Chapter Introduction

CHAPTER 10
Early Childhood: Psychosocial Development

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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can usually be angry but not explosive, frightened but not terrified, sad but not inconsolable, anxious but not withdrawn, proud but not boastful.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. Should girls play with trucks and boys with dolls?

    Boys and girls are not at all harmed by engaging in other–gender activities, such as a girl playing with a truck or a boy playing with a doll. However, children are influenced by cultural norms, which often discourage boys and girls from playing with so–called “other–sex” toys.

  4. What happens if you never punish a child?

    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.

  1. Emotional Development

    Initiative Versus Guilt

    Motivation

    Culture and Emotional Control

    Seeking Emotional Balance

  2. Play

    Playmates

    Culture and Cohort

    Active Play

  3. Challenges for Caregivers

    Caregiving Styles

    Cultural Variations

    Becoming Boys or Girls: Sex and Gender

    Theories of Gender Development

    a case to study: My Daughters

  4. Moral Development

    Nature and Nurture

    Empathy and Antipathy

    Good Behavior

    Discipline

    opposing perspectives: Is Spanking Okay?

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 glass 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 loud fury. Rachel had not deliberately dropped the juice, and Bethany had done nothing wrong, but they both knew that sometimes I demanded unquestioning obedience and they saw the signs that this was one of those times.

As they watched me pick, sweep, and mop, I understood how parents could hit their kids. By the end of this chapter, I hope you also realize that a moment like this—in the summer heat, with two small children causing unexpected 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—our shared morality kept discipline within bounds. 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.