Observational study of Andrew's social behavior and development

Early Childhood Observation

Describe your child of choice, their physical characteristics, social competence and mannerisms

year-old Andrew is a Caucasian male. He was dressed in brown khaki trousers and a navy blue shirt. Andrew' trousers have their pockets on the side. He is of average height and body mass. He loved this catchy haircut and put on a pleasant smile. He has this buoyant and controlling demeanor. He loved to play with his age mates, especially the boys. There are times when he played alone, especially when he noticed that matters were becoming too physical. Andrew carefully observed his cleanliness and grooming. He showed signs of being egocentric. The latter character was uncommon among the children in the children's park playground. This young man lives with his mom in the state of Idaho. His father, who was an engineer, died when Andrew was still very young. He passed on as a result of hypertension, an ailment that runs in the family. He is the last in a family of four. He has a sister and two brothers. Coincidentally, he had a group of 3 boys and a girl as friends that he frequently played with at the playground. When he was taken to the mall by his mother, he remained lonely. He spent time viewing various action figures at the mall. He asked his mother if he could get one of the figures on display.

Describe the setting- social and geographical layout

Andrew was at the Idaho playground, close to where his mother had worked for long. The park was filled with green grass and spotted with benches for people to sit on. It is a large open area that has reserved a corner for children's play and is equipped with children's playthings. There were many children already playing in this section of the park. Since his mother was busy reading through a document, she tells Andrew to join his friends for play at the park. There were about 15 children, ranging from kindergarten to second grade, playing in the park at the moment. Andrew moved to play with his usual three boys and a girl. The game was not exactly physical, but the usual hide and seek that didn't need much running around. Andrew seemed to excel in this game. He could hide successfully or seek out others with success. However, the rest of the crew began taking it a little too seriously and engaged in running episodes. It is at that point that Andrew withdrew and moved on to watch other people playing chess. It was about 45 minutes into observation time, when Andrew left with his mother who went to the mall, which was not far off. Andrew saw and admired action figures of a variety of comic book characters. His mother was absorbed in her shopping activity. Andrew would occasionally find a fascinating action figure and prompted his mom whether he could have the book. His mother eventually allowed him one of the action figures he had admired. Andrew was conspicuously excited as he jumped at his mother's acceptance to allow him an action figure. He ran down the book lane to check if he could have an even better character. He ended up with an iron man action figure in his hands. He was still excited nonetheless. They left in the car, moments later.

The time that the observation started and stopped

1:21pm-2:45pm

They are self-conscious and self-centered too

They possess ambivalent emotions with regard to puberty and sexual desires. They have a need to conform and to be independent at the same time

They overvalue friendships, peers, crushes, dating. They trend to render more importance to peers than family

They relate with both genders and may pick out romantic feelings about some of them along the friendship curve

They develop the capacity for understanding a caring and loving relationship

They feel insecure and cast doubt on their self-concept and previous self-confidence. It has been pointed out that girls drop in their self-esteem a lot more than boys

They are caught between family relationships and demands and the increasing demands of their circle of friends and accomplices. They begin to yearn for privacy and separation from the immediate family. It is observed that they keep testing the limits of their freedoms and seek independence

They are generally moody; especially when within family constraints

They crush, become infatuated and soon start dating

9-year-old children have their social world opening up at a fast pace. They have role models outside the immediate family. Children develop a strong sense of differentiating between right and wrong. Social consciousness is usually high at this point. Children may even be keener on bettering the state of the world and other people around them. They are curious and will want to investigate things around them. Their attention span is now longer. They will spend time engaging in activities that excite them. They think critically and will want to compare and share ideas around many issues. They progressively read and write more complex texts. They also begin to learn how to manipulate multiple digits, data organization in math and geometry. Most of these youths will

become more independent as they move on to middle class and junior high school

develop decision making skills as they become independent

Start considering future occupations and careers.

They will shift attention from play centered activities to academic work.

They begin to expect more from peers for advice and information

These kids develop more capacity for social conscience and thinking in abstraction. They even understand more complex social issues such as war and poverty.

They are willing to take up chores such as babysitting or washing.

The critical role of childhood was not of much interest to early scholars. Theorists such as Piaget and Sigmund Freud thought of middle childhood as a transitional period in the development of a human being. They saw it as a time when children in this stage consolidated what they had learnt during the rapid developmental stage as they got ready for the challenges of the adolescence period. Erik Erikson, on his part, suggested the eight stages of man, pointing out that middle childhood was an essential stage in a child's development. He pointed out that it is the critical period when children move from close family associations to outer social relationships that influence their development (Erikson, 1968). Erikson suggested that between the ages of 7 and 11, children are more inclined to industrious activities. They learn how to relate with adults and their peers. Involvement in social activities and formal schooling at this stage initiates the children to new social roles. They learn new social status from such involvement based on their competencies and performance. If a child does not develop the requisite skills at this stage, they become inferior. The effect leads to long-term emotional, interpersonal and intellectual negative effects (Eccles, 1999).

