Title: How Parenting Affects Child Learning

Researcher: Ma. Elysa O. Cababarros

I.

Introduction
Overview:

In this current time, more and more mothers are joining the work force to help
their husbands. Mothers are important in the development of the child and must guide
them through it. They have lesser time given to their child and the parenting style they
use with their child varies. This study has used the theory of parenting and has found
two parenting styles to compare: Concerted Cultivation and Natural Growth.
The objective of this study is to determine how time a mother spends for their
child affects learning, how parenting style affect learning and other factors that affects
the childs learning. Mothers of different occupation were chosen randomly to be the
respondents of this study. A survey questionnaire was designed and a respondent
assisted type of survey was conducted.
Results showed that the time given by parents does not directly affect the
learning of a child, parents do not use one parenting style alone but a combination of
the two depending on what aspect of parenting and socio economic status of the
family, opportunities given to child and type of job the mother has are factors that affect
the learning of the child.

Status Report:
In the current time of the 21 st century, more and more mothers have been
working which gives them lesser time to spend with their children in taking care of them
specially in taking part in childs learning. In a study conducted by Pews Research
Center in the United States, mothers who have preferred to work full time have
increased from 20% in 2007 to 32% in 2012. In the same study, working mothers spend
14 hours per week or roughly 2 hours a day in child care and 31 hours per week in paid
work [1]. In another study conducted in London, children born to career mothers in the
1970s, 1980s and early 1990s did not perform as well, with their literacy and numeracy
skills about 2% lower.But latest research by Heather Joshi of the University of Londons
Center for Longitudinal Studies found children born since the mid-1990s whose mothers
worked in their early years fared just as well as those whose mothers did not[2]. This

shows that the employment of the mothers doesnt affect the learning of children. But
Joshi also indicated that even if it doesnt affect, there is still effects on the development
of a child.
If the working status of parents does not matter, according to studies, the
parenting style that they use in rearing their children matters. According to Diana
Baumrind, a clinical and developmental Psychologist, there are 3 types of parenting
styles: Authoritarian, Permissive and Authoritative [3]. How parents support their
children in the activities they are interested, academic or non-academic, is essential in
child development.

Scope of Limitations:
Parenting is defined as the process of promoting and supporting the physical,
emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood [4].
In this study, the definition of Parenting is limited to the time a parent gives to the
child and the parenting style adapt by parents when it comes to the intellectual
development of the child. Also, parent being used here refer to the mother alone.
Learning as well refers to both academic and non-academic involvement of a child.

Statement of the problem:

a) More and more mothers are full-time workers and have lesser time for children.
b) The time spent for children have effects on their development and learning.
c) Parenting practices/styles differ.

Objectives:
at the end of this study, we will be able to answer the following:
a) Determine if the time given for children affect their learning.
b) Determine how parenting styles affect child learning.
c) Other factors affecting childs learning ie: opportunities given to child, socioeconomic status of family, kind of work the mother has.

Theory:

Natural Growth vs. Concerted Cultivation

Aside from the types of parenting that Baumrind suggested, there are many other
styles that parents incorporate in their parenting. In this study, the parenting styles that
are being compared are Natural Growth and Concerted Cultivation. Annette Laurea, a
Sociologist in University of Pennsylvania, created a book Unequal Childhood based on
her researches. This is where the Natural Growth and Concerted Cultivation parenting
styles come from.
The two are defined as follows:
"Concerted Cultivation" is the type of childrearing practice consists of parents
participating in the organization of their child's after school activities and providing a
structured life for their child. Parents teach their children things that are not taught in
school that will help them to perform better and get better grades on tests and ultimately
do better in school. The main advantage to this type of childrearing is that children are
taught lessons through organized activities that help prepare them for a white collar job
and the types of interactions that a white collar worker encounters. Some examples of
this type of parental teaching is engagement in critical thinking such as asking
challenging questions, the use of advanced grammar, and help a stronger family
support structure. The main disadvantage of concerted cultivation is that often the child
becomes bored easily and cannot entertain themselves.
"The Accomplishment of Natural Growth" is the type of childrearing are less
involved with the structure of their childs after school activities and generally have less
education and time to impress values upon their children that will give them an
advantage in school. This type of childrearing involves less organized activities and
more free time for their children to play with other children in the neighborhood [5].
Having these concepts, at the end of this study, we will be able to determine what
style do most parents incorporate and the most effective that helps in the learning of a
child.

