Open Journal of Philosophy
2013. Vol.3, No.1A, 200-206
Published Online February 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpp) DOI:10.4236/ojpp.2013.31A033
Copyright © 2013 SciRes.
200
Influence of Cultural Value System and Home on Child-Rearing
Practices in the Contemporary Nigerian Society
Mary Basil Nwoke
Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Email: mbnwokeddl@yahoo.com
Received August 24
th
, 2012; revised September 27
th
, 2012; accepted October 10
th
, 2012
The study investigated influence of cultural values and home on child-rearing practices in Nigeria. Value
systems are embedded in the culture of people. Culture is a set of shared values, attributes, customs and
physical objects that are maintained by people in a specific setting. Cross-sectional design and qualitative
technique was employed to obtain information from participants. Participants were sixteen adults (8 men,
8 women) from four ethnic groups: Igbo, Ogoni, Tiv and Yala. Findings showed that different cultures
have their value systems and these values were inculcated to generations of the members through child-
rearing practices. At the age of 5 years, each culture initiates the young ones into her way of life, such as
the behavioural pattern expected of the child at the home or farm. Yala Queen dancing/greeting pattern,
Ogonis and her yaa/koo rites of passage into adulthood; Tivs and the sacredness of her land; Igbos and
their importance of kolanut. These values are transmitted to generations of human beings through child-
rearing practices. The home is the miniature society which nurtures value system.
Keywords: Child-Rearing; Culture; Value System; Society
Introduction
Etymologically, value system and societal norms are em-
bedded in the culture of the people. Culture is a set of shared
values, attributes, customs and physical objects that are main-
tained by people in a specific setting as part of a design for
living one’s daily life as well as assumptions and everything
from clothing, dwellings, technologies and works of art that a
group of people have developed over the years, as a design for
trying to structure their life together. These values and norms
are transmitted to generations of human beings through child-
rearing practices in the homes. Every home is a miniature soci-
ety, contains all the societal value systems and serves as nurs-
ery that nurtures all cultural values (Berger & Thompson, 1998).
Looking closely at various designs for living, it becomes clear
that cultural value system and norm guide human development
in a multitude of interrelated ways. For instance, Levine (1980,
1989) observed that children are an economic asset because
they can contribute to the family’s farming and later form a
strong family unit to preserve the land and to care for ageing
parents. Thus every infant who survived to childhood and be-
yond benefits the entire family. Levine noted that in most of
those communities, there was poor nutrition and poor medical
care, leading to high infant mortality rates. The priority atten-
tion of child rearing was designed to maximize survival of the
infants and therefore emphasized family cooperation. The typi-
cal home features include: intensive physical care of infants,
feeding on demand, immediate response to crying, close body
contact, keeping the child close at night, and constant care by
siblings and other relatives as well as by the mother. All these
measures are values to protect the fragile human infant from an
early death and work to establish such values as the interde-
pendence of family members.
By contrast, Levine (1989) observed that, American middle-
class parents may not have much concern about infant mortality,
instead ensuring their children’s future success in technological
and urbanized society takes priority attention in their child-
rearing practices. They focus their child rearing efforts on fos-
tering cognitive growth and emotional independence. Hence
typical American middle-class parents engage their infants in
activities that provide cognitive and social stimulation, talk to
their infants more than touch them, put them to sleep them-
selves in their own cribs in their rooms, and often ignore their
crying so as not to spoil them. It is not surprising these con-
trasting parental strategies in child-rearing practices produce
children with quite different capacities, goals and expectations.
However, in both cases the children became relatively well-
prepared for the cultural value system in which they were raised.
Home value system and cultural norms involve the behaviour
patterns, beliefs and all other products of a particular group of
people which are passed on from generation to generation
(Phinney & Alipura, 1990). There are various ways in which
home values and cultural norms, which are embedded in the
culture could have influence on the personality of an individual
and modes of adjustment in life. Sechrest and Wallace (1967)
observed that culture and personality are two ways of looking at
the same phenomenon. Individual’s personality is the end
product of an interaction between biological and experiential
factors and experiential factors are in part culturally determined.
