The Impact of Childhood Interactions on Social Development - Essay Example

The novel insights Dunn offers might open up gateways to better social integration in the communities that lament over the fragile bonds of the present-day family
In the animal kingdom, the integration of the offspring into the community is generally genetically coded. Even among some of the higher mammals, where there is a process of integration of the young into the community, the time taken for that is brief. The detailed study of Dunn of the children as they grow in the family shows that children come to understand the social rules of the family and the feelings, intentions, and relationships of others by personally experiencing a process. She argues that self-interest is a major motive in the social growth of children and their emotional experiences and the value judgment that they are naturally skilled in making even in early childhood impact their development as full-fledged participants in the community.
Dunn sees the seeds of the children’s development in social skills and propensities small children exhibit in infancy. Most children tend to cooperative play. Proneness to share food and toys and innate sensitivity to the feelings of others are imbibed early in life to equip themselves for the larger roles time will ask them to play in society. The children almost instinctively prepare themselves to live in small groups, where collaboration and coordinated effort will be called for. The human condition from time immemorial depended on shared concerns. Dunn argues that this develops an ethics of behavior in children. A child who violates the unwritten code of behavior by teasing or violence or does not show inclination or collaboration is not welcome in the children’s world. In brief, children mimic the adult world of group collaboration, and just as odd characters, freaks, and those who do not share the common ethos of the group face sanctions among the adults, children also have a system of showing the cold shoulder to the unwelcome.

A reverberating complaint in most modern societies is about the disintegration of family life. The insight thrown by Dunn might be able to salvage the sinking families in many parts of the world. Families have a child-rearing function and it cannot be entrusted to other agencies. Children construct the roles they would play in life by directly experiencing from parents, siblings, and immediate kith and kin. As put forward by Judy Dunn (Dunn, 1988), rubbing shoulders with siblings is a pivotal component of child development. The interaction with siblings impacts social and moral development. Dunn sees in sibling interaction, conflictual and collaborative elements which are essential for growth into mature manhood or womanhood. Not only do the children learn the adult roles they acquire their ethnic identity, religion, culture, language, and customs. The parents, siblings, and immediate kith and kin are players as well as stakeholders in this human drama. Read More