Once children have a sense of autonomy, they become less contrary than they were as toddlers. Their energies are freed for tackling the psychological conflict of the preschool years: initiative versus guilt. As the word initiative suggests, young children have a new sense of purposefulness. They are eager to tackle new tasks, join in on activities with peers and discover what they can do with the help of adults. They also make strides in conscience development.
(Berk, 2013, p. 200)
Initiative vs. Guilt: Resolved positively. As a child I received patient and reasonable adult guidance and play experiences with peers and acquired both the moral and gender-role standards of my society. I was never threatened nor criticized for the things I did as a child and therefore experience little guilt.
A warm parent-child relationship is shown to foster a more positive, coherent early self-concept. A student found that 4-year olds with a secure attachment to their mothers were more likely than their insecurely attached peers to describe themselves in favorable terms.
In early childhood I believe that I was optimistic and had both a positive self-concept and positive self-esteem. I can remember times were I felt very confident around others in preschool and kindergarten and I was able to easily make friends.
Video: I believe the above video of the little girl showcases an individual with a positive self-esteem and self-concept. She identifies possessions and things she likes. Jessica, the girl in the video is approximately 4-years old and in the early childhood stage.
As self-awareness strengthens, preschoolers focus more intently on qualities that make the self unique. They begin to develop a self concept.
Self-Concept: The set of attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values that an individual believes defines who he or she is. A preschoolers' self-concepts consist larely of observable characteristics such as their name, physical appearance, possessions, and everyday behaviors.
Self-Esteem: The judgments we make about our own worth and the feelings associated with those judgments.
(Berk, 2013, p.201 ).
My
Development
Emotional Development
My Development
Gains in representation, language, and self-concept support emotional development in early childhood. Between ages 2 and 6, children achieve a better understanding of their own and others' feelings, and emotional self-regulation improves. In addition, preschoolers more often experience self-conscious emotions and empathy, which contribute to their development sense of morality.
(Berk, 2013, p. 202).
Emotional Development
My Development
Self Understanding
Peer Relations
I feel fortunate to be have been given the opportunity to go to a daycare and preschool that provided me with the opportunity to interact with and alongside my peers. I remember times at Montessori where we were given options to do what we wanted, and many times that was engaging in parallel and associative play. From my peers I was able to learn new things.
My first relationships were with my parents and then at daycare. I was an only child and didn't have the opportunity to interact with children my age except at day-care and preschool.
In preschool, I had a "husband" named Vincent, and my mother remembers me coming home saying that we had a wedding and I got married at pre-school. Vincent was one of my first real friends. From there I build stronger relationships in kindergarten, some with people I still know and interact with today.
Emotional Self-Regulation: As a child I began going to preschool and day care at a young age. Because of this, I believe I was able to learn emotional self-regulation and adjusting my emotional arousal when my mother or father dropped me off.
Self-Conscious Emotions: My self-conscious emotions showed in my fears at my first piano recital. When I was between the age of 3-4, the only thing I had to do at my recital was walk up and bow, and I was to scared and embarrassed to do so. However, my parents were encouraging and understanding and I was much more comfortable at my next recital.
Empathy/Sympathy: I don't have any distinct memories of my empathy or sympathy at this age, however, my family had 3 cats in the house at the time. I believe for a child to be able to be around animals and maintain a positive relationship with them, some empathy/sympathy needs to be present as to not hurt the animal or negatively affect the relationship.
My Development
As children become increasingly self-aware and better at communicating and understanding others' thoughts and feelings their skill and interacting with peers improve rapidly. Peers provide youth children with learning experience they can get in no other way. Because peers interact on an equal footing, children must keep a conversation going, cooperate, and set goals in play. With peers, children form friendships--special relationships mark by attachment and common interests.
(Berk, 2013, p. 203)
Gender Typing: Refers to any association of objects, activities, roles, or traits with one sex or the other in ways that conform to cultural stereotypes.
By the age of 2 or 3 children reinforce gender stereotypes.
Gender Identity: An image of oneself as relatively masculine or feminine in characteristics.
(Berk, 2013, p. 213)
I feel very fortunate to have been raised by parents who were accepting and open culturies different from their own. Both my parents were nurses, and my father also went through the UT Counseling program, so they were both social justice advocates and did not adhere to the ideas of sexism.
Gender identity: There was never a time where I questioned or struggled with my gender identity.
Story: Looking back, I can remember a time in pre-school when there was a young boy who wore nail polish to school. Looking back I can remember thinking that it was abnormal. It amazes me how society can ingrain in us stereotypes at such a young age.
Gender Typing
Child rearing styles are combinations of parenting behaviors that occur over a wide range of situations, creating an enduring child-rearing climate.
Authoritative: The most successful approach -- involves high acceptance and involvement, adaptive control techniques, and appropriate autonomy granting
Authoritarian: low in acceptance and involvement. High in coercive control and low in autonomy granting.
Permissive: Warm and accepting but uninvolved. Permissive parents are either overindulgent or inattentive and thus engage in little control. Instead of gradually granting autonomy they allow children to make many of their own decisions at an age when they are not yet capable of doing so.
Uninvolved Child Rearing: Combines low-acceptance and involvement with little control and general indifference to issues of autonomy.
(Berk, 2013, p. 217)
Child Rearing
My
Development
My Development
My parents raised me with an Authoritative Child-Reading style. This approach involves high acceptance and involvement, adaptive control techniques, and appropriate autonomy grading.
I can remember times where I was disciplined but I can never think of a time where my mother or father was not warm and accepting of me.
As I grew up, I believe my mother provided me with a lot of acceptance, made reasonable demands of me but allowed me to make my own decisions and learn from my mistakes (allowing me to make the decision to quit taking ballet and to not get confirmed in church, but I first had to try it out before I made the decision)