Development and Importance of Childrens Skills in Emotional Regulation - Essay Example

Consider the development and importance of children’s skills in emotional regulation Consider the development and importance of children’s skills in emotional regulation Abstract The the fundamental goal of the developmental psychology and behavioral science is to discern the critical and sufficient infant experiences that typify child development into adulthood. The monitoring of early emotional development in children is quite difficult. Therefore, the extent of emotional regulation can only be achieved through the development of children’s skills as a matter of life experience. Emotional Regulation (ER) has been the subject of many studies and numerous researches. Vast databases have been created about this topic for many years because of its on social competence and school performance (Kopp & Newfield, 2003). The major areas of study focus on understanding early child experiences in the hands of caring adults who are socially and emotionally responsive. The interaction between the child and such warm adults creates a stable bond that is crucial in the child’s emotional regulation (Jones et al, 2003). This helps in establishing a firm foundation that fosters important social-emotional development that defines a child’s long term mental status. Keywords: Emotional Regulation, emotions, developmental psychology, social competence Introduction There have been many different definitions and approaches to ER, although there is no common definition that has been reached (Cole et al, 2004). These different definitions will be discussed in this essay together with the developmental stages of ER which will be considered from infancy to adolescence. This will be discussed together with the consequences that can alter the numerous developmental stages. Finally, ER will be discussed from the point of the importance of children‘s skills in regulating their emotions for schooling success and social competence, which has been considered among different studies and approaches. Emotional regulation is mainly concerned with the change of attitude as a result of emotional disturbances by internal and external elements of human nature. This mainly necessitates the need to initiate proper regulation that will adapt children to emotional outcomes to cope with emotional frustration (Cicchetti et al 1991). It will be more practical to consider the environmental factors (e.g. help of parents), and the natural and fundamental coping processes in human being separately (Eisenberg and Spinard, 2004). Emotional self-regulation can be affected by both genetic and environmental factors, including the internal and external factors. The understanding of this concept is helps in designing ways that will help children in dealing external factors that can alter their ability to regulate their emotional expression (Eisenberg, et al 2010). The Development of Emotional Regulation There are three known stages in the developmental process of ER. First stage In this stage, the parent or the caregiver regulations are used for self-regulation by the child. Infants from birth up to around 6 months of age rely on parents or caregivers support to regulate their emotions. In this stage, the reactions of the child to emotional disturbance are manifested in the form of cries or showing other negative reactions. Second stage This stage involves the need to regulate negative emotions by using cognitive strategies. By 6 months of age, the infant will start using some self-regulating strategies to regulate his emotion. For instance, the child will seek comfort by sucking the thumb or cuddling of blanket. The child may also result diverting attention from the frustrating situations by turning their gaze away from the unpleasant situation to a positive face or object (Siegler et al, 2010). It has also been suggested and recommended that the interval of early regulation in the infant can be between the ages of five to ten months old (Stifter & Braungart 1995). In early years, children start to distract themselves more by playing. By the time they start to use the language, they will have more techniques of dealing with emotional disturbances (Siegler et al, 2010). Language development has an effect on self-regulating improvement since it equips the child with the necessary tool for expressing their grievances. The most notable self-regulation improvement can be seen in the child’s age, between 3- 4 year sold (Jones et al, 2003). These changes in children relate to their neurological system development and the maturation rate of their motor and cognitive functions. The changes introduce new ways of thinking whose output is seen in these little changes. These include the ability to adjust their behavior towards reaching their goals and enhancing representational thinking. This thinking tends to show them that self-reliance is important in some situations (Kopp & Newfield 2003). Third stage This is the stage where it is important to equip children with the life skills that will adapt them to dealing with stressful life scenarios (Siegler et al. 2010). Young children know how to regulate their emotion most by using behavioral strategies. As they grow old, they start to apply cognitive strategies in difficult situations (Skinner, 2007). For instance if a child is bothered by a peer, he/she will try to underestimate the importance of the action and will use appropriate reactions to inhibit more teasing (Siegler et al, 2010). Children’s ability to deal with emotions will develop over time. They will know which cognitive and behavioural strategies will be best deal with the mental stressor. Children are able to distinguish between controllable (like homework) and uncontrollable (going through medical operation) unpleasant situations that cause them stress, and this helps them to apply appropriate strategies to deal with situations (Siegler et al, 2010). The Relation of ER to Social Competence and Adjustment Social competence can be defined as the ability of using strategies to achieve goals in the social context while keeping an appropriate interplay and behaviour with others (Robin et al 1998). Relations with other children are used to ascertain the level of development socially. Studies show that children can successfully interact and build a relationship with their peers if they have the ability to self-regulate their emotions. Children who utilize behavioural and cognitive strategies will be able to cope well with their peers. They will be able to manage their tumultuous life situations (Sigler et al, 2010). Managing life in the sense that the child can at times come to the rescue of his/her peers. It is notable that a strong foundation of children’s social skills and emotional regulation mechanisms correlate well with impressive academic performance. Indeed, children’s relationships with classmates and teachers have been seen as a product of their emotional regulation ability (Eric Digest, 2003). Children, who will interact well with their teachers, will gain more knowledge as their abilities to handle different emotions build up rapidly compared to the others. Therefore, proper child development in emotion regulation plays an integral role in the child’s social competence and success in life (Siegler et al, 2010). This accounts for the reasons why ER has for ages been emphasized