Abstract
This observation is about middle childhood age girl in the age range 6-8 years old. She was observed at Chuck-Cheese for the period of an hour with the hopes of discovering the many milestones associated with this developmental stage. She was with her father and brother. Knowing that I was going to observe a child in a play environment I chose to develop my checklist focusing on the milestones that I felt could be observed in that setting. This paper is primarily focused on the physical, cognitive, emotional and social development, as well as parenting style and the attachment style of the girl. It intends to show how she is developing compared with average milestones of kids her age.
Keywords: Concrete operational stage, Developmental psychology, Erikson vs. Piaget, developmental milestones, developmental stages, Piaget’s developmental stages, child observation, milestones checklist
Observation of Middle Childhood Girl Age 6-8 at Chuck-E-Cheese
As a mother I have spent many hours watching my own children along with other kids over the years and it never seemed unusual. However, when you have to observe a child who is a total stranger, in their natural setting the activity becomes a little more difficult. In order to be comfortable observing the subject without raising any suspicions or being perceived as creepy, I needed to blend into the environment. This lead me to an important choice; finding a suitable place for observing the child.
After some deliberation, I decided that observing a young child at a local Chuck-E-Cheese would be an ideal setting for completing this assignment. As it happens I have friends with kids in the age range of 6-8, and they agreed to bring me along to a chuck-e-cheese ‘play date’. I thought this would not only be a good disguise being the friend of a parent, but a good opportunity to observe kids with friends and parents at play and dinner. Knowing that this was the age range I was observing, I created a checklist so that I could make a note of any developmental milestones I observed. I chose a girl who was with her brother and father to observe.
As I chose to observe middle childhood, a better understanding of what I should expect to see developmentally should be articulated. By this time, children can dress themselves and tie their shoes, and catch a ball more easily using only their hands. Being independent from their family becomes more important now. Events like starting school, bring children into regular contact with a larger world. Friendships become more and more important. Physical, social, and mental skills develop quickly at this time. This is an important time for children to develop confidence in all areas of life. (Berk)
According to the CDC here is some information on how children develop during middle childhood:
‘Emotional/Social Changes
Children in this age group might:
‘ Show more independence from parents and family.
‘ Start to think about the future.
‘ Understand more about his or her place in the world.
‘ Pay more attention to friendships and teamwork.
‘ Want to be liked and accepted by friends.
Thinking and Learning
Children in this age group might:
‘ Show rapid development of mental skills.
‘ Learn better ways to describe experiences and talk about thoughts and feelings.
‘ Have less focus on one’s self and more concern for others.’ (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.)
I chose to organize this paper into four basic categories: Physical, cognitive, emotional and social. I stationed myself at a booth with my friend and her kids in order to observe the kids and eventually chose to observe a girl who was with her brother and father. Some of the first things I noticed about this girl was her physical growth and development. I could tell even from a distance that she had lost some baby teeth, indicated by some gaps in her smile. She was also considerably taller than her peers and seemed to be all legs and was very active the whole time.
According to the text, middle childhood is when ‘the lower portion of the body is growing the fastest.’ This is also ‘when primary teeth are lost and replaced by permanent ones.’ (Berk) There was no evidence of obesity as she was on the slim side. Her eyesight appeared to be good, she could recognize kids across the room and didn’t wear glasses.
When looking at her gross motor skills, I saw gymnastic movements including cartwheels and backbends which displayed her flexibility and balance. She was quite good at the movements and seemed to be a tumbler. Also listed amongst her many physical activities was that she ran with coordination, danced, and was able to toss a basketball. All of these skills are ‘indicative of gains in in four basic motor capacities which are: flexibility, balance, agility and force’. (Berk)
As I looked at her fine motor skills, I was able to see her using a crayon to draw on her placemat. Since I was given the same placemat to draw on, I know that a word jumble, a fill-in-the-blank spelling area, and a drawing area were on the paper. I couldn’t see what she had filled in on the page, but I could see that she did seem to use her whole arm and not her just her wrist and fingers. According to the text, the writing should be big since they are unable to isolate using just their wrists and fingers to make the letters. (Berk)
As I continued to observe my subject I noticed them playing some game of tag that seemed made up. I didn’t understand the rules and the rules to the game seemed to change as time went on. Each girl seemed to want to make up new rules to benefit themselves, and a lot of animated talk took place in deciding which rules would be honored. This set of observations is under the heading of cognitive development and contributes to emotional and social development. This shows that these kids are trying out ”different styles of cooperating, competing, winning and losing with little personal risk.’ (Berk) (New Child Care, n.d.)
