Observational study of toddler play behavior in a park setting

The child I observed at the park seemed to be a toddler aged around three years. This study will focus on the aforementioned preschooler's game-playing trends, gender identity development, parenting style exhibited by his parents, language development and personality and cognitive developmental stages. At the park, the subject in question was largely seen playing the following games.

• Sardines

Sardines represents a unique form of the traditional game of hide and seek. A single player hides whereas the remaining are to turn the other way and count. When the hiding player is found by any one seeker, the latter joins him/her. One by one, all players crowd into the player's hiding place and this marks the end of the game.

• Blob tag

When the "It" player tags another player, both join hands with each other and begin pursuing the remaining together. Ultimately there is an entire crowd of players (known as the Blob) pursuing a single player. The last player being absorbed by the Blob marks the end of the game.

• Frozen tag

In this game, the tagged player has to freeze on spot. A frozen player may only be freed when another player scrambles through his/her legs. The end of the game is marked by all players getting frozen.

• Captain of the ship

In this game, the Captain issues orders. Players get "out" if they commit mistakes (or they may become sharks and tag fellow players, which gets the latter out). While the captain can issue personal orders, players typically review the list together before commencing playing. Common orders include: 'to the ship' (where players are required to run off to the ship, which can be a climber, the swings, or any other object in the park); 'love boat' (partner for a dance with a fellow player); 'hit the deck' (lie flat on one's tummy); starboard (run right); port (run left); captain's quarters (come to the Captain); shark attack (reach the island prior to getting tagged by the shark) and periscope up (lie on one's back with one leg stuck up in the air).

• Hide the button

In this game, one of the players hides a little object (for instance, a button) anywhere within the park. As the remaining look for the object, the hider gives the following clues, "You are getting colder" to indicate that seekers are moving further away from the hidden object or "You are getting warmer" to indicate that seekers are getting nearer to it (Today's Parent, 2016).

Children desires group play in certain instances and individual play in others. This is reliant on the type of game they prefer. The toddler in question showed a liking for Sardines which is always played in a group.

Kids grow up naturally in foreseeable stages, progressing from developmental milestone to developmental milestone. In case of the toddler in question, considering his predicted age, one may witness gains in the following five key areas.

• Social and emotional growth. This commences when a child turns two and starts showing interest in being in the company of other kids. However, initially, a majority of kids engage in parallel play (playing near, instead of with, one another). By the time they reach 5 years, kids normally look for and enjoy bonds of friendship.

• Physical growth decelerates from the swift pace of babyhood. In the age group of the toddler under study, kids normally gain between 1.5kg (3 lbs.) and 2.5 kg (5 lbs.) of weight and experience a roughly 8 cm height increase annually.

• In the logic and thought (cognitive growth) domain, kids aged around 3 years progress from a rudimentary to a somewhat more advanced grasp of colors, time, alphabets and numbers. They can understand and abide by progressively more complex and comprehensive commands.

• From two to five years of age, swift language development occurs. By the age of three years, kids typically know and speak no less than two-hundred 200 words. They are also capable of grasping and obeying two-part instructions like "Wash your hands and put away your clothes." By five years of age, they are capable of carrying on full conversations.

• More sophisticated motor and sensory abilities develop at the age the toddler under study is, including kicking a ball, making strokes on paper, climbing stairs, sketching rough drawings of familiar things and people, and basic tumbling (Healthwise, 2014).

Kids' gender identity develops during the early stages of life, and its establishment is characterized by a modification in how they play. Their identification of their own gender leads to them preferring play with kids of the same gender, a quality that is seen developing in the child in question. After participating in gender-specific games, they frequently join more play activities with children of the same gender and decrease their play with kids of the opposite gender. With further growth, the above tendency increases. Culture forms one of the main sources of gender division. Certain cultures separate girls from boys from a very tender age, while others (e.g., Western European societies) disregard this notion. But when such kids join playschool, they engage in play with peers of their own gender (Reifel, 2010).

The parents of the toddler under study were very watchful of their child playing within the park as his constant activity can put him in perilous situations quickly. They tried to ensure their tot played safely and wasn't prone to getting injured. Such an approach to parenting is termed 'authoritative parenting', commonly believed to be the most efficient and favorable approach to parenting in case of normal kids. One can easily identify authoritative parents, who are characterized by their lofty expectations for their kids, which they attempt to moderate through understanding and supporting their kids. Such an approach to parenting cultivates the most conducive atmosphere for a child growing up, leading to healthy, strong child-parent bonds (Hughes, 2013).

Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory indicates the toddler under study is in his Preoperational Stage (2-7 years of age). The following chief developmental modifications and traits may be noted:

• Commencing symbolical thinking and learning to represent things through the use of images and words.

• Egocentricity and a struggle to view things from others' standpoint.

• Improved thought processing and language, although they normally continue to think concretely about things.

While in case of the child in question, the mainstays of linguistic development might have been established in the prior developmental phase, language emergence is a key sign of Piaget's preoperational phase. Kids gain more skill in the area of pretend play as exhibited by the toddler under study, but continue to consider their surrounding world very concretely (Cherry, 2017).

The Psychosocial Theory of Erikson is a second developmental theory that can be applied to the toddler at the park. According to Erikson, development takes place all through a person's life. This model has offered a novel understanding of healthy personality development. The theorist has concentrated on the socio-emotional elements of f growth. An individual's personality develops as a reaction to his/her social surroundings. This holds good in case of their social interaction abilities as well. Erikson's theory encompasses 8 phases, each of which is linked to the occurrence of a particular social crisis/conflict. Though these aren't normally tragic scenarios, they necessitate resolutions satisfactory at the social as well as personal levels. In the theorist's view, kids needed to resolve each step prior to progressing to the subsequent one (Herr, 2016). The toddler in question is probably in the autonomy vs. doubt and shame phase (between 18 months and 2-3 years) or initiative vs. guilt phase (between 3 and 5 years of age).

References

Cherry, K. (2017). What Are Piaget's Four Stages of Development? Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.verywell.com/piagets-stages-of-cognitive-development-2795457

Healthwise. (2014). Growth and Development, Ages 2 to 5 Years - What to Expect. Retrieved June 06, 2017, from http://www.webmd.com/children/tc/growth-and-development-ages-2-to-5-years-what-to-expect

Herr, J. (2016). Working with young children. Tinley Park, IL: Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc.

Hughes, E. (2013). Types of Parenting Styles and How to Identify Yours. Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/2013/12/types-of-parenting-styles-and-how-to-identify-yours/

Reifel, J. F. (2010). Gender Differences in Play. Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.education.com/reference/article/gender-differences-play/

Today's Parent. (2016). 5 fun games to play at the park. Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.todaysparent.com/family/activities/park-games-for-kids/.