Home Influence on Attitudes and Perceptions

At this point, it may be just Mrs. Foster that Brittany has antipathy for, but continued negative attitudes expressed by her parents and others toward older persons will affect the child’s acceptance and attitude toward the presence of, interactions with, and the authority of older persons. If Mrs. Foster displays friendliness and kindness toward Brittany, however, she may modify the child’s perception of her and perhaps influence Brittany’s mother to feel differently, as well.

Parents’ attitudes and feelings toward school will influence their children’s feelings in a similar way. The annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup polls (Rose & Gallup, 2006) over the past quarter century show that on the whole, Americans value their local schools and have confidence in them. On the other hand, we find vast differences throughout the country in the faith that individuals have for schooling in general. Parents communicate this faith, or lack thereof, to their children and thus influence how their children react to their teachers, their learning experiences, and even attending school.

A few years later, Mrs. Kohl and her neighbor, Mrs. Reed, received letters stating that their daughters would be in Mrs. Owens’s kindergarten. Reactions in the two households differed, and each affected the children’s feelings about school. Mrs. Reed was delighted. Turning to her daughter, she said. “Oh, Sammie, you’re going to love school! Mrs. Owens was my teacher, and you’ll just love all the fun things you’ll do in class.”

Mrs. Kohl, on the other hand, felt quite different. She expressed her thoughts to her husband in her daughter’s presence, “Rats, Brittany has that old Mrs. Owens. I was hoping she’d get the new young teacher.” It was no wonder the two children reacted differently when they met at the bus stop on the first day of school. Samantha jumped up and down and grabbed Brittany’s hand as she ran toward the stopped bus, saying, “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun.” Brittany, however, pushed her away and refused to get on the bus. No amount of cajoling from the adults could convince her that she should get on. Mrs. Kohl was forced to drive Brittany to school for several days before the child would take the bus with her friend.

Initially, both children appear to be responding to their parental attitudes as they viewed and responded to schooling. It is also difficult to determine what caused the change in Brittany. School may have been fun, and she may have started to enjoy her teacher. Or, perhaps her peers influenced her thinking on “how one ought to go to school.”

Parental attitudes, toward an interest and involvement in such issues as disposition toward work or reading provide models for children’s interests and involvement. Coleman (1991) pointed out that children whose parents stress the importance of good work habits, punctuality, and task completion carry these traits over into their schoolwork and have greater academic success. Since Durkin’s (1966) classic study of the commonality of influences on early readers, other studies relating to the effect of home environment and parental perceptions of literacy development indicate that parental attitudes toward and modeling of reading with young children are critical factors in children’s development. Children respond more positively to books when they engage in a greater level of literacy interaction with adults and when the adults believe in the importance of these interactions (Clay, 1991; Hill-Clark, 2005; Leland & Kasten, 2002).