PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT (MONDILLA)

ASPECTS OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

- In early childhood, children slim down. They need less sleep than before and are more likely to
develop sleep problems.
- They improve from running, hopping, skipping, jumping and throwing balls.
- Also become better at fine motor skills such as drawing, or simply buttoning their polo shirts
- in this stage they also begin to show their preference for using right or left hand

BODILY GROWTH AND CHANGE

- Children grow rapidly between ages 3 and 6, but less quickly than before. At about three, they
began to lose their babyish roundness looking faces
- They began to look more slender and athletic in appearance.
- The trunk, arms and legs grow longer. The head is still large but the other parts of the body
continue to catch up as body proportions steadily become more adultlike.
- The average 3 year old weighs about 34 pounds.
- both girls and boys grow about 2 to 3 inches a year during early childhood and gain
approximately 4 to 6 pounds annually.
- muscular and skeletal growth progresses making children stronger

SLEEP PATTERNS AND PROBLEMS

-About a third of parents or caregivers of children ages 1-5 years old say their child has sleep
problems according to (Mindell, et.al, 2015)

Sleep disturbances may be caused by:

- accidental activation of the brain’s motor control system
- disordered breathing or restless leg movements
- run by families and are often associated with separation anxiety

Sleeping problems are:

- behavioral in nature, commonly include a child refusing to go to bed or frequent night waking.
- night terrors appear to awaken abruptly from a deep sleep early in the night in a state of
agitation. (Common 2 and a half and 4 years of age)
- walking and talking during sleep (fairly common in early childhood)

To encourage children to have good sleeping habits:

> Establish a regular, unrushed bedtime routine

> Allow no scary and or loud television shows
> avoid highly stimulating, active play before bedtime
> Keep a small night-light
> don’t feed or rock a child at bedtime
> offer rewards
> try sending a child a little later

ENURESIS - repeated urination in clothing or bed

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

- Brain is rapid and profound during the first few years of life
- by age 3-6 the brain is approximately 90 percent of adult weight
- At age 4, rapid brain growth occurs in frontal areas; the density of synapses in prefrontal
cortex peaks
- by age 6, the brain has attained 90 percent of its peak volume
- age 6-11, brain growth occurs in the areas that support associative thinking, language and
spatial relations

Corpus Callosum is a thick band of nerve fibers that connects both hemispheres of the brain
and allows them to communicate rapidly and effectively.

MOTOR SKILLS

Gross Motor skills - running and jumping

3 year olds

- They cannot turn or stop quickly

- They can jump a distance at about 15 to 24 inches
- can ascend a stairway unaided
- they can now hop, using largely an irregular series of jumps with some variations added

4 year olds

- they have more effective control, or stopping, starting and turning

- they can jump a distance of 24 to 33 inches
- they can descend a long stairway
- can hop 6 steps with one foot

5 year olds

- they start to turn, and stop effectively in games

- Can make a running jump of 28 to 36 inches!!! (epic)
- can descend a long stairway unaided!!!
- Can easily hop a distance!
Fine motor skills - Buttoning Shirts and drawing pictures, involve eye-hand and small muscle
coordination

Systems of action - increasingly complex combinations of skills, which permit a wider or more
precise range of movement and more control of the environment

Handedness - this is evident by about the age of 3

HEALTH AND SAFETY (MILYN)

Health and safety

●the laws, rules, and principles that are intended to keep one safe from injury or disease
●In the developing world, however, such vaccine-preventable diseases as measles, pertussis
(whooping cough), and tetanus still take a large toll. Even in technologically advanced societies,
this is a less healthy time for some children than for others.

OBESITY
●estimated 41M children under age 5 were obese in 2016. If current trends continue, 70M
children under age 5 will be overweight or obese by 202
●Rates are rising more quickly in developing countries with less income (WHO, 2018)
●Excessive weight gain hinges on increases in caloric intake, changes in diet composition,
declining levels of physical activity, and changes in the gut microbiome
●Higher in boys and can be hereditary
●Overweight children, especially those who have overweight parents, tend to become obese
adults and excess body mass is a threat to health
●early childhood is a good time to treat obesity when a child’s diet is still subject to parental
influence or control
●and the earlier interventions start for at-risk children, the more likely they are to be effective
●Data suggest that three factors are important in the prevention of obesity: (1) regu-larly eating
an evening meal as a family, (2) getting adequate sleep, and (3) watching less than 2 hours of
television a day (Anderson & Whitaker, 2010)
●What children eat is as important as how much they eat.
●young children should get only about 30 percent of their total calories from fat

FOOD SECURITY
●Food accessibility issues uniquely impact young children because of their rapid growth and
develop-ment.
●Children need adequate nutrients, more so than just calories, to support optimal body growth
●Nutritional deficiency in early childhood has long-lasting consequences for physical growth,
brain development, and cognitive and social functioning
●poor nutritional status can also arise through a consistent high-calorie, nutrient-poor diet of
“empty foods.”

