ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: family

Family is also seen as a source of emotional support for its members (spouses and siblings), and is found to regulate sexual activity and reproduction. Family is also found by functionalists to provide its members with a social identity. These functions of the family structure help society patterns run smoothly and maintain stability and order. Any dysfunction of its structures will cause a change and a new equilibrium. Family problems stem from sudden or far reaching changes in the family structure or processes; these problems threaten the family’s stability and weaken society. For example, if families fail to discipline children, then schools, churches and courts will have to make changes to fix the failure and / or deal with the consequences; this in turn will have an impact on the society. A functionalist may need to ask questions when looking at a family. These questions may include asking about what the structure is { the family) and what the function of the family ( the structure) is in society, how it maintains a good stable function, what would cause a dysfunction of family, how to prevent it and how it will affect the society in terms of its stability and unity, and how it could be fixed.
Topic: family

Conflict theory is the second school of thought in sociology. It emphasizes on social inequality as the basic characteristic of society. It argues that there are inequalities within and between families. Conflict theory proposes that conflict and tension are basic facts of social life and suggests that people have disagreements over goals and values and are involved in struggles over both resources and power. It focuses on the processes of dominance, competition, and social change. Conflict theory stands in contrast to structural functionalism theory. It argues that the presence of social arrangements does not necessarily mean that it is beneficial, rather it represents the interests of those in power. When focusing on the tension and conflict in a society, the conflict theory may miss parts of the society that are truly orderly and stable. The family in conflict theory contributes to social inequality by reinforcing economic inequality and patriarchy.
Topic: family

Conflict theorists refer to family problems to economic inequality and patriarchal ideology. Conflict theorists believe that society revolves around the conflict over scarce resources and may view the conflict within the family as the competition for resources: time, energy, and leisure to pursue more interesting recreational activities. Gender, age, and ability may be the basis of inequality and conflict within families as well. In addition, conflict theorists have seen the family as a social arrangement benefiting men more than women, allowing men to maintain a position of power. The traditional family in some cultures is patriarchal, contributing to inequality between the sexes. Males tend to have more power and females tend to have less. Traditional male responsibilities are valued more than the traditional roles done by their wives (i.e. housekeeping, child rearing). Even though these women spend as much or more time at paid jobs as their husbands, they also do more of the housework and child care. Furthermore, physical violence and emotional cruelty can be a source of conflict for the family’s own members. Conflict theorists may want to ask about where the power is, what the inequalities are in a family, what the resources are, who the competitors are, who the winner is, and what the prize/benefit is. Answering these questions may help direct the conflict theorists to find the conflict they are looking for.
Topic: family

Symbolic interactionism is the sociology’s third grand theory. As the name suggests it focuses on the connection between symbols (i.e. shared meanings) and interactions (i.e. verbal and nonverbal actions) and communications. It is about understanding how humans create symbolic worlds and how those symbolic worlds shape human behavior. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes on families as social groups and on individuals to develop a concept of self and identity through social interaction and family activities. It helps explain the individual personalities and the way they are linked together. Also, it allows understanding the processes by which social order and change are constructed. It focuses on how self and society develop through interaction with others and helps explain and analyze many social issues as inequalities and dynamics of families. Thus, symbolic interactionists consider it more effective to look at how family relations are created and maintained in interaction than how they are structured.
Topic: family

For example, the legal meaning of marriage as a bond is technically the same for everyone; however, the expectations and rules for behavior in marriage differs among individuals and couples. It is expected of family members to care for each other and express that care. With the term, family come obligations, rights, and sentiments. In other words, the interactionist will need to ask about the roles of men and women in a family and what they do to express their caring to each other. They may need to ask about how the siblings interact with each other and if there are any jealousy issues for example. They might be interested in violence in a household whether between the couple or among the children. They may ask how they share responsibilities and express their need for each other’s help. They may question about means of communication and ways of resolving conflicts among family members.
Topic: family

Each of these theories provides useful insights into our understanding of family units. I believe we need all of these perspectives when we look at the family, to be able to have a better understanding of the family. We will need to know about it from a functionalist perspective as a structure and what its function is in the society, and how any dysfunction can ultimately affect the society’s order and unity. Then we need the conflict theorists’ perspective to know about the inequalities, competition and struggles the family faces on daily basis among its members and in a given society.
Topic: family

