In his article, "Power Struggles: Early Experiences Matter," in Behavior - A Beginnings Workshop book, James Garbarino explains why it is so important that we help children with aggressive behavior in the early years:
"Research by psychologist Leonard Eron ["A Reason to Hope: A Psychosocial Perspective on Youth and Violence] documents that by age eight, patterns of aggressive behavior and belief are crystallizing, so much so that, without intervention, they tend to continue into adulthood. When they began their studies in the 1960s, Eron and his colleagues asked eight-year-olds to identify the aggressive children in their classrooms. 'Who are the children in our class who hit people, who start fights, who kick people?' they asked.
"When they followed up on these children three decades later, they found that by and large, the children identified as aggressive at age eight became the adults who, at age 38, hit people in their families, got into fights in the community, and drove their cars aggressively. By the way, this gives a developmental spin to the problem of road rage; it probably started as 'tricycle rage.'"
Behavior: A Beginnings Workshop Book
Beginnings Professional Development Workshop is an invaluable resource for staff training. In each 16-page unit the top experts in the field address a specific curriculum topic in depth. Behavior: A Beginnings Workshop Book contains a collection of units with insightful articles on responding to behavior such as:
Developmental Issues That Affect Behavior by Karen MillerManaging Challenging Behaviors: Adult Communication As a Prevention and Teaching Tool by Tom Udell and Gary Glasenapp
Power Struggles: Early Experiences Matter by James Garbarino
Lessons from My Mother-In-Law: A Story about Discipline by Janet Gonzalez-Mena
Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 Commentsece consultant
Dallas, TX, United States
We had a limited number of trikes for our 25 kindergarten children, so we had a turn list and children learned to bargain, trade days, share time with friends and more, with gentle adult guidance. We gave them the power to decide what to do with their trike turn. A lot of creative thinking happened, including social, math, reading skills were strengthened...;)
We did not use time-outs, only conflict resolution strategies, and they worked.
CSBC
Denver, United States
Two points. First,this view argues strongly for the field to stop focusing on academic outcomes and return to an approach that emphasizes social and emotional development. In one of our early childhood meetings, both the Head Start director and public school early childhood administrator commented on the rise of the number of children needing mental health services. But they did not connect this to the excessive focus on academic and school-related outcomes. Secondly, we must be very, very careful when discussing these developmental trends. I remember a research article I read that argued that toddlers who bite will become criminals. This can be scary stuff!
Family Child Care Project
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
This is true for other kinds of behavior too. My center was in Ann Arbor, a fairly close-knit community, so I get longitudinal reports.
The 4 yr-old who frequently initiated sex play with his boy friends was arrested at age 15 for sodomizing his little cousin. It turned out that he had been sodomized by his cousin. (I have several other stories related to this one.)
The boy who was fascinated/obsessed by blood and guts at age 4 was severely disturbed as an adolescent.
The girl who didn't talk became a serious schizophrenic.
All of this argues for early childhood mental health consultants to help e.c. staff understand children's behavior and suggest strategies for helping y.c. cope with their issues.
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