Undernutrition
●often the result of chronic, persistent hunger
●appropriate height for their age but are thinner than they should be.
●underlying cause in about a third of worldwide deaths for children under 5 (WHO)
●South Asia has the highest level of undernutrition
●undernourished children usually live in extremely deprived circumstances
●may negatively affect not only growth and physical well-being but cognitive and psychosocial
development as well

FOOD ALLERGIES

●90% of food allergies can be attributed to 8 foods: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, soy,
wheat, and shellfish
●more prevalent in children than adults
●These include an increased risk of anxiety and depression, constraints on the types of
activities that can be participated in by a family, and negative influences on school attendance
and participation
●Equally exist in boys and girls under 18 yrs. Of age
●Changes in diet, how foods are processed, the timing of the introduction of foods, and
decreased vitamin D based upon less exposure to the sun are the common cause

ORAL HEALTH

●an important component of overall health.

●with two common areas of oral health of concern to parents: thumbsucking and tooth decay.

●Tooth decay - from overconsumption of sweetened milk and juices in infancy together with a
lack of regular dental care
●Thumbsucking - common in children under age 4 and their permanent teeth are likely to be
affected
●fluoride has been shown to reduce the incidence of dental caries—or cavities (via toothpaste,
mouthwashes, or gels; or systemically, via supplements or the water supply

DEATH AND ACCIDENTAL INJURIES

●Car accidents are the most commonly reported cause of accidental death for children over the
age of 4
●Most deaths from injuries among preschoolers occur in the home—often from fires, drowning
in bathtubs, suffocation, poisoning, or falls
●belt-positioning booster seats should be used until children are big enough to fit a seat belt
properly.
●Other common causes of death in early childhood include cancer, congenital abnormalities and
chromosomal disorders, assault and homicide, heart disease, respiratory diseases

HEALTH IN CONTEXT: ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

●Environmental factors play major roles

Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity

●The lower a family’s socioeconomic status, the greater a child’s risks of illness, injury, and
death
●Social factors linked to poverty, such as increased stress, also impact health outcomes

Homelessness
●results from circumstances that force people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic
needs.
●Causes include lack of employment opportunities, declines in public assistance funds, lack of
affordable health care, domestic violence, mental illness, and addiction
●Their family may be cut off from supportive community, family, and institutional resources, and
from ready access to medical care and schooling.

Exposure to Environmental Pollutants

●Air pollution is associated with increased risks of death and of chronic respiratory disease
●Environmental contaminants also may play a role in certain childhood cancers, neurological
disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and mental retardation
●Children are more vulnerable than adults to chronic pesticide damage
●lead concentrations of lead from lead-contaminated food or water, from airborne industrial
wastes
●Lead poisoning can seriously interfere with cognitive develop-
ment and can lead to neurological and behavioral problems

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (NICOLE)

Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child

Preoperational Stage
- In Piaget’s theory, the second major stage of cognitive development, in which symbolic
thought expands from approximately ages 2 to 7 but children cannot yet use logic
effectively.

ADVANCES OF PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT

- Advances in symbolic thought are accompanied by a growing understanding of space,
causality, identities, categorization, and number.
The Symbolic Function ( Use of symbols)

- The child’s ability to use symbols such as words, images, and gestures to represent
objects and events without the need to be in contact with an object.

- For example, deferred imitation in which children imitate an action at some point
after having observed it.

- pretend play also known as Fantasy play, dramatic play, or imaginary play.

- Play involving imaginary people and situations; also called fantasy play, dramatic
play, or imaginative play.

Understanding of Objects in Space (Identities)

- In addition to their growing ability to use the symbolic function, children also begin to
be able to understand the symbols that describe physical spaces, although this
process is slow.

- Children are aware that superficial alterations do not change the nature of things.

