ECE 205 The Influences Culture has on a Child’s Development.pptx

THE INFLUENCES
CULTURE HAS ON A
CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT

CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON CHILD
DEVELOPMENT
Jeff Randall/Digital Vision/Thinkstock
• These influences include direct and indirect impacts of culture, race, and ethnicity as well as the
powerful effects of economics, gender roles, marriage, divorce, single parenthood, and religion. Cultural
and societal influences on child development can be instilled subtly through natural interactions with
others, can be ingrained deliberately early in life, or can arise as a consequence of the family in which
the child is born (Groark, McCarthy, & Kirk, 2014). When individuals are part of a cultural group, they
learn the ways of that culture , which enable them to feel like they belong to their community. Cultural
perspectives also influence how we parent, how we understand children, how we help them grow up
and how we teach them new skills. We learn to communicate and understand our world through the
context of our languages, traditions, behaviors, beliefs and values (kidsmatter.edu.au).

PHYSICALLY
•
Race is generally considered to be an individual’s physical and biological characteristic
, including body bodily structure and the color of the skin, hair, and eyes, whereas