General Emotional Development of -six year olds

General Emotional Development of -six year olds Starting school introduces them to new adults and children Assume more responsibility Realize they are no longer a baby Independence and self worth

Four Year olds

Specific Emotions • 4-6 year olds need help recognizing and expressing specific emotions • Self Confidence • Anger • Fear • Jealousy

Self Confidence • As children find success their confidence will grow • The feeling of self worth and independence will lead to children taking initiatives. • Initiatives – motivation to accomplish tasks

Anger • Show anger freely • Frequency will decrease from 4 to 6 • Disagreements with other children is the most common reason for anger. • Parents are also object of a child anger. • They way kids express their anger varies child’s personality how their parents express anger

Anger • 4 year old – Physically fight, threaten to get even • 5 year old – hurt the other Childs feelings • 6 year old – sting with their words. Tease, insult, nag and make fun of others.

Fear • Well developed imagination, and many of their fears center on imaginary things like ghosts, monsters, robbers, vampires. Afraid of the dark and fear being left alone or abandoned. • Afraid of school, the children, a bully at school

How to overcome fears • Accept the fear. • Let the child express the fear without ridicule. • Help the child feel able to face the fear.

Jealousy • Sibling rivalry is common • Do not compare one child to another. Causes damage to the child’s self-esteem. • Signs of jealousy: tattling, criticizing, boasting, nail biting, bed wetting, and tantrums • As caregivers we can empathize and give extra attention

Children and Stress • Stress is very real and varies • One in three children suffer from stress • Possible causes of stress? • Stress Indicators • Moodiness, headaches, nail biting • Clingy, distant, stuttering, restlessness Read Heath Tip – page 465

Competition • Good • Individual effort • Promotes higher standard • Interest in completing tasks • Realistic view or own ability in relation to others • Encourages speed in accomplishment • Helps kids to excel and prepare for the adult world. • Bad • Success depends on the ability to out do others • Leads to hostile relations with others • Results in lack of effort for those who don’t win • Points out children’s inadequacies • Lowers status and self-esteem of those who lose.

Competition • 6years olds hate to lose and don’t take constructive criticism well. • Cheat in order to not lose • If the child doesn’t take losing well, stop competitive games for awhile. They will out grow it. • Caregivers we need to be good sports so children learn to lose graciously

Competition • When grouping children for teams DO NOT let the kids pick their own team. • Equal playing time – everyone needs a chance to play

Teamwork and Cooperation • Prefer cooperative over competitive play • Not playing cheering. • Share by passing the ball to each other • Teach children to not compare themselves to others • Compare their skills now to the past

How do you determine what is the right thing to do when faced with a moral question? • How do you choose whether to take that action or a different course?

Targets • Describe the social development in children ages 4 to 6 • Describe a child’s relationship to family at ages 4 to 6 • Create strategies for helping children develop a sense of right and wrong • Debate ways of handling outside influences on children’s behavior.

General Social Patterns • Children four to six are learning to get along with peers • Developing social skills with people outside of their family • Accepting authority from new people • The rate at which children learn social skills will vary, but there are general patterns

Four • Form friendships • Prefer cooperative play instead of alone • Best in groups of three or four • Share toys and take turns • Bossy and inconsiderate so fights can happen • Family is still the most important • Ask for approval

Five • Outgoing and talkative • Play in groups of five or six • Quarrel less but resort to name calling and threats • Respect others belongings • Acceptance from peers is important • They don’t want to be different and fear being made fun of • Gossip- who has what toys, friends, etc

Six • Aggressive, threatening, and stubborn • Their way is the right way • No longer want to share • Become jealous of others belongings • Best friends are the same sex, but can play in mixed groups • Friendships are longer lasting • Group games but once tired of it will drop out with no regard to the team.

What is your earliest memory of being in a group? Was it a neighborhood group, school, etc. How did the group treat children that did not belong in it?

Family Relationships • Four year old- strong sense of family. Perform household chores. Argue with siblings • Five year old – family is important. Play better with siblings and even protect. • Six year old – less harmonious with family. Self-centered, their needs come first. Argumentative. Fight with siblings.

Comprehension check • At which age is family likely to be most important four, five or six? • At which age would you say children are easiest to get along with four, five, or six? Why? • Why are six year olds less in harmony with family members than four and five year olds?

Moral Development • Base your behavior on your beliefs of right and wrong. • Parents responsibility to help shape • Between five and seven children begin to develop a conscience, inner sense of what is right and wrong. • This leads to good behavior or guilt feeling when they do something wrong.

Valued Group Member • Popular • Considerate • Cooperative • Generous • Sharing • Cheerful • Good sense of humor • Unpopular • Tease • Insult • Tattle • Bully • Stingy • Bossy • Cry win they lose • Gloat when they win

Lying • Starting to learn the difference between truth and lies. • May exaggerate the truth • Help separate fact from fiction • Do not punish for children using their imagination • Need to learn that telling the truth is important because others rely on what you say • The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Why do kids lie? • Fearful of the consequences • Punishment should not be so severe that kids feel it necessary to lie. • Avoid confrontations • Ask questions in a non threatening way

Ask the Experts • Page 474 • Critical Thinking • Richard’s mother found out that Richard had lied about eating candy. His mother said that he had to be punished but she wasn’t sure what his punishment would be. Later, she told Richard that she had decided he would set the punishment

Guidelines for Moral Development • Page 473

Handling Outside Influences • Peer influence will increase • Pick up words and speech patterns • Children need to learn that each family has its own set of rules

Television • Some shows may reflect values that go against what the family beliefs are. • TV rating system • Television rating system • cartoons with fantasy violence

General Emotional Development of -six year olds