Jamaican Caribbean Context

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02 Nov 2017

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COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, BEHAVIOURAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT

Are positive role models important in the growing child’s life? Discuss the role models that children are exposed to in the Jamaican/Caribbean context and state the benefits of exposing children to positive role models.

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Course:

PSYC221: Developmental Psychology

By:

Jason Neale – 28100248

To:

Mr. Russell McLean

Date:

February 28, 2012

"When I grow up, I want to be like mommy", "when I grow up, I want to be like daddy", "when I grow up, I want to be like Usain Bolt or even Shaggy, a popular reggae artist". These are some quotes from children who want to imitate individual appearance and manner. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself where your child picked up a certain behaviour or habit whether it is good or bad? The answer is through the people around them. So in other words, they are paying attention to what the people around them are doing. This includes you, your child’s siblings, friends, teachers and even the people they watch on television. Making sure that your child is influenced by positive role models will help them to achieve more in life.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example and whose behaviour is emulated by others" (Stevenson & Lindberg, 2010). According to Christine Hulme states that,

Role models are a very powerful force for setting and achieving productive goals. Children minds are naturally developed to learn from the experience of others. Whether the experience is captured in the form of books, stories, or games – the experience of others offers a very powerful way to reach a higher level of success.

Why do we use role models, to help children learn the skills needed to be a motivated self-learner? This is because modeling the behaviour, thoughts, and attitudes of successful people has been shown to help a person become more successful.

Hulme further states that research has shown that "almost all of the successful people today had a series of role models. The leaders of today all had great role models that inspired them to great heights". The selection of good role models serves as a guide for them to make the most out of their abilities. By introducing your child to role models for all aspects of their lives, you are growing their imagination. With good role models, you get your child to imagine success. According to the internet website, more4kids.com:

Positive role models are important in the growing child’s life. They are highly important for children psychologically, helping to guide them through life during their development, to make important decisions that affect the outcome of their lives, and to help them find happiness in later life".

When children are growing up, they look to role models for inspiration and use this as a blueprint for how they should behave when they get older. This is likely a survival function designed to help us to mimic the traits of those successful members of our society and thereby help our children to be successful too.

In addition, the More4kids website further stated that at the same time, in later life, its thought that children happiness is very much based on their perception of how their life should or could be and the gap between that and how it is in reality. In other words, it is striving for that same kind of success and achieving it that brings children happiness or otherwise when they get older. This is called ‘actualization’ according to Goldstein. As such then, having the correct role model will ensure that children learn to be successful and adaptive in later life, and that they are happy when they are older having achieved that aim. It’s very important to get the right one for yourself, and to provide one for your child or children. According to Clarke, a junior editor, she stated that:

Children are exposed to a number of different role models in Jamaican and in the Caribbean on a whole. On one hand she stated that, the sad thing is, not all role models today are positive.  For example, a character on a TV show or a movie that a child thinks is cool or neat.  A public figure or a villain might make a child want to do the things that this person does.   Even teenagers imitate negative role models like older children in high school or gang members.  A teenager might be pressured into doing something all the other teenagers do. Many people have role models; all people do, even if they don't know it.

On the other hand Clarke added that "The most obvious role models for any child or children are their parents, followed by other immediate family, family friend and professionals such as teachers, lawyers, doctors, just to name a few". Firstly, parents are the biggest role models because they always teach their children to stay out of trouble and warns them of the consequences that comes with making wrong decisions.  But they also teach their children about the good rewards and where you can go when you make the right decisions.  In addition, parents share personal stories of when they made wrong decisions in their life, and children learn from that. Every child asks their parents for advice and even if they don't, they still follow their parent's ways.  Parents have a big role in their child's life and some parents don't take it seriously.  If parents don't take their lifelong tasks, with their child, seriously the child will think that their parents don't care about them.  The child will go out and do bad things for attention, and all they will receive is negative attention. If the parent neglects their child or if a child receives negative attention from their parents, the child will look up to someone else to achieve positive or negative attention. In contrast, a well behaved and a high achieving child must have a good role model.

Secondly, teachers tend to be role models for most, if not all of their students because most of their days are spent at school in the classroom with their teacher so they become attached to the teachers even more than their parents in the home. In addition, there are other professionals that children imitate to be role models. Some of these individuals are psychologists, guidance counselors, lawyers, doctors and nurses. They look up to these professionals because they are successful people who have worked hard to achieve their dreams and aspirations in life.

