Hnou has gotten us off to a great start on chapter 8 with this first entry. You'll see that she works with infants, and recognized much of what Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff said about them. Happy reading!
The majority of parents believe that children’s intellectual growth is the most important part of their development. Parents tend to focus on children’s intellectual development more than social development. Although it seems like social development comes naturally to the child, it actually doesn’t. Social development needs as much focus as intellectual development. The concentric circle of social learning that Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff mentioned, has three main circles. In the first circle, babies learn to distinguish between people and objects. Second, babies will become aware of, share, and imitate emotions of others. Finally, they can see from their perspective and from another’s perspective.
Amazingly, babies are more attracted to human features than they are to objects. A baby who is about two days old can actually imitate the facial expression of the person who is holding him or her. Surprisingly, the baby is exchanging interaction and sharing the same experience with that person by imitating. It gives babies a sense that they can connect with other people through “reciprocity in social exchange” (p. 185).
Last week, I tried to distract an infant with a rattle toy in my hand. No matter how loud and fast I rattled the toy, she stared straight into my eyes without even glancing at the toy, like the toy did not exist at all. I tried things like putting the rattle in front of my face, moving it from left to right, looking at the toy, etc., but nothing. Her eyes did not even move an inch. This innate preference is something that we do not teach the child.
As the book mentioned, infants seem to have empathy for others and not just for themselves. Having experiences with the infants at my workplace, once a child starts to cry because of hunger, another child will cry and then the next and then the next and so on. This is the first sign that a child can feel empathy for others because he or she could actually understand how the others are feeling. Children who have not developed their social speech yet, however, can be made aware of the feelings of others. Every time I hear a child cry and there are other babies around, I think to myself, “Uh oh, all the babies here are going to cry any minute now.”
As babies grow, they start to learn how other people think and feel. Instead of looking from their perspective, they start to see how others’ perspectives are. I tend to look at others’ perspectives a lot. Don’t you sometime feel like you don’t want to do something for others, but at the same time you feel wrong? Every time I have that feeling, I tend to imagine the other person’s perspective. Of course, I sometime turn them down, only because I really cannot do what they want me to. Even as adults, we still struggle to know how people feel and think. If we are still struggling about this matter, what goes on in children’s minds? It’s harder for them, so that’s why sometimes they share things and sometime they don’t.
Overall, children’s social development is as important as intellectual development. To strengthen their social growth, interaction with others, such as parents, caregivers, and their peers is the most significant to develop the child’s social skills. Parents need to also focus on their child’s social skill because they do in fact, have to learn them, just like every other developmental skill.
You've made such good points here, Hnou. The more I study child development, the more I believe that, if we had to pick only one domain of development to focus on when working with children, we'd be doing pretty well to select the social domain. While all of the areas -- cognitive, physical, emotional -- are all intricately connected, it just seems that, if all is going well in the social domain, the other areas tend to not only fall into place, but get stronger.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dr. Reid, you made some nice points in this response. My favorite point that you made was the fact that children, especially babies, need physical and social interaction with others. It is very important for parents, caregivers, peers, etc. talk to babies and play with babies. The more interaction a baby has with others, the better developed their motor skills and verbal skills become. I also like that you mentioned how we, as humans, try to understand what others are thinking just by examining their facial expressions. I do this all the time! I am always trying to figure out how others are feeling by looking at their faces and body language. I think that it is neat how babies also try to figure out others' feelings through examination of facial expressions. Looks like we both learned a lot from this chapter, good job! ~ Morgan Miguel~
ReplyDeleteI have learned a lot from reading your blog entry Hnou. I too, was a person who assumed that social skills came natural. Thinking back on my youth, I do remember my parents and siblings telling me how I should act in certain social environments. Another interesting piece you brought to my attention was that babies empathize with one another. I always thought that babies cry when other babies cry because they're just copying. Now I know they are showing empathy for the other baby. I see now, how important social development is to a child. I will work harder to help develop the social skills of the youth I work with.
ReplyDelete-Kodi Shiflett
Hnou, you did a great job on your blog entry and made many good points. I can relate to what you said about holding a rattle in front of a baby and they stay focused on you and not the toy. I used to do this with one of the babies at my church and every time she stayed focused on me. This shows us that children would rather see human faces than toys and other objects. This reinforces the fact that children are social beings from the time they are infants. I also thought it was interesting that when babies all start crying because one baby is crying they are empathizing with one another. I have never thought of this and I think this is really interesting. I think the next time I hear several babies starting to cry I will think of it differently!
ReplyDelete~Amandan Chavez
Hnou, I really enjoyed reading your blog entry. I have a good understanding about your experiences working with infants. I remember a couple of times you and I worked together at the infant sight. We both shared the same experiences you just mentioned, such as the domino effect of a baby’s cry. As I read the chapter and your blog entry I became interested in the fact that infants are able to express empathy for others. Infants’ language isn’t fully developed but they can express empathy through crying, facial expressions, and body language. These are the first stages of social communication. To continue to develop and strengthen infants’ social growth , a parents’ care giving, teachers’ influences and interaction with peers are all significant in the development of the child’s social skills. While reading this chapter I came to realize that in order for a child to have good social skills and build healthy relationships, he/she needs to have a secure attachment with the primary caregiver. When a child builds a secure relationship with the caregiver, the infant learns to have better self-control, independence, good self-esteem, and confidence. With these qualities, as children grow older, socializing and building relationships becomes much easier to do. Children that lack a secure attachment with their caregivers still have hope for becoming social and building healthy relationships. Teachers, peers and other adult figures can be role models and can be a good influence in the child’s social development. I agree with the author when she mentions that a child’s social development is just as important as a child’s intellectual development.
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