Psychologist Mildren Parten: A Psychological Analysis

Psychologist, Mildren Parten, develop a theory on social development in children in relation to play around the world. The theory focuses on how the changing nature of young children's play from age two to age five proceeds naturally through the social aspect. The stages have been shown to be similar across cultures. Unoccupied play is the first stage in which a child is stationary and performs random movements without a purpose. The second stage is solitary play where the child plays independently even when surrounded by peers. The third stage of play is onlooker play which is when the child takes on an interest of other children’s play, but does not join in (Anderson-McNamee & Bailey, 2010, p.2). Parallel play is next in which the child