Social Skills Development in Early Childhood - Essay Example

Full topic and Section # of USING INFORMATION SOURCES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD Performing the duties of a teacher in a primary school, catering to young kids, it is very important to develop an understanding about their basic cognitive and social development. Cognitive development pertains to the developments that take place with time in the child's thinking ways and ideas and social development relates to the social behavior that a child shows towards the surrounding environment. A child's social skills are a very important part of their personality and the developmental process is different in different children. Parents play an important part in the development of the personality of their children as well. The kind of environment children get at their homes is of great importance as it influences the way children develop their social and mental skills. If a child does not have the required confidence and charisma in them they might not be able to survive as better individuals in this society, therefore, development of social skills is very important in schools as well as at home. The question that comes to my mind is that: how to help the children develop social skills that they require to excel in this ever changing and demanding world. This report discusses two references that have been used to help understand the importance of developing social skills in early childhood and how to cater to the child's needs. Both of these articles were found on the internet. The first one is a 'peer reviewed' article from the 'Australian Journal for Early Childhood' written by Jacquelyn Mize and Ellen Abell. The other one is another article that is directed towards the parents titled 'How your lifestyle can be a positive model for your child's social skills' by an author surnamed Jet. Reference Details: Jacquelyn Mize, Ellen Abell (year) Encouraging Social Skills in young Children: Tips Teachers can share with parents. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from web title Web site: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org. Jet. (2004) How your lifestyle can be a positive model for your child's social skills. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from web title Web site: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_3_106/ai_n6153504. The target audience in both the audience is mainly the parents who can be a great help in developing social skills in their kids. Both the articles enlighten us with tips and tricks parents can use at home to help their children boost up their public skills. The authors have facilitated the concept of home-learning with the help of examples, stressing on the fact that it is at the home where the child learns most of his social and personal traits. Children who display high levels of social competence typically enjoy parent-child relationships characterized by positive and agreeable interactions, acceptance (Cohn, Patterson, & Christopoulous, 1991; Pettit & Mize, 1993; Putallaz, 1987) Both the sources were located by using the search engines available to us. The search terms used to locate the peer reviewed journal were 'journal of social development' and 'peer reviewed social journals'. The search engine specifically Google and Yahoo were used to locate the Australian Journal for Early Childhood. The same were used to locate the other article. In the first article by Jacquelyn Mize basically tries to illustrate the fact that how parents can influence their children's upbringing and how they can help them to develop social skills in them so that one day they can become socially competent with the world. This article provides the viewers with specific steps that the author has provided to facilitate the parents. The article starts by stating that it is not unusual to have children who are shy when compared to others and parent's worries are equally acceptable about this fact. The author has then discussed the idea of socially competent pre-schoolers and how they boost up the environment present in a class room with their vibrant and unavoidable presence. This idea lets us realize how confidence builds a major role in character development of the individual and these characteristics of social skills should be catered to in the pre-schooling years only as it is as that time the child's personality is developing. The author has discussed another trait present in these vibrant students saying that these pre schoolers are responsive as well and they gel in with the requirements of their play partners of class partners. This helps them to become more popular in the class as everybody feels comfortable around them. Then the author discusses the importance of parent's influence on the children's personality development. It is widely believed that the everyday experiences in relationships with their parents are fundamental to children's developing social skills (Cohn, Patterson, & Christopoulous, 1991; Parke & Ladd, 1992). Finally, the authors have discussed the steps that should be taken by parents to help enhance the child's social skills. This article emphasizes on the importance of peer to peer relationship and states that nothing can substitute what a child shares with his or her peers. They are able to develop better and sophisticated strategies when working with their peers. They also emphasize on spending time with the children and playing with them in the 'peer-way'. This means that the parents should pretend to be young and rather then dominating the game they are engrossed in with their children, they should let the children carry on with the show. Observational studies indicate that the parents of the most socially competent children laugh and smile often, avoid criticizing their child during play, are responsive to the child's ideas, and aren't too directive (MacDonald, 1987; MacDonald & Parke, 1984). They should also talk to children about relationships and their importance as it the parents the