Other researchers have agreed with Erik Erikson's observations that competence and self-esteem matters are central to a child's development needs. For instance, children who find themselves incompetent in such area as school activity, academic matters and social activities in the elementary school year's stage are reported to sink into depression and social isolation more often than those who respond to the industry sensitivity positively. Such children with inferior sensitivity also tend to experience anger tantrums and aggressive tendencies (Parkhurst & Asher, 1992). Feelings of incompetence and frustration are said to easily coalesce into a negative pattern of adaptation to schooling. There are three factors that influence a child's self-belief, confidence and participation in activities and tasks that others pursue over the middle childhood period: i. cognitive changes that increase children's ability to think about their successes and failures; ii. widening the world of children to include activities, adults and adults outside the immediate family; and iii. exposure to outside social comparisons and the competition between peers and school activities.

Middle childhood affords children an opportunity to grow their competencies in a wide range of domains. This is usually a great period that facilitates growth. They evolve a positive sense of industriousness and confidence that they gather and influence their worlds.

Development Changes in Middle Childhood

Children's cognitive skills undergo a critical shift from around the age of 6 years. Although the changes in the cognitive domain in the infancy period are quite profound, nearly all theories of development agrees that the age of 6 years marks the beginning of the reasoning curve in a child's growth graph. World cultures are known to begin to offer schooling to children from the age of 5 to seven. It is not clear where the change originates, but it is clear that most scholars and researchers agree on the fact that children manifest important conceptual skills at this time of transition. These skills are polished as the child goes through the middle childhood years. The stage is marked by some conspicuous advances in understanding and learning. Children acquire important skills in their interactive activities and in school. Such skills are considered fundamental in their home cultures and include: writing, arithmetic and reading skills. Self-awareness skills are also honed during the middle childhood period. Children, for instance, get to learn how to learn and soon realize that approaches such as studies and constant practice improve performance and learning. They can retrieve information and use it to solve problems in life. Both of the above skills require that one thinks about what they are doing and their final objective in life. It happens that the ability to pursue the two courses of action increases profoundly during the middle childhood period. Children plan consciously; they coordinate their activities; check on their progress and modify their plans and strategies on the basis of their reflection and evaluation of the situation.

Comparing and Analyzing

Andrew showed all the classic signs of a child going through the middle childhood stage. His physical attributes and the shape of his body is typical of children of his age. Even if he isn't as tall as the rest, he is already average in height and there is a good chance of growing even taller than a lot of his peers. He looks healthy. It has been pointed out that he has inherited the feeding habits of his mother. His mother has a slim and fit physique though. It is likely that Andrew's mother models healthy habits, including healthy diet and exercise, so that his children can emulate. Andrew shows smooth motor skills. Such a predicament allows him to hone physical skills such as strength and speed in sports activities. Andrew manifested a wide range of physical skills and activities that he pursued. His strong and solid build allowed him better coordination, endurance and balance compared to his peers. This is the paradox though; one would expect Andrew to be at the forefront when it came to physical activities since he had the advantage of a well-built body. The great motor skills exhibited by 9-year-old children make it possible for them to take charge of their hygiene. Andrew was markedly, extremely clean (literally). He kept looking at his shirt consistently through the observation period. He wanted to be sure that the shirt and shoes were neat. He effectively avoided activities that could lead to dirtying of his apparel. He practically prevented his friends from dirtying his clothes. This tendency is a rare one in a 9-year-old child. These children are usually better placed to handle conflicts and frustrations. Andrew is increasingly becoming mature. He is better at handling different emotional situations. There is already a sign of an understanding of why delayed gratification is desirable, or even helping other people in an effort to assist him navigate the tumultuous journey of his preteen and teenage years. He continued to show desire for freedom in order to put to use his independence. He still needed support, reassurance and permission from his parents. He never was quick to run to the playground with his mother, even when the situation beckoned. He simply waited until his mother allowed him. He also kept retreating to his mother in the mall so as to seek permission to do anything he wanted. Typically, 9-year-old children are moody. They are quite emotional and volatile. They are happy now, and then they are not in the next minute. They typically hurt quite easily. They commonly experience conflicts with friends. Nine-year-old children are generally able to work out conflicts among themselves. Andrew decided to abscond from the physical activity by his friends. It was observed that even though he was fine, he was not exactly happy; at least not as happy as he had been observed with his friends. The move seemed to wane as he moved closer to where the chess game players were engaged in their mind games. It was also observed that each time his mother declined his request for picking a toy, he would walk back to the shelf disappointed, and get straight to a search for new characters. He would instantly become as happy as though nothing had happened. Self-confidence has been pointed out as a major issue among children in the middle age range. They yearn to fit in the rest of the crew. This makes them quite an easy lot to influence. It also makes them quite competitive and constantly tries to improve the status of their friends. Andrew's behavior and self-confidence seems to depart from the norm. It is quite disconnected from the way his friends behave and generally view things. Andrew knew very well that if he decided not to take part in the plays and games with his friends, it would result in jests and mockery; he never saw them as a serious threat. Although Andrew is unlikely to be a victim of self-doubt, he is likely to have been affected to a marginal extent; hence his momentary sadness. The self-criticism results from the fact that the situation demanded that he stopped playing, irrespective of whether he was enjoying the game or not. His friends' opinions did not seem to have been significant to the 9-year-old. It has been mentioned earlier that Andrew was better placed to handle the emotional disturbance of the pressure from his peers. He succeeds in this campaign by ensuring that he has a strong sense of self belief and confidence. Andrew was very socially compatible, but he apparently did not place a very strong premium on peers and friendships outside the immediate family. This was different from what is known of by his peers. Emotional dependence on other people has a tendency to make one vulnerable to the pressures of peers and the influence that flows along. A strong self-esteem is thought to be a strong influence behind the character of Andrew as described. Confidence is a critical ingredient at this point because it can assist children to resist negative peer influence from their friends. Andrews age demands for a high level social awareness. Although the lot tends to think like the adults around them and spend as much time as possible with them, Andrew, interestingly, is fascinated by the game of chess by adults. Andrew demonstrates a strong sense of justice and fairness; the latter observation is from his reaction during his chess viewing when he decided to watch chess instead of participating in the children's games. Andrew, interestingly, saw matters in clear outlines of black and white. He showed clear emotions when he witnessed something that he thought as unjust. He raised eyebrows when he noticed that a player in the attack continued to pick pieces without the opponent being allowed to do the same in the chess game. Andrew has also been cited as being very intelligent in the area of mental acuity. He can express himself satisfactorily with words that are clear and way above his colleagues range.