- Antonio knows that his teacher is dressed up as a pirate but is still his teacher
underneath the costume.

Understanding of Causality (Cause and Effect)

- children realize that events have causes.

- For example Seeing a ball roll from behind a wall, Aneko looks behind the wall for the
person who kicked the ball.
- Their understanding of the cause and effect is not logically correct.
- Transduction
● Piaget’s term for a preoperational child’s tendency to mentally link particular
phenomena, whether or not there is logically a causal relationship.
● They mentally link two events, especially events close in time, whether or not
there is logically a causal relationship.
● For example, Luis may think that his “bad” thoughts or behavior caused his own
or his sister’s illness or his parents’ divorce.

Understanding of Identities and Categorization (Ability to classify)

- Children organize objects, people, and events into meaningful categories.

- For example, sorting objects bi size, shape, and color.
- Categorizing people as “good” or “bad”
 - Categorizing living things and non-living things
- Animism
● The tendency to attribute life to objects that are not alive
■ In general, it appears that children attribute animism to items that share
characteristics with living things: things that move, make sounds, or have
lifelike features such as eyes
■ When Piaget asked young children whether the wind and the clouds were
alive, their answers led him to think they were confused.
■ The difference between a doll and a baby

Understanding of Number (Numerical Literacy)

- children can count and deal with numbers/quantities
● Lindsay shares some candy with her friends, counting to make sure that each
gets the same amount.

- Research shows that infants have limited to basic sense of number.

- The concept of comparing quantities (more or less, bigger or smaller)—seems to begin
around 9 to 11 months
- The cardinality principle, where children understand that the number of items in a set is
the same regardless of how they are arranged and that the last number counted is the
total number of items in the set regardless of how they are counted, starts to develop at
about 21⁄2 years of age.
● For example, checking to see which one of two plates has more cookies in it

- By age 4, most children can say one tree is bigger than another or one cup holds more
juice than another. If they have one cookie and then get another, they know they have
more cookies than they had before.
- By age 5, most children can count to 20 or more and know the relative sizes of the
numbers 1 through 10
- By the time they enter elementary school, most children have developed basic “number
sense”
● skills includes counting, number knowledge (ordinality), number transformations
(simple addition and subtraction), estimation
IMMATURE ASPECTS OF PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT

Characteristics of preoperational thought:

1. Centration
- In Piaget’s theory, the tendency of preoperational children to focus on one aspect of
a situation and neglect others
- a child will become completely fixed on one point, not allowing them to see the wider
picture.

2. Decenter
- Refers to the ability of the child to relate and consider multiple aspects of a
situation and one’s ability to take others perspectives.

Egocentrism

- refers to the child's tendency to see the world from their own personal perspective and
their inability to see a situation from another person's point of view.
- child assumes that other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same as the child does
- communication focuses on themselves
- thoughts focus on themselves

Conservation

- Piaget’s term for awareness that two objects that are equal according to a certain
measure remain equal in the face of perceptual alteration so long as nothing has
been added to or taken away from either object.
THEORY OF MIND
Theory of mind is the awareness of the broad range of human mental states—beliefs, intents,
desires, dreams, and so forth—and the understanding that others have their own distinctive
beliefs, desires, and intentions.

Knowledge about Thinking and Mental States

- Between ages 3 and 5, children come to understand that thinking goes on inside the
mind, that it can deal with either real or imaginary things and that thinking is different
from seeing, talking, touching, and knowing

- They start to expect people to act in accordance with their beliefs, and when asked
to explain people’s behavior, they use words such as want or think.

- They also know that people’s expressions might not necessarily match their internal
state

- They understand that thinking about the past or the future might make someone feel
sad or happy

- They also know that people’s expressions might not necessarily match their internal
state and realize that you can manipulate others’ mental states to deceive or tease
them

- They infer knowledge on the basis of mistakes; for instance, by realizing that a
puppet that plays a game incorrectly probably does not understand the rules

- By 5 years of age, they understand that if they are sad about something, they can try
to think about something else

False Beliefs and Deception

- The understanding that people can hold false beliefs flows from the realization that
people can hold incorrect mental representations of reality.

- This ability is generally tested with what is called a false belief task. Children do not
consistently pass false belief tasks until about 4 years of age

- It is not until 5 to 6 years of age that children understand second-order false

beliefs—that they may have an incorrect belief about what someone else believes

- Deception is an effort to plant a false belief in someone else’s mind.

