Parenting Practices Among Mothers in Kyengera Market Kyengera Town Council, Wakiso District

PARENTING PRACTICES AMONG MOTHERS IN KYENGERA MARKET KYENGERA TOWN COUNCIL, WAKISO DISTRICT

SSEBUGGWAWO HAMZA 16/U/11515/PS

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL ADMINISTRATION IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARD OF THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

OCTOBER, 2019

DECLARATION

DEDICATION

I affectionately dedicate this book to my lovely mother Mrs.Nansubuga Florence, who has enabled me to reach this far, with her efforts as a mother. She has been there from the start, investing in my education and my personal development. I am glad that she is able to share the fulfillment of my educational goal. I am forever grateful to you mother. I also dedicate it to my sister Mrs.Nakyoole Frances for the endless guidance and support from the start up the end of this journey.

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APPROVAL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to first acknowledge the Almighty Allah who has enabled and guided me to accomplish this dissertation. May His name be honored, glorified and praised forever.

I sincerely thank my supervisor, Dr.Twesigye Justus (PhD) who first taught me with outstanding knowledge of research and all his endless guidance and support, it is really my pleasure to him for support in every step.

I extend my gratitude to my classmates, Sharif, Allan, Andrew, Denis, and Butiga who supported me to accomplish the whole programme.

In a special way, I extend my sincere appreciation to my family who provided me with moral support to accomplish this work.

I am thankful to all mothers working in Kyengera market who accepted me to interview them despite their busy schedules. This would not have been possible without your individual contributions-thank you so much.

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ...... ii DEDICATION ...... iii APPROVAL ...... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vi LIST OF TABLES ...... ix ABSTRACT ...... x CHAPTER 1 ...... 1 INTRODUCTION...... 1 1.1 Background to the study ...... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem ...... 4 1.3 General objective ...... 5 1.4 Specific objectives ...... 5 1.5 Research questions ...... 5 1.6 The scope of the study ...... 5 1.6.1 The content scope ...... 5 1.7 Significance of the study ...... 6 1.8 Definitions of key concepts ...... 6 CHAPTER 2 ...... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 7 2.1 Introduction ...... 7 2.2 Parenting Practices ...... 8 2.3 Factors that influence parenting practices...... 11 2.4 Challenges faced by parenting mothers ...... 15 CHAPTER 3 ...... 17 METHODOLOGY ...... 17 3.1 Introduction ...... 17 3.2 Research design ...... 17 3.3 Study Area ...... 18 3.4 Study population ...... 18 3.4.1 Selection of participants ...... 18

3.5 Methods of data collection and tools ...... 19 3.5.1 In-depth interviews ...... 19 3.5.2 Key informant interviews ...... 19 3.6 Data analysis ...... 19 3.7 Ethical Considerations ...... 20 3.8 Challenges faced ...... 21 CHAPTER 4 ...... 22 PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ...... 22 4.1 Introduction ...... 22 4.2 Demographic characteristics of participants ...... 22 4.3 Parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market ...... 23 4.3.1 Ensuring close monitoring of children ...... 23 4.3.2 Consistent disciplining ...... 25 4.3.3 Communicating parental goals ...... 26 4.3.4 Establishing household rules and restrictions ...... 27 4.2.5 Training children life skills ...... 29 4.4 Factors that influenced parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market...... 30 4.4.1 Parental goals ...... 30 4.4.2 Parental knowledge ...... 32 4.4.3 Socio-economic status among mothers ...... 33 4.4.4 Level of education ...... 34 4.5 Challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process in Kyengera market ...... 35 4.5.1 Financial constraints ...... 35 4.5.2 Failure to find childcare support ...... 36 4.5.3 Family misunderstandings and divorce ...... 37 4.5.4 Lower education level ...... 38 CHAPTER 5 ...... 40 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 40 5.1 Introduction ...... 40 5.2 Summary of findings ...... 40 5.2.1 Parenting practices among mothers ...... 40 5.2.2 Factors that influenced parenting practices ...... 41

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5.2.3 Challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process ...... 42 5.3 Conclusions ...... 43 5.4 Recommendations ...... 43 5.4.1 Recommendations for further research ...... 44 References ...... 44 APPENDICES ...... 50 APPENDIX 1: In-depth interview guide for parenting mothers ...... 50 APPENDIX 2: Key informant interviews guide for key informants ...... 52

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Presented below is a table showing demographic characteristics of participants ...... 23

ABSTRACT

The study sought to identify parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market Kyengera town council in Wakiso district. The study further sought to identify factors that influenced parenting practices and also to examine challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process. It adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study design. The study was based on a sample selection of ten participants and two key informants using a purposive sampling method to select participants. In- depth interview guide and key informant interview guide were the tools used to collect data and data was analysed in a thematic form which revealed that mothers used a number of parenting practices during their parenting process. These included consistent discipline, establishing household rules, training children life skills, communicating parental goals and close monitoring of children. Social economic status, level of education, parental knowledge and parental goals were factors that influenced parenting practices. The study findings also revealed that though mothers used a number of parenting practices when raising children, many of them their lives were filled with problems and uncertainty regarding their ability to meet their children’s physical, emotional and economic well-being, they faced challenges such as financial constraints, lower education level, failure to find childcare support and family misunderstandings. I recommended that mothers should be supported financially such that their role of parenting is eased, awareness campaigns on the importance of marriage institution and finally counseling is recommended for mothers who suffer from psychological tortures and other negative situations.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Conceptions of who parents are and what constitutes the best conditions for raising children vary widely. From the human development perspectives, parenting is defined as a primary mechanism of socialization, that is, the primary means of training and preparing children to meet the demands of their environments and take to advantage of the available opportunities (Kalil & DeLeire, 2004). Parents are among the most important people in the lives of children. From birth, children learn and rely mostly on mothers and fathers, as well as other caregivers acting in the parenting roles. Developmental psychologists and economists have described parents as investing resources in their children in anticipation of promoting their children’s social, economic, and psychological well-being (Kalil & DeLeire,2004). These scholars characterize this promotion of children’s healthy development as involving, material, monetary, social, and psychological resources and provision of support, guidance, warmth, and love. Bradley and Corwyn, (2004) characterize the goals of these investments as helping children to successfully regulate biological, cognitive, and social-emotional functioning.

Indeed, this is true because the best time children need their parents is the earliest years of life when everything is being modulated and shaped for the first time. And for the children to be high achieving in life, they need to be cared for, loved, guided, supervised, educated and monitored when they are still at their early years of life. This is because it is at this stage where children have to be shaped and whatever they are to be in future must be tackled at this stage if children are to be successful in life. Parents introduce children to the social world where they develop understandings of themselves, their place and value in society, understandings that influence their choices and experiences over the life course (Maynard & Powell, 2013). These experiences of early childhood affect children’s well- being over the course of their lives and this is why mothers play a significant role in helping children build and refine their knowledge and skills, as well as their learning expectations,

1 beliefs, goals, and coping strategies. This cannot happen on its own. This influence is likely to be a function of parenting practices.

Parenting practices describe specific behaviors that parents use to socialize their children; behaviors such as what a parent does to facilitate positive behavior (Gustafson & Rhodes, 2006; Pugliese &Tinsley, 2007). Parenting practices include ensuring close monitoring of children, maintaining warm and supportive relationships, high levels of parent- child interaction and sharing, explaining parental decisions and actions, making an effort to build and improve relationships, and differential parenting practices based on adolescents' gender.Shorer, David, Schoenberg-Taz, Levavi-Lavi, Phillip and Meyerovitch, (2011), studied Israeli adolescents with type 1 diabetes aged 11–18 in a cross-sectional study and reported that, parents who were involved in their children’s behavior monitoring facilitated better weight control and adherence to treatment among the adolescents.