Sechrest and Wallace (1967) hold firm that the most evident
source of value system influence on personality is by way of
child-rearing orientations that are culturally conditioned. Hara-
lambos and Heald (1980) observed that “for all intents and
purposes a new human baby is helpless. Not only is it physi-
cally dependent on older members of the species, but it also
lacks the behaviour pattern necessary for living in human soci-
ety. It relies primarily on certain biological drives such as hun-
ger and the charity of its elders to satisfy those drives. In order
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to survive, the human infant must learn the skills, knowledge
and accepted ways of behaving of the society into which it is
born” (p. 3). Kluckhohn (1951 as in Haralambos & Healed,
1980) posited that culture is a design for living held by mem-
bers of a particular society. In order for a society to operate
effectively, this design must be shared by its members. So in all,
cultural value systems are transmitted to generations of off-
spring through child-rearing practices in the homes.
Analyzing the cultural value system in Africa, Dukor (2010)
observed that every ethnic group has a set of social value sys-
tem in her cultural environment, such values as poetry, archi-
tecture, food and work habit, farming and fetching water and
many others; such are transmitted to generations of humans
through child-rearing practices in the homes. Dukor (2010)
indicated that when cultural values are enacted and assimilated,
they become a form of law or guide to the group (like Thomas
Paine right of man, the American declaration of independence
and the United Nation Charter on human rights). Dukor (2010)
categorized cultural values into moral normative values and non
moral normative values. He indicated that the moral normative
values consist in what he called ethical or axiological values,
while aesthetic and artistic values make up the non moral nor-
mative values in African philosophy. Dukor (2010) observed
that the issue of prepositions and entailments of African cul-
tural ethical values arise because these values are embedded in
African folklore, proverbs and wise-sayings on one hand and on
the other hand there are prepositions within the kinship-ex-
tended family ties and communalistic system. Dukor (2010)
attested that an ethical or moral normative cultural value can be
extracted prepositionally from a set of proverbs or folklore or
from the African communication philosophy, for example, in
Nigeria, no police is set to enforce moral values in Igbo society,
since the spirit of moral responsibility and communalism or
kinship takes care of deviances. For instance (Dukor, 2010)
cited the Igbo proverb that “when a man dances badly in public
it is his brothers (brethren) that get the itching brow” meaning
that unruly behaviour is a disgrace not only to oneself, but to
his entire family and community. He put his “Theistic Human-
ism model” into two groups A & B. In group “A” is the com-
munity values. In the community values are the kinship, ex-
tended family, communitarianism, social values and ethical
issues. In group “B” is the aesthetical values. In the aesthetical
values are the food & work habit, agriculture & architectural
values, music, artistic and celebration of life values. All these
philosophical ways of life, wise-sayings, folklore, belief system,
prescriptions and postscriptions and other invaluable salient
values in the family level, community level or society at large,
as enunciated by Dukor, is inculcated to generations of human
beings through child-rearing practices in the homes.
Nigeria with her diversified cultural background, value sys-
tems and with numerous ethnic groups, each ethnic group has
her peculiar way of child-rearing practices through which the
group’s value and norms are transmitted to generations of off-
spring. The home is the custodian of cultural value system. For
instance, the home initiates the child into her value system and
the cultural norms such as dressing pattern, greeting pattern,
eating ethics, cooking methods, language, dance, like acrobatic
displays, masquerade, morals, habits and gender character wise.
The males are trained on how to be dominant, defensive, and
strong among other masculine qualities. The girl child is trained
in feminine qualities of submissiveness, gentleness, quiet, hum-
ble, caring, which calls for mothering. The girl child is taught
domestic chores and how to take care of the home. The values
people adhere to often affect their cognition, their learning,
understanding, thinking, imagining, reasoning, and creative
processes. Chukwuaguh, (1998) observed that “the hidden as-
pects of a culture which comprises beliefs, ideals, values, as-
sumptions and modes of thought which members of a group
adhere to, govern not only the behaviour of the group, but also
their cognitive world view in a profound manner” (p. 70). For
example among the Igbo of Nigeria, the presentation and
breaking of kola nut is a value system that almost every Igbo
speaking group held prominent. In Igbo land, kola nut is not
shown to females whatever their age and the language of the
immediate locality where the kola was presented is always used
in praying while breaking it. This value system is transmitted to
generations of Igbo people through child-rearing, (Nwoke,
2004; Uzoka, 2010).