 - Performance on the false belief task has been repeatedly shown to predict the ability
to lie and preschoolers who are more advanced in their understanding of others’
mental states are better liars

- Generally, children become capable of telling simple lies, such as claiming they
received a winning card in a game or denying looking at a hidden toy they were
instructed to avoid at about 3 years of age

- However, when asked follow-up questions to their lie that if answered would reveal
their deception, such as what kind of toy it was, young children fail to hide their
knowledge

- It is not until almost 8 years of age that children become better able to think about
what they should and should not know and thus conceal their transgressions more
effectively

- Furthermore, as children age and become more aware of social conventions as well
as others’ feelings, they become more likely to lie out of politeness or a desire to
avoid hurting others’ feelings.

Distinguishing between Appearance and Reality

- According to Piaget, not until about age 5 or 6 do children begin to understand the
distinction between what seems to be and what is.

- 3-year-olds seemed to confuse appearance and reality in a variety of tests. For

example, when the children put on special sunglasses that made milk look green,
they said the milk was green

- Later research showed that 3-year-old children could answer questions about reality
and appearance correctly under certain circumstances.

Distinguishing between Fantasy and Reality

- Three-year- olds know the difference between a real dog and a dog in a dream, and
between something invisible (such as air) and something imaginary.

- They can pretend and can tell when someone else is pretending

- They can tell the difference between trying to do something and pretending to do the
same thing

- Religion can influence this process. Children raised in religious households are more
likely to believe the protagonists in stories with fantastical elements are real if they
think the stories are religious in nature than are children raised in secular
 households. And, if told a particular story is a Bible story, 5-year-olds are more likely
to assert magical events in the story are possible in real life

Magical thinking is a way to explain events that do not seem to have obvious realistic
explanations. Often magical thinking is a way to explain events that do not seem to have
obvious realistic explanations or simply to indulge in the pleasures of pretending—as with a
belief in imaginary companions. Children, like adults, generally are aware of the magical nature
of fantasy figures but are more willing to entertain the possibility that they may be real

Individual Differences in Theory-of-Mind Development

- Some children develop theory of mind abilities earlier than others.
- children who are better at paying attention to others as infants show more facility with
theory-of-mind tasks at 4 years of age.
- Social competence also matters
- The kind of talk a young child hears at home may affect the child’s understanding of
mental states.

INFORMATION-PROCESSING APPROACH: MEMORY

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT (Kristina)

During early childhood, vocabulary increases greatly and grammar and syntax become fairly
sophisticated.
Children become more competent in pragmatics.

VOCABULARY

Fast mapping- a rapid expansion of vocabulary which allows a child to pick up approximate
meaning of a new word after hearing it only once or twice in conversation.

GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX

The ways children combine syllables into words and words into sentences grow increasingly
sophisticated during early childhood as their understanding of grammar and syntax becomes
more complex.

PRAGMATIC AND SOCIAL SPEECH

Pragmatic
- The practical knowledge needed to use language for communicative purposes.
Social Speech
- Speech intended to be understood by a listener.

PRIVATE SPEECH
- Talking aloud oneself with no intent to communicate with others.

Piaget
- He called private speech as egocentric speech – a sign of cognitive immaturity.
- he believed that children are simply vocalizing whatever on their minds.

Vygotsky
- Viewed private speech as a special form of communication in conversation with self.

DELAYED LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

- Children who speak late do not necessarily lack linguistic input at home.

PREPARATION FOR LITERACY

- To understand what is on the printed page, children first need to master certain
pre-reading.

Emergent literacy
- Preschoolers development of skills, knowledge, and attitude that underlie reading and
writing.
- 2 types of pre- reading
1. Oral language skills
- Vocabulary, syntax, narrative structure and understanding the language
2. Specific phonological skills
- Linking letters with sounds

MEDIA AND COGNITION

- They comprehend the symbolic nature of television and can readily imitate behaviors
they see.

EARLY CHILDHOOD
Going to preschool is an important step, widening child’s physical, cognitive, and social
environment.
The transition of kindergarten is the beginning of “ real school”, is another momentous step.

TYPES OF PRESCHOOL

1. MONTESSORI METHOD
 - Based on the belief that children’s intelligence involves rational, spiritual, and empirical
aspects.
- Stresses the importance of children learning independently at their own pace, as they
work with developmentally appropriate materials and self chosen tasks.
- Teachers provide an environment of calm productivity and the classrooms are organized
orderly.

2. THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH

- It was named for the town in Italy in 1940.
- Teachers follow children’s interests and support them in exploring and investigating
ideas and feelings through words, movement, dramatic play and music. It is less defined
than the Montessori curriculum.
- Teachers ask questions that draw out children’s ideas and then create flexible plans to
explore these ideas with the children.

COMPENSATORY PRE SCHOOL PROGRAMS

A large scale compensatory preschool programs since 1960’s
Have been developed to help children who would otherwise enter school poorly prepared to
learn compensate for what they have missed and to prepare them for school.

PROJECT HEAD START

- Best known of the early intervention programs in the United States.
- Is federally funded program launched in 1965.
- They provides medical, dental, and mental health care; social services; and at least one
hot meal a day.

THE CHILD IN KINDERGARTEN

Kindergarten readiness is associated with positive academic and social outcomes for children

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (Kirsten)

THE SELF-CONCEPT AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Self Concept
● The self-concept is our total picture of our abilities and traits.

Cognitive Constructions
● It is a system of descriptive and evaluative representations about the self” that
determines how we feel about ourselves and guides our actions
CHANGES IN SELF-DEFINITION:
● the way they describe themselves typically changes between about ages 5 and 7,
reflecting self-concept development and advances in cognitive abilities.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-DEFINITION

● Culture helps shape the understanding of the self.

Collectivist Culture- INDIA and CHINA

Individualistic Culture - USA

SELF ESTEEM
● Self-esteem is the self-evaluative part of the self-concept, the judgment children make
about their overall worth.

DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN SELF-ESTEEM

● children do not generally talk about a concept of self-worth until about age 8, younger
children show by their behavior that they have one.

CONTINGENT SELF-ESTEEM: THE “HELPLESS” PATTERN

● Contingent- success tend to become demoralized when they fail.
● Non – Contingent- tend to attribute failure or disappointment to factors outside
themselves or to the need to try harder.
● Generic praise “GREAT JOB”

REGULATING EMOTIONS:
● helps children guide their behavior and adjust their responses to meet societal
expectations.
● Children develop the ability to regulate their emotions slowly via a shift from early
reliance on orienting processes sup- ported by the parietal and frontal areas of the brain
to control of affect using frontal brain networks in the anterior cingulate gyrus

UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS
Emotional understanding appears to proceed in an ordered and hierarchical

- 5 years old
● children understand the public aspects of emotions.

- 7 years old
● children start to understand that mental states can drive emotions.

- 8 years old
● children
 - 9 years old
● children start to understand more complex aspects of emotion.

UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS DIRECTED TOWARD THE SELF

Social emotions
● involve a comparison of one’s self or one’s actions to social standards. These emotions
are directed toward the self and include guilt, shame, and pride.

ERIKSON: INITIATIVE VERSUS GUILT

- The need to deal with conflicting feelings about the self is at the heart of the third stage
of psychosocial development

Personality
● remains a child, full of exuberance and a desire to try new things and test new powers,
● becoming an adult, constantly examining the propriety of motives and actions.

GENDER
● Gender Identity
- awareness of one’s femaleness or maleness

GENDER DIFFERENCES
● psychological or behavioral differences between males and females.

- Boy
engage in more rough-and-tumble

- Girl
preferred playing doll and accessories

PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER DEVELOPMENT

● Gender Roles
the behaviors, interests, attitudes, skills, and personality traits that a culture considers
appropriate for males or females.

● Gender-typing
the acquisition of a gender role, takes place early in childhood
 ● Gender stereotypes
are preconceived generalizations about male or female behavior
Example: “All females are passive and dependent; all males are aggressive and independent.”

PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER DEVELOPMENT

● BIOLOGICAL APPROACH
- existence of similar gender roles in many cultures suggests that some gender
differences may be biologically based.

● EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH
- The evolutionary approach sees gendered behavior as biologically influenced. From this
controversial perspective, children’s gender roles underlie the evolved mating and
child-rearing strategies of adult males and females.

● PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH
- On of the identification, the adoption of characteristics, beliefs, attitudes, values, and
behaviors of the parent of the same sex.

● COGNITIVE APPROACH
- Children actively search for cues about gender in their social world. As they realize
which gender they belong to, they adopt behaviors they perceive as consistent with
being male or female.