Parenting practices in which parents engage are influenced and informed by their knowledge, including facts and other information relevant to parenting, as well as skills gained through experience or education. According to Gustafson and Rhodes(2006), these practices are also influenced by attitudes, which in this context refer to parents’ viewpoints, perspectives, reactions, or settled ways of thinking with respect to the roles and importance of parents and child rearing in children’s development, as well as parents’ responsibilities. Attitudes may be part of a set of beliefs shared within a cultural group and founded in common experiences, and they often direct the transformation of knowledge into practice.

Many years in the typical African family, only the father worked outside the home. Usually the mother was the homemaker and was there to attend to the children. But there have been dramatic changes in that picture, and family life has changed, and so, too, is the role mothers play at work and at home. Millions of families find that they need two wage- earners in order to maintain the family budget (Ochocka& Janzen, 2008). In most communities in Uganda, two-working-parent families are no longer exceptional and more mothers have entered the workforce. In, now 1 of 3 mothers stays at home to provide full child care for their children.Even mothers of very young children are likely to be in the labor force. Half of the preschoolers at least spend part of the day in the care of adults other

2 than their parents. Growth in the number of day care centers and non-parental care has accompanied this increase in working mothers. But for many families finding affordable quality care can be a problem. Good care with persons other than relatives is often difficult or too expensive to find especially for families with low incomes. Relatives and friends are not always able to help out especially if they do not live nearby or are in the labor force themselves. When both parents are occupied with their jobs for eight or more hours per day, there are obvious effects on the family. In households where both parents work full time, a large share of the day-to-day parenting responsibilities falls to mothers. A survey carried outby Leondari and Kiosseoglou (2002) in the U.S. reported that, 64% of mothers in two-parent households say that they do more than their spouse or partner when it comes to managing their children’s schedule and activities. And while many fathers (53%) concede that the mom in their household does more of this than they do. This means that most needs of children including the physical and much more important of all; the psychological needs will be partially met by mothers towards their children. Still, on the part of single parents, there is challenge of balancing jobs and family obligations especially those with children under age 18. Single mothers are often strained by financial hardships which makes it hard to afford quality child care facilities.

Poverty. It is also afactor that mirror parenting practices, this is in the way that poor families find it difficult to take their children to good child care, this because good care with persons other than parents and relatives is too expensive and they cannot afford it and when both parents are occupied with their jobs; there are effects on the care of children as this may result into neglect of children’s needs as it is hard to balance work and parenting roles.

Employment in low paying jobs.Parents especially mothers being employed in low paying jobs such as working in markets is also a contextual factors that mirror parenting practices, mothers employed in markets are always stressed with their children’s needs due to low income. These result into failure to meet these needs and in turn result intobehavior challenges among children such as dropping out of school, robbery and many others.

Single parenthood. Single parents especially mothers find a challenge of balancing jobs and family obligations especially those with children below the age of 18, more so single parents especially mothers sometimes are strained with financial hardship which makes hard for them to provide children needs.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Parents are among the most important people in the lives of children. From birth, children are learning and rely mostly on their mothers in the parenting role, to protect and care for them and to chart a path that promotes their overall well-being. In fact, the impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when children’s brains are developing rapidly and when nearly all of their experiences are created and shaped by their parents and by the positive or difficult circumstances in which the parents find themselves(Powell, 2013). In most families however, there have been dramatic changes and family life has changed, and so, too, is the role mothers play at work and at home. According to Ochocka and Janzen, (2008) families find that they need two wage-earners in order to maintain the family budget and this has made two-working parent families inevitable as more mothers have entered the labor force and this is as a result of some factors which include poverty, many poor families find it difficult and most times find it impossible to take care of their children, such as taking them to quality child care, taking them to good schools and also meeting other requirements and when parents are occupied with their jobs for more than eight hours, there is obvious effects on children.Single parenthood, Singleparents especially mothers find it difficult to balance a job and family roles especially those with young children and as a result, parents are always stressed with financial hardship which makes them difficult to afford children’s needs.Unemployment. Many parents are unemployed and continuously have failed to find jobs; this makes parents unable to meet their responsibilities.In such situations, many develop dysfunctions in behavior such as low self-esteem, failure in future accomplishments are a result. Since parents are important figures in the socialization process of children, through their involvement, monitoring, communicating of their values, goals and aspirations, and

disciplining; the current study seeks to identify how this process of child rearing is done by mothers in Kyengera market.

1.3 General objective

The study will seek to describe parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market, Wakiso District.

1.4 Specific objectives

The study will be guided by the following objectives

1. To identify the parenting practices adopted by mothers in Kyengera market. 2. To identify factors that influence parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market. 3. To examine the challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process in Kyengera market.

1.5 Research questions

The study will seek to answer the following questions

1. What are the parenting practices adopted by mothers in Kyengera market? 2. What factors influence parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market? 3. What are the parenting-related challenges experienced by mothers in Kyengera market?

1.6 The scope of the study

The study will cover the content scope.

1.6.1 The content scope

The study will investigate the various parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market. Parenting practices will be defined asspecific behaviors that parents use to socialize

their children; behaviors such as what a parent does to facilitate a child’s positive behavior (Gustafson & Rhodes, 2006; Pugliese & Tinsley, 2007). This means that the way parents will behave will influence the behavior of children.

1.7 Significance of the study

The study findings will empower parents with appropriate insight of child rearing for example how to communicate their values, goals and aspirations to their children, involvement and monitoring of their children’s activities.

The study findings will contribute to the existing knowledge on parenting practices that may be used by other researchers and academicians as literature review, it may also help other researchers to identify research problems, literature gaps basing on the study recommendations for further research.

Furthermore, these study findings will assist educators, programmers and policy makers to support the parenting efforts of mothers.

1.8 Definitions of key concepts

This subsection provides definitions of key concepts I will use in the study.

Parenting is the primary means of training and preparing children to meet the demands of their environment and take advantage of available opportunities.

Parents are described as investing resources in their children in anticipation of promoting their children’s social, economic and psychological well-being (Kalil & DeLeire, 2004)

Parenting practices will mean specific behaviours that parents use to socialise their children. (Gustafson & Rhodes, 2006, Pogliese & Tinsley, 2007).

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This section presents the review of the existing literature on the subject basing on the objectives of the study. The study acknowledges the work done by other scholars and also

identifies the gaps that will exist on their studies and also shows how these gaps will be filled by the current study.

2.2 Parenting Practices

Parenting is, perhaps first and foremost, “a functional status in the life cycle” (Bornstein, 2001). It is an everyday job and starts during or before pregnancy and goes on throughout the life span (Bornstein, 2001). Parenting is a function of parenting practices. The notion of “parenting practices” means the real behavior of parents towards their children, for example, taking an active interest in their children’s activities , peers, homework, monitoring their movements, involvement into their lives and so on (Collins, Maccoby, Steinberg, Hetherington & Bornstein 2000). This means that the kind of behaviors that parents have toward their children impacts the relationship that parents will build with their children. Pears and Moses, (2003) have stated that child-rearing practices are connected to the cognitive and emotional development of the child. Research on parenting practices as they relate to children outcomes has focused on several important parenting constructs. These constructs include parental involvement; parental monitoring; and parental goals, values, and aspirations, social support.

Parental Involvement; Interacting and becoming involved with their children’s life on a daily basis is a way parents can socialize their children. With respect to the socialization of school achievement, parental involvement consists of attending parent–teacher conferences, helping children with homework, volunteering for leadership roles within the school, and attending children’s extracurricular activities. Involvement practices initiated by parents represent parental efforts to become directly involved with school decisions and activities. For example, parents serving on school boards or parent organizations.

