PSYCHOLOGY

Psychological and Social Issues of Children Starting School

Psychological and Social Issues of Children Starting School

Introduction

Most children start school between the ages of five and seven. When children start school, cognitive development proceeds rapidly. Children start processing information faster that before. Their memory span also starts to increase. They start moving from preoperational to concrete operational thinking. When children start school, they start spending more hours in a new physical and social environment of the school.

Starting school is often the first time that children remain away from their home for a whole day. When starting school, children become more independent. They learn to make relationships with other children (Fisher, 2003, pp. 259).

“The early childhood or preschool period continues to see major development in the physical, cognitive, personal, and social domains. Physically, the body proportions change and the child develops both gross and fine motor skills - growing from the 2-year-old toddler to the 6-year-old who can hop, skip, catch a ball, and possibly ride a bicycle, and who has sufficient fine motor control to be able to use scissors and begin to write legible letters” (Sugarman, 2001, pp. 57).

Discussion

Key Psychological and Sociological Issues Impacting On a Five Year Old Boy Starting School

By the time, a five year old boy starts school; he must have developed Erikson's stages of psychological development in the unfamiliar school setting. The boy must learn to trust new individuals including his instructors and classmates. The environment of school is complex for the boy. Therefore, he must learn to act autonomously in this complex situation. The child must new skills. He must work towards new goals (Woolfolk, 2003, pp. 126).

The way children cope up with challenges at this stage of life has implications for the rest of their school experience. It is generally believed that children who do well in the first grade are likely to proceed towards achievement. On the other side, children who flounder at this stage are likely to suffer in the future.

According to Nagy (1958), there are three stages of development. “In stage one, children under five years old deny death and understand it as a departure, such as going to a sleep or leaving on a trip, and do not understand death as irreversible but rather as living on under changed circumstances” (Takeuchi, 2008, pp. 43).

Psychosocial Development

From age three to six, children learn to take initiatives. Initiatives can be defined as a positive response to the challenges of the world. The five years old boy who is starting school at age five must start taking on responsibilities. He must feel purposeful. In order to egg on psychosocial development of the boy, parents must encourage curiosity, fantasy, and imagination (Takeuchi, 2003, pp.38).

The boy must start imaging the future at this stage. When imagining the future, children can be responsible or guilty. If the boy fails to develop these skills, he is likely to confront maladaptive tendencies. According to Erikson, too much guilt or too much initiative at this stage results ...