Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Social-Emotional Competence and Family Relations Chapter 10
FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING
Early childhood educators face many challenges
each day, including planning, caring for the learning
environment, assessing children’s development and
learning, and gathering materials. Critical among these
is guiding young children as they grow in the knowledge
of the social world and their individual places in it.
The social-emotional domain provides the
foundation from which all other learning emerges. The
ability to become a member of a social group and to
value others requires self-understanding. Teachers have
a responsibility to create a classroom community that
accepts and supports all children and encourages the
development of self as well as understanding of one’s
place within a group.
Fostering Social-Emotional Development
From birth, children feel social contact. They delight
in interacting with the people around them. Recent
research about the development of the brain shows the
importance of providing support for children’s socialemotional
development and the consequences for later
development when this support is not provided. Emotion
can positively or negatively affect the acquisition of
new learning. Emotions that children associate with a
learning experience determine whether the learning is
pleasurable, successful and retained. Negative emotions
interfere with recall.
A warm and responsive early child-care
environment is crucial to the healthy development of
children. It is during the early years, birth to age 5, that
a solid foundation is laid for how children will function
for the rest of their lives. While this period is one of
remarkable development, children are very vulnerable.
In a class, while some children are sociable and eager
to learn, others may be fearful, unable to follow simple
tasks or display basic social skills. Therefore, the early
childhood teacher is crucial to the development of
socially and emotionally competent children.
Children learn pro-social behaviors such as
empathy, generosity and the inclination to help others
during the early childhood period. Teachers, parents
and adults should model these behaviors in their
treatment, acknowledgement and thoughtfulness of
others; through the books read, themes discussed in
class, and by encouraging play and the development
of friendship. Children learn through play. They need
the guidance of teachers, parents and other adults to
develop from parallel play to interactive cooperative
play and make friends.
This chapter describes the development of
young children’s social and emotional behaviors:
as individuals, as peers in a group setting and as
members of families. It provides guidance on teacher
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strategies and practices, including those on guiding
behavior, classroom management and school-family
partnerships.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Developmental psychologists and educators view
emotional development as an orderly process in which
complex emotions emerge from simpler ones. A child’s
characteristic pattern of emotional reactions begins
to develop during infancy and is a basic element of
personality.
Early emotional development is manifested
in signals such as crying, smiling and laughing. The
primary or basic emotions emerge during the first six
months of life. These include contentment, joy, interest,
surprise, distress, sadness, disgust, anger and fear.
The self-conscious emotions develop at around
2½ years of age following the emergence of awareness
of self, together with some knowledge about societal
standards and rules. Guilt, shame and empathy are
unrelated emotions and emerge at around 3½ years of
age.
The most popular theories of children’s socialemotional
development include the following:
The Psychosocial Theory. Erik Erikson (1963)
explained social development in terms of conflicts which
a child must resolve successfully so there is opportunity
for personal growth. Erikson described issues important
to children’s social-emotional development in stages and
the balance adults must provide to help them achieve
healthy development.
• Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 18 months). The
basic social need of a child during infancy is
the development of trust. This need is met
when the child’s desires for food, warmth,
sleep and nurturing are met consistently and
predictably. Trust is observed in the child’s
contentment, joy and desire to explore.
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (18 to
36 months). Toddlers exert their growing
motor, language and cognitive abilities
by trying to be more independent. At the
same time, they are still dependent on
their parents and caregivers. Autonomy
is observed in behaviors such as brushing
teeth and selecting clothes.
• Initiative vs. Guilt (approximately 3 to 5
years). During the preschool years, a child’s
physical and social world is expanding rapidly.
They want to try out their new motor
and mental abilities. They are full of curiosity
and they are eager to try new activities
both alone and with other children. They