Also under the heading of cognitive was witnessing her counting tickets that she won playing an arcade type game. Along with being able to count the tickets she understood that she could win more tickets by playing these games, this shows an understanding of cause and effect. She appeared able to read the menu and was able to explain the individual elements of playing Skee Ball to her friend who didn’t seem to know what it was about. She mentioned it was sort of like shooting hoops, but rolling a ball instead of throwing. These two observations were indicative of her language development and showed her more analytical understanding of vocabulary. (Berk) (New Child Care, n.d.)
Next was an observation of moral development when I saw her help another child. The girl I observed saw another child drop a handful of tickets and instead of picking them up and keeping them, she gave them back to the kid who dropped them. This showed she understood that it is wrong to take something that doesn’t belong to you. I also saw her make a face at her brother and then denied it when confronted by her parent. This shows that she is capable of lying and according to The Truth About Lying ‘lying plays a positive role in development. Essential human skills ‘ independence, perspective taking, and emotional control ‘ are the same skills that enable children to lie.’ (Scholastic, n.d.)
The girl played almost exclusively with two other girls. She avoided ‘rough and tumble play’ with boys. (Berk) I observed this when she didn’t seem to want to roughhouse with what appeared to be her older brother and his friends. He invited her to play basketball/free throws with him and she didn’t want to because he always wins. This is where I looked at possible gender stereotyping. It is my opinion that her behavior was not strictly what is expected out of a girl. While it is true that she was dressed in pink, had glittery barrettes in her hair and had colorful ornate princess decorated gym shoes, she also displayed some attributes that are considered more masculine. She was active, competitive, independent and self-confident. I think that she played with girls ‘because they are like her in age, sex, ethnicity, and SES.’ (Berk) Her friends also ‘resembled one another in personality.’ (Berk) They were all active, giggly, ‘girlie-girls’, that liked gymnastics. (Berk) (Socialisation within the Familly: Gender Role Development , n.d.)
Parenting style was difficult to observe. I heard the dad say encouraging things like ‘keep trying and you’ll get it’ when the girl came back to him after not doing well at a game. While this showed a mastery oriented approach towards teaching his kids; I had difficulty determining if the parenting style was passive or authoritative. Since he played a lot with his kids and I noticed him talking calmly with his son at length about something, I believe he was not authoritarian or neglectful. I did notice him ‘trying to bribe his daughter (permissive)’ (Morin, 2016) at one point to get her to leave but that may have been considered a ‘reward system’ (authoritative). (Morin, 2016) If there had been more time I may have been able to make a better determination. (Cherry, Social and Emotional Development in Middle Childhood, 2016) (Cherry, Concrete Operational Stage of Cognitive Development, 2016)
I noticed throughout the hour or so that I observed the girl, that she consistently was checking in with her dad. Once she had eaten she continued to check in with him wherever he was. At times he stayed in the booth by himself and at other points her played with one or both of the kids. If he wasn't’ immediately available, she seemed stressed. At dinner she was nearly on top of him and then she would run off. Flitting back and forth between playing with her friends and her dad. This showed that she was securely attached to her dad. (Berk)
According to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development my subject should be in the concrete development stage. At this stage,’ children are able to see things from different points of view and to imagine events that occur outside their own lives. (Berk) Some organized, logical thought processes are now evident and they are able to:
‘ order objects by size, color gradient, etc.
‘ understand that if 1+2 = 3 then 3-1 = 2
‘ understand that a blue square can belong to both the 'blue' category and the 'square' category.
‘ understand that a short wide glass can hold the same amount of liquid as a tall thin glass.’ (Psychology Charts , n.d.) (Stanford Children's Health, n.d.) (Concrete Operational Stage, n.d.) (Research Articles Digest, 2012)
According to WebMD, ‘Children's thinking becomes less egocentric and they are increasingly aware of external events.’ (WebMD, n.d.) Which means they are able to understand that other people have their own thoughts. ‘They also begin to realize that one's own thoughts and feelings are unique and may not be shared by others or may not even be part of reality. During this stage, however, most children still can't think abstractly or hypothetically.’ (WebMD, n.d.) At this stage, the thinking of children ‘ages 7-11 tends to be logical and tied to concrete reality.’ (WebMD, n.d.) Although difficult to observe, some of the games that she played would have had her working with reversibility which is the ability to think through steps and then go backward to the starting point. (WebMD, n.d.)
