Exploring the Role of Practical Wisdom in Addressing Adolescent Childrearing Dilemmas

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Stephen A. Small,David Charles Metler
• Date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12400

S A. SUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison

D C MUniversity of Michigan Health System

Exploring the Role of Practical Wisdom in

Addressing Adolescent Childrearing Dilemmas

Objective: Toexplore whether practical wisdom

may provide a useful lens for understanding how

mothers can address difcult childrearing prob-

lems more effectively when raising adolescents.

Background: One of the major difculties of

raising adolescents is that there are no clear-cut

responses or universal solutions to many of

the problems that regularly arise. Parents are

expected to make responsible decisions about

complex, indenite problems even though they

may lack a thorough understanding of the sit-

uation and have little formal training in chil-

drearing. Practical wisdom—the ability to make

sound, ethical judgments and decisions about

difcult and uncertain problems—maybe a valu-

able asset for addressing such challenges.

Method: Thirty mothers of adolescents

(12–17years of age) were asked to reason

aloud about how they would respond to a series

of hypothetical childrearing dilemmas.

Results: Guided by prior work on practical

wisdom, our qualitative analysis identied

a complex combination of eight interrelated

parenting wisdom strategies: Compassion

for Self and Child, Integrative Thinking,

Parenting Knowledge, Perspective-Taking,

Problem-Framing, Purpose Identication,

Reection, and Socioemotional Awareness.

Department of Human Development and Family Stud-

ies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1300 Linden Drive,

Madison, WI 53706 (sasmall@wisc.edu).

Key Words: adolescence, decision-making, mothers, parent-

ing, problem-solving, wisdom.

Conclusion: The ndings provide evidence that

mothers sometimes use a process that has been

historically conceptualized as practical wisdom

and offer insight into what some of these prac-

tices entail.

Implications: The identication of these wise

problem-solving strategies highlight an impor-

tant overlooked aspect of childrearing and hold

promise as a valuable asset for helping mothers

address difcult parenting problems.

A major challenge of raising adolescents is that

there are often no simple answers or universally

applicable solutions. Many childrearing prob-

lems involveconicting interests, moral choices,

and questions about whose authority should pre-

vail (Smetana, 2011; Sokhabi, 2013). Parents

are expected to make important and responsi-

ble decisions about complex, indenite prob-

lems where there may not be a single correct

response (e.g., How should a parent deal with an

adolescent who holds religious beliefs that are

in conict with their own? What is an appropri-

ate response to a teen who chooses to be sexu-

ally active?). Moreover, parents often face such

matters despite incomplete or imperfect knowl-

edge and understanding of a situation and lit-

tle formal training in parenting practices. Even

if parents are well versed in the latest scien-

tic knowledge regarding adolescent develop-

ment and childrearing practices, effective chil-

drearing requires more. Indeed, good parenting

practice, like other types of practice, involves

Family Relations 69 (April 2020): 365–379365

DOI:10.1111/fare.12400