Peer Relationships and Social Adjustment in Childhood - Research Paper Example

? Research paper Psychology Peer Relationships and Social Adjustment in Childhood Introduction When you deliberately take note at how people interact with each other as well how they deal with various situations in life, you will realize that the emotional foundation of an individual is mostly shaped by early family upbringing. It is important however that children get an opportunity to learn and then practice social skills in other avenues other than their homes. Orientation to the broader world allows children to get exposure to various situations that may confront them even later in life (Kirby & Sanders, 2012). An individual who exhibits control over their stressors, frustrations and challenges is able to maintain a healthy opinion about themselves. Every community is governed by a set of rules and regulations and it takes a properly socially adjusted individual to respect laws, culture and have healthy relationships with people regardless of their age. Inspiration to write this paper stems from the fact that we cannot divorce ourselves from the world around us. The only way to develop a society that is pleasant to live is to ensure that children grow up with strong influences around them which eventually determine what sort of adults they will become. Research relevance to the outcome of social adjustments among children Efforts by governments around the world in partnership with community based organizations help to show how important it is to nurture children’s behavior when they are still young. There is an obvious difference in social interaction especially among adolescence of children from different backgrounds (Barnett & Belfield, 2006). The simple truth is that if children do not find emotional stability from their homes, they will look for it elsewhere and often in the wrong places. It is often easier to brand someone as a social misfit than to take the time to understand why they behave the way they do. From the works of psychology researchers, the bulk of them focus on finding the relationship between early emotional attachments within the family setting to future social adjustability to the outside world (Barnett & Belfield, 2006). Research on children has proven to be very tricky in recent works because a lot of factors do affect the outcome of such findings. Most of these studies are carried out in homes where children are likely to be most comfortable. The biggest challenge however is that the nature of these studies failed in isolating the needs of the children to those of the family as a whole. Outcomes like these offer researchers an opportunity to think about ways in which child development can be influenced directly without the need to involve the parents. It is true that parents play a significant role in shaping the kind of individuals their children become, but their influence alone might not be enough to prepare their children for the world. It is also important for researchers to realize that the success of any program depends on the intensity and duration of any given project. Even well thought out programs carried out briefly without giving enough time to study various angles of the study have no chance of giving conclusive findings. Nothing good comes easy and this is the reality of expenditure when it comes to research funding. Future research projects that better understand peer interactions and social adjustments Even small children worry at how successful they will be in being able to make and keep friends as well as if they will be able to make it to the bathroom in time. There is a lot of anxiety which surrounds the first day of school especially at kindergarten and preschool. The worry that preschool teachers have is if they did well enough to equip in these children for them to be able to blend into the next stage of their lives. In their course of their lives, children go through many transitional phases and each of these is very significant in shaping who they will become when they grow up (Keyes, 2006). From meeting new people, advancing in education and facing situational conflicts such as bullying, a child is shaped into an individual who will later influence the world by their actions and mentality. Parents are able to influence the contacts their children make and what situations they are confronted with to shape their adulthood. It is important for researchers therefore to study situational responses and adaptability of children to certain scenarios even from an early age (Keyes, 2006). The ability of children to learn faster than adults and their willingness to explore new things in life, gives them a chance to be molded into responsible adults. It is not enough to study children in isolated contexts but productive studies are those that will follow up on child development from the day of birth. This is important because every child grows up in unique circumstances and a closer look of how different situations affect social interactions makes it easy to follow up on behavior development. It takes a lot of efforts to really understand what the peers go through during their development and growth. This involves both physical and mental growths and developments. Every adult passed through this subtle stage and hence should be able to really be there for their kids when experiencing it. This topic is crucial as some parents and other members of the society tend to use ill-advised methods in dealing with the adolescents which ends up in nasty scenarios that many of us prefer to ignore (Boothroyd, 2013). There are things that parents need to get right to avoid unnecessary stress for themselves and their children. Parents need to know that as much as they want to be friends with their children, their core responsibility is to nurture them into adults who will be able to be self-sufficient in their emotional and cognitive aspects (Howlett, 1970). The reason why we see a significant rise in the number of children who are not well prepared for the outside world, is the fact that modernity has eliminated the aspect of the extended family from most family set ups. If research can be made to focus on the family in the wider context of the word, then help for the modern child is within reach and future interactions can be salvaged (Keyes, 2006). The principle person who brings up a child has the greatest impact into their level of preparedness they have for the various transitions in their lives (Dunifon & Bajracharya, 2012). Little research has been dedicated to the involvement that grandparents have on their growing grandchildren with regards to social adjustment. It is important to realize that study results among maternal grandparents will be different from that of paternal grandparents. This is again due to family orientation and how relationships are nurtured from childhood (Dunifon & Bajracharya, 2012). Conclusion Bringing up a child is a lot of work, but then every one of us knows this. What we might not all know is that it involves much more than putting food on the table. If you see an area of life that researchers are committed and willing to put effort, time and funds into, it spells importance and value. As the world changes either for the better or for the worst, we also change and so do the systems that we live in. this therefore means that the old ways of doing things evolve with the time making times very different. Knowledge of this makes more sense in understanding why people of different generations understand the same concept differently. As a parent, you are responsible for the physical, spiritual, social and intellectual development of a child. There is much more to think about other than what your kids wear and what they eat on a daily basis (Howlett, 1970). The realization that you will not be able to accomplish positive growth in all these areas is appreciated more so in these times when both parents have to work to make sure that bills are paid and education for their children is paid for. There are good schools that incorporate child welfare into their programs so that parents who are tied up at work can still be able to have a healthy upbringing for their children (Barnett & Belfield, 2006). For people who still have their parents around, it may help to ask for their help in bringing up children instead of paying babysitters whose only gainful interest they have with the children is the money they make. The much you invest into the early formative years of a child is what will determine what kind of relationship you will have with them later (Dunifon & Bajracharya, 2012). It is often said that charity begins at home and this is especially true when it comes to the way in which parents interact with their children. How children interact with peers and the world as a whole is a direct mirror image of how their surroundings as they grew up wire tuned to influence their behaviors. It should be very clear that changing the world can be a hard thing to do alone but tiny efforts like influencing the upbringing of a single individual goes a long way in making the world more bearable than it currently is (Kirby & Sanders, 2012). References Barnett, S., & Belfield, C. R. (2006). Influence of Early Childhood Programs on Child Development and Adult Outcomes . Opportunity in America, 6. Boothroyd, R. (2013). Why are we Afraid to Screen Adolescents for Depression? Journal of Child & Adolescent Behavior, 3-8. Dunifon, R., & Bajracharya, A. (2012). The Role of Grandparents in the Lives of Youth. J Fam Issues, 1168-1194. Howlett, M. (1970). Successful Transition to Kindergarten: The Role of Teachers & Parents. Teacher’s edition: My Weekly Reader Surprise. Keyes, C. R. (2006). A Look at Children's Adjustment to Early Childhood Programs. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 1-7. Kirby, J. N., & Sanders, M. R. (2012). Using Consumer Input to Tailor Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions to the Needs of Grandparents. J Child Fam Stud, 626–636. Read More