1. Social-emotional development of the preschooler
Unit 5

2. Taking the Initiative Becoming more independent Improved abilities
Limitless energy
Strong desire to learn and explore

3. Erikson – Initiative vs. Guilt
Initiative = The ability to think or act without being urged.
Developing initiative is important because it sets the stage for ambitions later in life.
Yet, initiative can lead to failures. Too many failures can lead to guilt.
Guilt = Blaming yourself for something done wrong.
SO… caregivers need to make sure children know that it is OK to make mistakes!
All of this is according to Erik Erikson. Do you agree? Disagree? Why? What are your thoughts?
Can you think of a time when you took the initiative as a child to try something new? Did you succeed? Did you fail?
Think about a time when you did fail at something… did you feel this “guilt” that Erkison is talking about? How did your parents/caregivers/siblings help you overcome it?

4. Showing Responsibility
First step toward dependence
Adults should show examples
Select age-appropriate tasks
What are some chores that would be appropriate for a preschooler?

5. Emotional Patterns Increased need – independence
Many will venture out of the home environment for the first time
Preschool, Headstart, kindergarten
Unfamiliar adults, large group of kids
Each child responds differently
Certain milestones

6. Four Years Most still self-centered
Defiant, impatient, loud & boastful
Might argue & be bossy (kids & adults)
Other times = loving & affectionate
Need & seek approval of parents & caregivers
Want to see self as separate from parent/caregiver
Want to do things for their self (independence)
Vocabulary & language skills – improve
Test sounds of language
Rude words – test adult reaction

7. Four Years Active Imagination
Rich fantasy life
Mind cannot separate fantasy from reality
Active imagination + fantasy = FEARS
Caregivers – acknowledge fears & talk about them

8. Five Years View self as a whole person (mind, body & feelings)
Eager to explore, however they will experience fear of unfamiliar people, places & experiences
May experience anxiety or stress about the strangeness of school & unfamiliar routines
Important to help them cope – listening to concerns, offer love & support

9. Five Years Emotionally Impulse
Wander around, talk, play – whenever they want
School – must sit still, listen & focus
Start to learn to control their impulses
Feel more empathy for others (understand how someone else feels)
Better able to play together
Able to see another person’s point of view

10. Six Years Emotional turmoil – state of extreme confusion or agitation
Find role outside of the home
Long to feel grown up – small & dependent
Stubborn & quuarrelsome
Center of the own universe
Please others to win praise for self
Behavior horrible for parents
Rapid mood changes
Stronger feelings of happiness & joy
Appreciation of more activities
Nice time to start activities

11. Emotions
As Children grow – better able to recognize & express a variety of emotions
Growing feeling of competence – master various activities – helps control their emotions
Continue to experience fear – however nature of those fear change

12. Anger
Think back to when you were younger, how did you express your anger?? Has it changed?? Why??

13. Anger and Aggression
Anger – Expression changes the most during early childhood
Anger and Aggression being around 10 months of age. They peak with displays of temper in the toddler years and continue in the preschool years.
Preschoolers tend to hit and bite less than toddlers.
Yet they tend to threaten and yell more!
Boys are more physical and girls are more verbal even in the preschool stage!

14. Anger & Ages Four years Five years Six Years episodes last longer
Use physical violence
Threaten & attempt to get even
Five years
More likely to hurt other children’s feeling than hurt them physically
Six Years
More hurtful with words
Tease, nag & make fun

15. Anger Frustration – major cause of anger
Child’s tolerance for frustration increases as they grow
Former frustrations – eliminated
By 6, better social skills = deal with situations that lead to anger
Disagreements with other kids – common cause
Use scapegoats
Criticism – another source
Scold a child for doing something wrong – child will try to punish parent by breaking another rule

16. Anger Varies greatly in children
Children ten to imitate the behavior of adults
Caregivers – express anger in appropriate ways
Page 407. Analyze

17. Fear Imagination – major emotional force Ghosts, monsters
Dark, being left alone, abandoned, thunder, lightning, school

18. Critical Thinking
Page 409

19. How can Caregivers help??
Accept the fear
Listen, saying you understand- great help
Never say that fear does not exist, it DOES to the CHILD
Let the child express fear without ridicule
Fear being made fun of
May not open up
Help the child feel able to face the fear
Talking & act help
Reading a book

20. Fear Sometimes, fears are justified. Action must be taken
Bully at school

21. Jealousy Sibling rivalry – common
Caregivers – unintentionally make the problem worse
May try to improve behavior by comparing
Damage a child’s self-esteem & undermine family relationships
Express feelings by:
Tattling
Criticizing
Lying