In another view, Sechrest and Wallace (1967) observed that
value system and heritage are deeply imbedded, that the cultur-
ally determined way of doing things and the look on life seems
natural and right in comparison with other peoples. They saw
that there are various ways in which cultural value system and
home might have impact on the personality of the individual
human being and his/her modes of adjustment. Every culture
provides both prescriptions and postscriptions for behaviours,
systems of reward and sanctions are very often specified and
they are inculcated to the offspring through rearing practices.
Thus certain forms of behaviours are prescribed and even re-
warded while other forms may be forbidden and punished.
Nwoke (2004) observed that in some part of Igbo land, the
eating of new yam is highly celebrated. The contravention of
this value system by any member of this group attracts heavy
sanction because such a person has defiled the cultural value
system no matter the influence of modernity or Christianity;
while in some other parts, new yam is eaten like any other food.
Yala in Ogoja of Cross-River State has similar value for their
new yam in the sense that every Yala son or daughter goes
home for the celebration. Of course, different cultures accord
yam products with varieties of celebration.
Review of Related Literature
Evaluating the impact of cultural values and norms on the
lives of humanity, Argyle (1970), Sechrest and Wallace (1967)
observed that culture provides its members with a cognitive
structure from within which they will review and try to make
sense out of, through their experiences. Through the value sys-
tem, cognitive and linguistic structures suitable to the problems
that must be dealt with by persons living in that culture are
provided and such values are transmitted to the young ones
through child-rearing in the homes. One of the most intriguing
and influential hypotheses concerning value system was ad-
vanced by Whorf (1956 as in Sechrest and Wallace, 1967) who
postulated that the nature and structure of the language deter-
mines cognitions which are possible in any culture; and are
transmitted to offspring through child-rearing methods in the
homes. For example in Igbo culture, the word “akwa” has many
meanings àkwà = bed; àkwá = egg; àkwa = bridge; àkwā =
clothes; àkwa = cry. However, the meaning “àkwa” conveys
depends on the pronunciation of the last article à; (or the se-
mantic). Among the Effiks of Nigeria, the word obong could
mean mosquito or chieftaincy depending on the pronunciation
and it is transmitted to generations of children. It was also re-
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ported by Sechrest and Wallace (1967) that the Hununoo tribe
of the Philippines distinguished 92 varieties of values of what is
called “rice” in English. In such tribe, it may be possible for
homes (families) to inculcate the 92 varieties of values attached
to the word “rice” to their children through rearing practices.
In a study by Evans-Pritchard (1940), the Nuer tribe along
the upper Nile in Africa, are remarkable of the value attached to
cattle in almost every aspect of their lives. The Nuer use the
milk from cows, they routinely puncture blood veins in the
neck to drain blood which they use for food, they utilize cow
dung for fuel, “cement” and hair dressing. They eat the meat
and use the hides from slaughtered animals. Among the Nuer, a
man takes his name from his favourite oxen and spends a major
part of his time in providing for the welfare and safety of his
cattle. The Nuer-cow-value system is genuinely symbiotic.
They use a thousand and one terms to distinguish their cattle.
This is how thousand and one values held by cultures are
transmitted to generations of human beings through the home
socialization in the child-rearing processes. The children reared
in Nuer tribe may not know any other language than that of
human-cattle-relationship, because they will be initiated into
cattle rearing early in life; like the Fulani in Nigeria who initi-
ate their children to their street lifestyle of cattle rearing as
early as the age of five. This value of following cattle up and
down hills and streets which is transmitted to offspring through
child-rearing might make it quite impossible for most Fulani
children to understand any other value language than that of
cattle-rearing and following cattle. Hence Wegh (1994) ob-
served that no human child can socially or cognitively develop
beyond the type of life or value system prevalent in his/her
culture. Thus, whatever the value system, the home environ-
ment, social environment or cultural environment bequeaths the
growing child with, it is what he/she builds his/her own person-
ality on.
