Early child care practices adopted by the parents
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Date
2021-12-06
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Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani
Abstract
One hundred and fifty urban and rural families having young children in age group of 2-6 years were selected from five colonies of Parbhani town and five villages from five talukas of Parbhani district (MS) for studying ‘Early Child Care Practices Adopted by the Parents’. The data pertaining to the study were collected by personally interviewing the urban and rural parents of children based on structured and open ended interview schedule cum checklist and also by using the socio-economic status scale. The study revealed that, the majority of the mothers were involved in personal grooming of children irrespective of area. Majority i.e 81 percent of urban mothers and also fathers to some extent were found to be involved in activities like serving breakfast, supervising child while feeding etc. than counterpart rural parents. A higher proportion of urban parents (64%) reported to provide a cup of milk to their young children just before going to bed. Whereas more proportion of rural children included bakery products in their diet (64%) than the urban children (40%). Almost all parents were found to be concerned for their sick children, attended them for care and also provided comforts. Almost all parents followed the immunization schedule for their children for various vaccines like BCG, Hepatitis B, MMR, Polio, DPT and Vitamin A. Irrespective of area, very large proportion of mothers were observed to be involved in activities related to hygiene practices of children. Significant differences were noticed among parents in giving toilet training at different ages to their children. Comparatively majority of the urban children were assessed in normal range of growth (90-110%), however significant proportion of rural children were found to have grade II malnutrition. With respect to disciplining the children, urban fathers and rural mothers were found to be more concerned and involved in disciplining them. A higher percentage of urban parents (77%) were often seen to be involved in maintenance of clothes as well as in providing comfortable clothes to children. Significant differences were noticed in provision of various play materials to the children by urban and rural parents. Similarly majority of the urban parents go for outings along with children (100%), show them cartoons shows on TV (84%) and video songs on cell phone (79%). A large majority of urban mothers reported to be involved in their children’s educational & developmental activities whereas almost all parents (100%) reported that they allow their children for free play. A higher proportion of urban parents (91%) reported that they provided educational materials for cognitive & communication activities of children. In rural area, a higher percentage of families (84%) had enough outdoor space for child’s free play and safe from child’s point of view (77%) also they expressed that they never discuss child’s negative aspects in front of him (89%). Majority of urban parents reported that they involved in teaching children to sing songs (84%), narrate stories (84%) and encourage them to learn numbers (81%) as well as to revise preschool activities (79%). Irrespective of area, the respondents’ SES and maternal education and maternal involvement in child care were seen to be positively correlated. Also SES, parental educational level and children attending preschool found to be significantly correlated to provision of quality home environment as well as provision of educational play materials to the children.