Critical Thinking: Social Development

1.     Parents, other adults, and peers influence a child’s social development. Many children inherit their parent’s characteristics and personalities. Parents that constantly criticize their child will find that their child will most likely have low self-esteem. However, parents that give their children lots of praise will find that their children will most likely have higher self-esteem. Other adults can also influence a child’s social development by what they say to the child.  A child will either have high self-esteem or low self-esteem based on what others say to them. A child that has lots of friends will most likely have higher self-esteem than a child that does not have a lot of friends.

2.     A parent should let their child make some social mistakes by themselves. The mistakes should be ones that will help their child in the future, not ones that will ruin the rest of their life. The only time a parent should intervene is when the child is putting something or someone in jeopardy, or when the child is going to be greatly affected by what they are about to do.

3.     There are many connections between social and emotional needs. One of the connections is that a child needs to feel good about themselves in order to reach out for friendships. On the flipside, a child may need friends for support and to feel good about themselves.

4.     This fourteen year-old has not been taught interpersonal skills. This child has not been taught to wait their turn. The child has not learned/been taught that it is important to wait your turn for things. This lesson should be taught at an early age, so the child will know how to behave as they grow older. This lesson should be taught by telling the child that they need to learn to wait their turn to do things. If the child does not wait their turn, then there will be consequences until they learn to do so.

5.     I would handle the first situation by being firm, and telling my ten-year-old that they are not getting the game, even though he says that all of his friends have it. Chances are, most of his friends do not actually have it and he will just have to wait until he is older to get the game. I would handle the second situation by making my child apologize to the older woman. Then, I would tell them that it is important to wait their turn to get somewhere, and that they have to be respectful of people that are older that them. I would handle the third situation by telling my child that even though it seems like a big deal right now, it will not be such a big deal later on. I would tell them that gymnastics is not all about winning. It is about being part of a team and having fun, no matter what happens. I would handle the fourth situation by telling my children that it doesn’t matter who broke the toy. The toy is now broken, and there is nothing we can do about it. There are other toys to play with, not just this one. I would handle the last situation by letting my child know that it is okay to meet new people. I would tell them that nothing will happen to them, and I will be right beside them the whole time.