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Moral Development in Young Children

      Hi everyone! It’s Becky here with today’s tips revolving around the subject of moral development. We are all aware of what morals and ethics are, and have probably come across moral dilemmas in our lives. What makes these obstacles so tricky is the exceptions we have for what we consider to be good or bad. Yes, we’re taught that stealing is wrong, but if you were presented with a situation where a man was stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family would you still say the same answer? In most cases no. The interesting thing about this is if you said this to a child. Their answer would most likely be ‘yes, it’s wrong to steal’, according to Lawrence Kohlberg. 

     He theorizes the child’s brain is not able to process these dilemmas of that degree, and can only recognize black and white answers to scenarios. Kohlberg says there’s 3 stages of moral development, and young children only grasp the first stage; conventional reasoning. This is when they base their moral system or ‘right and wrong’ on rewards and punishment in result to certain actions. When looking at the scenario of stealing bread for your starving family, young children wouldn't necessarily look at the conditions and needs of the hungry family. They’d only understand that stealing is wrong and results in severe punishment. With their level of moral development in mind, it’s important to think of what the child is capable of grasping and not getting frustrated with how they only see black and white, and not the grey area. 

      So, my advice is to keep that in mind while providing your young child with the proper tools and situations they’d need to learn right and wrong. This may be in the form of a lesson when your child misbehaves. When your child does, you should always directly state what you are punishing them for and why it’s wrong. This sets a good base for what your child will think is not okay to do. This also leads to letting your child know when they’ve done a good job or done something thoughtful. This will give them a good base for what’s considered good. Remember, make sure to be clear and understanding!

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Fine Motor Skills and Toys

    Hi everyone, it’s Becky here! Roughly a week ago I wrote about the dependence of certain toys on an infants cognitive development, but today I’ll be looking at how it’s equally as important for physical development. Through the child's first year(4-12 months), the shapes, colours and sizes of toys matter according to different stages of development. More specifically, physical development moves quickly in this time frame, and can actually be stimulated by certain toys. These toys can give the child opportunity to explore and encourage their motor development. For example, the ‘palmer grasp’, advances around 4-7 months and  basically mean the infant will start holding objects in their palms by wrapping their fingers around it. During this stage, parents should offer larger toys for the child, things like stuffed animals or blocks. 

From 7-12 months, infants further discover their ability to grip things; this is where the pincer grip comes into play. This grasp is movement in the thumb and the forefinger to pick up small objects. During this stage, I recommend toys with small attached objects that can be moved around. I’m sure we all remember a toy like this in the dentist office!

Toys like these encourage grabbing and moving small objects with the pincer grasp but are still safe for your child, with no detachable small pieces!

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How Does Parenting Styles Affect Infant Development?

             Hi there everyone! It’s Becky again but I’m here on a more personal note. I recently was watching some That 70’s Show with Elyssa my teenage daughter. As I watch watching I realized that Red is very similar to my father. I thought nothing of it, but as I watched the episode I noticed how much I felt sympathy for Eric. I couldn’t help but feel a bit mad for Eric, and could see just how Red’s behaviour affects and shapes Eric. I further researched on my discovery and came across Diane Baumrind, a developmental psychologist, classified four different parenting style archetypes. To summarize her findings, Permissive parenting is when a parent provides few to no rules, are warm and responsive, treat the child as an equal, and is typically more lenient. Neglectful parenting is when a parent is cold or unresponsive, uninvolved, and doesn’t set ground rules or pay much attention to the child. Authoritative parenting is when a parent is responsive and understanding, enforces rules but fairly punishes child, and is assertive but supportive. And lastly, The relationship me and my father have; Authoritarian parenting approach. This is when the ground rules are strict, child is expected to be obedient, and have high expectations for growth and maturity. Allow with these approaches comes consequence and the effect it has on the child’s emotional development. In my case, the child tends to have poor social skills, are involved in delinquency and  drug abuse and have a moderate academic performance. Analyzing my development and experiences, Diane’s theories prove fit. 

I never had too many friends in high school and met my husband James in grade 11. We took a year off after we both graduated and were later surprised with a pregnancy. I kept the child and raised him with James at 19, living just off campus of James teacher’s college. Through just my early life experiences, I am a near cookie cut child from the criteria of authoritarian parenting. By viewing the effects of these approaches, You can definitely narrow down which archetypes more positively impact a child. I have learned through my childhood that the authoritarian parenting approach doesn’t provide your child with the best possible outcome. From researching and exploring this topic, I recommend a more authoritative approach, or something close so the likelihood of high confidence and strong academic performance will be higher. But from these parenting approaches, I can conclude some advice that is arguably the most important aspect for proper emotional development: being responsive and giving positive attention.

It is very important for parents to not coddle, but be there 24/7 for your infant, especially within the first three years of their lives, and be there to comfort your infant in distressing situations.  Mary Ainsworth is a well recognized psychologist that theorized more secure attachment occurred in parent/baby relationships when the parent reacts and is sensitive to the infants signals. responding to your baby’s signals and need with love and warmth is the first step for healthy development!

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       Hello everyone! It’s Becky here, and this time I have some tea for you. My sister shared an article on Facebook about how certain toys can actually indirectly affect language development in young children; more specifically infants ranging from birth to 3 years old. Pam Bellucks article, “Traditional Toys May Beat Gadgets in Language Development” highlights the importance of communication with your child and the opportunities traditional toys have for learning. Dr. Sosa, who led the study on how crucial verbal give-and-take are between the parents and the child, found that when children play with electronic toys, they tend to talk less which is thought to be because of how the gadget “does the talking for them”. With traditional toys there’s space for the child to lead the discoveries of their own cognitive development and vocalize more with what they find. And to think the new gadgets are better! They prove to potentially be a serious problem among parents. This leads the parent to respond more to the child's babbling, giving more opportunity for communication and language growth. 

When children are given electronic gadgets like toy phones, the gadget controls the play time. A mother, Ms. Jones who was a part of this study, says “if there’s this other noise already there, I didn’t feel like I wanted to talk. It felt a little bit weird sometimes to talk over the noise.” I’m sure we can agree that we’d feel the same as Ms. Jones if we didn’t know what this could actually mean for the child. A lack of "conversation" between them can have a negative impact of the child's cognitive development and may produce an issue in the future. 

          A way that parents could ensure that their child is participating in positive play and enhance their development is to provide toys that challenge the child's mind and leads them to their own discoveries, and in turn will boost the verbal give-and-take between the caregiver and the child. I have definitely wanted to buy these new tech toys for my grandson, but from reading this article I’m really thinking twice, and you should too!