Conclusion

It seems that it is easier to support the stage of middle childhood as opposed to adolescence and early childhood. Growth has been observed to be slow and systematic until children reach puberty stage; when young people develop much faster. Andrew is likely to develop and grow much faster when the puberty stage properly sets in. It is also on record that individual children enter the puberty stage at varying ages. However, there is evidence of secular trends that suggest that individuals are getting into puberty much sooner than their compatriots that came earlier. In Andrews's case, the age between 1 to 5 years will most likely result in radical growth with regard to physical and emotional activity. Children in middle childhood develop slowly, but with surety. Andrew is already faster and smarter than most of the children of his age. He is still set to be a lot more intelligent emotionally and academically, if he builds on his learning skills and abilities. He is, of course, a lot more mature than he was a couple of years back, but he still needs guidance and some concrete and practical learning activities. Middle childhood is a great stage that allows children to build confidence and competence as a result of their enthusiastic view of the matters around their lives and other people. Andrew is likely to grow up as a confident and self-reliant person if everything is held constant. The self-confidence that Andrew shows is likely to convince others that he is proud. Although this is the period when others are supposed to develop competent skills in interpersonal skills and social relationships, Andrew is observed to be quite slow on this front. He may as well become quite sociable, but critic's point out that such an eventuality is unlikely. It is observed that this is one of the rare weaknesses that he compensates with his high level of self-confidence. Since he does not allow being influenced by his peers, he is likely to keep secrets to himself a lot. His friends may view this and even term him as antisocial. Andrew boasts of a strong peer orientation. It is not very strong, but it is clearly and strongly influenced by his family. It has been even pointed out that Andrew's social adjustments and relationships have not been shaped by his peers, but members of his family. His resistance to peer influence is a requisite tool for countering the effects of adolescence in children. This is the stage when children need close friends and best friends. The skills that one acquires at this stage serve as the building blocks for children. It seemed from the observation that the only friends he had were his sister and the girls he played with. He showed affection towards these two. Many children in this middle childhood stage need more independence and a wider network of friends. It is also the stage at which most children develop interest in distinct sports, and music. There is also a more common shift in performance for children in third to fourth grade. What one needs to excel academically becomes more complex. Andrew is likely to meet the challenges head-on and surmount them. In conclusion, therefore, it is evident that Andrew is a strong child that is likely to grow to become highly self-motivated and confident. This is because of his childhood; he is already self-confident.

He is likely to anchor on this character disposition on future; hence his likelihood of being strong. Andrew is likely to be more excited at academic and professional development than social acquaintances. Such an eventuality, as it has been explained, is a characteristic of a loner. Since Andrew would rather be alone, he will fill the social vacuum with some valuable activity. He is also likely to chase for knowledge; since he is an intelligent boy.

He is likely to end up as a loner with a few friends around him. Andrew is likely to be a happy person in his coming life.