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ACTIVITY
Social changes in toddlers: The social
life of toddlers has recently been more
closely studied – with very interesting
results.
Hitherto it has been accepted that
toddlers are predominantly preoccupied
with their own physical
and cognitive development.
Social interaction has been
supposed to be of secondary
importance.
The increasing institutionalisation
of children has led to
the situation in which they
find themselves in the company
of their contemporaries
for the whole of the day. It
emerged that toddlers interact
with each other to a much
greater extent than hitherto
supposed. Researchers have observed
that toddlers have come up
with repetition games in groups
and in these imitate each other's
activities and noises.
For example, some toddlers found low
stools, put them in a row and jumped down
one after another, joyfully yelling “heeey”.
Command of language in toddlers: The command
of language in today’s toddlers in most
European countries is being retarded. One of
the main impulsions for the development of
speech is the interaction between adult and
child. This includes when adults maintain eye
contact with the child, do things with the
child, name objects, compare objects and describe
objects and situations.
Consequently, one of the most important tasks
of the carer is to support the development of
language. Resources, which compensate for
this reduced face-to-face interaction, are helpful
for this. Such resources include objects
which reflect situations in the home or fire the
imagination, to support the emerging imaginative
play and role play of the toddler; objects
which can be described, about which a story
can be told, which can be named or compared.
Objects which are intended to support these
activities in toddlers will be helpful in sustaining
language in an institutional environment,
which is concerned with toddlers.
More body than intellect: Human beings are
more body than intellect at birth and develop
their intellectual capacities in order to become
more intellect than body later in life. This
makes demands on physical training and
time. In a time of rapid change, in which
many adults worry about the future of their
offspring, schooling begins at an ever earlier
age. This does not necessarily help the toddler
in its later life, if this time is taken away from
the time for play, which the toddlers normally
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