II.

Methodology
A survey questionnaire is design for this research. Close and open ended
questions are incorporated in the questionnaire. A respondent administered
survey or interview is use to back up close ended questions with open
ended to further elaborate questions and get exact information. Mothers,
regardless of age, occupation and income, are randomly selected to answer the
survey. The questionnaire includes the work schedule of parents, questions on
academic and non-academic involvement of child, time the parents a lot for their
child and what support the parents give their child. Results of the survey will then
be tallied. Internet researches are also being used as basis for this study.
Gathered data from the internet and the survey are being compared to further
analyze the study.

III.

Presentation of Findings
Below are the results of the respondent administered survey that was
conducted:

Annual Family Income

11%

11%

100,000 and below

100,001 - 200,000
200,001 - 300,000

22%

300,001 and above

56%

Table 1: Among the mothers that were interview, most of their annual family
income are between P100,000 to P200,000. This means that most of them are
earning an income of average earners in the city. Only a small percentage is
above and below the average earning.

Number of Woking Hours

8 hours
10 hours
Others

0.89

Table 2: The graph shows that 89% of the mothers that were interviewed are
working for 8 hours. Most of them are office workers. Only 11% are working more
than eight hours or considered in the others section.

In what aspect does your child/ren excel?

22%

Academic
Non-Academic
44%

Both

33%

Table 3: When asked if their child/ren excel, all mothers answered YES.
Specifically, 44.44% mothers said that their child/ren excel in academics alone.
33.33% said that their child/ren excel in non academics. With regards to nonacademic, they answer that their child/ren excel in sports. Only 22.22% said that
their child excel in both academic and non-academic.

Do you personally attend to your child's activity/ies?

22%

YES
NO
Sometimes

78%

Table 4: When asked if they personally attend their child/rens academic and
non-academic activities, 78% of them answered Yes and only 22% answered
No. Among those who answered No said that their relatives and yayas attend to
their child/ren.

How much time a day do you spend for your child?

11%

11%

2 hours
3 hours
4 hours
5 hours and above

33%
44%

Table 5: 44% of the mothers said that they spend 3 hours a day for their
child/ren. Mostly they spend it with them after office hours.

Do you believe that Parenting plays an important factor in child's learning?

YES
NO

Table 6: All of the mothers believe that the way they rear their child/ren is
important in their learning.

Do you believe that even without your presence/supervision your child will still excel?

0.11

YES
NO
MAYBE

0.89

Table 7: 89% of the mothers said that even without their supervision, their
child/ren will still excel in the field they are good. They believe that the inborn or
natural talent of their child/ren comes out and that they are responsible enough
with their actions.

What support do you give to your child to improve performance?

Tutorials (academic)

15%

Lessons
Exposure to activities

8%

46%

8%

Others
None

23%

Table 8: The mothers engage their child/ren to tutorials (46%), lessons (23%) like
sport clinic, music lessons, speech, exposure to activities (8%) like workshops,
campings, and 15% of mothers said they do not have enrolled their child/ren to
activities but are willing if given the chance.

IV.

Analysis and Conclusion

Based on the data gathered, we will be able to answer the problem and objectives
stated above.
Time and learning
Most of the mother respondents are working mothers, few business owners
and housewives. The business women and housewives have more time for
their children since they hold their own time. They are the ones who consist
those spend time with their child for 4 5 hours a day. Working mothers gives
time to their children after work for 3 hours every day. Mostly, these time
spent are preparing dinner and assisting their childs homework. The time