Any violence in the family or emotional struggles, as well as unequal work burdens and responsibilities, may help us find causes for dysfunction in society and thus help fix any in equilibrium in that matter. Last, we need the interactionist perspective to see the family on the level of the individual interactions and see how the relationship between individuals in a family can affect the family as a structure and thus affects its function and how that is influenced by the competition over power and resources. The three perspectives are like looking at the same picture from different angles. We can’t really see the big picture unless we can see all the details from different angles. To me, those different angles are the three sociological perspectives of family.
Topic: family

The first cause in creating unhappy uncommunicative families is financial problems. Financial problems not only bring stress to the family but also bring a lack of bonding. Many families go out once in a while but when having financial problems it’s hard to do so. For example, going out for a nice family dinner every Sunday night can bring families closer together and can be a great way to communicate, but it’s hard to even do that when there is no money for it. Another example of why financial problems make families unhappy is because families like to go out once in a while to have fun, especially if there are very young ones in the family. Kids love to go out and have fun, but not being able to take your kid out to have fun is unhappy to the kid and hurting for the parent. Couples argue frequently over financial problems. The wife wonders were all the paycheck went and always says the money was not spent wisely when it’s time to pay the house bills.
Topic: family

Conformity is the term used for a change in human behaviour that is in accordance with the behaviour of the group. (Beran, 2015) This change of behaviour may occur as a result of a variety of factors, but the main element of conformity is that it is influenced socially. In other words, it could be considered a consequence of group pressure (Crutchfield, 1955) or it can be defined as an adjustment of a person’s previous behaviour in the submission of a social norm.
Topic: family

According to Kelman (1958) conformity comes in these categories: The temporary adjustment of behaviour while internally disagreeing with that behaviour, which is called ‘Compliance’ (temporary because it subsides once the group pressure is no longer pressuring). The change in comportment and inner belief whilst in the presence of the group which is termed as ‘Identification’, and the changing of behaviour along with their internal belief in all circumstances which is called ‘Internalisation’ (Sparks, 2015) Another type of conformity known as informational conformity is demonstrated by Sherif’s autokinetic experiment, which demonstrates that when in an unclear circumstance people tend to trust others for direction (i.
Topic: family

Conformity usually occurs due to a phenomenon called ‘majority influence’. This refers to the behavioural influence that a greater number of people has on the way a smaller amount of people conduct themselves. Majority influence was analysed by Asch (1955) who organized the well-known line study. He showed a line to an individual and instructed them to select the line from a group of 3 that aligned with that line. Associates were told to give an inaccurate response 12 of 18 times with the intention of testing if the participant would conform. Asch’s results indicated that the participant would conform to the incorrect response of 38.8% of the time. (Asch, 1955) This demonstrated the result of majority influence because although the answer was fairly clear the attendees still gave the incorrect answer in order to seem correct as they trusted the majority more than their own initial attitude. This is proved by Asch’s interview of the participants after the experiment as they expressed feeling self-conscious and fearing disapproval. Contrastingly, there also exists a recent research topic called ‘Minority Social Influence’ which describes a category of social influence in which the deviant minority disapproves the group norms and impacts the majority to change their behaviour. (Vaughan & Hogg, 2011).
Topic: family

These are all general possible causes for conformity that could apply to all ages, including children. The social conformity model of Asch (19S6) was repeated to analyse the correlation between age and conforming behaviour. One hundred and ten Australian adolescents and children in school ranging from the age of three until the age of 17 years became participants of this study. All participants were asked to be included as part of the minority of one against a wrong but united majority of 3. The results showed that conformity levels weaken with age in perceptually like-minded tasks. Disagreeing research results from previous research can be linked to an unclear task within the research. (Walker & Andrade, 1996)
Topic: family

There is a study that bases its research on the five‐factor model personality traits of both the children and the parents which induced conformity in 3.5-year-old children by employing a model similar to Asch’s in overt conformity (public reactions) is measured along with also internal judgements (internal beliefs after conformist reactions): A correct covert judgement after an incorrect conformist reaction due to a socially normative incentive. However, a false internal judgement caused by an informational incentive. The data showed that high parental introversion was related to the participants’ overall level of conformity and that high participant introversion and high openness were correlated with an informational instead of a normative incentive to conform. This suggests that consideration of the context of the social setting or the level of social engagement could be a significant variable in the appearance of conformity. (Hellmer, Stenberg, & Fawcett, 2018)
Topic: family

