2.1 Families
Family experiences are a young child’s most potent experiences. Families mediate a child’s contact with other environments. Parents and other primary caregivers and the home environment are the most powerful and long-lasting influence in the lives of young children.
The Coping and Competence module examines family dynamics, focusing on attunment, attachment, and parenting styles and their impact on early child development. Here we consider the structure and characteristics of families and homes as important contexts for children’s development.
Consider…
Josef lives with his mother and auntie. Aisha lives with her father, step-mother and older brother. Every other weekend she visits her mother, step-dad and two older step-sisters… Read more
Sometimes, images of family represented in early childhood programs can exclude children by not representing their family situation. Can you give some examples?
What does ‘family’ mean to you? What is your image of family?
What are some ways to organize the environment in early childhood programs so that all families are respected?
The Vanier Institute of the Family documents family life in Canada and maintains an up-to-date database on family trends and issues. The link below takes you to a page with several resources and fact sheets based on Canadian data on families. See, for example, the 2024 “Issue Brief: Family Change and Diversity in Canada”.
Were you surprised by any of the data?
Did you see any practical implications for the work that you do?
Legalization of same-sex marriage across Canada was accompanied by an increase in parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Dr. Zeenat Janmohamed, academic chair of the School of Social and Community Services at George Brown College, studied how early childhood educators respond to same-sex parents.
Do you think Canadian society has moved beyond the assumption that nearly all families are married heterosexual couples with children?
Can you think of practices in early childhood programs that exclude same-sex parent families?
The structure of families and the roles and responsibilities of family members are influenced by changing economic and social conditions, as well as what is valued by a society. The makeup of families is constantly changing. The late Alan Mirabelli, former executive director of the Vanier Institute of the Family, discusses the history of family structure.
How does the make-up today’s families differ from families in the past?
Think about your grandparents’ families. What is similar and different from your own family?
What are the economic factors and social conditions that influence families today?
Families and work
In Canada, the majority of mothers and fathers with young children are working for pay or studying. Since the 1970s, the number of women (whose youngest child was under six) in the paid labour force has increased from 35.6% in 1976 to 73.3 percent in 2016 (Canadian Institute of Child Health, 2021). Have a look at this chart to see how the rates have changed over the years.
Dr. Susan Prentice, a University of Manitoba professor with expertise in social and family policy, discusses how the lack of a national child care system in Canada creates problems for families, especially for mothers.
What do employment trends mean for young children?
How do families you know deal with child care? Is it a challenge or easily available?
What do you think is our societal responsibility to working parents and their children?
Family resources
Living in poverty during early childhood increases the probability of exposure to developmental risk factors, making children particularly vulnerable to problems associated with poverty. Poverty in early childhood is associated with fewer resources including income, housing and parental time, resulting in generally more stress within families. Children in poor families often have less access to quality early childhood programs and other developmental resources.
In the next video, Dr. David Butler-Jones, former Chief Public Health Officer for Canada, discusses some of the challenges families receiving social assistance face in Canada.
Butler-Jones give two very practical examples of how social policy was changed for poor families in Saskatchewan. Considering parental stress, child health, economic hardship and so forth, how do you think these changes may have affected the lives of young children?
Supporting families
There is no doubt that infants have a special relationship with the adults who care for them, often their parents. But what if these adults themselves are struggling, or facing challenges?
Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, chair of the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at the University of Toronto, explains that we have research evidence about how to support families who are experiencing difficulties with their children.
Home visiting programs have expanded across Canada over the past two decades. Most are tied to a universal screen and visit at birth. Families who are identified at risk are offered home visiting aimed at supporting parenting practices.
The Encyclopedia on Early Child Development provides an overview of home visiting programs. Read to learn more about the variety of home visiting programs that have been researched around the world.
In your community, are there supports or programs in place to help parents develop secure, caring relationships with their young children?
Do you have other ideas of ways to help parents to develop and maintain caring relationships?
Do you know what home visiting programs are offered to new parents in your community?
How could home visiting join up with early childhood programs to better meet the needs of families with young children?
What kind of benefits should we expect to see from home visiting?
Families come in all sizes and shapes and are impacted by the social and economic circumstances of the time. Some families experience more challenges than others. For children, the essential factor is growing and learning in a family environment that supports and nurtures them. The next page looks at the role and impact of early childhood education programs.
