Socioeconomic changes in Kenya that have affected patterns of child rearing

  

Date Posted: 7/26/2014 11:47:14 AM

Posted By: Wishstar  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 7507

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Socioeconomic changes in Kenya that have affected patterns of child rearing

Various socioeconomic changes have occurred to the Kenyan society and these have resulted disintegration of traditional patterns of child rearing. For instance, older siblings, grandparents and other members of the community are rarely available to participate in the rearing of the child in the society today as compared with the past. A number of socioeconomic changes which have occurred include:

Increased attendance of primary school.

Children in attendance of primary school have been on the increase as years go by. While this is majorly considered as a positive factor, child care is affected adversely. This is because older siblings aren’t available in assisting mothers to take care of younger children.

Urbanization

Rural to urban migration has been on the increase. This particularly is seen among the youth who migrate to urban areas mainly to search for jobs. As a result, rural areas are drained of a labor force that has a lot of importance. This in turn leaves women to shoulder the burden of farm work alongside their children. Productivity declines and this result to far reaching effects on nutrition and health of young families and children.

Population increase

Population increase has a lot of effects on the availability of land and also the environment. Population pressure in Kenya has resulted to fragmentation of land. A number of families own small land pieces which no longer can satisfy food requirements. This results to malnutrition and under nutrition in these areas.

Households that are headed by females.

Number of households that are headed by women has continued to be on the increase in our country. Most of these women are in reproductive and prime working ages. Hence, majority of these women have children that require care. A good number of these

women live far from their parents and therefore the child cannot be supported by extended family. These women have the sole responsibility of taking care of their children as well as socializing with them. Apart from this, they also are the sole bread winners.

Changes in the patterns of occupation of women.

A lot of women are moving from work patterns that are considered to be traditional to more modern ones. They are now moving into new employment forms in paid employment and in the commercial sector. This is as a result of the high living costs that most families experience. Women are forced to get jobs for the maintenance of their families. This employment requires long working hours and thus women stay for long away from their homes. As a result, children are left without adequate care.

For the sake of their careers, a number of women who are employed hire persons to take care of the children while they are away. Many of such persons are inexperienced and not mature emotionally. They thus don’t the quality care that the children require. Such jobs are also frequently changed and it becomes challenging for the children to attach to them. The attachment development that occurs during the early years of life is very important in the development of children.

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