GSS2023: Social Emotional Development of Young Children

Social and Emotional Development of Young Children.

What is social and emotional development of young children? Well, according to
the Michigan Department of Community Health (2003), a young childs social and
emotional development is largely dependent on the emotional well being of his or her
parents. Parents who have had positive life experiences are better equipped to be
emotionally available and responsive to a young child than are the parents who have not.

Picture 1: Young children with healthy social and emotional development.

When parents and young children are emotionally tuned in to each other, parents
can more easily read the childs emotional cues and respond appropriately to his or her
needs. This responsive relationship between the young child and parents supports healthy
development in communication, cognition, social-emotional competence, and moral
understanding.
Social development means learning to form and value relationships with others.
Intimate and caring relationships are the basic structure within which all meaningful
development unfolds. Social development begins in infancy, when infants respond to the
familiar voice, smell and touch of the important people in their lives. When these first
social experiences are rewarding, they support the next stage in social development.

GSS2023: Social Emotional Development of Young Children

Emotional development is closely related to social development and refers to the
young childs feelings about himself or herself, the people in his or her life, and the
environments in which he or she plays and lives. Emotions color the experience of every
young child, whether the emotions consist of exuberant delight, frustrated fury, or
anguished distress, and they offer a window into the social and emotional development of
the young child.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2005), social emotional
development is a fundamental part of a childs overall health and well being, as it both
reflects and impacts upon the developing brains wiring and function. Social emotional
development is sometimes called early childhood mental health or infant mental health. It
spans from how children interact with others to how they manage or cope with adversity
and stress.
A childs emerging social and emotional skills form a critical foundation for
learning and wellness that will guide them into adulthood. The healthier a childs early
experiences are, the more apt they are to enter school and life with a strong foundation of
social-emotional skills. It is important to remember that these are the experiences and
skills that will influence how they deal with both success and adversity across their
lifespan. It is critical that parents help their child deal with diversity in a positive way,
and not become prejudice.
According to Kendra Cherry (2014), prejudice is a baseless and usually negative
attitude toward members of a group. Common features of prejudice include negative
feelings, stereotyped beliefs, and a tendency to discriminate against members of the
group. While specific definitions of prejudice given by social scientists often differ, most
agree that it involves prejudgments, usually negative, about members of a group.
Prejudice can be based upon a number of factors including sex, race, age, sexual
orientations, nationality, socioeconomic status and religion. Some of the most wellknown types of prejudice include racism, sexism, classicism, homophobia, nationalism,
religious prejudice, and agism.

GSS2023: Social Emotional Development of Young Children

There are a number of different ways that prejudice can be reduced or even
eliminated. Training people to become more empathetic to members of other groups is
one method that has shown considerable success. By imaging themselves in the same
situation, people are able to think about how they would react and gain a greater
understanding of other people's actions.
Other techniques that are used to reduce prejudice include passing laws and
regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups of people, gaining public
support and awareness for anti-prejudice social norms, making people aware of the
inconsistencies in their own beliefs, and increased contact with members of other social
groups.

Picture 2: Bullying.
Currently in Malaysia, due to the prejudice of some young children, we have
bullying issues in schools. According to Ustaz Maulana Akbarshah (2013), bullying can
take many forms, from teasing and spreading rumors to pushing someone around and
causing physical harm. It often happens in front of other people.

GSS2023: Social Emotional Development of Young Children

It includes name calling, mocking, kicking, taking belongings, writing or drawing
offensive graffiti, messing around with peoples belongings, gossiping, excluding people
from groups, and threatening others. Children and young people are bullied for all sorts
of reasons. It can be due to their race, their religion, their appearance, their sexual
orientation, because they have a disability or because of their home circumstances.

Picture 3: Poverty, one of the factors of child dumping.

The second issue, which affect the social and emotional development of young
children is baby dumping. If both their mother and father decided to a divorce and one
cannot raise their child alone, tendency is that they will dump their child. This child will
become homeless and found himself alone.
According to Ustaz Maulana Akbarshah (2013), poverty is also another factor that
causes child dumping. Persons in cultures with poor social welfare systems who are not
financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to dump him or her. Political
conditions, such as difficulty in adoption proceedings, may also contribute to child
dumping, as can the lack of institutions, such as orphanages, to take in children whom
their parents cannot support. Psychologists believe that even short-term dumping can
damage a childs emotional and social development.

GSS2023: Social Emotional Development of Young Children

And the final issue is violence against children. According to Child Rights
Coalition Malaysia (2012), a significant number of cases of violence against children go
unreported every year, resulting in serious harm and death to children that could have
otherwise been prevented. Under- and non-reporting of violence stems largely from the
fact that abuse of children, especially sexual abuse, continues to be a taboo subject within
our society. Gaps in the implementation of protection mechanisms, especially for children
from marginalized and disadvantaged groups, remain a cause for concern.
As for conclusion and recommendation, everyone in Malaysia should be taking
part in preventing these problems from spreading. As for the young children, friends are
most important supporter to them. They meet their friends almost every day at school and
often go out with them. Regarding this phase, the teenagers prefer to share their
problems, hobbies, happiness and sadness with their close friends. Friends are the
subjects who influence the youth in making decision; build their thinking and confidence.
If they are fortunate and associate themselves with good and kind friends, they
will be inspired to be brilliant students. They recognize what are the good and bad
behaviors. From the three issues we have discussed, we can conclude that education is the
most important agenda to prevent our young generations from being manipulated by the
tough situation.
Parents should enhance their knowledge and skills on how to teach their children.
They should monitor their children from useless or harmful activities. Therefore,
education comes in two forms, informal education from parents and friends, and
education from schools, where knowledge is gained especially in academic fields.

GSS2023: Social Emotional Development of Young Children

References
1.

Michigan Department of Community Health; 2003; Social-Emotional

Development of Young Children; Division of Mental Health Services to

2.

Children and Families.

American Academy of Pediatrics; 2005; The Social Emotional Development

3.

of Young Children: Resource Guide for Healthy Start Staff.

Conflict Research Consortium; 1998; Prejudice Reduction Program;

4.

University of Colorado, United States of America.

Ustaz Maulana Akbarshah; 2013; Social Problems In Malaysia; Department of
Islamic Revealed Knowledge, Human Sciences, International Islamic

5.

University of Malaysia.
Child Rights Coalition Malaysia; 2012; Status Reports On Childrens Rights
in Malaysia; Malaysian Child Resource Institute.