Researchers have found a strong positive relationship between parents initiated involvement practices and school outcomes (Epstein & Sanders, 2002). For example, researchers have found that higher levels of parent-initiated involvement, such as parent attendance of school activities, open-school nights, and parent–teacher conferences, are

8 related positively to elementary school- aged children’s school performance (Becker & Epstein, 2008). Moreover, studies with adolescents have found that parental assistance with homework is positively related to the amount of time adolescents spend on their homework (Muller & Kerbow, 1993).

The researcher notes that despite the positive relations between parental involvement practices and school-related outcomes, parental involvement declines in adolescence as many parents are much involved into their children’s activities in elementary school. Therefore, a promising next step in the research will be undertaken by the researcher to identify if parental involvement is one of the child rearing practices adopted by mothers in Kyengera market.

Parental Monitoring; another way for parents to nurture their children is to monitor their activities. In the area of behavior for example, Clark (1993) found that parents of children who monitor their children’s behavior were more likely to have high achieving children than parents who do not monitor their children. Parents’ knowledge of their children’s peers is positively related to their children’s positive grooming.

The researcher notes the role of monitoring as a very important parenting practice, as knowing who your child relates with, plays with, and the kind of games he or she gets involved in and at a specific time is very important. However, a few parents carefully observe and guide their children with whom to relate and play with. The current study will seek to identify if monitoring is one of the basic parenting practices valued by mothers in Kyengera market.

Still in the area of surveillance, researchers have found that parental monitoring of school progress, after – school activities and monitoring of homework is related to adolescents’ completion of homework, thus high school achievement. (Muller &Kerbow, 1993). As noted earlier, parenting starts before or during pregnancy, parents have a huge task to play throughout a child’s development and all this is a function of parenting practices. The

9 current study will seek to identify these parenting practices used by mothers in Kyengera market in grooming their children.

Effective supervision as a social support by parents to their children controls their behavior. Keeping track of when they occur and consistent discipline must be insured by parents at the sight of those behavior in order to prevent their development (Crosswhite, 2008). It is actually a fact that parental supervision can influence children’s behavior. This literature is in total support of the attachment theory of parents with their children; they automatically remain vigilant to check on their activities and the peers they relate with.

The Role of parental goals and aspirations; a primary way parents socialize their children is by communicating the goals they want their children to attain and the aspirations they want their children to fulfill. Parental goals and aspirations are best described as internal representations of desired states or outcomes that parents hold for their children. These, in turn, organize and direct parents’ behaviors toward their children (Austin & Vancouver, 1996; Wentzel, 1998). With respect to school achievement, parents might set certain goals and hold certain aspirations for their children, such as doing well in math class, graduating high school, and attending college. It is not only educational goals that parents should communicate to their children but, parents are the immediate caregivers from whom children learn to socialize, in this process therefore either through overt or covert behaviors of parents, children learn different goals in their lives such as observing societal laws, cultural norms, to mention but a few. The current study will find out if mothers of Kyengera market communicate their goals and aspirations to their children as one of the ways of nurturing and socializing their children.

The role of parental values. Parents can communicate the values they want their children to internalize. Parental values for example toward education represent the importance parents place on their children’s educational achievement (Bandura, 1989; Eccles& Wigfield, 1995). Researchers further assert that parents’ values towards education relate to their children’s educational attainment, persistence, and performance (Wigfield, 1993).

In this case therefore, a parent who values education will do anything it takes to facilitate their children to study and in the same way guide and counsel their children on how to achieve this. This literature emphasizes that parents who communicate their values to their children have high achieving children than parents who don’t. This is further affirmed by Ford (1992) who asserts that parental values are related to their children’s persistence in school, and attendance of college, course enrollment, and success in life. The current study will adopt this literature to identify the different parenting practices of mothers in Kyengera market.

Similarly, parents might communicate to their children their values with respect to behavior (for example, the importance of respect, trustworthy, morals, integrity, societal laws, religious way of life) intending for their children to adopt these values and beliefs. This is affirmed by Eccles and Wigfield (1995), ‘Parental values are related to their children’s setting of future goals, intellectual accomplishments, and success in life’. Indeed parental communication of their values to their children is a strong way of socializing these children to attain and accomplish their future goals and to be productive citizens, and responsible parents to their children as well in the coming generations. The current study will undertake this literature in identifying the different parenting practices among mothers of Kyengera market.

2.3 Factors that influence parenting practices

Parents seem to use different parenting practices to raise their children. In order to understand the parenting practices, there are some factors that should be reviewed. Parenting practices tend to be influenced by factors such as the knowledge and education of the parents, parents’ socio-economic status, parental earlier or childhood experiences, age, gender of parents and gender of the children (Querido, Warner & Eyberg, 2002).

Knowledge about parenting and education; Knowledge about parenting plays a vital role in parenting practices. Knowledge about parenting is defined as an area of adult social

11 cognition, consisting of the understanding of the processes of child development, care giving and child-rearing skills, as well as developmental norms (Dichtelmiller, Meisels, Plunkett, Bozytnski & Mangelsdorf, 1992). A study conducted in seven provinces and regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta & British Columbia) in Canada examined parenting knowledge among Canadian couples and single mothers of children under the age of six. The results showed that parents’ knowledge about children and parenting helps the parents to behave positively towards their children (Oldershaw, 2002).The researcher acknowledges the work done by these scholars and suggests that these parents’ positive behavior towards their children could have been due to their exposure to different child development knowledge and philosophies of child rearing practices which helps them throughout this process.

A study using interviews to examine disciplinary practices in fifty-two African-American mothers reported that African-American mothers who have higher education have been shown to be less likely to use very demanding and unresponsive practices with their children when compared to African American mothers who have lower levels of education. The reason as stated in the study was that mothers with a higher education have been exposed to different philosophies of child rearing in the course of their education (Kelley, Sanchez-Hucles & Walker, 1993). This could be true as families with lower education lack knowledge and skills on how to socialize their children.

In summary, one can say that studies looking at how parental knowledge influences parenting practices show that knowledge about parenting play a significant role in how parents rear their children. Parents who have higher knowledge and education tend to be responsible, supportive, attentive and caring in raising their children, while less educated and informed parents seem to be the opposite. This knowledge will be adapted to by the current study to identify if knowledge and education is one of the determinants of parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market.

The socio-economic status of the parents is another factor that influences parenting practices. A study on corporal punishment among African-Americans, survey reported that parents who belonged to lower socio-economic groups used more harsh parenting practices compared to parents in higher socio-economic groups (Straus & Stewart, 1999). Hoff, Laursen and Tardif (2002) also found that mothers with low socio-economic status were more controlling, restrictive, and disapproving than mothers with a high socio-economic status.

Furthermore, Querido, Warner and Eyberg (2002) examined the association between parenting practices and child behavioral problems among preschool children aged 3 to 6 years old. Their study found that mothers with higher incomes were responsive and easily afforded their children’s needs while parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and lower education levels were stressed with their children’s needs due to low incomes. The researcher notes the work done by these scholars and affirms that, every child is entitled to basic needs and the failure to meet these needs by their caregivers’ results into behavioral challenges especially in adolescence. Cases like negative peer influence, robbery, dropping out of school, truancy, gambling, and lack of respect to law are unavoidable. The current study will undertake this literature in identifying the different parenting practices among mothers of Kyengera market.

Age is another factor; parents’ age is seen as another influencing factor when raising children. Lee and Gutterman (2010) found that younger mothers used harsh discipline on their children more than older mothers. The reasons for using harsh discipline may be due to mothers’ lack of maturity and exposure to different disciplinary practices and experiences (Kelley, Sanchez-Hucles & Walker, 1993). The current study will adopt this literature to study the parenting practices adopted by mothers in Kyengera market.

