Social Development of children question?

Question

This is for a college essay...so answers from psych/social sciences majors would be appreciated. I'm doing an observation of children from 3 months to 5 years tomorrow and I chose social development as a topic. I want to analyze the ability and desire for children to interact with others their age. I think that babies that haven't learned to talk yet are very eager to interact w/ eachother b/c they just want their senses to be pleased. Kids who are between 1 and 2 yrs old can talk but they can't carry complex conversations and cling to their parents. Then kids 2ys+ (toddlers) go back to interacting now that can communicate with eachother better.

Are my age estimations right? Is this true? Are there any creible sources I can use to support this? Any real life experiences? What should I look for during my upcoming observation? Thanks guys.

Answer 1

Hey, I'm a psych major...here are my thoughts :

I think that it's a nature/nurture thing...that said, children under one will probably not be 100% into playing with another child because they are still ID driven, or haven't developed the ability to play with others yet. I think after the first year, the child's ability to play or even associate with others is predicated on the parents involvement or lack there of. I've personally found that children whose parents don't give them sufficient opportunities to play with other children (like no play groups, or other children around), tend to be more timid. By school age though, the children are pretty much forced to become more social. The children with little to no involvement socially before school age tend to still be timid and have a difficult time progressing because they don't have the opportunity to share and do all of the social goals that are planned for JK/SK. I don't know about you...but I've found that even later in life, the 'home school' kids tend to be annoying brats who think that the world revolves around them. This is probably the result of never having that social interaction. Good luck with ur study :)

Answer 2

The only "advice" I would offer is to evaluate carefully how much projection is involved in ones observations. This eliminating of ones own programming, thoughts, misperceptions, and prejudices from ones "objective observations" is something most social scientists forget to do.

Secondly, although your instructors may give you an F if they find out that you are actually conscious... so don't tell them... all children have fully developed MINDs... it is only their brains that are experientially new and inexperienced.

Answer 3

http://www.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/ue5418.asp?navbar=te7090-- this will give you some insight on toddlers social skills. my daughter is one and she loves other kids. when we are out with her like at restaraunts she will seek out other children to interact with and cries if adults try to hold or talk to her.