Another child conformity experiment included 251 children in the third, sixth, ninth, eleventh, or twelfth grade that were instructed to respond to possible circumstances in which associates told the child to engage in different behaviours such as either prosocial, antisocial, or neutral behaviours. The age patterns for conformity were inconsistent in all forms of behaviours, and peer conformity rose in the 9th or 6th grade. In Study 2, 273 children in the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th, or 12th grades reacted to circumstances assessing conformity to classmates and parents on antisocial and prosocial behaviour. Increased levels of conformity were found for antisocial behaviour in 9th-grade children. However, there were not any age differences in prosocial behaviour. In addition, conformity levels towards parents were seen to weaken as the children became older. There was a negative correlation in conformity towards parents and classmates were and the relations between parents and classmate conformity differed as the children’s age increased. (Berndt, 1979)
Topic: family

A family is a basic unit of living. Every individual is taught the value of a family since childhood. Family is indeed a crucial part of every person’s life. Everyone has their perspective on the type of family they prefer to live in. Two types of common families that exist are the nuclear family and the joint family. A nuclear family by definition consists of two parents and their children. On the other hand, a joint family by definition consists of two parents, their children extending with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives.
Topic: family

People are busy in their lives and learn new traditions but they forgot their old culture. In the Joint family, all members can celebrate traditional festivals together and there is a saying that ” living in a joint family gives more happiness.” In my traditional culture, everyone mostly prefers to share their whole life with their brothers, sisters, and grandparents. They go every single place together and because of this culture they don’t like to live alone they are used to this giant family. Like, one of my friends has 60 people in his family and other friend living in a nuclear family and we always share our experiences but he feels that a joint family is good then nuclear because he always saw that his friend get the love of all relatives and best unity on them. He always tells us that you are so lucky because of the large family. In any type of situation and anywhere and anytime family is the one key of our life who helps in any type of situation and it doesn’t matter what type of situation is it.
Topic: family

On the other side, nuclear family parents focus on their work and for the kids, they choose some clients who take care of the children. In the parents, both go for work because of saving more money for a great life and they can make their children’s future bright. In the modern era, parents become busy at work when they are coming home at night for relaxation with children but the load of work makes them busy at home and they forget about children and don’t share leisure time with children. This thing affects children further future and there is no bright future anymore in their life. By being in a nuclear family as children do not get the love of family so they get in the wrong direction and can get involved in bad habits or evil such as smoking, drinking, crime, theft, smuggling, and many more.
Topic: family

Also, the “nuclear family is also known as the immediate family”. There is also a reason that joint family breaks into a nuclear family because the state of mind and point of view of the family members does not match, so they fight and accept the nuclear family and after they feel regret about it and understand the meaning of the joint family. Additionally, also as the generation gap matters a lot in this because this is a modern era and our grandparents are of an old mindset so it is collapsed and there stop a line of the family.
Topic: family

Concluding it, there should be no biased reason as because who are firstly habituated for living in a joint family should not leave it and if there is any type of lines or mismatch in a family they should sort it out and by understanding the misunderstanding which had taken place. Similarly, the ones who are living in a nuclear family are habituated from first so they do not know the meaning or feeling of the joint family so it is not worth it.
Topic: family

In summation of the interview, I met with her she is very adorable and sweet. One of the good things that I like in her she is very friendly. While doing the interview I came to know about Canada’s tradition, music, weather, culture, family, religion, education, holidays, and many more things. As a comparison with Indian culture is a mix of diversities in customs, rituals, traditions, a language that varies from region to region within the country. On the other hand, western culture is quite advanced and open. The norms, beliefs, values, traditions, customs are greatly inspired by European culture. Family is a joint family in India and here it is considered as a nuclear family. About the language we speak many languages in India and here English and French are widely spoken language. Regarding the traditional clothes, Indians wear according to region and religion and here everyone wears whatever he/she likes. One of the main similarities is women and men are considered equal and in communication styles everyone respects others. Marriages are a very important aspect of Indian culture its not to tie two people together it also about to tie the two families together. In western culture, people don’t need to take permission from the family to marry and they are independent to marry anyone. No one can stop doing that.
Topic: family

