Routine makes children adjust to school but harsh parenting may undo benefits

Entering elementary school is a big step and it may be a challenging one since a child may become anxious in separation or may not adjust to school life in terms of rules and organization. Nevertheless, according to a group of researchers at Penn State, frequent practices at home were able to lower the chances of a child having difficulty in the school transition.

The researchers discovered in a publication in Developmental Psychology that the stronger the routines of the rural, low-income families, i.e. bedtime, shared meals, the lower the behavior problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms of their children reported by their parents. But, the greater the levels of harsh or aggressive parenting, i.e., yelling and threatening by the mother or father, the less the advantages of household structure.

We need routines, and you can not be too strict with them, but that is what co-author Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, a professor and the head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, said. I have always said that the two most important things to have in parenting are consistency and flexibility. It can be viewed as a paradox, and such findings suggest the idea that balance actually matters.

Study on 999 Rural Income Families

The authors analyzed data of 999 rural low-income families in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that joined the Family Life Project, the long-lasting research partnership of Penn State, the University of North Carolina and New York University. The subjects in the Family Life Project were enlisted when a child was born in the family and the study ended when the group of children reached the age of 19 years.

The present research utilized data in three waves of statistical data collection, which started in 2007-08 when the research participants were about four years old. These measures were used to record the children in preschool, kindergarten and first grade to record the complete shift to primary school. During every annual evaluation, parents responded to questions concerning family practices, physical parenting, child behavior issues and child ADHD symptoms. The researchers also assessed the capacity of cognitive flexibility of the parents at the beginning of the study, the ability to change the way of thinking to a particular or dynamic situation.

The surveys given to parents to measure harsh parenting also comprised questions on whether they yelled, swore, threw things, stomped out of the room and had engaged in other aggressive behaviors; child behavior problems, which included aggressive, oppositional and rule-breaking behavior; and child ADHD symptoms, which included signs of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Questions concerning family routines on bedtime, frequent family meals and household habits were also answered by parents.

Parents, in families that had a high routine and low harsh parenting levels across the duration of the study, indicated that they had fewer child behavior problems and ADHD symptoms. Within the families in which harsh parenting was less every year, there were less symptoms of child ADHD when parents said that they practiced less harsh parenting.

The researchers attributed the effect of family routines to harsh parenting which neutralized the protective effect of family routines. The level of misbehavior portrayed by children in high levels of routine and harsh parenting households were the same as children in low levels of routine households.

Flexible parenting improves cognitive ability

According to Gatzke-Kopp, a faculty member of the newly formed Penn State Social Science Research Institute who works on the study on a co-funded basis, children are attempting to discover how the world functions. The more stable and encouraging the surrounding is, the less children will experience difficulties in being calm and seeing the way to act in a new environment, such as in school.

To the parents who are interested in introducing some order into a home Gatzke-Kopp suggested a regular bedtime schedule, which may include such relaxing methods as reading to a child. She also cited regular, low-demand, screen-free, family time and shared meals as excellent points to any parent to bring routine in their families.

All the factors that were found in the study had small effects; however, Gatzke-Kopp indicated that this was not surprising.

Gatzke-Kopp said that you cannot presume that in case you make good habits, your child will develop flawless behaviors. Routines and parenting style are not the only things that contribute to behavior problems in your child: there are a lot of factors.

There will be no family that will not encounter some amount of conflict, she said.

Gatzke-Kopp said: “All children are difficult! Negative behaviors should not cause parents to be alarmed that their child is having a problem. And it is not that the parents are not doing something wrong.

Also Read:

Report calls for AI toy safety standards to protect young children

‘We are at a point of no return’: grave violations against children surge for third year

  adjusting to schools, children, cognitive abilities, harsh parenting, kids