Kohlberg’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory , gender knowledge (“I am a boy”) precedes

gendered behavior (“so I like to do boy things”).

Gender-Schema Theory, it views children as actively extracting knowledge about gender from
their environment before engaging in gender-typed behavior. However, gender-schema theory
places more emphasis on the influence of culture. Once children know what sex they are, they
develop a concept of what it means to be male or female in their culture. Children then match
their behavior to their culture’s view of what boys and girls are “supposed” to be and do

Gender Constancy
- a child’s realization that his or her gender will always be the same.

Gender Identity
- awareness of one’s own gender and that of others typically occurs between ages 2 and
3.

Gender stability
 - awareness that gender does not change. However, children at this stage base
judgments about gender on superficial appearances (clothing or hairstyle) and
stereotyped behaviors.

Gender consistency
- the realization that a girl remains a girl even if she has a short haircut and plays with
trucks, and a boy remains a boy even if he has long hair and earrings, typically occurs
between ages 3 and 7.

SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACH

● children acquire gender roles by imitating models and being rewarded for
gender-appropriate behavior. Behavioral feedback, together with direct teaching by
parents and other adults, reinforces gender-typing.

Social Cognitive Theory

● According to social cognitive theory, observation enables children to learn much about
gender-typed behaviors before performing them. They can mentally combine
observations of multiple models and generate their own behavioral variations. Instead of
viewing the environment as a given, social cognitive theory recognizes that children
select or even create their environments through their choice of playmates and activities.

The Three Primary Sources of Social Influences on Gender Development

• Family Influences
• Peer Influences
• Cultural Influences

PLAY
● Play is ubiquitous, not just in young humans who take almost any opportunity they can to
play but also in the young of many species, especially intelligent ones.

COGNITIVE LEVELS OF PLAY

● Functional Play
- is the simplest level, which begins during infancy, sometimes called locomotor
play, consisting of repeated practice in large muscular movements, such as
rolling a ball.
● Constructive Play
- also called object play it is the use of objects or materials to make something,
such as a house of blocks or a crayon drawing.
● Dramatic Play
- also called pretend play, fantasy play, or imaginative play), involves imaginary
objects, actions, or roles.
THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF PLAY
● as children gets older, their play tends to become more social that is, more interactive
and more cooperative. Although this general progression is common, children of all ages
also engage in all of Parten’s categories of play.

GENDER AND PLAY

● As we have mentioned, sex segregation is common among preschoolers and becomes
more prevalent in middle childhood. This tendency seems to be universal across
cultures.

CULTURES AND PLAY

● Culture also influences the nature of play via peer interactions. Children who behave in
ways that are contrary to cultural values may be met with rejection from peers, while
those who embody those values are likely to be accepted

Parenting:

Parenting can be a complex challenge. Parents must deal with small people who
have

independent minds and wills, but who still have a lot to learn about what kinds of

behavior works well in society.

Forms of Discipline:
discipline refers to methods of molding character

and of teaching self-control and acceptable behavior.

we tend to think of discipline as involving only punishment, but the psychological

definition of the word also includes techniques such as rewarding desired
behaviors and drawing attention to

how actions affect others.

Reinforcement-Parents sometimes punish children to stop undesirable behavior,

but children usually learn more from being reinforced for good behavior.

External reinforcements- may be

tangible (treats, more playtime) or intangible (a smile, a word of praise, or a

special

privilege).

Internal reinforcements- a sense of pleasure or accomplishment.

There are occasions, however, when punishment, such as isolation or denial of

privileges, is necessary. Children cannot be permitted to run out into traffic or hit
another child. In such situations, punishment, if consistent, immediate, and
clearly tied to the offense, may be effective. It should be administered calmly, in
private, and aimed at eliciting compliance, not guilt. It is most effective when
accompanied by a short,simple explanation.

Punishment

- that is too harsh and can be harmful. Children who are punished harshly and
frequently may have trouble interpreting other people’s actions and words and
may

- attribute hostile intentions where none exists

-Young children who have been punished harshly also show more externalizing
behavior such as physical aggression and impulsivity

One of the harshest forms of parenting involves the use of corporal

punishment.

Corporal punishment has been defined as “the use of physical force with the
intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of
correction or control of the child’s behavior”

Inductive Reasoning, Power Assertion, and Withdrawal of Love

-Inductive techniques-Disciplinary techniques designed to induce desirable

behavior by appealing to a child’s sense of reason and Fairness. by setting limits,
demonstrating logical consequences of an action, explaining, discussing,
negotiating, and getting ideas from the child about what is fair. They also tend to
include appeals to consider how one’s actions affect how others feel.

