Early Childhood Care Practices and Values of Families of North Shewa, Amhara Cultural Background
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Date
2023-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This thesis aims to describe, analyze, and understand the early childhood care practices and values of families with North Shewa Amhara cultural background. The study has taken a qualitative method of inquiry, which allowed the investigation of the phenomenon more deeply by observing the life of three families living in North Shewa Zone Metikoria village, Goshebado village, and Debirebirhan city. The study's design is Ethnography because ethnography as a research design is highly suitable to study the culture and practices of a group of people in their natural setting. In this research, it was critical to employ ethnography in order to closely explore the different care practices that families, especially mothers, implement to support the development of their children and to examine the meanings and values underlying the care practices to support the development of their children., And to examine how these practices are influenced by social, cultural, and historical factors. The parents, grandparents, parents, siblings, and the children themselves from the three households served as the main sources of data. A detailed examination of the families' actual lives was documented. Due to their knowledge and experience with indigenous health care and their close association with the families, practitioners of traditional medicine were also discussed. 20 interviews with 5 parents, 5 children, 3 older siblings, 4 grandparents (community elders), and 3 indigenous medicine practitioners. and various field notes were collected in a period of six months’ time. The analysis of the study is presented thematically based on two global themes that respond to the two research questions. The different practices related to health, nutrition, safety, cleanliness, learning, and stimulation of young children are presented in detail and their values are unpacked. The study encourages applying culturally responsive and appropriate approaches to early childhood care that respect and value the uniqueness of the communities children come
from. Likewise, it highlights that childhood programs can benefit greatly from the rich indigenous values and practices documented in this study. The findings also indicate the importance of producing more research on the subject because there is a lot of learning and insight that could be generated from the various cultures in Ethiopia.
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Early Childhood Care Practices and Values