child wants to copy. The parents should also use a problem solving approach towards their children and help them in developing positive strategies. Children react more positively to peers who try to solve problems by negotiation or compromise rather than through tattling, aggression, or verbal coercion ("I won't play with you anymore' or "I won't be your friend") (Crick & Grotepeter, 1995). The second article summarizes the whole article in its topic: how your (parents) lifestyle can be a positive model for your child's social skills. It gives the audience tips and pointers about how they can inculcate the ability of interacting with others and being socially competent in their children by the help of simple do's and don'ts. The article states that the parents are their children's role model and it is from them they learn the skills of reacting to different situations, they way of expressing their feelings or handling different circumstances. The author asks the parents to show respect to the children's beliefs and values so that the message is forwarded to the children that everybody's rights and beliefs should be respected no matter what. The author wants the parents to show assertiveness in front of their kids and teach them to say 'no' when it is right to do so. The parents should create an aura where children should be asked to stand up for their rights and their beliefs. Displays of affection, love and kindness at homes will also help in inculcating the same feelings into the children. The author also points out that back biting and saying negative things about others with their children listening can lead to adverse effects on the children' psychology where they might think it is ok to do so if our parents are doing it. Parents of these socially competent children endorse interpretations of social events that encourage resilient, constructive attitudes (Mize, Pettit, Lindsey, & Laird, 1993). Finally the author in this article is asking the parents to publicly display good deeds and interest in community works and services as that will help them in the creation of better human beings in the world. Comparison and contrast of the information provided in the two articles suggests that both the articles were written before properly conducting and observational study. However, one of them doesn't include instances and example from real life, the other one is fully equipped with all the relevant examples and observational study statistics and citations that propagate the ideas presented in the articles. My own personal belief is not different from what the article are portraying. I believe that children learn the most from their parents and their personalities shape according to the environment they are kept in, therefore providing an environment that catalyzes the development of social skills is a prime responsibility of parents. The basic opinions of authors of both the articles don't differ much. They have both tried to put forward the idea of the importance of parents in the life of their children. The more involved the parents are in the social activities and lives of their sons and daughters, the more they can help them in becoming socially competent and better citizens of this society. Both of them have presented pointers to help parents and encourage the same tips and tricks in different ways and aspects. Jacquelyn Mize is an associate professor in the Department of Family and Child Development at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Ellen Abell, Ph.D., is an extension family and child development specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Child Development at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Since both the authors of the first article are professor from the same department, they might be influenced by their own research and teaching and they might be missing the major negative points that might relate to this topic. This is because they are not neutral to the topic but they want to propagate their own teachings and beliefs to the world. There is not much information about the author of the second article. The arguments made in the articles are clear and convincing and backed by daily life examples (in the peer reviewed journal article). The conclusion that can be drawn after going through both the articles is that parents play an important role in the up bringing of their children; a child is mostly influenced by the way his or her parents react to situations and therefore the parents should keep a check on themselves as well; and that by providing an environment that encourages the development of social skills, parents can help in the development of their children's personality and their social competence. The only question that arises in the mind of the reader after going through both of the articles is that it how does the external environment effect the child's learning of social skills They have mentioned tricks that parents can implement in front of their children at their homes; however, the articles have not discussed the effects of the environment on the child. In my perception, personality is shaped by the environment he or she is present in, and a child's environment consists of the house and maybe his school etc. they have not mentioned anything about the controlling of the external environment by the parents. References 1. Berk, Laura, & (2007). Child Development (with Milestones card).Pearson. 2. Kail, Robert, & (2006). Children And Their Development. Pearson. 3. MacDonald, F- B., & Parke, P, (1984). Bridging the gap: Parent- child play interaction and peer interactive competence. Child Development, 55, 1265-1277. Pearson. 4. Jet, (2004, July, 19). How your lifestyle can be a positive model for your child's social skills. Retrieved November, 1, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_3_106/ai_n6153504. 5. Jacquelyn Mize, Ellen Abell (year) Encouraging Social Skills in young Children: Tips Teachers can share with parents. 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