Herskovits (1955) observed that all over the world, and
across period of time, very diverse concepts of value system
have evolved. For instance, homicide, suicide, cannibalism,
homosexuality and incest have all apparently been regarded as
permissible and may even be desirable behaviours in some
societies while they are taboos in some other societies. For
example, in some part of America they are acceptable, in some
part of Africa, they are taboos. In a similar vein, Herskovits
(1955), Smith, Sarason & Sarason, (1986) Santrock (2006)
observe that hallucination which is regarded as a symptom of
serious mental disorder is sought rather than feared or avoided
by some tribes. For example the Plains Indians of North Amer-
ica often sought hallucinatory experiences as a form of divine
guidance or as a sign of initiation. These authors affirmed that
other symptoms such as delusion of being possessed by spirits
and experiencing of dissociative trance states, have not only
been accepted but in some cultures opened up opportunities for
their victims to serve as a shaman or priest. So while children
from Plains Indian of North America may be able to interpret
delusion and hallucinatory experiences as a “divine call’’, chil-
dren from some other cultures like Nigeria, may see such ex-
periences as possessed or sick. Indeed, it may be obvious that
such value system may be foreign or abnormal and could be
seen as the onset of pathological cases in some cultures like
Nigeria. This value system is inculcated to generations of off-
spring through child-rearing practices.
Talking about cultural value system, Nwideeduh (1998) dis-
closed that the Ogonis of Rivers State are culturally matrilineal
and this is inherited as well as inculcated. The Ogonis practice
cultural rite of passage or initiation into manhood or woman-
hood, which they called “yaa” for males and “koo” for females,
and this cultural value system is prominent that an Ogoni man
is ready to invest a treasure in the initiation ceremony of “yaa”
and “koo” of his children than to invest any penny on education
for the children. Nwideeduh (1998) emphasized that to change
an Ogoni man’s mind from “yaa” and “koo” initiation cultural
value system would mean turning the culture upside down or to
obliterate Ogoni culture from the universe. Culturally, every
group of people value their land, but, Downess (1933; Wegh
1994; Jov, 2001; Nwoke, 2004) indicated that the Tiv people do
not conceive their land simply as a tract of the earth on which
they live. It is the land of their fathers. It is “sacred” land. That
is why Tiv always fights against any encroachment made on
Tiv land. Tiv cultural value system is often portrayed in their
attire. Bohannan (1965) referring to the unique characteristics
of the Tiv, stated that the Tiv do not present the difficulty
prevalent among Africans in identifying the ethnic group.
Bohannan (1965) added: “the Tiv are of an independent turn of
mind and are almost surely the most ethnocentric people in the
world” (p. 516). This assertion is because the Tiv were strongly
hostile to any external force that would infiltrate their cultural
heritage. These values are inculcated to generations of Tiv
children through child-rearing practices.
On how great an influence of the home value system incul-
cated to the child through rearing practices; was expressed by
an anonymous writer (in Hurlock, 1978) in the following ways:
If a child lives in criticism, he learns to condemn.
If the child lives with hostility, he/she leans to fight.
If the child lives with fear, he/she learns to be apprehensive.
If the child lives with pity, he/she learns to feel sorry for
self and others.
If the child lives with tolerance, he/she learns to be patient.
If the child lives with jealousy, he/she learns to feel guilty.
If the child lives with ridicule, he/she learns to be shy.
If the child lives with shame, he/she learns to be ashamed of
himself/herself
.
If he/she lives with encouragement, he/she learns to be con-
fident.
If he/she lives with praise, he/she learns to love.
If he/she lives with acceptance, he/she learns to like him-
self/herself.
If the child lives with approval, he/she leans to have a goal.
If the child lives with recognition, he/she learns to value
justice.
If the child lives with honesty, he/she learns to value truth.
If the child lives with security, he/she learns to have faith in
himself/herself and others.
In line with the assertion in Hurlock (1978), value system is
an inextricable cultural or home value which the individual is
born into, and is innately fixated in the behavioural pattern of
such individual or group of individuals. The value system of
any group affects their lifestyle and such is inculcated to the
children. For example there some religious sects whose means
of livelihood is beggary, they inculcate this value by sending
their children to the streets early in life to beg for alms. Differ-
ent cultural and home value systems influences, have produced
a variety of patterns of values in the contemporary society.
Every culture initiates her young ones to their way of life and
occupation and the values attached to occupations are intro-
duced to the child at the crib. For instance, the Fulani teaches
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their children the values of following the cattle about the
streets.
Naturally the home is the core base of every human being.
The home lays the foundation in the individual child’s life. The
home is the primary agent of socialization in which the child
had his/her first relationship. The family gives the basic knowl-
edge, as well as character, social virtues, values, norms, tradi-
tions, customs and mores. The innate psychological factors
built in the home act as reservoir from where the growing child
draws his/her strength. Every home has its own individuality
and peculiar ways life and these individual home variables,
value systems and differences grossly influence child rearing
practices.