Another approach to development is Eric Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory. ‘He developed his theory much later than Piaget did, but he also dealt with development in eight unique stages across the life of a person. New hurdles characterized each stage and the way that the person deals with the hurdles at a stage determines the aftermath. Consequently, the naming of the stages occurred with the likely outcomes in mind. The stages include:”Trust vs. mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt,”Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. stagnation and finally Integrity vs. Despair.’ (Research Articles Digest, 2012)
According to Erikson, the girl I observed would be in the ‘Industry vs. Inferiority stage which covers the ages of six to twelve. This stage is marked with competition with fellow children, which brings out the abilities and skills of the children. A feeling of competency for the winners follows while feelings of doubts linger in the minds of less successful children.'(Research Articles Digest, 2012)
‘While Erikson dwelled on personality development; using observation, clinical methods and questions to conclude. Piaget focused on cognitive development through mental processes, where he asked questions and then followed up by other questions. Through his studies, Piaget theorized the manner in which children formed thoughts.”Both used stages to describe their theories of psychological development, and that each stage builds on the pervious stage.’ (Research Articles Digest, 2012)
In summary, the child I observed seems to be right on track. She shows the physical characteristics of a middle childhood child. She has a healthy, well built, slim physique and seems healthy and very active. With what I was able to observe she exhibits many of the physical, cognitive, emotional and social milestones typical of a 6-8-year-old girl. She looked to be securely attached and had an involved parent that was either authoritative or passive. Her stage of development gave the impression that she was in the Piaget’s concrete operation stage of development which again is right where she should be.
Appendix
Checklist
a. Physical growth: did the child appear to be physically growing normally, long limbs, lost teeth?
b. Gross-motor areas are developing?
c. Flexibility ‘ can they ”run, swing bats, kick balls, jump rope and tumble?’ (Berk)
d. Balance ‘ Do they ”show evidence of balance which supports many athletic skills running, hopping skipping, throwing kicking and rapid changes in direction required in many team sports?’ (Berk)
e. Agility – Do they have ”quicker and more accurate movements fancy footwork as seen in dance, cheerleading and in forward backward sideways motions used to dodge opponents in tag and soccer?’ (Berk)
f. Force – can they ‘throw and kick a ball harder and propel themselves farther off the ground when running and jumping?’ (Berk)
g. Fine Motor Development: can the child write and draw? (Berk)
h. Cognitive: Able to read, write and count? Able to understand cause and effect? (Berk)
i. Temper tantrums?
j. Attachment styles: what attachment style did the child display?
k. Interaction with others: how did the child interact with others?
l. Play: what activities did the child engage in?
m. Gender Differences: ex: Handwriting would be neater?
n. Moral Development: truth telling, fair play? Picked up tickets for a friend
o. Developmental theorist: what stages of cognitive development did the child appear to be in?
p. Language development: could the child articulate words and use past tense vocabulary? (Pathways , n.d.)
q. Gender roles and stereotyping: Plays with friends of the same gender, any other gender roles? (Berk)
r. Parenting style: Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive or uninvolved? (Berk) Authoritative or Permissive father
s. Attachment style: Secure, Avoidant, Resistant? (Berk) Secure with father
t. Piaget’s Concrete operational stage. Can the child show: ‘Seriation (order objects by size, color gradient, etc.), reversibility (understand that if 1+2 = 3 then 3-1 = 2) Hierarchical classification (that a blue square can belong to both the 'blue' category and the 'square' category). Decentration (understand that a short wide glass can hold the same amount of liquid as a tall thin glass.)’ (Pathways , n.d.) (Concrete Operational Stage, n.d.)
Works Cited
Berk, L. E. (n.d.). Development Though the Lifespan (6th Edition ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Child Development: Middle Childhood (6-8 years of age). Retrieved October 3, 2016, from Centers For Disease Control and Prevention: CDC.gov
Cherry, K. (2016, June 20). Concrete Operational Stage of Cognitive Development. Retrieved October 7, 2016, from Very Well: verywell.com
Cherry, K. (2016, May 10). Social and Emotional Development in Middle Childhood. Retrieved October 8, 2016, from Very Well: verywell.com
Concrete Operational Stage. (n.d.). Retrieved Sept 29, 2016, from dante.udallas.edu
Morin, A. (2016, April 21). Create a Token Economy System to Improve Your Child's Behaviors Using Rewards to Promote Good Behaviors. Retrieved October 3, 2016, from Very Well: verywell.com
New Child Care. (n.d.). Observing Social Development. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from New Child Care: newchildcare.co.uk
Pathways . (n.d.). Sensory Motor Checklist. Retrieved September 29, 2016, from Pathways: pathways.org
Psychology Charts . (n.d.). Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from Psychology Charts : PsychologyCharts.com
Research Articles Digest. (2012, July 20). Comparing and Contrastinf Jean Oiaget and Erik Erikson on Child Psychology. Retrieved october 9, 2016, from Research Articles Digest: http://mhk-rad.blogspot.com/2012/07/intro.html
Scholastic. (n.d.). The Truth About Lying. Retrieved October 8, 2016, from Scholastic: scholastic.com
Socialisation within the Familly: Gender Role Development . (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2016, from Socialisation within the Family : ehlt.finders.edu.au
Stanford Children's Health. (n.d.). the growing child: ages 6-12. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from Stanford Children's Health: stanfordchildrens.org
WebMD. (n.d.). Piaget Stages of Develpment . Retrieved October 9, 2016, from WebMD: webmd.com