Gender of the parents; the gender of the parents can be seen as another factor that influence parenting practices. A study that examined the relationship between demographic

13 characteristics and parenting practices among 220 parents of students in fifth and sixth grades reported that mothers were very supportive and attentive to their children’s needs while fathers were very demanding and harsh (Kashahu, Osmanaga & Bushati, 2014). The current study will focus on mothers’ parenting practices in socializing their children.

Gender of children; the gender of children is another factor to consider when understanding the kind of socialization process that parents use to raise their children. A study of 274 adolescents in Cape Town in South Africa examined gender and age differences in parenting practices. The results showed that girls have a greater relationship with their mothers than boys do. Furthermore, the rates of harsh verbal and physical discipline by the parents showed that girls received less harsh verbal and physical discipline than boys (Mboya, 1995; McKee, Roland, Coffelt, Olson, Forehand, Massar, Jones, Gaffney & Zens, 2007). The current study acknowledges the work done by these scholars; this literature will be adopted in identifying the different parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market.

In summary, the demographic characteristics of parents, such as knowledge, socioeconomic status, age and gender are important factors that can influence parenting practices. The parenting practices are an important issue when discussing parenting among mothers. Parents perform an important role in the lives of their children and they are in the position to teach their children when they misbehave, as this is the basic component of child-rearing and parenting (Thomas & Dettlaff, 2011). The kind of behaviors that parents have toward their children will impact the relationship that parents build with their children. For instance, at infancy, parents try to build an attachment relationship with their babies for proper development. The kind of relationship parents build with their children impacts their children’s personalities and well-being in life. Hence, parents should come up with positive methods to raise their children and build good relationships with them for proper development.

2.4 Challenges faced by parenting mothers

While parents generally are filled with anticipation about their children’s unfolding personalities, many parents’ lives are fraught with problems and uncertainty regarding their ability to ensure their child’s physical, emotional, or economic well-being. Poverty has been found to have a profound detrimental influence on children and families (Luther, 1999). One of the pathways through which poverty has been found to affect children is the disruption of parenting (Elder, Nguyen & Caspi, 2000). Elder’s work found that economic hardship negatively affected children through its disruption of parenting and other family processes for example, financial loss was associated with fathers’ increased irritability, depression, and explosive behavior, which, in turn, were associated with harsher and more arbitrary discipline practices. It was these disruptions in parenting which led to increased behavioral and social emotional problems among the children studied (Elder et al., 2000).

The researcher acknowledges the work done by these scholars and notes that, although poverty has clearly been identified as being detrimental for children and families, its study has highlighted the fact that not all families exposed to poverty are doomed to fail. In fact, if families exposed to poverty and the stressors associated with it have resiliency, children can and do achieve psychosocial success when they have access to community resources that serve as buffers against the sustained effects of economic disadvantage. This literature will be adopted to identify the challenges experienced by parenting mothers in Kyengera market.

Family discord and divorce is another challenge to explore. Many adolescents are experiencing their parents fighting and later divorcing. This can cause direct stress to an adolescent (Amato & Cheadle, 2008). The conflict between parents may possibly spill over and either decrease the quality of parenting or weaken the attachment between the adolescent and the parents. With the attachment weakened, self-control decreases because the parents may not be present both physically and emotionally to the needs of an adolescent causing the adolescent to act out and engage inappropriate behaviors. The

15 literature by Amato and Cheadle has brought out very clearly how parental attachment as one of the basic parenting practices that may influence the adolescents’ behavior but it fails to give out the age of the adolescent it talked about and the area where it may be applicable. Despite the limitations of the literature, it is in line with the objective one of this study hence the research will use it to investigate the challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting role in Kyengera market.

Inadequate resources to aid the parenting process. Resources may vary in number, availability, and quality at best, and at worst may be offered sporadically or not at all. Resources may be close at hand (like. family members), or they may be remote like, government programs. They may be too expensive to access, or they may be substantively inadequate (Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo& Garcia-Coll, 2001).Whether located in early childhood programs, school-based classrooms, well-child clinics, or family networks, support for parents of young children is critical to enhancing healthy early childhood experiences, promoting positive outcomes for children, and helping parents build strong relationships with their children. This means that parents especially in low income families should be helped in accessing these facilitations.

Lower education status among mothers. According to Hoff-Ginsberg and Tardif (1995), less educated parents lack the structural resources to provide more stimulating environments for their children that characterize parenting interactions. Parents with knowledge and skills about children and parenting are more likely to behave positively towards their children than uneducated parents (Oldershaw, 2002).This is because educated parents could have been exposed to different child development knowledge and philosophies about child rearing practices than the unprivileged parents who are less likely than educated mothers to communicate effectively with their children or to show either verbal and physical affection toward their children. This limits the attachment between a mother and a child in as far as socialization is concerned.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter describes and justifies the research design, study area, sample selection, data collection, data analysis, ethical considerations and the challenges which were faced.

3.2 Research design

A case study design was adopted. A case study design is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon (case) in-depth and within its real world context. Therefore, with the purpose of identifying parenting practices among mothers to ensure that detailed information is picked. A case study design was considered to be more

appropriate as it facilitated detailed examination of a specific phenomenon within its context and also enabled the researcher to find in-depth information that would answer the questions raised about parenting practices.

3.3 Study Area

The study was carried out in Kyengera market located in Kyengera town council, Wakiso District. It is situated along the Kampala Masaka high at approximately 20 kilometres from Kampala city. The market is inhabited by people from various tribes of Uganda and it is the study area for the research because it is where most of the desired categories of targeted population were found. These people were engaged in income generating activities where they earn a living.

3.4 Study population

I focused on mothers between 18-45 years because at this age, mothers had already been exposed to child development knowledge and philosophies of child rearing practices.

3.4.1 Selection of participants

I used non probability sampling technique to get participants in Kyengera market; I adopted this method to help me identify elements in the population which were unknown. I used purposive sampling whereby I purposely chose participants who had relevant information and knowledge to the research topic and were willing to share it with me. The sample selection was ten participants and two key informants and for the key informants, after identifying them I made appointments and met them.

3.5 Methods of data collection and tools

The following methods were used in collecting data for my study; in-depth interview and key informants interview

3.5.1 In-depth interviews

This was a research method which is I used to conduct intensive individual interviews.(Taylor & Bogdan, 1998) define in-depth interviews as repeated face to face interactions between the researcher and participants directed towards understanding the participants perspectives on their lives, and their situation as expressed in their own words. During data collection I used this method to get the required information through face to face interaction with the participants. This was intended to understand people’s opinions, experiences and their situation about the study. This was achieved through using in-depth interview guide which listed various questions I discussed with the participants extensively. These questions were minimum to get enough time for the discussions.

3.5.2 Key informant interviews

These were qualitative interview carried out with people who knew what was going on in the community. I used this method during data collection to gather firsthand information from a wide range of people. Key informants included chairperson of market vendors within the market and head of developmental programmes within the market (Cooperative groups).This was achieved through using key informant interview guide when collecting data from the key informants.