22. Caregivers Encourage cooperation & empathy Avoid taking sides
Give children a change to work through their own problems
Sibling rivalry tends to fade

23. Worry Children worry Tension – emotional stress Fire in home
Stranger taking them
Bully in the neighborhood
Active imagination

24. Worry Emotional strain & Physical symptoms
Stomachaches, headaches, and sleeping difficulties
Cry, scream or throw tantrums
Bite nails, swing legs or grind teeth

25. Ways to reduce worry & tension
Look for the cause
Ask them to draw a picture
Give children time to calm down
Time out
Provide chances to get rid of tension
Physical way of releasing stress
Read a book about the issue causing stress
Maintain normal limits on behavior
Do not ease up on limits

26. At your table,
Create a list of issues and situations that might cause stress in children 4-6.

27. Questions??? What is self-confidence??
How can you build a child’s self-confidence?
Who is more physical in expressing violence

28. Self-Confidence
New skills & dealing with unfamiliar situations = increased self-confidence
Self-confidence – belief in one’s own abilities
Start taking the initiative & making decisions on their own
Erikson – encouragement = self-confidence
Repeated discouragement/punishment = feelings of inferiority or inadequacy

29. Self-Confidence Provide opportunities for preschoolers to perform well
Internal satisfaction goes farther than praise
Self-esteem will help develop self-control
See world in terms of all or nothing
How will this hinder their self-esteem??

30. Self-Confidence All or nothing
Projects – does not go their way = “I can’t do anything right”
Self-esteem & self-confidence = lowered
Important – children experience more successes than failures

31. Self-Confidence Show Respect Give Praise & Encouragement Plan Actives
Offer choices
“Because I said so” – not effective
Give Praise & Encouragement
Good Job, I appreciate that
Plan Actives
Challenging, but not overwhelming
Children need down time
Encourage Individuality
Opportunities

32. Write a dialogue
Between a parent and child in which the parent is encouraging the child.
Write an effective dialogue, one with a purpose, use appropriate language and quotation marks.
Make sure it reflects the age, personality and background of each person.

33. Causes of Anger and Aggression
Preschoolers use aggression to
Get their way
Hurt another
Gain attention
Gain affection

34. Fear and Anxiety
Some toddler fears fade away and preschoolers develop new fears, some increase.
Fear of the unknown
Monsters, Robbers
Fear of physical injury
Fear of death by fire, auto accident, drowning, the fear of bites from insects or animals
Fear of pain caused by medical and dental work
Anxiety of a general nature
Fear of a tornado may spread to thunderstorms and high winds
I LOVED going to the dentist as a kid! I think I’m one in a million who do… but I always loved going. How many of you feared going to the dentist?

35. Feeling and Controlling Emotions
Preschoolers still react to common childlike stressors (situations that cause stress)
These may include:
Illness
Moving
Death
Adult quarrels
Divorce

36. Feeling and Controlling Emotions
Controlling outward signs of emotions such crying, screaming and hitting to help children become socially acceptable!
However, if children control emotions without admitting their underlying feelings to themselves and others, they may become emotionally troubled.
Children need to express themselves!
“I am angry.”
“I am afraid.”

37. Dependency
Preschoolers feel a conflict between their need for dependence and independence!
Sometimes preschoolers ask for help and they really do need it and other times they ask for help even when they don’t! 
Emotional Dependence: The act of seeing attention, approval, comfort and contact.
Do you think that some teenagers feel a conflict between their need for dependence and independence, too? It may not exist for you… but if it does… how is it different from a preschooler?
And sometimes…. Preschoolers don’t ask for help and the need it! 

38. Social & Moral Development
With your knowledge of a preschooler’s emotional development, what problems might occur when preschoolers play in a group??

39. General Social Patterns
As children enter preschool and kindergarten they must learn three important social skills
How to interact with new people
How to make friends
How to work & play in organized groups
Learn to take direction & accept authority from others outside the home
Determine right and wrong – act accordingly

40. How do you think social development will differ at the different ages: 4, 5 & 6

41. Four Years Form friendships with playmates Engage in cooperative play
Play in groups of 3-4
Share toys, take turns
Often bossy & inconsiderate – fights
Family is still more important
Seek approval, “I’m good at drawing pictures, aren’t I?

42. Five Years More outgoing & talkative Play in groups of 5-6
Play – more complicated
Fights – less frequent
Name-calling & wild threats
More respect for other’s belongings
Concerned – what their friends say and do
Do not want to be thought as different – they do not want to be ridicule
Gossip starts (friends, who has what toys)
What the group values, behaviors that are desirable

43. Six Years Social relations – friction, threats & stubbornness
They want everything
Want to do things their way
Best friends – usually same sex
Play in mixed groups
No regard for team effort – they will just stop playing

44. What would you do??
You are caregiver playing a game with a five year old boy and his eight year old sister. The boy is obviously cheating. His sister is about to complain. What do you do??

