Understanding and Supporting Behavior
Childhood development in personality and social aspects comes through interaction of biological maturation, social influence, and the child’s self-representation, and the social world. It is, therefore, important for a child to have significant relationships, growth of personality, good development of social understanding and emotional competence to enable the child to relate well with other people (Doherty & Hughes, 2009). Understanding personality and social development can be done by looking at children in three different perspectives whose interactions shape their development. The first perspective is the social context, which refers to where a child lives and defines refers the relationships a child has that provide them with knowledge, security, and guidance (Smith, Cowie, & Blades, 2015). Secondly, it is important to look at biological maturation, which supports development of both emotional and social competencies. Thirdly, one has to understand a child’s process of developing representations of the social world and themselves (Smith et al., 2015). Personality and social development refers to interactions between representational, biological, and social aspects of their psychological development (Smith et al., 2015).
Understanding Relationships in Children
Learning starts even when a child has not yet started going to school. This process involves learning how to talk and to walk among others. Stepp (2013) notes that this type of interaction is observed in the first development stages of a child in their first year. Infants living under normal conditions develop emotional attachments to people who care about them. Such attachments are important because they promote a child’s motivation to stay close to people who care about them. Children value such attachments because they provide them with guidance, affirmation, security, and learning.
Even though close relationship with children matter, the emotional attachment they have to different people varies. Children feel secure when close people reinforce the child’s confidence that they will be supportive and respond sensitively to their situations (Doherty & Hughes, 2009). Infants also become insecure if the kind of care given to them is neglectful and inconsistent. Such children may tend to develop a resistant, avoidant, or a disorganized manner (Smith et al., 2015). As a result, parents and teachers should ensure that they do not pass their individual emotional challenges to children because they play a big role in determining their personality.
Developing Social Understanding
According to Doherty and Hughes (2009), relationships formed by children at school, at playgrounds, or other social places contribute to expanding their emotional and social skills, which also help to broaden their social understanding. In such relationships, a child develops certain expectations for particular individuals. Children also learn how to interact with peers and adult, and development of self-concept depending on how people respond to their actions (Doherty & Hughes, 2009). These relationships play a great role in their emotional development.
As Cole and Knowles (2011) outline, children develop social skills while they are still young because they understand other people have mental states, feelings, and perceptions that determine how they will behave. For instance, a child looks at the teacher’s face when they do certain things to see their reactions. If the teacher’s face is calm, the child develops confidence to continue with their actions. Through people’s reactions children learn what actions are safe, dangerous, morally accepted or not (Cole & Knowles, 2011). If a child goes wrong, it is important to show them that what they are doing is not right.
Developing confidence in the classroom and other learning environment helps children to have confidence in you. Cole and Knowles (2011) argue that being consistent and firm enables children to develop confidence in their teacher or someone who they respect. Using this approach involves making expectations clear to avoid confusion. Effective communication with children also enables them to understand what is expected from them. For children who repeat mistakes and those who become stubborn, letting them know the consequences of their actions helps to them to avoid intentional mistakes. Nonetheless, Doherty and Hughes (2009) posit that reprimands should be kept specific to the child’s misdemeanor. For instance, a child’s actions should be criticized as opposed to verbal rebuking. A firm stare may also be used to correct misbehaving children. Such actions help to avoid drawing the attention of other children to the inappropriate behavior or provoking any form of confrontation.
Giving constructive and regular feedback to children motivates them to keep up doing appropriate things. According to Cole and Knowles (2011), some of the most powerful motivators include encouragement and praise. Praise and positive feedback motivates children to improve their good performance and behavior. Giving unobtrusive praise to a child who is stubborn helps to avoid threatening their public persona. Embracing positive reinforcement methods helps to correct children without lowering their self-esteem. It includes management strategies of positive behavior. A teacher should seek to concentrate on the positive behavior of a child as opposed to the negative side for them to feel appreciated.