The home value system is a very important item in child’s
life and personality building because home value system is a
reflection of the societal, cultural values and norms which the
developing child has to abide by. It takes precedence for the
efficient learning and proper personality development of the
child. A child is born in a home where he/she remains in the
constant company of his/her parents, siblings and members of
the extended family during the formative year of the infancy
periods. It is evident that it is the home which is in the strategic
position to inculcate the cultural habits in the children through
child-rearing practices, since they are in full control of them
during infancy. The home assures the child security, wanted
and loved, by providing the child with his/her legitimate needs
and rights.
The home provides conducive environment for balance men-
tal development and builds confidence into the children through
rearing practices. Orhungur (1990) observe that any meaningful
discussion of a child’s growth and development and the influ-
ences that shape these, cannot fail to recognize the importance
of the home. The importance of the home as the primary agent
of socialization has been acknowledged by most authorities of
education today. This is because, when school performance is
addressed, it does not involve the academic performance and
excellence only, but includes moral, social, spiritual, physical,
emotional, psychological, economic, political and all attitudinal
and behavioural patterns the child has acquired through child
rearing practices at home. The home is a reservoir of strength
from which children draw to meet their physical and emotional
needs, its warm and intimate contacts, contribute to their feel-
ing of security and belonging. The home has certain primary
functions which include; socializing the children and to help the
children lay proper foundations for developing their potentials
and realizing their aspirations. The home assists the children in
learning their different cultural values. Children are reared in a
way that reflects the personality of their parents, behavioural
patterns and value orientations of their culture. The home pro-
vides a conducive and healthy environment, rich in develop-
mental skillful experiences as part of cultural value system,
where the child is allowed to interact and participate. The home
encourages the child to extend the interaction to the outside
environment–the school. This may be the reason people from
different cultural backgrounds can positively interact with oth-
ers, (Nwoke, 1997).
However, Nweze (1996) observe that with more women tak-
ing to professional careers and paid employment outside the
home, the direct consequences are enormous in value of
child-rearing practices. In Nigeria as in other parts of the world,
situation have been created whereby mothers and fathers are
becoming absentee parents as they are being forced by the de-
mands of their jobs and professions to spend less time at home
with their children. It is observed that parental absenteeism is
giving rise to the growing wave of children’s maladaptive and
delinquent in many urban homes-families across the world.
Nweze, (1996, Igbo & Anugwom, 2011) observed that the con-
flict generated by the clash between modern and traditional
home values have given rise to home crises that lead to increase
in divorce and separation among urban couples. Nwoke (2007)
observed that the issues of divorce and separation have led to
single parenthood, step parenthood and step children hood syn-
dromes. These forms of home system tend to generate more
home conflicts and coalitions and affect the emotional and so-
cial well being of children. Modern home value systems seem
to contravene the observed traditional home value system.
Uzoka, (2010) observed that the contravention of value systems
creates unhealthy living in some families, division, strife and
rancor, even separation or divorce.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of
cultural value system and the home on child-rearing practices in
the contemporary Nigerian society. Also to examine whether
modernity has any influence on cultural value system and child-
rearing practices in the contemporary Nigerian society. It is
hoped that this study will shed light on how value systems are
inculcated to generations of offspring through child-rearing
practices in the home.
Method
The study was purely qualitative, involving direct observa-
tion, interview, dialogue, discussion and interaction with the
participants.
Participants: These were sixteen adult men and women (8
men, 8 women) from four ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Igbo,
Ogoni, Tiv and the Yala. Age (56 - 74) years, with a mean age
of 65 years from each group freely participated in the study.
Instrument: A semi-structured questionnaire was used to
elicit responses from participants:
1) Cultural value systems are inculcated to generations of
offspring through child-rearing practices. Can you tell me how
you transmit cultural values to generations of your offspring?
2) Has the home any influence in transmitting cultural value
system in child-rearing practices?
3) Has modernity influenced cultural value system and home
on child-rearing practices in the contemporary Nigeria society?
Procedure: In the course of this study the researcher came in
contact with the participants, held interview and discussion
with the sixteen adults in groups of four (2 men, 2 women)
according to ethnic group, concerning their cultural value sys-
tems and how such are passed on to generations of the people.
Design/Statistic: Qualitative technique, using semi-struc-
tured forms of data collection, both interviewing and discussion
were employed. This study was purely descriptive.
Results
Results were based on the summarized responses from the
participants.
Research Question 1: Cultural value systems are incul-
cated to generations of offspring through child-rearing
practices. Can you tell me how you transmit your cultural
values to your offspring?
The participants’ responses were:
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204
Nigeria is a country with multiple ethnic groups, cultural
backgrounds and diversified value systems. Each group has her
peculiar way of inculcating the values prevalent in her tribe to
generations of offspring. For example the breaking of kola nut
in Igboland, the Tiv and their excessive possession of land and
cultural attire, the Ogoni and their yaa and koo initiation rites
and Yala and her Queen-dancing and salt baking. These and
other numerous cultural values like cooking and eating pattern,
mode of farming and rearing of animals, greeting styles and
dress code, gender roles, sitting pattern, songs, are transmitted
to the members from these groups through child-rearing prac-
tices in the home.
Research Question 2: Has the home any influence in
transmitting cultural value in child-rearing practices?
The participants’ responses were:
The home is a type of nursery bed for nurturing cultural
value system. It is the most important agent of socialization,
promoting all forms of values, giving direction, informal edu-
cation; chains of good moral behaviours, habits of healthy per-
sonality development and later adjustment are rooted in the
home. Unquestionably the home lays the foundation of every
good human being who respects his/her cultural values through
child-rearing. The home is a miniature society and custodian of
all cultural values. The home provides the first human interac-
tion through child-rearing. Through child-rearing practice what
a boy or a girl should do or not do is inculcated to the child.
Among the Igbos females do not climb palm tree or tap
palm wine, females do not fell iroko tree and kola nut is not
shown to females when in a gathering or in a function no
matter the age of the female.
In Tivland females do not drive away millipede from the
house. It is the believe that women do not own the house
and therefore do not have the authority to do so.
In Tiv land, females do not make mounds in the farm; they
only weed the farm and gather fruits.
Among the Ogoni, females make pots of all types and males
build canoes. Ogoni attach much importance to yaa and koo
initiation rites for both genders.
Among the Yala males wrestle and engage in acrobatic
displays while the females do queen-dancing and bake salt.
These cultural values are inculcated to generations of off-
spring through child-rearing practices in the home. The
home is the encyclopedia that explains cultural value sys-
tems through child-rearing.
Research Question 3: Has modernity influenced cultural
value system and home on childrearing practices in the
contemporary Nigerian society?
The participants’ responses were:
Modernity has affected child-rearing practices. All the re-
spondents cited example with the type of wears people put on
and all the mannerisms. In the contemporary time males plait
their hairs, put on earring and dress like females. Also females
go in trousers like males. The issue of female circumcision is
grossly affected as some cultures have dropped this value,
while some adherents hold it tight. Of course female circumci-
sion has become the hot debate of modern society. Work family
role, vividly conflict in the modern time on child-rearing value
system. Children are left under the care of a mother surrogate
type in the day-care from critical tender age and most of the
home values which the child should have internalized in the
home become strange or foreign to the child.
Discussion
Based on the findings of current this study, Nigeria as a mul-
ticultural nation with diversified cultural value systems has
different ways of transmitting their values to her generations of
offspring through child-rearing practices in the various ethnic
groups. Cultural value system of greeting, methods of cooking
different types of food, clothing, dancing, songs, folklore,
magic and all cultural properties for which a group is known
are inculcated to generations of the members of the group
through child-rearing practices. To understand the cognitive
and social development of children, this study revealed that it is
better to examine the social and the cultural processes shaping
children. The findings of the present study seem to support all
the literature reviewed which strongly attested that cultural
value systems are transmitted to generations of offspring
through child-rearing practices. The present study revealed that
the pattern of farming or pattern of rearing animals, are trans-
mitted during child-rearing at the age of five years. The find-
ings of present study support Nwoke, (2004) who discovered
that many tribes in Nigeria introduce their children to their
various occupations at the age of five years, even though the
child may not be able to do the work meant for the adult.
He/she is conditioned to the line of thought and behaviour of
his/her gender in that culture.