3.6 Data analysis

Data was analysed using the thematic analysis method. Thematic method of data analysis is the process of identifying patterns or themes within qualitative data (Braun & Clarke). I used thematic method of analysis because it was simple to use and allowed flexibility in the researchers’ choice of theoretical framework. Thematic method of data analysis

allowed for rich, detailed and complexed description of data. I analysed data following the six-phase guide stated by (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

I started by writing down data and early impressions and perceptions from the participants. These included mothers and the key informants. After writing down data, I organized data in a meaningful way through coding using a theoretical thematic analysis. I searched for the themes and these included searching for more relevant and significant data. I reviewed and modified the themes to ensure that they were making sense and also confirm whether the data I collected was supporting the themes. More so I gathered together all the data I collected from the participants that was relevant to each theme. Furthermore I defined the themes such as parenting practices adopted by mothers; factors that influenced parenting practices, challenges experienced by mothers. These were intended to identify the essence of what each theme was about and finally I wrote the final report.

3.7 Ethical Considerations

For the sake of respect and protection of the integrity of the participants, l observed high level of confidentiality of the data I collected. Some aspects of confidentiality which I observed included.

The identity of the participants were kept anonymous, instead pseudonyms were used. Sharing information about the participants with other purposes other than research was unethical, therefore In this aspect I ensured that the information participants provided was kept anonymous, furthermore after the information was collected, I ensured that its source could not be Identified and in a situation where I interacted with the participants repeatedly, I was extra careful that others could not have access to the information I collected before.

I avoided bias. In the field, I ensured that there was no bias when interviewing participants and when reporting the findings. This means that I reported the findings as they truly existed and no information was hidden.

I did not ask participants close ended questions but instead I asked them open ended questions such that they express their feelings and perception in their own words

3.8 Challenges faced

Financial constraints. I faced a challenge of financial constraints such as money during data collection which delayed me in making the final research reports. I solved this challenge by seeking financial assistance from the parents, brothers and sisters.

Limited time was also a challenge, as data collection goes through many processes and this required a lot of time compared to the limited time scheduled on university academic calendar. I solved this challenge by working tirelessly to meet the deadline.

CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the findings on parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market Kyengera town council, Wakiso district. The findings are presented in different sections related to the specific objectives of the study which include, identifying parenting practices among mothers, Identifying factors that influence parenting practices among mothers and examining challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process in Kyengera market. This chapter involves participant’s view of points and the findings are presented in a thematic form. This chapter begins by describing demographic characteristics of participants and later focuses on different specific objective of the study. Findings are presented as they truly existed and no information is hidden.

4.2 Demographic characteristics of participants

These include age, marital status, level of education, number of children and age of children. The study was conducted among 10 primary participants and 2 key informants making a total of 12. The demographic characteristics of participants are presented in the table below.

Table 1: Presented below is a table showing demographic characteristics of participants

Variable Participants Frequencies Percentage Sex Female 10 100 Age 30-40 10 100 Level of education Primary 6 60 secondary 4 40 Religion Anglican 4 40 Catholic 3 30 Muslim 2 20 Born again 1 10 Number of children Boys 4 40 Girls 6 60 Age of children 1-12 7 70 12-18 3 30 Total 10 100

Source: Primary data.

From the table above, all the participants belonged to the age group of 30-40. On the education level, the table shows that all the participants were literate, six of them stopped at primary level while 4 participants reached secondary level and none of the participants reached university level. On the side of religion four were Anglican, 3 belonged catholic, 2 were Muslims and finally 1 participant was a born again.

4.3 Parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market

4.3.1 Ensuring close monitoring of children

Close monitoring of children was one of the parenting practices mothers used to raise their children. Participants reported that they monitored their children knowing whom their children related with, played with, the kinds of games they got involved in, their progress at school, school activities, how they related with their fellow friends and their willing to

23 cope with challenges. This was seen as a vital parenting practice by mothers if they are to have high achieving children in future. Hamidah (not real name) aged 40 and a mother of four children stated:

“Sometimes I monitor my children, I check on them to see whether they have done the homework, if not, I help them to do it, I also cross check to see whether they submit their books for marking and the same time if they are doing corrections for the questions they fail. I also monitor my children movements, the kinds of friends they have, the kinds of games they get involve in. I do all this to help my children to be high achievers in future. However, sometimes I fail because of being occupied with work”.

The above quotation implies that though mothers tried as much as possible to monitor their children, sometimes they found it hard to monitor them. Many single mothers were strained with financial hardships which made it hard sometimes to closely monitor their children. Since these mothers were the sole provider of their families, many of them got occupied with their jobs for more than eight hours per day hustling to look for money to sustain their families. These limited their relative time and energy which was needed to closely monitor their children. This caused obvious effects to their adolescents as many of them got involved in inappropriate behaviors such as school dropout, robbery, smoking and alcohol drinking (Wadsworth, 2008).

However, findings revealed that mothers who monitored their adolescents in many areas such as behavior, peers and school progress, their children were high achievers. Many of them performed well in class and behaved positively than children whose mother did not monitor them (Clark, 1993).

Study findings further revealed that children who were closely monitored, they readily explored and interacted with their surrounding because they learned that they would rely on their mothers as a secure base for protection and comfort, children were also more pro- social, empathetic and less aggressive (Cassidy, 2001; Simons & Paternite, 2001).

4.3.2 Consistent disciplining

This was another parenting practice that mothers used to raise their children. Some participants reported that they consistently disciplined their children such that their children choose acceptable behaviors and drop away the inappropriate ones. Though most of the children did not want that consistent disciplining, it was the role of the mother to practice it regularly. Jovia (not real name) aged 27 and a mother of two children stated:

“I consistently discipline my children such that they know the kinds of behavior I want and my expectations from them. This has helped my children to do away with socially unacceptable behavior such as hitting each other, teasing each other, robbery and others which they used to do”.

John, 40 years old and a chairman of the market stated:

“Though consistent discipline is a good parenting practice there are mothers who have failed to get the best out from it simply because they are not consistent with their disciplining approaches for example today their children does something wrong they punish them and the next day they repeat the same thing, they don’t punish them and as a result children get confused with what is wrong and right and a result, they will continue doing that bad thing until consistent discipline is maintained by their mothers”.

The above quotation implies that many mothers consistently disciplined their children through teaching them responsible behaviors such that they choose to do what is right and do away with the bad ones. Mothers reported that this was also aimed to help their children learn to take the responsibilities and consequences of their choices and actions they take such that they manage their behaviors. Findings revealed that mothers who consistently disciplined their children controlled and prevented the development of inappropriate behaviors than mothers who did not consistently discipline their children (Crosswhite,

2008). Inappropriate behaviors that were prevented included robbery, drug use and school dropout.

Other mothers used physical punishments as a way of disciplining their children whenever their children wronged. They could hit their children, pinch them and kick them. However findings revealed that although mothers controlled and prevented their children from misbehaving, it only taught them that mistakes could only be solved through beating, violence, through punishments rather than teaching, guiding and counseling. These had a negative impact on children as many of them became violet in future.

It should also be noted that not all mothers consistently disciplined their children. Findings revealed that some mothers were inconsistent in their disciplining approaches and as a result their children did not change their way of behaving.

4.3.3 Communicating parental goals

Participants reported that many mothers in Kyengera market communicated their goals they wanted their children to attain and aspiration to fulfill. Study findings revealed that when mothers communicated their goals to their children, it organised and directed their behavior towards their children (Austin & Vancouver, 1996; Wentzel, 1998).Christine (not real name) aged 30 and a mother of two children stated:

“Communicating parental goals is one of the good parenting practices which every mother should do regularly because it helps children to work harder such that they attain the set goals. I regularly communicate my goals to my children. some of the goals I have for them is reading harder and achieve success in future, being humble, learn society laws, my culture norms and religion such that they become responsible adults in future and also fit in the environment”.

The above quotation implies that many mothers working in Kyengera market communicated their parental goals to their children. This was aimed to keep their children on track and focused which was to help them become responsible adults later.

