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Understanding others is crucial to developing empathy; that is, knowing how others feel about things. Compassion comes when empathy develops. Young children can learn to identify feelings by looking at pictures that reveal happiness, anger, sadness, etc. The parent or caregiver can point these out and also comment on the child's feelings as they arise. "You look sad. Is it because you have to stop playing and take a nap now?" natural structure for socialization and formation of good character is the story. Children need exposure to stories with moral messages -- in books, video, and from a parent's own life. When I was 12 I read a book called "The Secret Garden" that was full of good ideas for development of moral character. These ideas were not "preachy-teachy" but built into the fabric of the story. Young children still love "The Little Engine that Could," and the lesson of believing in oneself and not giving up is as important and meaningful today as it was in the 1940s when the book was written. Slater (2002) suggests making an interactive game out of reading stories. Close the book just before the story ends and ask the child to tell what he or she thinks will happen. This helps to develop imagination and also awareness of consequences.
Good parenting is not the only influence on intelligence and moral development. O'Rourke (1996) writes about "Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment" and argues...
He states "Childhood is about being free to play, learn and love, being safe from the pressures of adult economic and sexual forces, and being accepted for who you are and not what you do" (p. 193). Children today face what he calls "an accumulation of risks." These include poverty, violence, and sexual aggression. Elkind (1998) also looks at changes in society that have affected childhood. In his book he points out that whereas kids were considered "innocent" in the 1950s, now they are expected to deal competently with violence, divorce and "televised sexuality." It almost goes without saying that kids need to be intelligent and moral, not only to save the world, but -- for their own sakes -- to survive stress and immorality in contemporary life.
References
Elkind, D. (1998). Reinventing childhood: Raising and educating children in a changing world. Rosemont, NJ: Modern Learning Press.
Graeber, L. (1998). Raising smart kids. Parents, 73 (5), 134-6. Retrieved on 8 April 2008 from Wilson Select Database.
O'Rourke, T.W. (1996). Raising children in a socially toxic environment. Journal of School Health, 66 (5), 193-95. Retrieved 7 April 2008 from InfoTrac Psychology Collection, Gale Library.
Slater, L. (2002). Raising a good-hearted child. Parenting, 16 (10), 88-90, 93-4. Retrieved 8 April 2008 from Wilson Select Database.
Yet warm, trusting relationships with adults are required if moral and spiritual guidance is to be reclaimed. (167) The church is perhaps the only institution with the beliefs, literature, liturgy, practices, social structure and authority (diminished though it be) necessary to rescue children from the violence and other deforming features of late 20th-century life. But it cannot accomplish this by simply laying the faith before young people and inviting them
These may include the parental workplace, school boards, social service agencies, and planning commissions." (Strengthening the Family: Implications for International Development, nd) Four: The Macro-system Macro-systems are 'blueprints' for interlocking social forces at the macro-level and their interrelationships in shaping human development. They provide the broad ideological and organizational patterns within which the meso- and exo-systems reflect the ecology of human development. Macro-systems are not static, but might change through evolution
Instead of being frustrated and depressed because they are not succeeding, these children feel good about themselves and what they have accomplished. They also have the added benefit of doing something they enjoy and that will give them personal pleasure. These are the children who have the self-confidence to try something new on their own. Understanding child development can also help caregivers and educators recognize when a children are not
Non-Traditional Parenting The main point of the article, "Moms at Work and Dads at Home: Children's Evaluations of Parental Roles," is that when children are given a chance to express their opinions on traditional vs. non-traditional roles, they speak up. In this case, the children used in the survey (67 second-graders and 54 fifth-graders) saw it as "acceptable for both mothers and fathers to work full-time" (Sinno, et al., 2009). However,
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys Dan Kindlon, Michael Thompson The Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon, a researcher and psychology professor at Harvard who is also practicing psychotherapist specializing in boys and Michael Thompson, a child psychologist, workshop leader, and staff psychologist of an all-boys school. Both are Ph.Ds and two of the country's foremost child psychologists. In this book they have very successfully
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