To conclude, I learned a lot through the course like the benefits of intercultural relationships, culture shock, communication, language and power, and many more things. Intercultural communication fosters teamwork in an organization. It helps staff to understand each other’s cultural differences, and to communicate effectively without misunderstanding. Intercultural communication also effective leadership in an organization. Most of the people experienced cultural shock especially when they moved to abroad countries. One of the main causes that involves culture shock is individuals in a foreign country. Most migrants experience culture shock regardless of their motivations for moving. Some people adjust to just some parts of the culture. Some people want to assimilate but are not allowed to because of their relationship with the host culture. Language power is a measure of one’s ability to communicate effectively in each language specifically one that is not native to the speaker. Language power consists of two key components: an ability to speak and be understood and an ability to listen and understand. I feel grateful while doing this assignment that helped me a lot and gets acknowledged about Canada.
Topic: family

Early childhood learning is an important aspect of child development. Early childhood learning allows a child to understand various reasons for different experiences, and also allows the child to develop their minds. Different centers for early childhood learning will have different curriculums, depending on the regulations and the vision of the center (Bakken, Brown & Downing, 2017). This paper will develop a curriculum for a childcare center by evaluating the provincial frameworks, and will also develop the vision and mission of the center.
Topic: family

The vision of the center will be to provide a conducive environment where the children feel loved and are provided with the resources that can help them to develop their potential. The center will stimulate the learners; capability through experience by providing them with the necessary resources to enable them grow well physically, mentally, and socially (Makovichuk, Hewes, Lirette, & Thomas, 2014). This will be made possible through the curriculum developed by different experts. The center recognizes the fact that each child may be gifted differently, and that is why the programs will be designed to ensure a safe environment, and learners can learn from different role models.
Topic: family

The mission of the early childhood and childcare center will be to provide affordable, accessible, and quality early childhood learning and care centers for the families in Alberta (Makovichuk, Hewes, Lirette, & Thomas, 2014). With the growing economic needs, the center will offer an opportunity for parents to provide an effective environment for child development while they engage in other economic activities. One important value in the center will be safety, as the center will ensure that all learners are safe in their encounters (Province of Alberta, 2019).
Topic: family

One of the roles that the educators will carry out is maintaining a safe and convenient learning environment (Makovichuk, Hewes, Lirette, & Thomas, 2014). It will be the role of an educator to ensure that the environment is safe for learning (Bakken, Brown & Downing, 2017). Since early learning might involve some tangible objects such as toys, the educator will also ensure that the learner is safe from any harm. The educator will also play the role of planning and implementing lessons. The educator needs to know the regulations in Alberta, which helps to make sure that they can create lessons with the province regulations.
Topic: family

Jamaica Kincaid wrote a short story in 1978 called “Girl,” which was based on the advice of a mother to her daughter at a tender age. If the story was changed to “Boy,” the excerpt would completely take another turn. In “Girl,” the mother’s advice the girl on how to acquire a man, dressing appropriately, cleaning, gardening, cooking, and other life skills that she needs to learn in the male-dominated community. The mother’s advice is both negative and positive, which affects her daughter’s mentality and freedom of doing things in society.
Topic: family

The short story displays parents as overbearing with stereotypic cultural behaviors that they pass down to their generations through the daughter-mother relationship depicted. The mother teaches her daughter how to stay clean to earn her place in the society as a future submissive woman “soak your little clothes right after you take them off” (Kincaid 1). The principal focus is to the dramatic change in the monologue, roles, and speaker if the story transition to “Boy” because of the patriarchal setting where men are privileged than women, men’s responsibilities which differs from the one given to women, and the leading authority of men.
Topic: family

Because of the daughter’s lack of voice in the community, she is submissive to her mother, and she rarely interrupts her speech. When the daughter makes a speech, it is written as italics interjections, “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” (Kincaid 1) which disappears in the desperate mother’s rant trying to protect her daughter from making mistakes that would lower her status in the society. However, if it was advice to a son, the story would be in the form of a dialogue between the mother and the son who is more empowered than the mother. There would be several paragraphs, quotation marks, and dialogue tags to display the speaker in the equal exchange. The boy would interrupt the parent freely, be listened to, and advised without directive like the girl.
Topic: family

