| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of parenting styles on pre-school children‟s social emotional skills development in Gituamba Division, Laikipia County. The study was guided by the following objectives to; establish the social emotional skills displayed by pre-school children from authoritarian parents, identify the social skills displayed by children from authoritative parents, examine the social emotional skills displayed by children from permissive parents and determine the social emotional skills displayed by children whose parents were uninvolved in the rearing of children, and seek further suggestions on the best parenting style that would promote positive social emotional skills development among pre-school children. The study was guided by Albert Bandura‟s Theory of Social Learning which focuses on social issues, opinions, beliefs and relationships of groups. The theory further suggests that social learning takes place through observation of modelled behaviour, listening and taking instructions as it increases children‟s chances of learning and acquiring new behaviours. The study adopted a descriptive survey design which aimed at describing the influence of authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved parenting styles on children‟s social emotional skills development without manipulation. An interview and an observational schedule for children as they interacted and shared play and learning materials at the playground and in the classroom were the main instruments for this study. A pilot study was carried out at Maua Pre-school in a neighbouring county as children shared common experiences and characteristics to determine the validity and reliability of the instruments as suggested by Mugenda and Mugenda (2003).The study included three hundred (300) pre-school children, forty four (44) pre-schools, three hundred (300) parents whose children were sampled and forty four (44) teachers from the sampled pre-schools. The study used 25% of the target population which translated to a sample population of (75) parents, (75) pre-school children and (11) teachers from the eleven pre-schools in Gituamba Division, Laikipia County. The data was systematically organised, combined into themes and summarised into tables, frequencies and percentages using Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0.The findings of this study provide teachers with information, guideline, knowledge, and create clarity which help teachers to better understand and relate children‟s emotional behaviour to their home‟s background and handle children as individuals when it comes to discipline and counselling. It further equips parents with knowledge and guideline on the best parenting practices which promote positive social skills among children this would be done during parents‟ day and academic clinics. The study concludes that parenting styles play a significant role in children‟s social emotional skills development, parents should therefore adopt authoritative parenting style as it promote positive parenting practices which leads to social competence, autonomy, self-control and good peer relations in children, this was cultivated by parents being democratic, responsive and giving emotional support to their children‟s inabilities. The study further concludes that children from neglectful parents scored lowest in all domains; they displayed poor interpersonal relationships, low self-esteem and a multiple of antisocial behaviours due to lack of parental monitoring, mentorship, and limited communication. Hence the study recommends that parents should embrace warm and positive parenting practices which promote peer relations, emotional stability and a sense of morality in children. Also parents should be sensitized on the need to adopt mechanisms that monitor and regulate children‟s behaviours without destroying their self-esteem, communication and collaboration skills. | en_US |