Mothers reported that they did not only communicate goals for their children but also helped their children to attain and fulfill the communicated goals. These was done through guiding and counseling, mothers created supportive relationships with their adolescents, engaged in school related activities, monitored their adolescents movements, peers they had and all these were intended to help their children attain the various communicated goals.

The study findings revealed that mothers mostly communicated educational goals to their children such as studying hard and get government sponsorship at higher level, graduating and getting a good job, becoming sanitary prefect. Findings revealed that this was because they did not want their children to suffer as they suffered when raising their children. Many mothers believed that they would have not suffered if their mothers had tried their level best to keep them in school. They believed that they would have been able to graduate, get a good job and live a good life with their children. Therefore they wanted their children to live a better life than they lived. That was the reason why they mostly communicated educational goals. Other few communicated goals included learning society laws such that they grow up knowing how to behave well society and meeting the demands of the environment.

4.3.4 Establishing household rules and restrictions

Participants reported that they established a number of household rules; these rules were considered on daily basis. These were intended to keep their children on track and also prevent the development of inappropriate behaviors, and once these rules were violated, mothers acted immediately by punishing the child who had wronged. This household rules helped children to know their limits. Joseline (not real name) aged 37 and a mother stated:

“My children used to follow their own schedules, they could play anytime they wanted, they could shower anytime they wanted and after seeing that, I established household rules and restriction to force my children behave responsively. Among the rules and restriction I established include, no watching television before home work is done, no food before bathing, no going to bed before praying and these rules and restriction moves with a punishment once they are violated. These have helped my children to behave in a socially acceptable way”.

The above quotation implies that establishing household rules was one of parenting practices mothers in Kyengera market used to raise their children. These were aimed to control children’s behavior and also make family lives more positive and peaceful. Mothers reported that children’s personality in future is greatly influenced by their mothers upbringing practices (Maynard & Powell, 2013). Therefore it was necessary for them to establish rules and restrictions for them to know how they had to behave and the kind of expectations their mothers hold for them.

Mothers established a number of house hold rules and restriction. These included, children could not watch television before completing home work, they could not allow them to take sapper before bathing, they could also not be allowed to go bed before praying, no coming back home beyond 6pm. These rules and restriction kept on changing whenever children aged. However, findings revealed that each household had its rules and restriction, these rules were written on a manila chart and displayed at a specific corner where every child belonged to that family had access to it. It was also revealed that these rules and restriction moved with a punishment whenever they were violated. Mothers would pull out a Cain under their bed and punish the child who had wronged. These forced children to behave in a responsible way thus became good adults later.

Findings further revealed that the established house hold rules and restriction helped children to be on track, stay focused, learnt rules that were part of life, school and society.

These in turn shaped them morally, met the environment demands and also used the available opportunities such as scholarships.

4.2.5 Training children life skills

Participants reported that they tried as much as possible to train their children life skills such that they master how to cope with every situation that comes their way and also be resilience to hardships. Participants further reported that training children life skills it was like giving their children a weapon to fight the enemy when attacked. Christine (not real name) aged 27 stated:

“Training children life skills it is like a mother giving her children a weapon which will help them live successfully in this world because any time, us their parents we shall die and it is them who shall remain on this earth, but if I train them these skills, am sure that they can be able to live successful in these world. They can be able to deal with every situation that comes their way. I have trained my children a number of life skills such as problem solving, interpersonal skills, being resilient to hardships and so many others”.

The above quotation implies that mothers were aware that it was their role to prepare their children for future life where they might not be able to help them in case they find themselves in dilemma. Mothers stated that these life skills were so important because they prepared children for life transition and also enabled their children handle every situation that came their way.

A number of skills were trained and these included, problem solving. Here mothers trained their children how they could solve their own hardships, interpersonal skills, critical thinking and being resilient to hardships. Findings revealed that children who were trained life skills were more resilient to hardships. These children also gained skills in negotiation and communications which they utilized with their social relationships throughout their lives. They were also interested in learning new things, socialize, hardworking and behaved

in socially acceptable way than those who were not trained life skills. This had a greater impact on children’s personalities in future as they gained skills in negotiation, communication and other skills which they used within their social relationships throughout their lives.

4.4 Factors that influenced parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market

4.4.1 Parental goals

Parental goals were described as internal desires that parents hold and communicated to their children. Mothers in Kyengera market had different goals which they communicated to their children. Participants reported that every mother had her own parental goals she wanted her children to attain and as a result, this influenced mothers to adopt to different parenting practices such that their children could attain the set goals such as monitoring children behaviors, knowing whom the child played with, the kind of games s/he involved in for the goal of becoming responsible adult in future, helping children with home work for the goal of academic achievement. Others goals included, becoming a sanitary prefect for the goal of preparing for leadership in future and so many others. Joan (not real name) aged 40 and a mother stated:

“I raise my children the way I do just because I have specific goals which I want my children to attain and fulfill. I use parenting practices am sure will help them to attain those goals. For example I help my children with homework such that they can achieve academic excellence, I teach them society laws such that they behave in a socially acceptable way, meet the demands of the environment and take advantage of the available opportunities effectively”.

The above quotation implies that many of the mothers knew that communicating parental goals was related to positive grooming that is why many of them communicated their goals.

Mothers stated that they regularly communicated their specific goals they wanted their children to attain such that children could stay focused to achieve the set goals.

Findings revealed that every mother had her specific goals she communicated to her children and these goals played a big role in influencing the kind of parenting practices mothers used when raising their children. Mothers stated that they did not just set the goals but also helped their children to fulfill the set goals, many of them helped their children to do homework such that they could attain academic excellence, others monitored their children movements to know the kinds of friends they had, their progress at school and so many others. These means that parental goals influenced mothers to use the parenting practices they were sure that they would help their children to attain the specific goals. Study findings further revealed that though mothers tried to communicate goals, they mainly focused on education goals such as performing well in final exams and get a government sponsorship, graduating and get a good job, performing well in science subjects to become a professional doctor in future and others. The findings revealed that since many of them were single mothers with lower levels of education and the same time having low paying jobs. This means that they suffered a lot while raising their children and therefore they did not want their children to go through the same situation. Mothers believed that they would have not suffered if their parents had tried to keep them in school, they would have graduated, get a better job and live in a good life with their children.

The above findings are linked to the literature by the previous authors that states that parental goals are best described as internal desired states that parent hold for their children. These, in turn, organize and direct parent’s behaviors towards their children (Austin & Vancouver, 1996, Wentzel, 1998).

4.4.2 Parental knowledge

Study findings revealed that knowledge was among the factors that influenced parenting practices. Many mothers reported that they raised their children the way they do just because of their knowledge and philosophies they had about child development. Joan (not real name) aged 28 stated:

“ I raise my children the way I do because of my exposure to child development knowledge and I use specific practices am sure they are of good benefit to my children and are related to positive grooming, for example getting involved in my children activities like attending extracurricular activities which in turn will improve the school related out comes”.

The above quotation implies that knowledge played a big role in influencing parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market. Mothers stated that their knowledge about child development inspired them to use the kinds of practices they were sure that they were related to positive upbringing.

Findings revealed that mothers who had knowledge about parenting behaved positively to their children (Oldershaw, 2002). This was because of their exposure to different child development knowledge. Findings also revealed that mothers who had knowledge were responsive to their children’s needs, sensitive; they were also caring, lovely, attentive and supportive (Davido, Grusec & Wolfe, 2012). They supported their children in hard situations for example whenever their children performed poorly; they supported them and encouraged them to try harder next time.

However, findings further revealed that there were also mothers who were less knowledgeable about parenting. Findings revealed that these mothers were inconsistent, not responsible, used harsh parenting practices such as corporal punishments when raising their children.