Moreover, the story would have a significant transmutation because of the breadwinning responsibility given to the men instead of women. The wives were obligated to take care of the children, clean, garden, and take care of their husbands. The story would be different from advising the boy about his role as the head of the family. Instead of encouraging them on cooking, it would tell him his role in ensuring that they bring food. The story would talk about fishing and how to use the fish rod instead of “soak salt fish overnight before you cook it” (Kincaid 1). The boy would be told to ensure that he looks for a presentable woman to marry, and he is entitled to polygamy without question. Unlike the daughter who her mother calls her a ”slut,” the boy would not be condemned because it’s his responsibility to have several wives as he wants without getting a judgment from the discriminating society.
Topic: family

Furthermore, the composition of the story would change because of the leading authority of men who are entitled to be leaders in society. Therefore, the speaker would be changed from a mother to a father who understands the roles of leading. The mothers are displayed as soft beings, while fathers in the setting would be ruthless with much authority as compared to the women. The son should not be weak like girls but should be hardened to make them responsible for taking heavy duties like leadership and protecting the family. The girl was told by the mother to take care of her fragile body “don’t walk bare-head in the hot sun” (Kincaid 1). If the advice were to a son, the speaker would tell him to walk on the bare sun to harden his body to the weather because he can withstand the harsh conditions as a man and a boy he is at the moment. The father would be the best parent to advise the son who understands the patriarchal aspect better than the woman who spent her time serving and pleasing men and precisely her husband.
Topic: family

To conclude, writing the “Girl” to advise the boy would need a different set of skills from a male perspective instead of the woman’s perspective used to narrate the Kincaid monologue. The writer would be required to understand that the male dominates in this culture and the roles they play to make the women feel demeaned and submissive to them. Therefore, the mother would talk to a son differently than she is ordering her daughter without listening to what she has to say to defend herself or express her emotions. The story would be different because of the patriarchal setting, the roles by men, and the perspective of men as hardy individuals with freedom of making decisions in leadership. The men are expected to get an education, take careers, and breadwinning while women are to stay at home and care for the families. The Caribbean mother gives her daughter restriction rules before getting to adolescent “don’t sing benna in Sunday school” (Kincaid 1), which would not be applied to a son because of their empowerment.
Topic: family

At this present time many parents are concerning, should their child have smartphones at what age. After all, the smartphone is the key access to the internet that many bring benefit but also danger with it. Unlike other things that have laws to control or a guideline on what age is the right age like driving a car or drinking alcohol, there is no legal age for a parent to decide when a child is ready for a smartphone. Since there are many pieces of research that said smartphone may affect their mental health and their social skills.
Topic: family

Which with these extensive using of a smartphone may affect child mental health. However, according to James P. Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, “No two kids are the same, and there’s no magic number, a kid’s age is not as important as his or her own responsibility or maturity level (2016).” Parent have to prepare and guide them so, that they are ready to have full access to the world. In this case, to give a child smartphone at a young age so, they will be able to learn and understand the proper etiquette of using a smartphone at a younger age.
Topic: family

When I was ten years old, I got my first phone which is quite young. Having a smartphone help me a lot when the emergency comes. I could call my parent in the emergency situation, such as I have to go home by myself and smartphone help me a lot to find my way back home safely using GPS. It also helps me a lot in education, now school uses an online website to give out homework or even class work and it is much easier for me to be able to do my work without having to bring a laptop with me everywhere. My nine years old brother already have his phone, which I find very convenient not only for him but also for me too. When, I have to pick up my little brother at school and it is more convenient to be able to call and know where he is, which is better than walk around the school to find him. Age isn’t as important a kid’s maturity level. But when you hand your children cell phones, you’re giving them powerful communication and media-production tools. Which every parent should have a conversation with there own kid and figure out by themselves, if their child is ready to have this responsibility then let them have a smartphone. Letting them have a smartphone would not only benefit them but it will also benefit parent. In addition, smartphone these days is very inexpensive. The parent can also get low-cost phone plans. However, if the parent is very concern about their child phone access, there are also parental control feature that let parent look after their child phone usage.
Topic: family

When the parent gives their child a smartphone is a great way to teach the child responsibility. They have to take good care of their phone, make sure that it doesn’t get stolen or damage. Your child will enjoy having this responsibility because they wanted to have this responsibility. Moreover, this will be a better way to teach your child responsibility than giving them pet because this way it does not involve life. Smartphone also serves in safety purpose. Not being able to reach to their child in an emergency situation might be most parent worst fear. If the child has a phone with them and knowing your child can contact the parent, it will put the parent’s mind at ease. The convenience of a cell phone is one of the best features of cell phones these days. Convenience is a really important reason for you to get your child a cell phone because it benefits you and your child in many ways. Kids are the future and they will become an adult one day. Internet will play a big part in child life, so shutting them off technology that will be their whole life in the future only make them lose proper etiquette on how to use technology. How they are raised at a younger age is important to have a quality adult for the future.
Topic: family

