Social-Emotional Development In A Child Of 4Yrs

and when he saw the college student playing with a group of girls,

he dragged him away to make him look at the house he built.

According to Chaille and Silvern (1995) it is fairly normal for

children to seek out an adult?s approval and praise for their

accomplishments.

While observing Michael on the playground, I have noticed that he

is always the one suggesting what to do and where to play. From riding

bikes to climbing up the hill to even sliding down the slide, Michael is

definitely a leader among his group of friends. In the classroom Michael

is the same way. He tells them what to build and how to build it. He

often comes off being bossy, but he does listen to the suggestions of his

friends first before deciding that his way is the correct way.

Play is varied according to the social environment the children are

in. Mildred Parten was a women who studied children between the ages

of two and five. Mildred found that children?s play develops in six stages.

Solitary play is one of the stages that Michael has engaged in.

Solitary play is where the child plays alone with a toy and has no

involvement with other children. Out of all my observations, this was the

one and only time that I saw Michael playing by himself. Michael had

just finished playing a board game with a friend and the college student.

When the game was over he walked over to the lego table and started to

build an airplane. While building, he was singing to himself and moving

his feet under the table to the rhythm of the song.

Another stage of play that Michael has engaged in is parallel play.

This type of play involves two or more children plying with the same toys

in close proximity and with awareness of each others presence, but do

not share toys, talk or interact except in very minimal ways (Hoffnung,

1997). Michael was at the lego table with three of his friends building

houses and towers. Each of them were building there own separate

building in the corner of the lego square. The only time Michael spoke to

one of his friends was when he was looking for a certain lego in the bin

or if he needed help pulling one of the legos apart.

Another stage of play that Michael engages in is cooperative play.

Cooperative play according to Pina (1997), is where children consciously

form into groups to make something, where one or two members direct

the activity with the children assuming different roles and

responsibilities. Michael has shown this type of play in the block area

numerous times. While building, he likes to take control and tells his

group of friends where to place each block. After they place the block

and he does not like where they placed it, he will go over and move it to

what he thinks is the correct place.

An important part of a child?s individuality is his sense of self. The

four year old child according to Oden (1987), should be able to verbally

defend possessions, express feelings verbally, feel confident to join in on

play with others, and engage in cooperative play. Michael has no

problem expressing how he feels. If he wants things done a certain way

he will do it no matter what. He likes to have his own way and if for

some reason he doesn?t get his way he will put on a sad face for a

moment and then find something else to play with.

Sometimes Michael does not like to follow the rules. While

building blocks with the college student and two friends, the college

student accidentally knocked down someone else?s building. Michael

was the first to shout out,

?You knocked it down! Now you have to put it back together, thats

the rule?.

The college student with the help from another boy tried to put the

building back together the best way that they can, but Michael insisted

that he was doing it wrong. A few minutes later Michael was walking

over to the shelf to get blocks and he accidentally stepped on one of the

long blocks and slid right into the middle of the building knocking it all

down. The college student jokingly told him now it was his turn to put it

back together. Michael got up and said,

?No, no I don?t?.

Then Michael started to take the blocks that he knocked down and

he was using them on his own building. One of his friends started to

help him gather up the knocked down blocks and created a building

twice the size of the one that was knocked down. The college student

didn?t say anything to Michael, but you can tell that he was a little

annoyed.

Emotionally and socially Michael is at the appropriate

developmental level. Friendships can help a child develop in other ways

besides socially and emotionally. Movement activities intend to improve

gross motor skills, social – emotional, creative, and cognitive

development. According to Hartup (1992), studies have shown that

friendships result in mastery of certain tasks, problem solving techniques

and mastery of certain cognitive skills. In chapter three, this personality

study will look into further detail of the cognitive development of a four

year old child and how it is related to motor and social – emotional

development.