Chapter 10 Introduction

Early Childhood: Psychosocial Development

  • Emotional Development
    • Initiative versus Guilt
    • Motivation
    • Culture and Emotional Control
    • Seeking Emotional Balance
  • Play
    • Playmates
    • Culture and Cohort
    • Active Play
  • Challenges for Caregivers
    • Caregiving Styles
    • Cultural Variations
    • Teaching Children to Be Boys or Girls
  • Moral Development
    • Nature and Nurture
    • Empathy and Antipathy
    • Discipline
    • OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES: Is Spanking Okay?

274

Marcus Lindstrom/Getty Images

275

WHAT WILL YOU KNOW?

  1. Why do 2-year-olds have more sudden tempers, tears, and terrors than 6-year-olds?

    Controlling the expression of emotions, called emotional regulation, is the preeminent psychosocial task between ages 2 and 6. Such regulation is virtually impossible in infancy, but when the emotional hot spots of the limbic system connect to the prefrontal cortex, children become more aware of their reactions and are better able to control them. By age 6, children can usually be angry but not explosive, frightened but not terrified, sad but not inconsolable, anxious but not withdrawn, proud but not boastful.

  2. If a child never plays, is that a problem?

    Yes. All young children play, and everywhere a child playing is a sign of healthy development. Most preschool children are intrinsically motivated to play. Children who are deprived of activity for a long period tend to play more vigorously when they finally have the chance. However, as Pellegrini points out, it is “a controversial topic of study” to examine whether play is essential for normal growth.

  3. What happens if parents let their children do whatever they want?

    Permissive parents raise unhappy children who lack self-control, especially in the give-and-take of peer relationships. Inadequate emotional regulation makes them immature and impedes friendships, which is the main reason for their unhappiness. In early adulthood, they tend to continue to live at home, still dependent on their parents.

  4. What are the long-term effects of spanking children?

    Longitudinal research finds that children who are physically punished are more likely to become bullies, juvenile delinquents, and abusive adults. They are also less likely to learn quickly in school or attend college. In addition, the more children are spanked, the more likely they are to continue misbehaving. Many parents who spank do so to reduce externalizing misbehavior (hitting, yelling, throwing things). However, longitudinal research reveals that spanking is not necessary for children to learn to control their acting out.

It was a hot summer afternoon. Rachel, almost 3, and Bethany, age 4, were with me in the kitchen, which was in one corner of our living/dining area. Rachel opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of orange juice. The sticky bottle slipped, shattering on the tile floor. My stunned daughters looked at me, at the shards, at the spreading juice with extra pulp. I picked my girls up and plopped them on the couch.

“Stay there,” I yelled.

They did, quiet, wide-eyed, and puzzled at my fury; Rachel had not deliberately dropped the juice, and Bethany had done nothing wrong. As they watched me pick, sweep, and mop, I understood how parents could hit their kids. By the end of the chapter, I hope you also realize that a moment like this—in the summer heat, with two small children causing unexpected and difficult work—can turn a loving, patient parent into something else. It is not easy, day after day, being the guide and model that parents should be.

Fortunately, many safeguards prevented me from serious maltreatment: The girls had learned when to obey, I knew not to punish in anger, my finances made buying more juice easy. I hugged them when I took them off the couch. As children learn to manage their emotions, as parents learn to guide their children, as the macrosystem and microsystem (beliefs and income) influence adult–child interaction, many aspects of psychosocial development affect how children develop from ages 2 to 6. This chapter describes all that.