Most of the parent may do not want their children to have a phone under the age of 13 but I think it important to have this conversation with their child. Good conversation is the main key to maintain a good parent-child relationship. No children are the same and the circumstance may differ because everyone has different family and personality. However, parent today have another parenting duty other than giving a child a book or tell them to eat healthily, the parent has to introduce them to responsibility in using technology. Parent have to demonstrate proper etiquette and test out rules for using the internet. Parent can research and look at studies to help develops rule is using technology. For example, a study published in the journal Child Development, researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute and Cardiff University conducted a similar study, assessing the impact of screen-time on children aged two to five. The team tested screen use guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), which proposes a limit of one to two hours per day, as good for the psychological-wellbeing of young children. Rather than shut them away from using technology, think of it as an opportunity to educate your child. “You know your child is ready for a device when you’ve talked about responsible use and modeled the behavior on your own device,” says Kerry Gallagher, a digital learning specialist at St. John’s Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts (2018). They have to understand the benefit and drawback about the technology, the parent should not disconnect them from it.
Topic: family

In conclusion, kids should have a smartphone. A smartphone may have many drawbacks but in reverse also have a lot of benefits. It teaches children responsibility, which is an important quality that a good adult should have. There is a saying in Thai said ‘ไม้อ่อนดัดง่าย ไม้แก่ดัดยาก’, translated to ‘New wood is easy to bend, but an old wood is hard to bend’ which means children are easier to teach than the older ones. If kids can understand the proper use and responsibility of having a smartphone at a young age, they will grow up to be a great person who will use a smartphone with proper etiquette. The parent being protective is normal but one day they will have a life without being a guide so, letting them know what will come in the future is a must. Internet will play a big part in child life, so shutting them off technology that will be their whole life in the future only make them lose their understanding of proper knowledge on technology. A psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect, Catherine Steiner-Adair says the real question is not about the “right” age or about the phone itself, but about whether your child is developmentally ready to have “full access to the adult world,” and whether you’ve laid the groundwork to prepare them for healthy and responsible device use (2018).
Topic: family

While western societies marked the end of childhood at a certain age. In western societies childhood is from birth until one reached the age of majority which differs from country to country. In Africa, children go through various rites of passages before attaining adulthood. Although most African societies practice rite of passages others do not by the marked the end of childhood at a certain age, for example, South Africa and Zimbabwe. According to Unicef (2005) defined childhood as, “a time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident with the love and encouragement of their families and extended community of caring adults… space between birth and the attainment of adulthood.
Topic: family

In Western societies childhood marked by ages from birth to adolescents. According to Nicola Kirk Patrick(2018), the childhood age range from development and they are plenty stages which child will go through which include, newborn (birth to one month), infancy (1- 12 months) when a child able to control the way their head to moves and ability to sit up with ought support, toddler(1-3 years) when children are beginning to learn more about the world, Preschool (3-5years) children begin to improve their motor skills vocabulary and conversational skills, School Age( 6-12 years) starting to develop secondary sex characteristics typical of their gender, Adolescent ( 13-18 years) it is a period of major change.
Topic: family

In Africa, children go through a series of rites of passages before attaining adulthood. J E. Eberegbulam Njoku (1993), the culture of a child places a priority on the rite of passage. The stages of growth in non-western societies summarized in the main three phases, namely Early initiation, physical stage, and transitional rituals. Early Initiation rites include circumcision, weaning of a toddler, first haircut, teething, wrestling, wearing charms, wearing a girdle, and schooling. Physical growth puberty, sex life, and marriage. When a child has the tendency of exposing his body in public without shame, shows that the child has not reached the age of reasoning. But if he is ashamed while nude, means he reaches the critical stage of adulthood. All these are not rite but they are events that form the various stages of the growth cycle. These stages show that Africans childhood stages were not marked by arbitrarily fixed ages.
Topic: family