Strategies for Working Effectively With Other People
Working with the community helps to improve the social relationships of a child. According to Miller (2003), there are different strategies that can be applied to ensure that the child develops positive relationships with peers and adults. Since Gemma is a child who acts violently especially when something wrong is done to her, it would be helpful to change her approach on anger. The child should be empowered to use non-hurtful communication and appropriate language to communicate her emotions. Since Gemma loves playing, engaging her in games where she will have to follow instructions and face consequences when she fails to do so may help her learn to stay calm and to respect instructions. Since games have rules that provide reasonable and clear limits, Gemma will also learn to follow rules. Such games will enable her to become obedient and apply the skills in her interactions.
Promoting empathetic and positive relationships among children makes them respectful. Sessions should be put in place where Gemma and other children will discuss limits, rules, and guidelines. The contributions made by the children should be used to set guidelines and rules. In this case, Gemma will understand what how she should behave and contribute to the discussion. For the good responses, positive feedback should be given to enable the children to demonstrate positive behavior and reasoning (Vostanis, Humphrey, Fitzgerald, Deighton, & Wolpert 2013). Gemma should also be congratulated for her achievements and strengths to encourage her to improve her abilities. Correcting her by giving alternatives of how she should behave in certain incidences would be helpful.
Gemma’s parents should also be taught on how to interact with their child because their actions matter. Miller (2003) posits that parents should be encouraged to only use positive approaches to guide her behavior. Some of the approaches include positive redirection, giving help, and acknowledgement. The parents should also collaborate with her to solve problems and to help her to understand the impacts of her behavior. Reasoning with her involves providing her alternative solutions to situations. Through consistent reasoning and corrective interactions the child will soon adapt to the new ways of behavior. If Gemma’s parents ensure that limits are carried out in a firm and a calm manner, the child will also learn to behave within the set limits.
Parents should observe their children so that they may identify what triggers their children to develop challenging behavior. Through carrying out the activity, Gemma’s parents will understand most of her weaknesses. Attention should also be paid to Gemma’s development and how the environment impacts her behavior. This may help to understand what influences Gemma to change her behavior. If there are wrong influences, they should be avoided or eliminated (Miller, 2003).She should also be provided with age appropriate resources such as movies that will influence her positively.
The Role of External Agencies and Professionals
Vostanis et al. (2013) state that external professionals and agencies play a great role in advising parents and teachers on how they should tackle certain challenges and how to influence their child’s behavior. Schools work with external agencies to support children and to make sure that the needs of children are met and understood. External agencies also give advice on challenging issues or unbecoming behavior of a certain child. Some of the external parties include a school nurse, language and speech, a communication and social team, a sensory support team, and an educational psychologist among others.
If the staff or parents have concern about a particular child’s behavior, the school may refer the parent to the service to determine ways of addressing the problem. External professional may also train teachers and parents on how to develop positive relationships with children. Confidential and impartial information may be offered to parents to help them understand their children’s behavior (Vostanis et al., 2013). Some external agencies monitor and oversee provisions for children to ensure that they follow the right development process.
Conclusion
Children should have a good social understanding, growth of personality, and emotional competence for good relationship with other people. The three most important aspects of looking at a child’s growth regarding both personality and social development include: the social context, biological maturation, and how a child understands their abilities and the social world.
Effective communication with children helps them to understand what behavior or character is expected from them. Giving children constructive and regular feedback motivates them to improve their behavior. To ensure that a child grows appropriately, it would be important to develop working strategies with the community, family members, and external agencies because they all play a particular role in influencing a child’s understanding and behavior.
References
Cole, T., & Knowles, B. (2011). Helpful group interventions in class and around school. In How to Help Children and Young People with Complex Behavioural Difficulties: a guide for practitioners working in educational settings
Doherty, J., & Hughes, M. (2009). Child development: Theory and practice 0-11. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.
Miller, A. (2003). Teachers, parents and classroom behavior: A psychological approach. Buckingham: Open University Press
Smith, P. K., Cowie, H., & Blades, M. (2015). Understanding children’s development, (6th ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Stepp, G. (2013). Raising a Moral Child. Retrieved from http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/child-development-core-competencies-moral-system/67422.aspx
Vostanis, P., Humphrey, N., Fitzgerald, N., Deighton, J., & Wolpert, M. (2013). How do schools promote emotional well‐being among their pupils? Findings from a national scoping survey of mental health provision in English schools. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 18(3), 151-157. 10.1111/j.1475-3588.2012.00677.x
