Social Emotional Development of the Preschooler

To Begin… 1.List as many words and phrases you can think of that relate to social awareness. 2.Recall the times you had with friends during this phase in your life. How important were your friends at this age?

Taking the Initiative  These children want to experience many things.  Erikson calls this stage initiative versus guilt.  Initiative-is the ability to think or act without being urged.  Yet….  Initiative can lead to failures.  Too many failures can lead to guilt.

Taking the Initiative  When the preschool child makes mistakes, he or she may feel badly about himself or herself.  If the child feels too guilty, obedience becomes so important the child is afraid to try new things.  The fear and guilt stifles initiative.  To prevent guilty feelings, children must know it’s okay to make mistakes.  Children develop initiative when they are allowed to ask questions, experiment and explore. However, sometimes these explorations can be dangerous, therefore an adult needs to step in and set limits.

Showing Responsibility  Adults can help children become responsible by setting examples and giving children chances to learn.  For this to occur, adults must select tasks the child can do.  The child should have both the ability and the time to do each task.  Adults must follow through with praise or rewards for success.  They must also offer support for failures.

Learning Gender Roles In order to fit into any social group, people learn what is expected. Example: some behaviours are expected from people based on their gender. Gender-role learning: Learning what behaviour is expected of males and females. Gender roles are a major concept that children learn in the preschool years. They are aware of the physical differences and are beginning to sense that boys and girls act differently in many situations.

How Does Gender role Develop?  Children learn their gender roles by how others treat them and how they see others in their male or female roles.  Some families treat boys and girls differently (sex typing).  In these families big differences exist in the clothing worn, toys received, and ways parents react to boys and girls.  Other families do not distinguish between what a boy and a girl can do, play with, or wear.  Reflect: Did your family do any sex typing, or did they allow a lot of freedom in this department?

Cultural Factors  Society’s view of male and female roles is not as clearly defined as it once was.  Traditional gender roles see the male as more aggressive and the economic head of the family, while the female is the wife and mother who stays home.  Sexual stereotyping: is a statement or even a hint that men and women always do or should do certain tasks.

Cultural Factors  These traditional roles are changing with the increase in the number of women employed outside the home and the increase of men sharing household and childcare duties.  Many people believe that, In order to thrive within today’s lifestyle, roles must adapt to the situation.  Both men and women may want to show assertive traits and they both may want to show loving, gentle traits with their children.

Chapter 17 Activities Part I  1. Complete the worksheet: Sex Typing and Gender Roles  2. Reviewing Key Concepts (pg. 416): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  3. Thinking Further (Page 417) Question 1

Extending Social Relations  Adults are still important: Preschoolers continue to depend on adults to meet many of their needs. They continue to serve as social models.  Other Children become more Important: Siblings and peers are more important to preschool children than to toddlers.  Making Friends: The ease of making friends depends on the preschooler. Preschool children prefer friends of the same gender.  They have a self-centered view about friendships. They see friends as people who play with you, help you, and share their toys.

Learnings from Play Groups  Children get new ideas and can play with more than one child.  Group play teaches preschoolers how to behave with peers. Because peers are equals, children can simply refuse to play with a child who doesn’t play fairly.  Children often become less self-centered in peer groups, and are willing to hear other children’s point of view.

Feeling and Controlling Emotions  Preschoolers react to common childlike stressors.  Stressors: the situations that cause stress.  Stressors include short separations from adults and fear of monsters.  These children feel many emotions and are expected to control their intense feelings.  If children control emotions without admitting their underlying feelings to themselves and others, they may become emotionally troubled.  Children need to express feelings with statements like: “I am angry,” “I’m afraid you’ll leave me the way you left Daddy.”

Dependency  Preschool children often feel a conflict between their needs for dependence and independence.  Like toddlers, three-year-olds most often show their dependence in emotional ways.  Emotional Dependency: The act of seeking attention, approval, comfort and contact.  By age five, children express more need for help in achieving a goal than emotional dependency.

Fear and Anxiety  Many of the toddler’s fears disappear by the preschool years. New fears and anxieties replace previous ones.  Preschooler years do share some common features: 1.Fear of the known disappears, fear of the imagined such as monsters and robbers increases. 2.Fear of physical injuries become more common. Ex: fear of death by fire. 3.Fear of pain caused by medical and dental work occurs. 4.Anxiety of a general nature is experienced. Children’s specific fears may become general anxieties. (Ex: Fear of a tornado may spread to general anxiety during a thunderstorm or even a strong wind)

Fear and Anxiety  Fears and anxieties are due to the growing mind. Preschoolers understand many new concepts, but their understanding may still be limited.  On the negative side, lack of understanding often creates fear and anxiety.  On the positive side, some fears may help protect children from trying unsafe activities.

Anger and Aggression  Anger and aggression begin around 10 months of age.  Preschool children threaten and yell more than toddlers. This is due to increased language skills.  Anger and aggression seem to be directed toward siblings and peers more than toward adults.

Causes of Anger and Aggression  Children often use aggression to get their way or intentionally hurt another.  Children may be aggressive to gain attention or affection.  Determining what a given aggressive act means can be difficult without knowing the context of the act or the traits of a given child. Ex: Preschoolers may use a playful shove or hit as an affectionate greeting rather than an aggressive act.  Sometimes objects cause a preschooler’s anger. They can find that things beyond their abilities may frustrate them. Ex: A child may blame a bike for a fall.

Jealousy  Jealousy begins when people realize they must share with others the love, attention, possessions, and time once given only to them.  The most common time for jealousy is when a new brother or sister is born.  Preschool children show fewer attachment behaviours than do toddlers, but attachment has not disappeared.  Some preschool children may feel jealousy but ignore the feeling.  Repressed Jealousy: Feelings of jealously not directly expressed and may even be denied.

To Complete The Chapter 1. Reviewing Key Concepts: (416) Thinking Further: (417) Question 3 3. Extension Project Options: 20 Marks  A) Create a PowerPoint featuring advertisements that exemplify sexual stereotypes. Finish by explaining how sexual stereotyping affects gender-role learning. Should have 5 advertising examples. I will be looking for an explanation for each of the 5 you have chosen.  B) Draw a cartoon that illustrates preschool children’s ideas of friendship. This can include your own experiences. It should have at least 10 frames. I will be looking for creativity, neatness, commitment to the form, and an exploration of preschool friendships.  C) Design a poster for parents on helping preschoolers become responsible. This should have at least 4 pieces of advice. This should include appropriate images, eye-catching graphics, and original advice for parents based on information we learned in this chapter.