Furthermore, while western societies marked the end of childhood at a certain age. In Africa, the movement of an individual through childhood is not marked by arbitrary fixed age but by rites of passage that lacked chronological specificity. In Africa the transition of childhood to adulthood marked by Africa initiate on or the coming of age of a boy or a girl, boys becoming young men and girls becoming young women. The transition period often involves various tests and ordeals many of them are painful. The anthropology assistance professor at Bucknell University Michelle Johnson says, “suffering is part of the development of personhood”. According to Annika S. Hipple, “for the Maasai of East Africa, circumcision represents the beginning of adulthood for both girls and boys. Boys must endure while girls are allowed to show pain. But those who refuse to undergo the procedure cannot marry or bear legitimate children. In Ethiopia, Harmar boys complete the jumping of bulls, a ritual in which they leap over the backs of 20-40 bulls in order to demonstrate their manhood. Those who didn’t pass through oncoming age will be regarded as children or unclear since they failed their test, they will not be allowed to attend community meetings, giving ideas or going to wars with other. While in western societies they marked the end of childhood at the age of 18 to 21 years. Dr. Christa Clacke contends that Western societies are believing that the shift of individuals from childhood to adulthood happens between eighteen and twenty-one. According to Annika S. Hipple, in western societies, the boundary between childhood and adulthood is blurred. In America when one reached eighteen years, they are allowed to vote, make a decision, marry, and join the military. In conclusion, while western societies mark the end of childhood at a certain age, in Africa the movement of an individual through childhood is not marked by rites of passage that lack chronological specificity.
Topic: family

However, although some parts of Africa are still practicing rites of passage in some parts of Africa they are no longer practicing but following legal system which sees the movement of childhood and adulthood through ages. Most African countries and adopted the United Nations Convention on rights of children’s, convention define a child as any human been under the age of 18. It acknowledges the primary role of parents and family in the care and protection of children. For example, South Africa ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Child(UNCRC) on 16 June 1995. Apart from UNCRC, Africans adopted the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which adopted in 1990 and come into force in 1999. ACRC defines a child in Articale2 as a child means every human being below the age of 18 years. Countries that ratify the charter are Zimbabwe, South Africa Botswana to mention a few. Also in many African country constitutions, for example, the Zimbabwe constitution (section 18) and National Orphan Care policy define a child as any person below the age of 18years.
Topic: family

I agree with the notion that the minimum age of marriage in Malaysia should be raised. There are a lot of bad impacts on the young bride compared to positive effects that trigger the society and authority to amend the current law regarding the legal age for marriage. According to Volgestein (2013), early marriage was used as an instrument to maximize fertility in the context of high mortality rates. Currently in Malaysia, the legal age for marriage is 16 years old. However, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail is trying to amend the law where the legal age for marriage will be increased from 16 to 18 years old.
Topic: family

A forced marriage differs from an arranged marriage where the arranged marriage will be done with the consent of both spouses to involve a third party in it while forced marriage does not. In this matter, it clearly can be seen that most underage marriages are forced marriage. This statement is strengthened by Miller’s (2015) explanation that child marriage could be claimed as forced marriage since they are minors and presumed unable of giving informed consent. She further explained that extreme involuntary marriage may include other things such as abduction, threats, rape, imprisonment, and even death.
Topic: family

Forced marriage is the most horrible form of child abuse and is also a form of human rights and children’s rights violations (Miller, 2015). Forced marriage literally some kind of platform for sex slave, abuse, and gender inequalities. Most child marriages are between 12 years old girl with an older man that is old enough to be her father. The purpose to increase the minimum age for marriage is basically to end child marriage or young bride practice due to its lots of negative outcomes whether for short term or long term.
Topic: family

The first reason on why such practice should not be happening anymore is it will affect the girl’s physical health badly. As far as we concern, young girl’s physical or body is not ready or suitable yet for any sexual activity. There is a common belief that child marriage will help in protecting young girls from any pre-marital sexual behavior where in reality it is not. According to Nour (2006), girls who are married tend to be infected with HIV more than girls who are not. Nour (2006) added that there is a hypothesis regarding this matter where a young girl may be physiologically more liable to HIV infection because her vagina is not yet well lined with protective cells and her cervix may be more easily eroded. Most young girls were infected with HIV due to sexual intercourse with their HIV infected husbands. Other than that, young girls in Kenya are under pressure to prove their fertility which leads to unprotected intercourse. This happened because as mentioned before, most young girls were married off to older men. Due to his age, he must have a lot of sexual activity with different partners that became the source of HIV infection. Since these girls are reliant on their husbands, they cannot request their husbands to do any HIV test (Nour, 2006).
Topic: family