45. Family Relations 4 years 5 years 6 years Close ties
Want to feel important
Proud – help with chores
Quarrel & bicker w/siblings
5 years
Delight in helping at home
Play better with siblings
Protective of younger siblings
6 years
Do not get along well with family members
Self-centered
Argue with adult family members
Rough & impatient with younger siblings
Fight with older siblings

46. What do you think???
Why do you think it is emotionally difficult for some parents to enforce the standards of behaviors they have set for their children?

47. Moral Development
The process of learning to base one’s behavior on beliefs about what is right and wrong
Begins early in life
Preschoolers start to learn the reasons for rules
They start to develop conscience – inner sense of right and wrong that guides an individual’s behavior
Rules they learn in ECH – form the basis of their developing conscience

48. Do you think that boys and girls develop a sense of right and wrong at the same time?? Support your answers with evidence.

49. Guidelines for Moral Development
Set clear standards of behavior
Respond to inappropriate behavior
Talk about mistakes in private
Understand children will test your limits
Consider the child’s age & abilities
It is a lifelong task to learn self discipline
Continue to show love despite misbehavior

50. Handling Lying
Remember: Preschoolers have a hard time telling fantasy from reality.
At times, they are not deliberately lying.
You can show you know the difference, “ I will listen to your story and then I need to know what really happened.”
Lying at this is a misunderstanding
Child may think they completed task – so they will tell you they did. However, you do not think so
Be sure the child understands the instructions/directions

51. Handling Lying Sometimes – they do tell deliberate lies Consider:
Get attention
Avoid punishment
Please others & not risk losing love
Consider:
Does he know he lied?
Why is he lying?
Do you need more information?
Is the child Asking for attention

52. Model Moral Behavior Everyday actions
Children learn by following an example – learned behavior
Do not send mixed messages
Television, movies & other media – influences

53. Questions
Identify characteristics that marks the emotional development of 4-6 year olds
List five ways to reduce worry and tension
Describe how to help children develop self- confidence
List three social skills children must learn as they begin school.
Identify chacteristics of family relations of 4-6 year olds

54. Questions
Explain the relationship between imagination and fear in the mind of a preschooler.
Describe how initiative and self-confidence are related.
Explain how parents/caregivers should handle lying.

55. Resolving Conflicts
Preschoolers spend a lot of time with other children = conflict
Aggressive Behavior – hostile and at times, destructive behaviors that people display when faced with conflict
Children need to learn that aggressive behavior is unacceptable

56. Resolving Conflicts Suggestions
Urge children to talk about their feelings
Acknowledge the efforts of children to resolve conflicts
Model appropriate behavior

57. Social & Moral Development
Competition – rivalry with the goal of winning or outperforming others
Teamwork and cooperation

58. Learning Gender Roles
Preschoolers are beginning to grasp the concept of how to fit into certain social groups
Family, school, clubs, and others
Gender-role learning = learning what behavior is expected of males and females
Gender role is a major concept children learn in the preschool years.

59. How does gender role develop?
By how others treat them and how they see others in their male or female roles
Sex-typing = treating boys and girls differently
Clothing
Toys
The way parents react
Children most often identify and imitate models of the same gender as well as:
Teachers
Characters from TV, movies, and storybooks
Does sex-typing exist throughout all of childhood and adolescence?

60. Cultural Differences
Society’s view of male and female is not as clearly defined as it once was!
Traditional views:
Male – more aggressive, economic head of the family
Female – wife, mother
How many of your mom’s stay-at-home?
Society’s view has CHANGED!

61. Sexual stereotyping = a statement or even a hint that men and women always do or should do certain tasks.

62. Extending Social Relations
Social learning's:
Sharing
Controlling anger
Thinking of other’s feelings
Making joint efforts with others

63. Adults are still important
Still depend on adults for many of their needs
Adults are social models
Teach by example
Model relationships
Morals
Self-control
Manners
And much more!!

64. Making Friends Depends on the following:
child’s friendliness
Ability to follow group rules
Lack of dependence on adults
Prefer friends of the same gender
Self-centered view about friendships
They see friends as people who play with you, help you, share their toys with you, etc.
Creates a closed circle of friends
“You can’t play with us!”

65. Learning from Play Groups
Play experiences are richer with others
Learn new ideas
Behave with peers
Learn to play fairly
Become less self-centered
Learn that friends are fun! 