What makes a good parent?

Lauren Weihe
Psychology 100 Section

veryone aspires to be the

very young children. That is children learn

best parent they can be, to

by watching the word around them, a theory

do the best for their child,

proposed by

so they can raise a happy,

Albert

well-adjusted, citizen of the world. But what

if you have circumstances that make this

What is the social learning

theory?

Bandura, the social learning theory.

Essentially, it explains we dont learn

more difficult? What if youre a young

every skill we posses from trial and error.

mother? A single parent? Have a low

Sometimes we learn based on watching

income? Well, dont worry there is still

others. There are many benefits to this, it

hope. In fact, no one says you cannot have a

saves time of having to figure out the skill

child that is just as happy and well adjusted

all on your own, its a lot safer than trial and

as any other child. However, you will have

to put in more work, but its not very
difficult. One of the most vital things you
should do is recognize that your child learns
error, it allows you to add your own
from you. Anyone who has been around a
flexibility or style to an action, and there is a
toddler has seen this in action, one slip and
transmission of knowledge. This begins a lot
suddenly you have a two-year-old dropping
earlier than many people would expect,
curse words at the dinner table. What we
children as young as two or three months
dont often recognize is this behavior
can imitate facial expressions. There are
happens all the time, not just in toddlers of

some factors that influence whether or not

families, researchers, Parfitt, Pike and Ayers,

we model our behavior after someone elses,

studied whether four factors: mother/father

including what happened to the model, the

mental health, couples relationship,

similarity between ourselves and the model

mother/father relationship with the baby, and

and what the status of the model is in our

the parents perceived judgment of the

eyes. Social Learning Theory is very present

babys characteristics influenced the babys

in our everyday lives, everything you do that

language, motor and cognitive development.

Well it sounds easy enough, but

how do I know this social
learning is a thing? After all, its
just a theory.
your child sees could be something they
decide to model their own behavior after, so
therefore you must set a good example, or
model the behavior you would like your
child to demonstrate.
There are implications of your
behavior on your childs life, while they are
still in the womb. These are pretty obvious
in some cases, with infants being negatively
influenced by things like alcohol. So it
should be no surprise that your baby is
influenced by factors as soon as they come
out of the womb also. In a study of forty-two

It was found that the most indicative of all

of these factors was actually the parents
judgment of the babys characteristics which
included things like whether their eating and
sleeping habits were normal. This was the
factor that influenced all three categories of
development while the other factors were
shown to have a proportionally smaller
effect.
To know whether your child has
normal characteristics or habits you must
first know what normal habits of babies are.
This can be a problem for people that have a
low income and do not see a doctor often
while pregnant. Albarran and Reich
conducted a study of first time mothers to

determine if giving them books outlining

The researchers believed that the

their childs developmental stages would

mothers that received the educational

increase their self efficacy and allow them to

intervention book would become better

be a better parent. There were three groups

parents, demonstrating higher levels of self

of mothers: one group received no books as

efficacy or belief that they had a handle on

a control, the experiment group was given a

parenting that those who received the non

book that outlined the stages they could

educational books or those mothers who

expect their child to go through, the third

received no books. However, it was found

that both sets of mothers that received books
reported higher levels of self efficacy and
their babies had higher language skills when
tested.
Reading has been proven crucial to

group was given a book that had rhymes. All

of the books were written on a first grade
reading level and mothers were encouraged
to read them while still pregnant and to their
child when their child was born.

childrens development. In a 2014 study

published in Infant And Child, this was
proven. The study was concerning low
income, minority mothers and their fouryear-old children. When the children were
four years old their mothers and them were
invited into the lab where they were

The educational intervention book is the one that

provided with a book with only pictures.

explains normal steps of development the non

The mothers were told to share the book

educational comparison book is the one that is simply

a childrens book.

with their children as they normally would

in whatever language was the most

mothers staged the stories were similar to

comfortable for them. The parents and

how the children created their own lessons,

children were all of Dominican, Mexican,

and the amount of times and way the child

African American or Chinese descent. These

addressed emotion were also similar to how

cultures were chosen due to their differences

the mother did. So the children

in cultural philosophies and what the

demonstrated social learning by creating

researchers wished to measure. The

their story in a similar way to the way their

components they wanted to measure were

mothers did. Having parents that read to

the mothers effects on the childrens

children makes them more prepared for

retelling of the story in regards to story

schooling. This is very important because it

components, how much storyline was

has been proven that children who are not

provided, dialogue emphasis, which was a

prepared for school get only further and

combined effort to tell the story, a co-

further behind never catching up to their

construct between mother and child, and

peers.

story content, the lessons the mother took

away and told the child from the story.
A year later, when the children were

Another very important part of a

childs schooling is their interaction with
their peers. Denham, Basset, Zinser, and

five they were asked to come back to create

Wyatt conducted a study about the social-

a story from a different picture only book for

emotional readiness of preschoolers and

a researcher. It was found that children who

how it predicts success in the childrens

had mothers that encouraged a co-

early school years. The behaviors they

construction of the story has children that

examined were basically the ability of the

created a more elaborate story, the way that

children to conduct themselves with each

other in the classroom, control and express

advice can be more confusing than helpful,

their own emotions. Children having these

especially when you are not always capable

even at such a young age is important

of carrying out the advice. However, it is

because having these skills is essential for

important to remember that children are very

them to be able to learn content effectively

observant and often times learn by example,

in the classroom. If children do not

as Banduras social learning theory explains.

demonstrate these behaviors early

This learning by example carries from

intervention is very important, it is much

simple things, like your perception of your

easier for younger children to develop new

child, the way you read to your child, and

habits than for older children.

how you help your child develop socially.

Raising a child is never easy, even in

the best of circumstances. Youre nervous
anyways, and the abundance of varying

These in turn carry through the years to

follow your child throughout their life.

References
Albarran, A. S., & Reich, S. M. (2014). Using baby books to increase new mothers' selfefficacy
and improve toddler language development. Infant And Child Development, 23(4), 374387. doi:10.1002/icd.1832
Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., Zinsser, K., & Wyatt, T. M. (2014). How preschoolers' social
emotional learning predicts their early school success: Developing theorypromoting,
competencybased assessments. Infant And Child Development, 23(4), 426-454.
doi:10.1002/icd.1840
Luo, R., TamisLeMonda, C. S., Kuchirko, Y., F. Ng, F., & Liang, E. (2014). Motherchild book
sharing and children's storytelling skills in ethnically diverse, lowincome families. Infant
And Child Development, 23(4), 402-425. doi:10.1002/icd.1841
Parfitt, Y., Pike, A., & Ayers, S. (2014). Infant developmental outcomes: A family systems
perspective. Infant And Child Development, 23(4), 353-373. doi:10.1002/icd.1830