County Environment Provides Built-In Advantages for Parents : Child development: The region's good schools, safe communities and relative affluence are more likely to instill a sense of self-worth in children, experts say.

County Environment Provides Built-In Advantages for Parents : Child development: The region’s good schools, safe communities and relative affluence are more likely to instill a sense of self-worth in children, experts say.

By FRED ALVAREZ

Oct. 8, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Growing up in Ventura County really can make a difference.

Parental involvement and other factors being equal, authorities on child development say places such as Ventura County--with built-in advantages of good schools, safe cities and relative affluence--are more likely to produce good kids who know the difference between right and wrong and who have a positive sense of self-worth.

“It makes a big difference what kind of place a kid is raised in,” said Barbara T. Bowman, president of Chicago’s Erikson Institute, which specializes in child-development research.

“Some children are particularly vulnerable, no matter how wonderful the environment,” Bowman added. “But there is no question that there are more disadvantages to growing up in a place where some of the basic needs are lacking.”

Chief among the reasons that Ventura County is such a good place for kids is that many parents share common goals for their children. Often, newcomers are lured to the county by the same qualities that have kept people here for generations.

As a result, whole communities, in a sense, pitch in to help raise children and keep them on track.

“Parents come together and form a community and that’s what kids see,” said Julia Koppich, director of Policy Analysis for California Education, a UC Berkeley-Stanford education think tank.

“They see a whole lot of people from different circumstances--who they like and respect--share a sense of common expectations for them. That’s so important.”

But Bowman, Koppich and others are quick to point out that a place of privilege also can produce its share of problems for children.

Children who grow up in affluent communities might be lulled into thinking that money alone can solve life’s problems, they say.

Furthermore, in communities such as Ventura County’s, children can grow up with little exposure to other races and cultures.

“They are at a disadvantage when they move into more complex communities, when they move next to people more diverse than what they are used to,” Bowman said. “There is nothing more disadvantageous than a kid growing up thinking everybody is like he is, or ought to be like he is.”

Still, when matched against poorer communities where social ills often overpower families, places such as Ventura County stand out.

“Parents everywhere tend to love their children and do a lot of good things for them,” said Arloc Sherman, with the Washington-based Children’s Defense Fund and author of the book “Wasting America’s Future.”

“But there is an underlying panoply of small disasters that are more likely to happen in places that are struggling more economically.”

Sherman said those “disasters” strike at the heart of the type of job that parents are able to do in raising their children.

“When we allow poverty, we are really allowing the family to fall apart,” Sherman said. “In far too many cases we are undermining family values.”

No matter what the environment, experts agree that good parents are at the root of raising good kids. Some even argue that where a child grows up is far less important than how the child is raised, and who does the raising.

“I would say the quality of the relationships that a child has, especially with adults, is probably more central than any particular physical setting,” said Lynn Beck, an associate professor at UCLA who deals with issues of education and ethics.

“I think there may be some advantages in terms of health, lack of stress,” Beck said of places such as Ventura County. “But I think that basically the real key is surrounding children with a lot of caring, loving people.”

There is no disagreement on that point. But experts warn not to discount the role that a community such as Ventura County can play in raising good kids.

“I think we are discovering increasingly that it does matter where a child grows up,” said Koppich, with the Northern California education think tank.

“All other factors being equal, kids who grow up in nice homes and in communities with lots of physical attributes may somehow be better off than kids who lack those things. It matters a huge amount.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Living in Poverty

Families living in poverty, by city:

Oxnard: 3000

Ventura: 1,113

Thousand Oaks: 752

Santa Paula: 689

Simi Valley: 589

Camarillo: 355

Port Hueneme: 312

Fillmore: 268

Moorpark: 166