Power assertion

-is intended to stop or discourage undesirable behavior through physical or

verbal enforcement of parental control; it includes demands, threats, withdrawal
of privileges, spanking, and other types of punishment.

Withdrawal of love Disciplinary strategy that involves ignoring, isolating, or

showing dislike for a child. Neither of these is as effective as inductive reasoning
in most circumstances, and both may be harmful.
PARENTING STYLES

Just as children differ in their temperament, parents differ in their approach to

parenting.

Baumrind’s Model of Parenting Styles

-Diana Baumrind identified the three parenting styles, and described typical
behavior patterns of children raised according to each.

Authoritarian parenting

emphasizes control and unquestioning obedience. Authoritarian parents try to

make children conform to a set standard of conduct and punish them forcefully
for violating it. Their children tend to be more discontented, withdrawn, and
distrustful.

Permissive parenting emphasizes self-expression and self-regulation.

Permissive parents make few demands. They consult with children about policy
decisions and rarely punish. They are warm, noncontrolling, and undemanding.
Their preschool children tend to be immature—the least self-controlled and the
least exploratory.

Authoritative parenting

Authoritative parents are loving and accepting but also demand good behavior
and are firm in maintaining standards They impose limited, judicious punishment
when necessary, within the context of a warm, supportive relationship.
self-reliant, self-controlled, self-assertive, exploratory, and content. Eleanor
Maccoby and John Martin fourth parenting style—neglectful, or uninvolved—to
describe parents who, sometimes because of stress or depression, focus on their
needs rather than on those of the child.
However, Baumrind’s findings are correlational. Thus, they merely establish
associations between each parenting style and a particular set of child behaviors.
They do not show that different styles of child rearing cause children to be more
or less competent. As with all correlations, the direction of effects is not certain.

SPECIAL BEHAVIORAL CONCERNS

Three issues of special concern to parents, caregivers, and teachers of

preschool children are how to promote altruism, curb aggression, and deal with
fears that often arise at this age.

prosocial behavior

Any voluntary behavior intended to help

Others.

altruism

Behavior intended to help others out of

inner concern and without expectation

of external reward; may involve self-

denial or self-sacrifice.

Even before the 2nd birthday, children often help others, share belongings and
food,

and offer comfort. Children who are more advanced in their emotional
understanding at

the age of 3 years generally engage in more prosocial behaviors at the age of 4
(Ensor,

Spencer, & Hughes, 2011). Also, those children with better theory of mind, who
are more

effectively able to model other people’s points of view, are more effective at
helping,
cooperating, and comforting others

Additionally, parents of prosocial children

tend to point out models of prosocial behavior and steer children toward stories,
films,

and television programs that depict cooperation, sharing, and empathy and
encourage

sympathy, generosity, and helpfulness

Aggression
hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward another

instrumental aggression

Aggressive behavior is used as a means of achieving a goal. Common type of

aggression in early childhood Between ages 21⁄2 and 5, children frequently
struggle over toys and control of space.

Gender Differences in Aggression Aggression is an exception to the

generalization that Boys and girls are more similar than different (Hyde, 2005). In
all cultures studied, as among

Most mammals, boys are more physically and verbally aggressive than girls. This
gender

difference is apparent by age 2 (Baillargeon et al., 2007; Pellegrini & Archer,

2005).
However, when aggression is looked at more closely, it appears that boys and
girls

tend to use different kinds of aggression. Boys engage in more overt (direct)
aggression,

and tend to openly direct aggressive acts at a target. Girls, by contrast, tend to
engage

in a form of indirect social aggression known as relational aggression

Fearfulness. Passing fears are common in early childhood. Many 2- to

4-year-olds

are afraid of animals, especially dogs, snakes, and spiders. By age 6, children
are

more likely to be afraid of the dark. Other common fears are of thunderstorms,
doc-

tors, and imaginary creatures

Young children’s fears stem largely from their intense fantasy life and their
tendency

to confuse appearance with reality. Sometimes their imaginations get carried

away, making

Them worry about being attacked by a lion or being abandoned. Young children
are

more likely to be frightened by something that looks scary, such as a cartoon

monster,.