**3. Differences in parenting styles**

According to Cherry (2012), parenting styles differ due to certain factors. These factors include culture, personality, parental background, educational level, socio-economic status, family size and religion. Of these factors, culture will be used to explain some similarities that exist in parenting in Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia.

### **3.1. Culture**

**1.1. Purpose**

**1.2. Significance**

and suggest some recommendations.

66 Parenting in South American and African Contexts

concerned as well as in the majority world.

**•** Some relevance of the cultural values and practices

can be a parent both to the biological or non-biological children.

authoritative parenting, permissive parenting and uninvolved parenting.

parenting and culture are:

**•** Parenting **•** Culture

Parenting.

**•** Implication

**2. Parenting**

**•** recommendations

The purpose of this chapter will therefore be to expatiate on some of the various cultural practices in some sub-Saharan Africa which foster good parenting and also state their relevance or importance to the African. The author will also state their various implications to parenting

Research shows that majority of books concerning infancy are from the western world (Tomlinson & Swartz, 2003). In view of that African cultural values as far as parenting is concerned are being forgotten and the western practice is rather adopted. This chapter will therefore enable readers especially, Africans to be aware of some of the rich cultural practices of parenting. It will also add up to literature as far as parenting and culture in Africa is

In view of this some important aspects that will be discussed in this chapter with respect to

**•** Some common values and practices in Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia which foster good

Parenting is the process of raising and educating a child from birth or before until adulthood (Self Growth, 2012). Synonymously, parenting refers to carrying out the responsibilities of raising and relating to children in such a manner that the child is well prepared to realize his or her full potential as a human being. This implies that parenting is the process of taking care or supporting a child from birth to adulthood involving the physical, emotional, social and intellectual capabilities. It can simply mean the process or state of being a parent. In fact one

Parenting usually takes place when one meets the defined criteria mentioned in the definition. According to Santrock (2006), parenting requires interpersonal skills and again makes emotional demands. Also, other researchers, for example Baumrind (1967) have suggested that there are four major styles of parenting. The researchers argue that majority of the parents display one of four different parenting styles. These styles are authoritarian parenting,

Culture is the way a group of people live and it is a learned human behaviour patterns. Tylor (1958, p. 1) defined culture this way: "*that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society".*

According to O'Neil (2006), no matter where people live in the world, they share some human cultural traits which are universal. Examples of such "human cultural" traits include: commu‐ nicating with a verbal language consisting of a limited set of sounds and grammatical rules for constructing sentences, using age and gender to classify people (e.g., teenager, senior citizen, woman, man), classifying people based on marriage and descent relationships and having kinship terms to refer to them (e.g., wife, mother, uncle, cousin). The others are raising children in some sort of family setting, having a concept of privacy, distinguishing between good and bad behaviour, having a sexual division of labour (e.g., men's work versus women's work) making jokes and playing games.

The uniqueness of this system with regards to parenting in our traditional African commun‐ ities is that the responsibility in taking care of the child is not only to the biological parents. This is shared by all in the extended family. This is buttressed by the African proverb on parenting which says that, "a single hand cannot nurse a child". This implies that although the mother has the responsibility of taking care of the child, the responsibility is being shared by all. Most of us went to school on the strength of this system; otherwise we would have been stark illiterate and walking about aimlessly (Adinlofu, 2009). According to the author, some of us must have read and heard comments like: "my parents were so poor that it was my mum's brother or father's sister, that helped towards my education" or, that "it was my father's brother that trained me to read medicine, law or pharmacy and it was my in-law that gave me money to go into business". It is intriguing to know that this system is where a brother trained a younger brother or sister and they in turn help to train younger ones or older siblings' children. This is why it is even said that even when parents are dead, a child would always have

Parenting and Culture – Evidence from Some African Communities

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56967

69

'parents'. This is because the extended family is there to cushion or parent the child.

children at any age.

correct a child.

**4.2. Relevance**

**5. Folktales**

Another uniqueness of this extended family system is that children or the youth stay at home i.e. live with the family until they are ready for marriage. Even if the young adult is staying with the nuclear family, the practice is that you marry before you leave the house. According to Gyekye (1996), growing adults are generally expected to live at home-in the family house and they may leave only after they marry. Even after marriage the parents would still want to offer advice and guidance since they believe they the adults have richer experiences than their

At other instances, the extended family may not be together, but then the nuclear family may live with other nuclear families who may not be relatives. This system of living is what we call the "compound house" system. Also, this system allows any elderly person to discipline or

The extended family is a strong tool in parenting. It helps to develop a strong sense of social responsibility in the child from his early years and learns to be respectful, responsible and

"A folktale may be described as a story handed down by oral tradition from mouth to ear among people generally; in fact illiterate, though not necessarily so …" (Dawkins, 1951, p. 417). Dawkins reiterated that many genuine folk stories have been at first literary and passed later into oral tradition. In a similar manner Emery (2012) says a folktale is a traditional narrative, usually anonymous, handed down orally e.g. fables, fairy tales, legends etc. In African culture Story telling (folk tales) which used to be part and parcel of us is no more seen in our daily lives. During storytelling, we will have the older ones telling the younger ones stories which depicted attributes such as giving, caring for one another, greed, selfishness and so on. These

supportive member of the extended family and society.

While all cultures have these and possibly many other universal traits, different cultures have developed their own specific ways of carrying out or expressing them. So also is parenting. A culture is normally passed from one generation to another, from knowledgeable adult to learning child. Since the adult has imbibed the norms and practices of the culture from older acculturated adults, this transmission is often simply through exposure and through example. For instance the Orangutan mother, who uses a specially prepared stick to fish out food from a crevice, learnt this skill and is now teaching it to her child who is hanging on her shoulder and intently watching (parenting and culture).