as key to a person’s life. Effective emotional control in children leads to improved social competency, increased self-esteem in social circles, and hence productive interaction with others. Studies show that children with advanced emotional control are better in controlling their negative emotions, like anger, and will have better social behaviour that will lead them to be admired more by peers, as well as having better social competence. On the other hand, children who lack this ability will not be able to control their cognitive behaviour. This result to expression aggressive behaviour and impulsiveness which cause rejection by peer sand diminishes social competence. When social competence decreases, the child’s performance in every situation in life is likely to stall. While the peers are improving in every situation, the child will be isolated and will to have no company. (Spinrad et al, 2006). Children who are academically and socially talented will always be observed to have good emotional regulation abilities. Children with under-developed emotional regulation ability are slow in coping with life challenges, and are unable to sustain meaningful relationships with teachers and peers (Graziano et al 2007). As a result of this, such a child will always be on the wrong side of the school administration. Reasons for this are simple. With poor relations with other children, the child’s defence mechanism to the peers may seem detrimental to what others like. When the majority is against, the minority will have to accommodate what they never desired for. It is obvious that a positive relationship between teacher and student is not only related to child ability in regulating their emotions, but also other teacher social skill, as well. For instance, they should be aware of how to maintain good contact with each other and how to manage the start and ending of the conversion (Graziano et al 2007). Teachers tend to be less patient with children who have behavioural problems. They usually tend to pay little attention to the achievements of such children, and in turn concentrate more on the efforts of socially responsive children (Coie & Koeppl, (1990). Cordial relationship between children and their teachers is a good element of motivation for academic interest and learning. Such a relationship can lead to increase in the whole process of learning. This is a great way of improving academic and life performance (Graziano et al, 2007). The apparent lack of encouragement and motivation as well as negative reactions from teachers greatly lower the development ability of children with diminished emotional control ability. It is suggested that academic achievement of children has a direct attachment to their emotional regulation in preschool years. (Graziano et al 2007). The study of delay in gratification, conducted by Walter Michel and his colleagues, revealed that children who are better in delaying immediate gratification will cope better in society later in their lives. They will be better in self-control, and as a result, do better in high school. These children are likely to conclude their education successfully compared to children whose cognitive ability is below par. The results obtained from this study can be used to predict the social competency and academic success expected later in adulthood. Children with higher self-seem are able to manage their emotional distress better than others, and there has been less reporting from them in substance abuse (Siegler et al, 2010). Children who can delay gratification will have more concentration in classrooms, instead of seeking to satisfy their immediate pleasure such as chatting with the other students instead of studying in the classroom (Duckworth et al (2010). This shows that the role of self-control is much more important than the role of intelligence childhood success. Teachers in some studies indicated that ability to self-regulate plays an important role in the success of children in the kindergartens and later academic achievements. In fact, emotional self-regulation is as important as IQ measures in determining the developmental level of children (Duckworth & Carlson, 2013). Self-regulating applies to welcoming the teachers instructions rather than opposing them. Although successful self-regulation has been attributed to better academic performance later in life, some studies have shown that unpleasant experiences in early life can affect the development of emotional regulation ability. Children should be provided with an enabling environment that will not affect the development of their self-regulation skills. Fortunately, various studies show that teaching some self-regulation strategies to the adolescents can help them to cope well and be socially competent (Duckworth & Angela Lee, 2011). In real life situations, the successful people have good emotional control. There have been other studies indicating the importance of emotional self-regulation in other aspects of children’s life rather than school success. In fact, several studies have shown that emotion regulation is essential in coping with life problems such as health related problems. Emotional self-regulation will prevent one from getting into sticky unwanted situations. This is the ability to cope with the daily happenings in life. When confronted by rough situations, one can deal with them and avoid stress. Conclusion The development of emotional regulation in children should commence from early infancy and continue well into adulthood. Early development of children’s skills is necessary as it correlates well with positive advancement in children’s cognitive performance. Social competency and success in school have been attributed to children’s ability to regulate their emotions, which are the items in measure of self-control. Effective self-control in children can lead to improved academic performance and a successful life. Apart from the students, teachers also need to have social skills in dealing with children and lead them to academic success. Teachers’ relationship with students could have a direct effect on their academic outcome. Numerous studies also show that teachers tend to have a better relationship with the well behaved and regulated children. Indeed, they tend to have a more positive relationship with them than those who lack such capabilities to cope. As a result, the second group will have less encouragement to the learning process which will reinforce their problem in social competency and school success. It is plausible that sufficient, self -control techniques lead to less anti-social behaviours and lower motivation for drug and alcohol consumption. They also play a crucial role in dealing with health issues such as control of obesity, and can decrease the record of antisocial behaviours. In order to enhance life satisfaction in children relationship, more life skills should be adopted in cultivating effective self-regulations in the schools and children’s life. References Campos,JJ.,Frankel,CB.& Camras,L.(1992) On the nature of emotion regulation Child Development. Cicchetti, D., Ganiban, J., Barnett, D. (1991). The development of emotion regulation. In: Dodge K, Garber J, editors. Contributions from the Study of High-Risk Populations to Understanding the Development of Emotion Regulation. New York: Cambridge University. 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