11/01/2023
🌈🌈 HOW DO I LEARN THE RIGHT FROM WRONG WORKS?
Imagine you are with children about 3 years old and are at snack time. Each of you was given 2 cookies while one got 3 cookies. A few other kids noticed and started chorusing: “That's not fair!” and one of them took the leftover cookie and put it back in the box 😂😂
Where do you think this sense of fairness comes from? How do young children begin to understand this concept of right and wrong? Believe it or not, children's awareness of morality and virtue is very early on, even when children can't tell us about it yet. A new study shows that babies seem to have a certain "moral background" in place. And it is our duty as adults to help children continue to develop from that existing foundation.
🌱🌱 WHAT DO THE STUDIES SAY?
How can we "measure" the level of correct and ethical behavior of children even when they can't speak yet?
🌻 A group of babies aged 6 to 10 months went to the Infant Cognition Center at Yale University to participate in an experiment with puppets in math form. learning is circle, triangle, square. In it, the story is that a circle is trying very hard to climb to the top of the hill. If the square tries to help the circle climb to the top, the triangle tries to push the circle down. And the story ends!
After that activity, the children from 6 to 10 months old, each child was given a tray with 2 shapes, a "naughty" triangle and a "helping" square. As a result, the children all reached out, reached for the square and expressed their interest in what they considered "good"👈
🌻 The same experiment was done with 18-month-old babies who were just toddlers and were able to answer the question: Which is good? Which is bad? In general, children tend to "reward" with good-natured characters, help others, and "punish" with characters considered bad.
These interesting studies all show that even in the first years of life, babies can pay attention to how people treat each other.
🌱🌱 WHAT CAN WE ADULTS DO TO HELP?
1️⃣. Show kindness and model what it means to be empathetic.
Children's early experiences of the world around them help shape their ability to understand what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, a relationship with parents in which children are loved, understood and responded to is the foundation for children's empathy and social-emotional development. We encourage children to listen to their inner voice and act with love, respect and fairness towards others. For example, your child will share toys with you and be happy if he does. Or during this Covid epidemic, the whole family can compose a message together to support the epidemic prevention work...
2️⃣. Emphasize the difference that each person has
Toddlers won't yet be able to understand that others have their own thoughts and feelings. To help your child gradually understand the difference that each person has, you can point out different interests, thoughts, and feelings of each friend you see. For example, you could say to your child, “You don't like peas, do you? But my brother loves it” or “My sister likes to go to the Ferris wheel, but I don't like it. What would you like to go to?"
3️⃣. We can tell children about limits, rules
Set rules that are age appropriate but still based on respect and understanding for children, which we want to see as they grow up.
For example, a rule might be that one's hand is used to hug another person or clap rather than hit someone. If a child violates a set of rules, we adults can guide them calmly. For example, encourage a child who has beaten someone else to do some simple act of kindness to the child who has been beaten, such as giving cookies, sharing toys, etc.
4️⃣. We can help children understand their feelings.
With emotional states, there is no such thing as right or wrong, but how we react to them is what matters. For example, “Dog, I saw you angry at Bi when Bi took your train. I shouted very loudly! So let's solve this problem together! When you are angry with Bi, you can say, “You are very angry! You give me the train back!" At that time, you also stand a little closer to the two to make sure there is no conflict between the two sides.
🌱🌱 WHY IMPORTANT PATIENT OF PARENTS?
Young children can show their empathy at an early age. In fact, babies can cry louder than usual if they hear other babies' cries, even if it's coming from a recording of their own crying.
But like all skills, morality and love of others develop over time. We need to remember this when we don't show kindness or take improper actions. Personality development is a process that begins very early and will continue throughout a child's life. At that time, the more we parents and adults need to keep our composure to continue accompanying our children
