Disability Children\'s Developmental Stages: Four

Disability

Children's developmental stages: Four children, five questions

Children's developmental stages: Four children, five questions

One of the most intriguing aspects of childhood development is how children develop a moral compass. According to Lawrence Kohlberg, children proceed through a series of moral stages that reflect their growing ability to understand abstractions, the need for social rules, and the feelings of others for this particular assignment, I elected to ask the four students five morally-related questions to better understand the process of childhood development as a whole.

Child 1: Preschooler, age 4

Is it always wrong to tell a lie? Yes

Would you ever steal something, even if you knew you wouldn't be caught? No.

Let's say there are two children. One boy breaks five plates helping his mother put away the dishes. The other boy is mad because his mom won't let him watch TV and he breaks one plate. Which little boy deserves to be punished? (source of question: Hamilton, 2010). The boy who broke five plates.

Is it always wrong to tease someone? Yes.

What makes a good friend? Someone you like.

This child is still in what Kohlberg calls the pre-conventional stage of morality when "children do not yet speak as members of society. Instead, they see morality as something external to themselves, as that which the big people say they must do" (Crain 1994). This child also focuses on physical aspects of the world, such as the broken plates, rather than the intent behind the action. He also tends to restate the question and engage in tautological reasoning: a friend is someone he likes, for example, not someone who has a specific quality or does something for the boy.

Child 2: Elementary school age child, age 8

Is it always wrong to tell a lie? Yes

Would you ever steal something, even if you knew you wouldn't be caught? No. Well, once I took my older brother's baseball mitt to school, because I knew he wouldn't miss it. But it's really not fair that he won't let me use it. Mom says we're supposed to share each other's stuff.

Let's say there are two children. One boy breaks five plates helping his mother put away the dishes. The other boy is mad because his mom won't let him watch TV and he breaks one plate. Which little boy deserves to be punished: Five plates is a lot of plates -- my mom would kill me if I broke five dishes! He mustn't have been being very careful.

Is it always wrong to tease someone? It is wrong if it hurts the other person's feelings.

What makes a good friend? Someone who is nice who you can talk to about things.