Diversity Theory and Child Development
The purpose of this paper is to present reflection and theoretical conclusions on selected life experiences from childhood through adulthood regarding issues of diversity in our society and its effects on human development. It also discusses hardships of lesbian/gay parenting because of biased attitudes and stereotypes surrounding homogeneous families. Being grown-up and having my own children, now I can better understand the problems I faced throughout my childhood and teenage years.
A child who grows up in a single-parent family is developing and behaving differently from children who grow up in a family with two parents. In order to better understand how I learned from my childhood hardships it is necessary to tell the story from the very start. When I was five or six years old I was wondering why most of my friends had their parents living together while I lived only with my mother. At times I was thinking that parents did not love me because they do not want to be together. Later, I was blaming my father for lack of attention and interest in me, his daughter.
When I was a teenager I think I was furious at every male individual blaming all men for the sins of humanity. However, now I understand that when I was born my parents were too young for parental role. My father was 19 and my mother was only 15. Both of them were teenagers who perceived serious questions like creating a family not seriously. For both of my parents their love affair was something like an adventure and probably I was not in their plans. So, neither of them posed a question of how to raise a child. Hence, too young age, lack of life experience, lack of external support or adult advice pushed my parents into the path of of wrong and irresponsible acts. Undoubtedly, negative relationship between parents carries negative effects on child overall development. Since my mother was too young, I was more like a younger sister to her than a daughter. I had to learn life lessons from an early age.
I knew that if my father came drunk there was going to be a fight between the parents and that seemed to be the saddest and the most evil period of my life. Family problems related to domestic violence and alcohol abuse often have negative and even traumatic effect on children. Such children are often shy reserved, scared and pessimistic about their uncertain future. Their psychological well-being is shattered and often these negative effects are impossible to erase even when the children become grown-ups themselves. Another serious issue that plays crucial role in overall development and well-being of a child is the type of family they are raised. Single parent family is considered to be in complete and not typical. Often a child in such a family lacks attention and love of one of the parents, most often of a father (McLanahan). …
