Parents or carers should provide opportunities for their child to play in this way, as it will encourage him or her independence.
The child’s personality
The child’s personality develops gradually over a long period of time-up to five years. Babies and young children under the age of two years think that they are the most important person, and that everything and everybody revolves around them
After the age of two years, children begin to respond to those around them. They start to care for younger children and show some understanding towards the need of others.
How a child develops emotionally depends on its character, the genes he or she has inherited and the way he or she feels about themselves. The influence of friends, family and the environment will shape a child’s personality.
Stages of emotional development
And with other areas of development, a child passes through different stages. These milestones that are the average age only, and each child develops at a different pace.
Newborn babies use body movements to express pleasure, e.g. when being fed
At one month, the baby begins to show some personality e.g. calm or excitable
By three months, the bay enjoys company and routines, e.g. bath time
By twelve moths, the baby seeks attention and reassurance from adults and shows affection to familiar people.
By fifteen moths, the child begins begins to cooperate with others but may also begin to have a temper tantrums. The child’s moods may swing from a positive to a negative emotion fairly rapidly.
At eighteen months, the child develops more independence, expresses a range and frustration and shows strong emotions.
At around two years, temper tantrums may be more frequent and the child may become more curious about their environment.
At two and a half years, the child may have fears about the surroundings or people they are familiar with for no reason e.g. fear of the dark.
By the age of three years, the child begins to care for younger child, independence is developing further and the child becomes more stable and emotionally secure.
By four years old, the child may develop a sense of humour, expresses many emotions through ‘pretend’ or imaginative play and will be strongly self-willed.
At the age of five years, the child shows sympathy to others who are hurt, has very definite likes and dislikes and may be happy to leave parents or carers for a while, e.g. to go to school.
Psychologists have long been divided on the question f which emotions are present at birth. Some favour the view that all people are born with a core set of primary emotions. To investigate this idea, these theorists have relied heavily on the assumption that the expression on one’s face is a reliable indicator of one’s emotional state. Specifically, they believe that a certain facial expression universally communicates a basic set of emotional states to others and that the facial expressions of very young infants signal the presence in them of corresponding basic emotion. On the basis of their baby’s facial expressions and vocalization, for example, the mothers interviewed on one study reported that their infants were expressing several emotions by the age of one month, including joy, fear, anger, surprise, sadness and interest. (Johnson 1982)