Thirdly, sports stars and athletes are role models for children today.  Athletes everywhere spends time working with charitable organizations and donate to the cause of needy children.  They are healthy with their mental decisions and physical well being. Athletes and sports stars are normally swift, energetic, active and flexible and children tend to be fascinated by these individuals. They make children want to be like them in many ways because they are very successful people.

Some children imitate cartoon fictional characters to be their role models. However, some cartoon characters aren’t good role models. There are a few characters and programs that are positive and they teach important lessons. For example on Discovery Kids there is "Growing Up Creepy" and "Grossology." Both are positive shows, the first deals with being different, having a family that is different and being comfortable with who you are. The second is a positive way of dealing with stress and problems that pop up in life, most of which are related to bodily functions, but it is a brother/sister team that saves the world in each episode. This may be completely realistic but is it better than having your children watch senseless cartoons that teach violence and bad behaviour.

According to the article, "The Importance of Role Models", states why it’s so important in these roles to provide a good role model:

As children will be imitating your behavior, that means that if you smoke, you can expect your child to take up smoking either now or later in life. If you swear meanwhile they too will swear. You are their blue print for living. At the same time though they will find other role models elsewhere as they grow older, just as you probably have different role models today. If you’re choosing a role model for yourself or for a child then, it’s important to make sure that they have good morals and don’t indulge in self-destructive behaviour. A good role model should be someone hard working, creative, free thinking and moral. (Thomas, 2011)

While you can’t choose role models for your children as such, you can make sure that they are exposed to a better selection to choose from. For example encouraging your child to read ‘Superman’ rather than ‘The Punisher’ (who murders his enemies and has a general bad attitude) might have a good impact on the way they turn out. Similarly, if you find that they’re hanging around in what you deem to be ‘the wrong crowd’ then these can serve as bad role models. To solve this problem, try introducing them to other groups and encouraging them to mingle more while keeping them at home more nights they want to go off with their wrong group. Meanwhile if you find that your life is currently not going the way you want it to and you are growing distant from your friends and family, then look at your own priorities and who your current influences are.

At the same time though it’s important not to put role models on a pedestal. If they’re human and real then they need to be recognized as such. Everyone makes mistakes and so to follow anyone blindly is a mistake. Recognized that this is a ‘guide’ for you and not someone you have to follow exactly. One good way to prevent this from being a problem is to have multiple role models. This way if one of them does something you don’t agree with then you’ll still have others you can look to. At the same time it can be sensible to have different role models for different areas of your life.

According to the "Benefits of Role Models for Kids", the benefits of exposing children to positive role models are crucial in many ways. Some of these ways are

Firstly, to enhance behaviour and to display positive attitudes and mannerism so your child will not display unacceptable behaviour. Secondly, exposing children to positive role models serve as a guide for children to make the most out of their abilities. Thirdly, getting your child or children to imagine success by setting and achieving positive and productive goals that they would want to achieve in life with the improvement in career planning and decision making. Fourthly, guiding children to develop maximum potential in all aspects of their lives and finally acquiring the skills needed to be excel in life and also in academia.

In summary, to help make sure that you are being a positive role model to your children, make sure that you share your values with your children, this means that you talk to your children about where you stand on issues such as drugs, smoking, sex, homeless, poverty, and religion just to name a few. Next, show your children that you are confident and happy with who you are. Your children need to see that you have self esteem. If they see that mom and dad are happy with who they are, then they are more likely to be happy with who they are. Also along with that, show them the importance of being independent. Be yourself and be happy with who you are. Deal with your stress in positive ways. Part of being human means dealing with stress on a daily basis. Some days there is more stress than others. You don’t have to hide stress from your children, instead show them how to deal with it.

Let your children know about your successes and your failures. Disappointments are just as much a part of life as successes are. Failing doesn’t make you a bad person, it gives you the chance to learn how to do something better. Let your children know that you love them no matter what. Do not assume for one minute that children know this innately. Don’t feel bad if you child questions it, take it as an opportunity to sweep them in your arms and tell them how much you love them and how incredible they are. A final tip for parents on being a positive role model for your child or children is to make sure you are involved in their lives. Talk to them about their day at school, what they learned and what they did. Know who their friends are. Know who your child is out with, who are their role models. Take a look at who they hang out with, who they talk about the most and who they watch on television. Role models are the most important thing in a child's life when growing up.  Everyone needs someone to look up to.  You could be a role model some day; you probably are one now to a younger brother, sister, relative or friend and your students. Set positive examples for children to follow, try to be the best role model you can be.



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