According to Global Health Council on Adolescent Youth as cited by Alanen (2016), not fully formed reproductive and immune systems of adolescent girls increase their risk for sexually transmitted infections and difficulties during pregnancy and childbirth. Girls aged 15 years and younger are five-times more likely to die during giving birth than women between the ages of 20 and 24 years old. Nour (2006) elaborated that one of the major reasons of death due to childbirth is obstructed labor. Obstructed labor is a result of a girl’s pelvis being too small to deliver a baby. The fetus’s head passes into the vagina, but its shoulders could not pass through the mother’s pelvic bones. If cesarean has not been done, both newborns and mothers could die. In other cases, only the mother survived.
Topic: family

Physical health would always be followed by psychological health. It is important to know that child marriage does not only affect physically but it also affects mentally. According to Nour (2006), during childbirth, there is a possibility of young mothers to face fistulas. Fistulas happened due to the force from the fetus’s head on the vagina wall that causes tissue necrosis. This is because their bones are not fully ready for pregnancy and delivery. Fistulas will cause fecal or urinary incontinence and peroneal nerve palsy that lead to embarrassment and resulting depression. Other than that, “bride abduction” is a practice of marrying female adolescents without their approval in Kyrgyzstan. Some brides that were abducted are as young as 12 years old. In some cases, the bride will be brought to the abductor’s house and raped. The purpose of doing so was to make the girl feel humiliated of herself and unable to return to her parents’ house (Miller, 2015). According to Alanen (2016), some victims feeling extremely isolated and depressed that they decided to commit suicide at the end as an escape from the miserable life.
Topic: family

The next premise to support my stance is child marriage promotes criminal activity and spousal violence. This is quite a serious matter that the authority and society to look into. In some parts of the country, there are customs about honor in marriage. According to Alanen (2016), when families migrate, their customs and belief migrate with them. Alanen (2016) added that there was an Iraqi immigrant woman that was detained for padlocked her 19 years old daughter to a bed and burned her face and chest just because she denied to marry a 38 years old man that her parents had set for her. Apart from that, there was also an Iraqi father that commit murder in the name of “honor killing” where he ran over his own daughter with a car because she fled the marriage arranged for her and be with the man that she wanted (Alanen, 2016). Girls who resist performing marriage has a high risk of being beaten and raped. Some families choose violence or even murder in order to punish girls who are perceived to have shamed themselves and dishonored their families by against their parents’ will to marry her off with their selected man. A lot of behavioral displays of forced marriage resemble indicators of domestic violence.
Topic: family

According to Alanen (2016), a 12 years old girl named Reem opposed her father’s plan to force her into marriage with her 30 years old cousin. As a result, her father gagged her and tied her up, and even threatened to kill her for disobeying him. In another case, Aisha fled her forced marriage to run away from abuse and beatings. Unfortunately, she was being hunted down by her husband. When she has been found, her husband cut off her ear and nose as a penalty for running away. She died due to choking with her own blood. Some extreme families hiding their awful act under the name of ‘honor’ killing to legalize the murder.
Topic: family

Other negative effects that will arise due to child marriage is it will affect the young bride’s education. Alanen (2016) mentioned that most married girls were excluded from school at an earlier age, lessening their capacity for independence and perpetuating a cycle of poverty. Usually, when girls marry at an early age, her education will be ended. According to Parsons, J., Edmeades, A., Kes, A., Petroni, S., Sexton, M., and Wodon, Q. (2015), girls who married early will be withdrawn from their social relations and support structure that schools offer. The earlier a girl gets married the lower her level of education would be. According to Dagne (1994), these young brides were denied many years of education and even on a primary level due to limitations in their life choices making. A young bride who has low education level will affect their rights to information regarding health and wellbeing towards her and her children. According to Boyle et al, (2006), as cited by Parsons, J. et al, (2015), education and knowledge about health are associated together and it could be used by the girls to encourage education and health of their children. Mothers who have a higher education would focus more on family resources on their children’s nutrition. Therefore, the children of young mothers who have lower education levels are more likely to not be well-nourished and immunized against child disease which could lead to death. Parsons, J. et al, (2015) added that girls whose mothers have had no or less education tend to be married off at an early age that will add to the cycle of poverty in subsequent generations.