4.4.3 Socio-economic status among mothers

The study findings revealed that socioeconomic status was among the factors that influenced parenting practices among mothers working in Kyengera market. The findings revealed that many mothers belonged to low socio-economic group and these influenced their parenting. Gloria 29 years and a mother of two children stated:

“Some time I become pre-occupied with thoughts, how am going to survive with my children since am a single mother and in the process of having too much thoughts, sometimes I find myself using harsh parenting practices when the children wrongs but it is not of my intention but I just find myself doing so, just because of having so many responsibilities to meet yet I have low income”.

The above quotation implies that many mothers were always strained how they could meet their family needs. As a result some mothers used harsh parenting practices when raising their children (Straus & Stewart, 1999).

Study findings revealed that mothers were stressed and worried with the family needs they had to meet, as a result the quality of parenting between the mothers and their children reduced because mothers could not be present physically and emotionally to their children. As a result children saw their mothers as unreliable, untrustworthy and therefore some of adolescents resorted to bad behaviors such as smoking, robbery, and eventually dropped out of school.

However, the two mothers who were well off than others mothers in terms of socioeconomic status, findings revealed that they were happy, responsive to their children’s needs and caring. This was because they had financial support from relatives and they could afford to provide their children with necessities of life.

The above findings are linked to literature by Querido, Warner and Eyberg (2002).Examined the association between parenting practices and behavioral problems among preschool aged 3 to 6 years old. Their study found that mothers with higher incomes were responsive and easily afforded their children’s needs while parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were stressed with their children’s needs due to low incomes.

4.4.4 Level of education

Findings revealed that level of education was among the factors that greatly influenced parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market. Participants reported that many of them in Kyengera market attained lower level of education. Jovia (not real name) aged 27 stated:

“My father died in the war that brought the current government into power. He left me very young with three years old. I was raised by a single mother who had no potential to teach me up to higher level and therefore I stopped in primary seven. I cannot speak English and whenever my children bring home work, I send them to my neighbor to help them”.

This implies that many of mothers attained lower levels of education and this influenced their parenting when raising children. Findings revealed that among the ten primary participants, six of them stopped at primary level and the four stopped at secondary level. This explains the lower level of education mothers attained.

Findings revealed that mothers who attained low levels of education, many of them had low paying jobs thus low income. And since many of them were single mothers, this means that they were the sole providers and they had to meet family necessities but many of them

could not afford due to low income. That filled them with stress and sometimes used harsh parenting practices during the parenting process (Querido, warner & Eyberg, 2002).

4.5 Challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process in Kyengera market

Parenting mothers in Kyengera market were vulnerable to poverty which exposed them to hectic challenges when raising their children because many of them were single mothers, widows, some of them were divorced and the few married ones. Within 24 hours each day, the same person had to raise money to support and take care of her children. In Kyengera market, mothers were at risk of experiencing various challenges while raising children, not because they had more children, but because many of them were earning less.

4.5.1 Financial constraints

Participants reported that they experienced economic hardships that were linked to depressive symptoms and negative parenting attitudes. Financial problems are perhaps the biggest challenges faced by mothers. Several mothers revealed that financial problem was the biggest challenges they were facing. Bridget (not real name) aged 32 and a mother of two children stated:

“I am a single mother of two children, my husband disappeared and all the responsibility of taking care of children are on me, I have to buy them the necessities, pay school fees, pay rent and other bills such as yaka and all this expenses require a lot of money compared to the little income I earn. In such a situation, sometimes I get occupied with my work leaving little time to interact with my children”.

The above statement implies that Bridget(mother) could not spend all her time rearing children, even if she believed that spending more time with children through regular interaction was related to positive grooming. The findings from the current study revealed that many of the mother’s immediate financial challenge were to fulfill basic needs such as

food, shelter. This was because they had low paying jobs. The few who were married, their husbands did not bother providing basic needs to their families, some were drunkards, while others were unemployed and in such a situation all the responsibilities fallen to mothers ( Leondari & kiosseoglou, 2002).

The findings also revealed that financial hardships placed worries on emotional wellbeing of mothers that resulted into reduction in psychological functioning such as development of depressive symptoms which eventually led to low quality parenting (Cummings & Davies, 1994).

Findings further revealed that since mothers had low income, they lacked physical resources and social network which would have helped them in their parenting role. This means that mothers did not get access to resources such as friends, government sponsored programs, money which left them stressed with their children’s necessities (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn,2000).

4.5.2 Failure to find childcare support

Mothers reported that they experienced a challenge of finding child care support. This was because good care support with persons other than relatives was often difficult or too expensive to find especially families who had low income and when the mothers were occupied with their jobs for more than eight hours, there was obvious effect on the family because the large share of day to day parenting responsibilities fallen to mothers . Catherine (not real name) aged 27 stated:

“One of the biggest challenges is finding time for my children because am always occupied with my work hustling to get a living such that I and my children we can survive. In such a situation sometimes I fail to care for my children because sometime I leave work late, very tired and pre-occupied with money thoughts and so many others”.

The above statement implies that some of the mothers were always busy with their work and sometime could not get time to take care of their children. Situation worsened to mothers who had no any relative to bail them. This obviously affected the family which in turn led to family disorganization because large share of day to day parenting responsibilities fallen to mothers (Leondari& Kiosseoglu, 2002).

Findings revealed that mothers were the immediate caregiver and they had to be available whenever their children needed them but this was the opposite to most of the mothers working in Kyengera market. Many families found that they needed two wage earners in order to maintain the family budget (Ochocka& Janzen, 2008). This forced many mothers to enter the labor force where many of them got occupied with their work for more than eight hours per day hustling to get a living for their families. As a result, children developed a view that their attachment figure was unreliable which later created insecure attachment. As children aged they doubted themselves, they felt worthless and misunderstood, underappreciated, and worthless. These children also developed low levels of independence and self-sufficiency which later affected their personalities in life.

4.5.3 Family misunderstandings and divorce

It is the role of both parents to find all the ways to take care and raise their children together but this was the opposite of many mothers working in Kyengera market. Mothers reported that many of their husbands refused to take care of their children because of family misunderstandings and as a result, the responsibility of taking care of children shifted to mothers, of which most of them had low paying jobs thus low income and they could not afford taking care of their children alone. Gloria (not real name) aged 29 stated:

“The moment we got some misunderstandings with my husband, he stopped taking care of his children; he no longer buys them food. He does not want to pay for them school fees and all the responsibilities are on me”.

Brian (not real name) aged 45 and a head of developmental programs further stated:

“The biggest challenge mothers working here they are facing is family misunderstandings. Many of them, their husbands abandoned then because of some small misunderstandings and are the one now taking care of their children”.

The above quotation implies that fathers’ no longer fulfill their responsibilities as heads of the families and the all family obligations shifted to mothers of whom they had low paying jobs and low income whereby they could not afford meeting the family budgets alone.

Study findings revealed that many adolescents experienced their parents fighting and later divorcing. This caused direct stress to the adolescent as many of them started worrying about the future without one of their parent (Amato & Cheadle, 2008). This in turn weakened attachment between adolescents and their mothers and as attachment weakened, self-control decreased because mothers could not be present to the needs of the adolescents which forced adolescents to act out and engaged in inappropriate behaviors.

Findings also revealed that adolescents whose mothers experienced parental divorce engaged in crimes such as robbery, murder, theft while others were unruly.