To understand the influence of the home, based on the gen-
eral findings of this present study, all the respondents affirmed
that the home serves as a nursery bed where cultural value sys-
tems are nurtured, incubated and disseminated. According to
the present findings, the home is the primary agent of socializa-
tion that promotes all forms of values that give the developing
human being a sense of guide and direction. The present study
revealed that the home lays the foundation on which every good
or bad pattern of behaviour is built. The findings of this current
study showed that whatever the lifestyle of the home, such is
inculcated to the child through rearing practices. The findings
of the present study also showed that the home is a miniature
society and custodian of all societal values, from where the
growing child draws his/her strength. The current findings
showed that the home is a type of moral mirror from where the
child views his/her attitudes and activities. The present findings
buttress Nwoke, (1997) who observed that factors in the home
or direct teaching by parents through child rearing have great
influence on the child. The findings of this study revealed that
through child-rearing practices, each ethnic group transmits to
the boy or girl child what he/she should do or not do, as well as
culturally defined sitting patterns for males and females.
Among the Igbos, the present study revealed that the females
do not climb palm tree or tap palm wine, females do not fell
iroko tree. Also it was discovered in this study that kola nut is
not shown to females when in a gathering or in a function no
matter the age. The current findings revealed that if kola nut
was to be given to a female because of her social status, she
does not pick the kola nut from the dish by herself, it is picked
by a male who then gives it to her. The present findings indi-
cated that females carry out domestic chores and prepare the
type of food for which the culture is known. The present find-
ings also showed that in Igbo culture females sit with legs
closed. From the findings it is disclosed that males climb all
types of trees, tap palm wine, fell trees, rear animals and do
other male related duties in the home. These cultural values are
inculcated to generations of Igbo human beings through child-
M. B. NWOKE
Copyright © 2013 SciRes.
205
rearing practices.
About the Tiv people, the findings of this study showed that
in Tivland, females do not drive away millipede from the house
because it is believed that the female is not the owner of the
house. The findings of this present study indicated that in the
farm females do not make mounds, they only weed the farm
and gather fruits. The current findings disclosed that Tiv fe-
males take care of the children, keep the house and prepare all
types of Tiv food. This study revealed that the Tiv people have
common unique attire which differentiates them from other
ethnic group in Nigeria. The current finding also disclose that
Tiv farm land is termed “sacred” and any form of encroach-
ments attracts war, and that is the reason Tiv always fights
against land dispute with neighbours. All these cultural values
are transmitted to generations of Tiv children through child-
rearing practices in the home.
Concerning the Ogoni, the present study revealed that fe-
males make pots and males build canoes. The findings of this
current study showed that the Ogoni people hold high their
“yaa” and “koo” initiation rites for both males and females. The
present finding supports Nwideeduh, (1998), who observe that
an Ogoni man is ready to spend a treasure in the “yaa” and
“koo” initiation of his children than to invest a kobo in their
education. These values and other salient ones are inculcated to
Ogoni generations through child-rearing practices in the home.
The findings of this present study showed that Yala males
wrestle and engage in acrobatic displays for entertainment,
while the females do the queen dancing with the intricate steps
of a queen. Also the women engage in salt baking while men
rear animals and farm. The values are transmitted to genera-
tions of Yala people through childrearing practices in the
home.
Understanding the influence of modernity on cultural value
system, all the respondents of this present study unanimously
attested that modernity has affected child-rearing practices. The
participants cited example with the type of wears people put on
in the contemporary Nigerian society and all the mannerism.
These findings affirmed that the issue of female circumcision is
another value that has been grossly affected as some cultures
have dropped this value, while some adherents hold it tight.
These findings showed that people’s lifestyles and paid job
employment have also affected child-rearing in the home, as
children at such critical period of development are deprived of
the parental nurturing they deserved. This finding buttresses,
Nweze, (1996; Nwoke, 2007; Aluko, 2009) who observed that
work family role conflict in the modern society has some nega-
tive influence on child-rearing value system. Children are left
under the care of people who may be foreign to their cultural
value systems, thereby strange values may be transmitted to the
children through interaction with the caregiver.
Conclusion
This study showed that cultural value system is embedded in
the culture of the people. The findings indicated that the home
serves as a nursery where the cultural value systems are nur-
tured and disseminated to generations of human beings through
child- rearing practices. The present study revealed that moder-
nity has influenced value systems and child-rearing practices in
the contemporary Nigerian society because of work family role
conflict. In addition the current study revealed that some cul-
tural values like female circumcision have become the hot seat
for modern debate as what is its value to humanity. However
culture is not static it is dynamic, therefore any conflicting issue
has to be reconciled with reason.
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