mothers spent with their child does not directly affect the childs learning.
Based on the data gathered, working moms children do excel at school and
most of them excel academically. They also believe that their child can excel
even without their supervision (see Table 7). One respondent said that, my
son is smart, which means that they believe in the natural talent of their child.
The research conducted by Heather Joshi [2] that states that there is no
difference of the learning of a child whose mother is working or not is believed
to be true in this study as the study shows that the child whose mother is
working excel as the same with those who are not given that they spend most
of their time with their child.
Parenting Styles Compared: Concerted Cultivation vs. Natural Growth
Following the results of the survey, we are able to know the parenting styles
of the respondents based on the support they give, the time they spend and
the achievements of their child.
Based on the support given to child, we can see that most of the respondents
are integrating the concerted cultivating style as they give engage their child
to learning that are not mostly found in school, like music, sports and
exposure to activities and tutorials that will make their child better or improve
certain areas they are not good at. Only a few or 15% of mothers (see Table
8) depends alone on the natural growth or the inborn ability of their child.
Though, these 15% of parents are willing to enroll their child to lessons and
activities if there is no hindrance or constraint. Most hindrances to this are
financial and schedule.
The time given to the child also indicates that the respondents are more
concerted cultivators even if they spend a short time per day with their child,
they make sure that they attend to their childs academic and non academic
activities. 78% of the respondents (see Table 4) said that they personally
attend to their child like school meetings, getting report cards, supporting in
recitals or games. A respondent said that she does this to monitor my childs
performance.
Though most of the respondents are more of concerted cultivators, we cannot
say that they are in all aspects of parenting. As well as those who are
dependent on natural growth. There are respondents who spend more time
taking care of their child but do not engage them to lessons. There are also
those who give their child opportunities or give them tutorials because they do
not have time to teach their child at home and depend the learning of the child
to other people.

Other factors that affects learning

Aside from the parenting style given to the child, we can see that there are
other factors that affect the learning development of a child based on the
results of the interview. These are the following:
1. Socio - economic status of family in the survey, the family with less
family income (see Table 1) are those who cannot afford to enroll their
child to learning outside school or give them opportunities. As
mentioned above, one of the hindrance is financial even if parents are
willing to enroll their child.
2. Opportunity given to child the time the parents have with their child
gives them less opportunity to teach their child and be involved in the
interest of their child.
3. Type of work the mother has the parenting style and time given to
child depends on the work of the mother. Full time housewives has
more focus on the development of their child compared to the working
ones. Mothers also whose work are of shifting schedules like call
center agents have lesser time to give to their child.

Conclusion:
Parenting style differ in every parents but a parent does not incorporate
just a single style but can be a combination of both. A parent can be a concerted
cultivator at the same time depends in the natural growth of the child in one
aspect of parenting. Socio economic factor is a factor in parenting and learning
of a child because parents can give different opportunities to their child
depending on their economic status.
Though this study didnt show any negative effect to a child, parents
should weigh in what aspect of learning their child lacks and give that part more
attention that those they are already good so that it will be helped. They may be
dependent on the natural growth of the child on the part where they are already
good at but give them support and time that they me feel important and
appreciated. It is good that nowadays wives are able to help their husbands in
putting income to the family but they must also remember that mothers are the
most important relevant others of the child and must guide them to their
development.

Message:
The researcher would like to dedicate this study to the mothers specially the working
mothers to be able to see and realize the need to be involved in their childs learning
and development. Also, to inspire future mothers to be hands on at the same time going
steady with their career.
The researcher personally would thank the people who got involved in this study. Her
mother, who helped in finding respondents to take part of the interviews despite her
busy schedule, her friends, who also helped in the interview and co workers who have
been very understanding in the need to insert doing this during idle work hours. The
researcher would also like to give her appreciation to her professor, for the opportunity
given to be able to come up with this study even for a short period of conducting this
research. Lastly, God above for always being there who gives strength at times she
wanted to give up and was weak for all the sleepless nights. This would not be possible
if not of His help.

References:
1 http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/03/14/modern-parenthood-roles-of-moms-anddads-converge-as-they-balance-work-and-family/#overview
2 http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=23&title=Working-mothers-urgedto-drop-guilt-as-study-finds-kids-do-fine&id=72542
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Baumrind
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenting
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Lareau