Essay 173 – Family is the most powerful influence on a child’s development

GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 173

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people think that family is the most powerful influence on a child’s development while others feel that other factors such as television and friends play a greater role today.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer:

Child development has sparked a heated debate in the public domain as to whether the family has the strongest influence on a child’s progress or other factors like television, and peers play a key role in that. This essay will delineate both notions, but I personally believe that the family plays the most vital role.

Children spend a great deal of time in front of the TV and thereby getting influenced considerably by the shows on it. Television programmes can be entertaining as well as educational, and unveil a new world for a child, providing children with a golden opportunity to learn new things, acquire knowledge on different cultures, and get exposure to ideas they may never come from their own society. Likewise, children spend substantial amounts of time with their friends at school and outside as well. For children, therefore, peers play a vital role in growing up and are an essential part of their emotional and social development. For example, many studies found that attributes such as self-esteem, altruism, and social skills set, are positively correlated with making friends.

Another factor in young children’s’ improvement, which is more crucial than television programmes and friends, is the family. A child learns many of the behaviours from the ambience around them as they grow up. For most children, this learning commences with the family at home. Family members are the first people that children interact intimately with. In fact, the relationship between a child and his or her parent is a unique bond that lays the foundation of a child’s personality, traits, behaviour and values. For instance, plenty of studies have already come out that the way a child is cared for, loved, and nurtured at homes pave the way for thriving better in his life.

In pithy, both factors have a role to play in child development, but family role exceeds all other factors in importance in the sense that a child’s socialization and learning are most influenced by their parents as the family is the child’s primary social group.