Social and Emotional Development

As our children grow from young beautiful children to infancy and then to adulthood they are gradually affected by their surrounding environment around them. They are also affected by the genetics their mothers and fathers pass down to them (Gerrig and Zimbardo). As the children grow they will change and develop in many different ways. Our children will go through many stages of social and moral development from the time of early childhood through adolescence. Infancy is the first time period in a child’s life that will begin at birth and continue on through 2 years of age. During the journey of infancy children develop socially and morally. Since the very beginning at birth children will being to realize that people are active, expressive, and respond easily. They also realize that people have life to them that objects do not. (Gerrig and Zimbardo). At this early age children often being to realize how to act appropriately and how to behave in order to achieve a goal. My daughter for instance knows that if she is good while at the store most likely we will get her a prize that could be anything. Ranging from candy to a small toy. Although my daughter has learned that if she doesn’t get her way and doesn’t get her candy she can cry and through her fit as much as she may please and that it won’t change the outcome she still may not get what she is wanting. Most infants will reach out for or point to indicate they want a certain object that he or she may want. In the second year of infancy children become more aware of people’s mental states, and they will possess an awareness of other people’s attention focus and emotions (Gerrig and Zimbardo). By the age of 18 months children will become very aware of how their actions influence the people around them. At this point the children become more aware of what behaviors cause certain emotions from people around them. Infancy is the beginning of childhood and it is just the beginning of emotional, social, and moral development for children. Early childhood on the other hand is a horse of a different color. The early childhood ages range from two years to six years. Child develops quite a bit during early childhood and become increasingly more aware of the mind frame of the people around them. As early as two years old children will use words that refer to people’s desires and emotions for example children will say words such as want, sad, and feel. By the age of 3 children well develop even further and begin using words such as I think and I know. My daughter and is three years old and she knows everything as well as thinks she can come up with alternate reasons for doing something she knows she’s not suppose to be doing. She’s so funny and very smart she can come up with a reason we should let her do something she’s not suppose to in a split second. She is certainly developing very quickly. Early childhood is an extremely important age of development until the age of 4 or 5 children appreciate a false belief. And they realize that circumstances may reasonably lead people to believe something different from what they themselves know to be true. (Emotional Development) Middle childhood is the age group that includes children ages six through ten. During this age group children become even more aware of a person’s mental state. Children of this age become more in tune with other people’s behavior and they will begin to realize that just because someone acts a certain way this doesn’t actually reflect their thoughts and feelings (Emotional Development). At this age children become more aware of how complex the mind and ones emotions often are. Early adolescence is an age group that includes ages ten through fourteen. As children move into early adolescence they begin to appreciate the feelings of those around them. This is an extremely significant age group because the children become more thoughtful and they are more able to recognize the emotions and thoughts of others around them. During early adolescence the children will often begin taking other’s perspective into consideration. Rather than just thinking of themselves. Late adolescence is the time period that includes ages fourteen through eighteen. This is the time where children are growing more rapidly and learning to become adults. During this time children have a learned quite a bit from past personal experiences and have enough knowledge to think and feel on their own. Children are truly amazing and grow so rapidly it’s unreal. Children develop at different speeds and learn new things at different rates but they all go through these different stages. Some however will go through these stages more rapidly than others. My daughter is now three years old she often argues with me because she knows best. Or at least she thinks she knows best. Unfortunately telling her she is wrong doesn’t always go over as well as you would like for it to. But she’s getting better and starting to mind better. She is extremely smart or could just have some form of ocd either way she appears to be extremely intelligent for her little three year old self. I had bought her a box of 48 crayons she spent about an hour organizing these crayons by shade darkest to lightest it was the craziest think we have ever seen. She also remembers everything you can’t get much past her. Children are truly amazing and if you really sit and think about how they process everything in their little minds you would be quiet impressed or at least I am.

<a href="http://social.jrank.org/pages/228/Emotional-Development.html">Emotional Development - Emotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood, Emotions and Early Relationships, Emotional Development During Adolescence, Summary - Emotional Development during Childhood</a>
Gerrig and Zimbardo. Psychology and Life. 16th edition. Boston. 2002.