)
b. Explain/define the concept or theory.
c. Discuss how the concept or theory applies to the chosen parent and child.
d. Use a specific example from the article and/or textbook to support your application of the concept or theory.
4. Finish the paper with your conclusion of the effects of this living arrangement on the parent and child and your suggestions for the parent.
Tip: This is a 3-page paper. Be brief in your statement of the purpose of the article and the description of the child and parent. Use brief quotes and observations from the article or the textbook to support your analysis. The paper should focus on the purpose of this assignment–to demonstrate your knowledge of 3 concepts or theories and apply them in an analysis.
Further Instructions:
The topics to cover in your analysis include:
1. A statement of the subject of the article (i.e., homelessness, identity formation, racial socialization, novel parenting settings, changes in the juvenile justice system, military families and deployment, food insecurity/hunger). Keep this short, a sentence of two.
2. A description of the parent or caregiver and child in the article, including age, gender, temperament or personality, and special needs of the child. Describe the significant parts of the child’s ecological system that apply to this story. Items 1 and 2 could be your opening paragraph.
3. An analysis of the parent-child relationship depicted in the article. This is where you want to concentrate your work. Write separate paragraphs for each concept you are using in the analysis.
Use the following 3 concepts and theories as the basis for your analysis of these families. The 3 concepts and theories are
Support of new parents (Heath, 146-148)
Trust vs. Mistrust and Attachment Theory (Heath, 8-9, 22-23, 33, 149-151; Erikson video and Attachment videos
Surrogate parenting and Grandfamilies/Kinship care (Heath, 70-75)
4. Finish the paper with your conclusion of the effects of this living arrangement on the parent, surrogate parent, and child and your suggestions for the parent.
Further Guidance:
Use each link to analyze the effect the situation in the story is having on the child and parent including the effect on the child’s well-being and development, the effect on the well-being of the parent or surrogate parent and their parenting practices, and the effect on the parent-child relationship.
Consider the possible long-term outlook on the child’s well-being and development and the parent-child relationship.
Support your analysis with references to sources (e.g., Heath, 149) and selected examples from the story. Make sure your examples are specific.
An example: In a different article about a bullied pre-teen boy who has been bullying other children and getting arrested for shoplifting, the mother describes him, in a letter to a parenting column in the newspaper, as passive, fearful, and easily bullied. We have very few specifics about their relationship, but we can draw some conclusions by reflecting on his behavior and how he would feel if he saw this quote in the newspaper. We also may consider that she criticizes him directly. The following is an example of how the analysis could be written using the concept “House of Self.”
“A concept from the textbook called House of Self, as modeled by Dorothy Briggs, focuses on creating parent-child relationships that build a child’s positive self-esteem. Heath explains that children will develop positive self-esteem when they trust their parents to display affection and acceptance, consider their individual needs, and respond sensitively to their requests for attention (Heath 106-107). Janet’s willingness to be quoted criticizing her son publicly, describing him with words such as “passive” and “fearful,” reflects her insensitivity to her son’s sense of self and the nature of her relationship with him. This helps us understand his attraction to the gang that has been bullying him. He sees himself as she sees him, someone who is not worthy of respectful treatment.”
What I just wrote is an example of how using one piece of a conversation would be enough, in this brief paper, to consider one aspect of the problem in the parent-teen relationship. I defined the concept, the “House of Self,” and used a specific example from the article to explain my analysis of their relationship.
Later, I could take that further in my conclusion by looking at the reporter’s interview with the school safety officer who tells her about a program for reconciliation that they recommend for children like this teen. Both the parent and the child participate instead of sending the child to juvenile detention. Their program sounds a lot like the Induction Technique described in Chapter 4. A link could be made between the story and the concept of induction. The mother indicates to the reporter that she isn’t interested in the program. We can conclude that she relies on punishments instead of learning new methods of Authoritative parenting to help her child. We could link this example to a conclusion that her parenting style is that of Authoritarian parenting. On the other hand, we might have a different interpretation of her parenting style, Indifference. Whatever our conclusion might be, we must support it by defining the term, how it is used, and linking it to the evidence we found in the article.
At the end of your paper, you will conclude with a summary of your impressions of their relationship and the child’s sense of self. You will also offer suggestions on ways in which change could occur to increase the likelihood of a better outcome for the child. Using the example of the teen above, we could recommend the school safety officer spend time with this mother and answer her questions so that she might be more comfortable with the induction program.
Writing Mechanics:
All files must be saved with a *.doc, *.docx, or *.pdf extension. No other format will be accepted. If your paper is rejected when you attempt to submit it, double-check that you saved it with one of these extensions. If you don’t have Word software, save your document as a PDF file.
Paper is a maximum of 2+ pages in length and free of grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. 1″ margins, double spaced, 11-12 point font. The style of writing facilitates communication.
See the rubric at the bottom of this page for information on how the paper will be graded.
Resources:
1. Chapter 5 in the textbook.
2. Videos explaining concepts and theories
New Parent Support Video:
Surrounded by friends and family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0A7jXliDQLinks to an external site.