4.5.4 Lower education level

Education level was among the challenges experienced by mothers in Kyengera market. Findings revealed that among the ten primary participants, six of them stopped at primary level and four of them stopped at secondary level. This explains the lower level of education mothers attained and these had a negative impact on mothers parenting. Gloria (not real name) aged 29 stated:

“My mother had a perception that it is not important to teach a girl child because when she grows up, she will go into marriage and she will be taken care of her husband, that why she did not keep me in school and that is why am suffering now. My husband abandoned me and I cannot meet all my children needs alone because I earn little income. But once I had gone to school and studied, I feel I would have got a good job and be in a good life”.

The above quotation implies that many mothers attained lower levels of education and had low income. These means that they could not manage to raise their children alone. Mothers reported that if they had studied and graduated, they would have been able to get a good job and raised their children.

Findings revealed that mothers who had lower levels of education with low paying jobs had low income. This affected their quality of parenting because most of them especially the single mother could not afford to meet the family budget. This caused families instabilities in the long run because many mothers were not responsive and sensitive to their children’s wants (Querido, Warner & Eyberg, 2002).

Findings further revealed that mothers who attained lower levels of education lacked physical resources such as money, friends and relatives government sponsored programs and social networks to aid them in parenting process such that their families sustain and live better lives. This made the role of patenting very hard on the side of mothers working in Kyengera market. (Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo & Garcia-Coll,2001).

CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This chapter therefore, presents the summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations for further research.

5.2 Summary of findings

The summary of findings is categorized into three major themes as stated below

5.2.1 Parenting practices among mothers

Mothers were very important figures in lives of their children because their parenting practices impacted their children’s personalities later. Finding revealed that many mothers used a number of parenting practices and these included.

Ensuring close monitoring of children. Close monitoring of children was one of the parenting practices mothers used when upbringing their children. Findings revealed that mothers who monitored their children behaviors, their children were high achievers (Clark, 1993). Mothers monitored their children through knowing whom their children played with, related with, the kinds of games they involved in and their school progress. This was aimed to keep their children on track and also behave in a socially acceptable way.

Consistent discipline of children. This was another parenting practices mothers used to raise their children. Findings revealed that mothers who consistently disciplined their children their children behaved in a socially acceptable, than those whose mother did not consistently disciplined them. This was done through teaching children responsible

behaviors such that they choose to do right things and do away with bad behaviors. Other mothers used physical punishments as a way of disciplining their children such slapping and pinching. All these were aimed to control and prevent the development of inappropriate behaviors such that children become responsible adults in future.

Communicating parental goals. Many mothers communicated parental goals they wanted their children to attain. Findings revealed that every mother had her parental goals she wanted their children to attain and these goals influenced their ways of parenting. Mothers used those parenting practices they were sure that would help their children attain the communicated goals. Some of communicated goals included studying hard, learning society laws and religion. Mothers also established a number of house hold rules and restriction, these rules were considered on a daily basis and moved with a punishment whenever children violated them. A number of household rules established included no watching television before doing homework, no food before bathing and no going to bed before praying.

Furthermore mothers trained their children life skills. This was aimed to prepare children for life transition such that they know how they could know how to cope with any situation that comes their way. These included problem solving, communication, critical thinking and socialization.

5.2.2 Factors that influenced parenting practices

A number of factors influenced parenting practices. These included.

Parental goals. Many mothers had parental goals they wanted their children to attain. This influenced the parenting practices mothers used. Findings revealed that mothers used specific practices they were sure that would help their children attain the set goals. Some of parental goals included, studying hard, learning society laws, religion and culture. Parental knowledge was also among factors that influenced parenting practices. Findings revealed that mothers who had knowledge about parenting were responsive, sensitive, caring their children’s needs than less knowledgeable mothers.

Socioeconomic status was another factor that greatly influenced parenting practices. Findings revealed many of the mothers belonged to low socioeconomic status. Mothers who belonged to lower socioeconomic status had low paying jobs thus low income. This means that mothers were always strained with financial hardship as a result many of them used harsh parenting practices such as corporal punishments (Straus & Stewart, 1999).

Level of education. Findings revealed that level of education greatly influenced parenting practices. Many mothers in Kyengera market attained lower level of education and as a result these mothers had low paying jobs and low income and they could not afford taking care of their children alone. These filled them with stress and sometimes resulted into depressive symptoms.

5.2.3 Challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process

The study revealed that many mothers’ lives were filled with problems and uncertainty regarding their ability to ensure their children physical, emotional or economic well-being.

Financial constraints were the biggest challenge experienced by mothers in Kyengera market. Findings revealed that mothers were always strained with financial hardship. These caused failure of mothers to meet their children’s needs and as a result many families lived in lives of misery.

Lower education level was another challenge mothers experienced during their parenting role. Findings revealed that mothers who attained lower education had low paying jobs and low income. These means that these mothers always found hardship in meeting the family budget as a result insecure attachment was created which caused a negative impact on children.

Family misunderstandings and divorce. Findings revealed that many fathers refused to take care of their families and as a result family responsibilities shifted to mothers but these mothers could not afford to provide family necessities because they had low paying jobs with low income.

5.3 Conclusions

Mothers working in Kyengera market used a number of parenting practices when raising their children. These parenting practices were influenced by a number of factors such parental knowledge, socioeconomic status and others. In the process of parenting mothers experienced a number of challenges that made their role difficult. Therefore, more support is needed such as financial support, awareness campaigns and others to help mothers do their role effectively.

5.4 Recommendations

It is the researcher’s wish to express the following recommendations that will further improve and lead to positive responses on challenges experienced by mothers working in Kyengera market.

I recommend the government of Uganda to support mothers financially by injecting money in their cooperative groups such that they can develop themselves improve their standards of living and also live satisfying lives.

I recommend an awareness campaigns on the importance of marriage institution which has been seriously downplayed in Uganda. The rate at which marriages are breaking up is so high yet the victims of this seem to be mothers with helpless children. This information is in line with the study findings which revealed that most of the mothers in Kyengera market are single. Therefore, the campaign will help to re-orientate young men and women to promote marital responsibility, thus reducing on family misunderstandings and divorce.

Counseling is recommended for mothers who suffer from psychological tortures and other negative situations especially with a separation or divorced based situation. Counseling can help to make profound impact on lives of mothers and also navigate difficult situations such as divorce and help them focus on important things.

5.4.1 Recommendations for further research

The current study identified parenting practices adopted by mothers, identified factors that influenced parenting practices and challenges experienced by mothers in the parenting process.

Further research should further examine the influence of mothers in their children’s personalities and well-being in life.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: In-depth interview guide for parenting mothers

Dear mother,

I am SSEBUGGWAWO HAMZA, a student pursuing a bachelor degree of social work and social administration of Makerere University carrying out an academic study on parenting practices among mothers in Kyengera market. In your position, you have useful information to contribute to this study by answering questions below; the information given will remain confidential and purely academic.

Participant details

SEX Male Female

Age Marital status Single Married Divorced Widow Level of education None Primary Secondary Diploma Others specify Number of children Age of children

QUESTIONS

1. What is your understanding of parenting practices?

2. How do you tell good parenting practices?

3. How best do you raise your children as a mother?

4. Why do you raise your children the way you do?

5. What specific kind of behavior or things when not done by a mother when raising children makes her reckless?

6. How difficult for a mother to raise children?

7. What makes it difficult for mothers’ to raise children?

8. How can these challenges be addressed to achieve responsive parenting?

THANKYOU FOR YOUR TIME

APPENDIX 2: Key informant interviews guide for key informants

Dear Sir/ Madam.

QUESTIONS

1. How would you describe the behavior of mothers towards their children?

2. How can you describe mothers’ involvement in their children activities?

3. How are mothers able to balance work and the same time attend to their children?

4. What inspires mothers to raise their children in a specific way?

5. What difficulties do mothers face when raising children?

6. How can these difficulties be addressed?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME