Stages of character formation in a child and its types. There are several stages in the formation of a child's gender identity

Character usually means the totality of some outstanding (visible to others) mental properties of an individual. This refers to those mental properties that are formed after the birth of a person. Temperament, for example, has physiological and genetic roots, therefore it does not apply to character, because it was formed in many respects even before birth.

Character begins to form from the first months of life. The main role in this belongs to communication with other people. In actions and forms of behavior, the child imitates his loved ones. With the help of direct learning through imitation and emotional reinforcement, he learns the forms of adult behavior. Although the character begins to form from the first months, nevertheless, a special sensitive period is distinguished for the formation of character: the age is from two or three to nine or ten years. At this time, children communicate a lot and actively both with surrounding adults and with peers. During this period, they are open to almost any outside influence. Children readily accept any new experience, imitating everything and everything. Adults at this time still enjoy the boundless trust of the child, so they have the opportunity to influence him with a word, deed and action. For the formation of the child's character, the style of communication of the people around is important: - adults with adults, - adults with children, - children with children.

One of the first in a person's character is laid such traits as: - kindness-selfishness, - sociability-isolation, - responsiveness-indifference. Studies show that these character traits begin to form long before the beginning of the school period of life, even as early as infancy. Later, other character traits are formed: - industriousness-laziness, - accuracy-sloppiness, - conscientiousness-malice, - responsibility-irresponsibility, - perseverance-cowardice. These qualities, however, also begin to form in preschool childhood. They are formed and fixed in games and available types of domestic work and other household activities. Of great importance for the development of character traits is stimulation from adults. Both low demands and very high demands can adversely affect the formation of character.

In the preschool period, mainly those traits that constantly receive support (positive or negative reinforcement) are preserved and consolidated. In the elementary grades of the school, under the influence of new experience, character traits that manifest themselves in relationships with people are formed and corrected. The child begins to live a full social life, to communicate with a large number of people, including little known to him. The responsibility of the child for the result of the activity increases. They start comparing him to other kids. Therefore, it is in elementary school that such an important character trait as self-attitude is formed. School success can build confidence in one's own intellectual usefulness. Failures can form a kind of "loser complex": the child stops trying, because he is still a "loser". In adolescence, strong-willed character traits are most actively developed and consolidated. A teenager gradually masters new areas of activity for himself, tries his hand at them. In early youth, the basic moral, ideological foundations of the personality are finally formed, which most people carry through the rest of their lives. We can assume that by the end of school, the character of a person as a whole is established. What happens to a person in the future almost never makes his character unrecognizable to those who communicated with him during his school years. However, the character is not a frozen formation, but is formed and transformed throughout the life of a person. After graduation, the biggest "innovation" in character will occur in the first few years of a young person's work. Interesting work, productive relationships with colleagues and superiors will give rise to love for work, for labor achievements. Routine work, destructive relationships with colleagues can give rise to passivity and dependency. Many adult, conscious people are the creator of their own character. They analyze their behavior, their thoughts and feelings. If you don't like something about yourself, then they educate themselves. People capable of self-education usually achieve much more success in life than their more passive "antagonists". A huge influence on the formation and development of character in all periods of life has an external information background: - judgments of people around about life, - actions of people around, - fiction (judgments and actions of fictional characters), - cinema and other media images, - the dominant ideology in society.

The nervous system coordinates and controls the physiological and metabolic parameters of the body's activity, depending on the factors of the external and internal environment.

In the child's body, the anatomical and functional maturation of those systems that are responsible for vital activity takes place. It is assumed that up to 4 years of age the mental development of the child occurs most intensively. Then the intensity decreases, and by the age of 17 the main indicators of neuropsychic development are finally formed.

By the time of birth, the baby's brain is underdeveloped. For example, a newborn has about 25% of the nerve cells of an adult, by 6 months of life their number increases to 66%, and by the year - up to 90-95%.

Different parts of the brain have their own pace of development. So, the inner layers grow more slowly than the cortical, due to which folds and furrows form in the latter. By the time of birth, the occipital lobe is better developed than others, and the frontal lobe is to a lesser extent. The cerebellum has small hemispheres and superficial grooves. The lateral ventricles are relatively large.

The younger the child, the worse the gray and white matter of the brain is differentiated, the nerve cells in the white matter are located quite close to each other. With the growth of the child, changes in the topic, shape, number and size of the furrows occur. The main structures of the brain are formed by the 5th year of life. But even later, the growth of convolutions and furrows continues, however, at a much slower pace. The final maturation of the central nervous system (CNS) occurs by the age of 30-40.

By the time of the birth of a child, in comparison with body weight, it has a relatively large size - 1/8 - 1/9, at 1 year this ratio is 1/11 - 1/12 to 5 years - 1/13-1/14 and in an adult - approximately 1/40. At the same time, with age, the mass of the brain increases.

The process of development of nerve cells consists in the growth of axons, an increase in dendrites, the formation of direct contacts between the processes of nerve cells. By the age of 3, a gradual differentiation of the white and gray matter of the brain occurs, and by the age of 8, its cortex approaches the adult state in structure.

Simultaneously with the development of nerve cells, the process of myelination of nerve conductors takes place. The child begins to acquire effective control over motor activity. The process of myelination as a whole ends by 3-5 years of a child's life. But the development of myelin sheaths of conductors responsible for fine coordinated movements and mental activity continues up to 30-40 years.

The blood supply to the brain in children is more abundant than in adults. The capillary network is much wider. The outflow of blood from the brain has its own characteristics. Diploetic foams are still poorly developed, therefore, in children with encephalitis and cerebral edema, more often than in adults, there is a difficulty in outflow of blood, which contributes to the development of toxic brain damage. On the other hand, children have a high permeability of the blood-brain barrier, which leads to the accumulation of toxic substances in the brain. The brain tissue in children is very sensitive to increased intracranial pressure, so factors contributing to this can cause atrophy and death of nerve cells.

They have structural features and membranes of the child's brain. The younger the child, the thinner the dura mater. It is fused with the bones of the base of the skull. The soft and arachnoid shells are also thin. Subdural and subarachnoid spaces in children are reduced. Tanks, on the other hand, are relatively large. The aqueduct of the brain (Sylvian aqueduct) is wider in children than in adults.

With age, a change in the composition of the brain occurs: the amount decreases, the dry residue increases, the brain cells are filled with a protein component.

The spinal cord in children is relatively better developed than the brain, and grows much more slowly, doubling its mass occurs by 10-12 months, tripling - by 3-5 years. In an adult, the length is 45 cm, which is 3.5 times longer than in a newborn.

The newborn has features of CSF formation and CSF composition, the total amount of which increases with age, resulting in increased pressure in the spinal canal. With spinal puncture, CSF in children flows out in rare drops at a rate of 20-40 drops per minute.

Of particular importance is the study of cerebrospinal fluid in diseases of the central nervous system.

Normal cerebrospinal fluid in a child is transparent. Turbidity indicates an increase in the number of leukocytes in it - pleocytosis. For example, cloudy cerebrospinal fluid is observed with meningitis. With a hemorrhage in the brain, the cerebrospinal fluid will be bloody, stratification does not occur, it will retain a uniform brown color.

Under laboratory conditions, a detailed microscopy of the cerebrospinal fluid is carried out, as well as its biochemical, virological and immunological examination.

Patterns of development of statomotor activity in children

A child is born with a number of unconditioned reflexes that help him adapt to his environment. First, these are transient rudimentary reflexes, reflecting the evolutionary path of development from animal to human. They usually disappear in the first months after birth. Secondly, these are unconditioned reflexes that appear from the birth of a child and persist for life. The third group includes mesencephalic established, or automatisms, for example, labyrinthine, cervical and trunk, which are acquired gradually.

Usually, the unconditioned reflex activity of the child is checked by a pediatrician or a neurologist. The presence or absence of reflexes, the time of their appearance and extinction, the strength of the response and the age of the child are assessed. If the reflex does not correspond to the age of the child, this is considered a pathology.

The health worker should be able to assess the motor and static skills of the child.

Due to the predominant influence of the extrapyramidal system of the newborn, they are chaotic, generalized, and inappropriate. There are no static functions. Muscular hypertension is observed with a predominance of flexor tone. But shortly after birth, the first static coordinated movements begin to form. At the 2-3rd week of life, the child begins to fix his gaze on a bright toy, and from 1-1.5 months he tries to follow moving objects. By the same time, children begin to hold their heads, and at 2 months and turn it. Then there are coordinated hand movements. At first, this is bringing hands to the eyes, examining them, and from 3-3.5 months - holding the toy with both hands, manipulating it. From the 5th month, one-handed grasping and manipulation of the toy gradually develops. From this age, reaching out and grasping objects resembles the movements of an adult. However, due to the immaturity of the centers responsible for these movements, in children of this age, movements of the second arm and legs occur simultaneously. By 7-8 months, there is a greater expediency of motor activity of the hands. From 9-10 months there is a finger retention of objects, which is improved by 12-13 months.

The acquisition of motor skills by the limbs occurs in parallel with the development of trunk coordination. Therefore, by 4-5 months, the child first rolls over from his back to his stomach, and from 5-6 months from his stomach to his back. In parallel, he masters the function of sitting. At the 6th month, the child sits on his own. This indicates the development of coordination of the muscles of the legs.

Then the child begins to crawl, and by 7-8 months already mature crawling is formed with a cross movement of the arms and legs. By 8-9 months, children try to stand and step over the bed, holding on to its edge. At 10-11 months they already stand well, and by 10-12 months they begin to walk independently, first with their arms extended forward, then their legs straighten and the child walks almost without bending them (by 2-3.5 years). By the age of 4-5, a mature gait with synchronous articulated hand movements is formed.

The formation of statomotor functions in children is a long process. The emotional tone of the child is important in the development of statics and motor skills. In acquiring these skills, a special role is assigned to the independent activity of the child.

The newborn has little physical activity, he mostly sleeps, and wakes up when he wants to eat. But even here there are principles of direct influence on neuropsychic development. From the first days, toys are hung over the crib, first at a distance of 40-50 cm from the child's eyes for the development of the visual analyzer. During the waking period, it is necessary to talk with the child.

At 2-3 months, sleep becomes less prolonged, the child is already awake for more time. The toys are attached at chest level so that after a thousand and one wrong moves, he finally grabs the toy and pulls it into his mouth. The conscious manipulation of toys begins. The mother or caregiver during hygiene procedures begins to play with him, do massage, especially the abdomen, gymnastics for the development of motor movements.

At 4-6 months, the child's communication with an adult becomes more diverse. At this time, the independent activity of the child is of great importance. A so-called rejection reaction develops. The child manipulates toys, is interested in the environment. There may be few toys, but they should be diverse in both color and functionality.

At 7-9 months, the movements of the child become more appropriate. Massage and gymnastics should be aimed at developing motor skills and statics. Sensory speech develops, the child begins to understand simple commands, pronounce simple words. The stimulus for the development of speech is the conversation of the surrounding people, songs and poems that the child hears during wakefulness.

At 10-12 months, the child gets on his feet, begins to walk, and at this time his safety becomes of great importance. During the wakefulness of the child, it is necessary to securely close all drawers, remove foreign objects. Toys become more complex (pyramids, balls, cubes). The child tries to independently manipulate the spoon and cup. Curiosity is already well developed.

Conditioned reflex activity of children, development of emotions and forms of communication

Conditioned reflex activity begins to form immediately after birth. A crying child is picked up, and he falls silent, makes exploring movements with his head, anticipating feeding. At first, reflexes are formed slowly, with difficulty. With age, the concentration of excitation develops, or the irradiation of reflexes begins. With growth and development, approximately from the 2-3rd week, differentiation of conditioned reflexes occurs. A 2-3-month-old child has a rather pronounced differentiation of conditioned reflex activity. And by 6 months in children, the formation of reflexes from all perceiving organs is possible. During the second year of life, the child's mechanisms for the formation of conditioned reflexes are further improved.

On the 2-3rd week during sucking, taking a break for rest, the child carefully examines the face of the mother, feels the breast or the bottle from which he is fed. By the end of the 1st month of life, the child's interest in the mother increases even more and manifests itself outside the meal. At 6 weeks, the approach of the mother makes the baby smile. From the 9th to the 12th week of life, a rumor is formed, which is clearly manifested when the child communicates with the mother. General motor excitation is observed.

By 4-5 months, the approach of a stranger causes a cessation of cooing, the child carefully examines him. Then there is either a general excitement in the form of joyful emotions, or as a result of negative emotions - crying. At 5 months, the child already recognizes his mother among strangers, reacts differently to the disappearance or appearance of the mother. By 6-7 months, active cognitive activity begins to form in children. During wakefulness, the child manipulates toys, often a negative reaction to a stranger is suppressed by the manifestation of a new toy. Sensory speech is being formed, i.e. understanding of the words spoken by adults. After 9 months, there is a whole range of emotions. Contact with strangers usually causes a negative reaction, but it quickly becomes differentiated. The child has timidity, shyness. But contact with others is established due to interest in new people, objects, manipulations. After 9 months, the child's sensory speech develops even more, it is already used to organize his activities. The formation of motor speech is also referred to this time, i.e. pronunciation of individual words.

Speech development

The formation of speech is a stage in the formation of the human personality. Special brain structures are responsible for a person's ability to articulate. But the development of speech occurs only when the child communicates with another person, for example, with his mother.

There are several stages in the development of speech.

Preparatory stage. The development of cooing and babbling begins at 2-4 months.

Stage of occurrence of sensory speech. This concept means the child's ability to compare and associate a word with a specific object, image. At 7-8 months, the child, to the questions: “Where is mom?”, “Where is the kitty?”, - begins to look for an object with his eyes and fix his eyes on it. Intonations that have a certain color can be enriched: pleasure, displeasure, joy, fear. By the year there is already a vocabulary of 10-12 words. The child knows the names of many objects, knows the word "no", fulfills a number of requests.

Stage of occurrence of motor speech. The first words the child pronounces at 10-11 months. The first words are built from simple syllables (ma-ma, pa-pa, uncle-dya). A children's language is being formed: a dog - “av-av”, a cat - “kiss-kiss”, etc. In the second year of life, the child's vocabulary expands to 30-40 words. By the end of the second year, the child begins to speak in sentences. And by the age of three, the concept of “I” appears in speech. More often, girls master motor speech earlier than boys.

The role of imprinting and education in the neuropsychic development of children

In children from the period of the newborn, a mechanism of instant contact is formed - imprinting. This mechanism, in turn, is associated with the formation of the neuropsychic development of the child.

Maternal upbringing very quickly forms a sense of security in a child, and breastfeeding creates a feeling of security, comfort, warmth. The mother is an indispensable person for the child: she forms his ideas about the world around him, about the relationship between people. In turn, communication with peers (when the child begins to walk) forms the concept of social relations, camaraderie, inhibits or enhances the feeling of aggressiveness. The father plays a big role in the upbringing of the child. His participation is necessary for the normal building of relationships with peers and adults, the formation of independence and responsibility for a particular matter, a course of action.

Dream

For full development, the child needs proper sleep. In newborns, sleep is polyphasic. During the day, the child falls asleep from five to 11 times, not distinguishing day from night. By the end of the 1st month of life, the rhythm of sleep is established. Night sleep begins to prevail over daytime. Hidden polyphasic persist even in adults. On average, the need for nighttime sleep decreases over the years.

The decrease in the total duration of sleep in children occurs due to daytime sleep. By the end of the first year of life, children fall asleep once or twice. By 1-1.5 years, the duration of daytime sleep is 2.5 hours. After four years, not all children have daytime sleep, although it is desirable to keep it up to six years.

Sleep is organized cyclically, i.e., the phase of non-REM sleep ends with the phase of REM sleep. Sleep cycles change several times during the night.

In infancy, there are usually no problems with sleep. At the age of one and a half years, the child begins to fall asleep more slowly, so he himself chooses techniques that contribute to falling asleep. It is necessary to create a familiar environment and a stereotype of behavior before going to bed.

Vision

From birth to 3 - 5 years there is an intensive development of eye tissues. Then their growth slows down and, as a rule, ends in puberty. In a newborn, the mass of the lens is 66 mg, in a one-year-old child, 124 mg, and in an adult, 170 mg.

In the first months after birth, children have farsightedness (hypermetropia) and emmetropia develops only by the age of 9-12. The eyes of the newborn are almost constantly closed, the pupils are constricted. The corneal reflex is well expressed, the ability to converge is uncertain. There is nystagmus.

The lacrimal glands do not function. At about 2 weeks, fixation of the gaze on the object develops, usually monocular. From this time, the lacrimal glands begin to function. Usually, by 3 weeks, the child steadily fixes his gaze on the object, his vision is already binocular.

At 6 months, color vision appears, and by 6-9 months, stereoscopic vision is formed. The child sees small objects, distinguishes distance. The transverse size of the cornea is almost the same as in an adult - 12 mm. By the year, the perception of various geometric shapes is formed. After 3 years, all children already have a color perception of the environment.

The visual function of the newborn is checked by bringing a light source to his eyes. In bright and sudden lighting, he squints, turns away from the light.

In children after 2 years, visual acuity, visual field volume, color perception are checked using special tables.

Hearing

The ears of newborns are quite morphologically developed. The external auditory meatus is very short. The dimensions of the tympanic membrane are the same as those of an adult, but it is located in a horizontal plane. Auditory (Eustachian) tubes are short and wide. There is embryonic tissue in the middle ear, which is resorbed (resolved) by the end of the 1st month. The cavity of the tympanic membrane is airless before birth. With the first breath and swallowing movements, it is filled with air. From this moment, the newborn hears, which is expressed in a general motor reaction, a change in the frequency and rhythm of the heartbeat, breathing. From the first hours of life, the child is capable of perceiving sound, its differentiation in frequency, volume, and timbre.

The function of hearing in a newborn is checked by the response to a loud voice, clap, rattle noise. If the child hears, there is a general reaction to the sound, he closes his eyelids, tends to turn towards the sound. From 7-8 weeks of life, the child turns his head towards the sound. Auditory response in older children, if necessary, is checked using an audiometer.

Smell

From birth, the perceiving and analyzing areas of the olfactory center have been formed in a child. The nervous mechanisms of smell begin to function from the 2nd to the 4th month of life. At this time, the child begins to differentiate smells: pleasant, unpleasant. Differentiation of complex odors up to 6-9 years occurs due to the development of cortical centers of smell.

The technique for studying the sense of smell in children is to bring various odorous substances to the nose. At the same time, the child's facial expressions in response to this substance are monitored. It can be pleasure, displeasure, screaming, sneezing. In an older child, the sense of smell is checked in the same way. According to his answer, the safety of the sense of smell is judged.

Touch

The sense of touch is provided by the function of skin receptors. In a newborn, pain, tactile sensitivity and thermoreception are not formed. The perception threshold is especially low in premature and immature children.

The reaction to pain stimulation in newborns is general, a local reaction appears with age. The newborn reacts to tactile stimulation with a motor and emotional reaction. Thermoreception in newborns is more developed for cooling than for overheating.

Taste

From birth, the child has a taste perception. Taste buds in a newborn occupy a relatively larger area than in an adult. The threshold of taste sensitivity in a newborn is higher than in an adult. Taste in children is examined by applying sweet, bitter, sour and salty solutions to the tongue. According to the reaction of the child, the presence and absence of taste sensitivity is judged.

Early childhood is a period of 1 to 3 years. At this age, changes occur in personal development, the cognitive sphere, and the social situation of development.

Neoplasms of infancy lead to the fact that the relationship between the child and the adult is changing, which in turn leads to the formation of a new social situation of development, which consists in the emergence of joint activities of a child and an adult, and also that this activity becomes subject. The essence of joint activity is the assimilation of socially developed ways of using objects, that is, an adult teaches the child to use the surrounding objects correctly, and also explains why they are needed and where they should be used. The social situation of a child's development at this age looks like this: "Child - SUBJECT - adult". As can be seen from this triad, the subject is important for the child. You can be convinced of this by watching how the child plays: he constantly looks at the object he is passionate about, be it a typewriter, chair, doll, spoon, etc. You may get the feeling that he doesn’t need anything else and no one needed, his attention is focused only on the object of passion. But this is not so, because without an adult, a child cannot master human ways of using objects.

Joint activity becomes objective, because the motive of this activity lies in the object itself and the way it is used. Communication at this age takes the form of organizing objective activity. In other words, it occurs at the moment of explaining the correctness of the use of one or another object. Communication develops intensively and becomes verbal, because mastering objects using only emotional coloring cannot be effective.

At this age, perception, thinking, memory, speech develop. This process is characterized by the verbalization of cognitive processes and the emergence of their arbitrariness.

Development of perception defined by three parameters: perceptual actions(the integrity of the perceived object), sensory standards(the emergence of sensation standards: sound, light, taste, tactile, olfactory) and correlation actions. In other words, the process of perception consists in highlighting the most characteristic qualities, features, properties for a given object or situation; drawing up on their basis a certain image; correlation of these standard images with objects of the surrounding world. So the child learns to divide objects into classes: dolls, cars, balls, spoons, etc.

From the year the process of cognition of the surrounding world begins to actively develop. A child from one to two years old uses different options to perform the same action, and from one and a half to two years old he has the ability to solve a problem by guessing (insight), i.e. the child suddenly finds a solution to this problem, avoiding trial and error method.

From the second year of life, the perception of the child changes. Having learned how to influence one object on another, he is able to foresee the outcome of the situation, for example, the possibility of dragging a ball through a hole, moving one object with the help of another, etc. The child can distinguish between such shapes as a circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, polygon; colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

Thanks to the development of perception, by the end of an early age, the child begins to develop mental activity. This is expressed in the emergence of the ability to generalize, to transfer the experience gained from the initial conditions to new ones, to establish a connection between objects through experimentation, memorizing them and using them in solving problems. A one and a half year old child can predict and indicate the direction of movement of an object, the location of a familiar object, overcome obstacles on the way to achieving the desired goal. And after a year and a half there is a reaction of choosing an object according to the most striking and simple features: shape and color.

Continues in early childhood thinking development, which from the visual-active gradually passes into the visual-figurative, i.e., actions with material objects are replaced by actions with images. The internal development of thinking proceeds in this way: intellectual operations develop and concepts are formed.

Visual-effective thinking arises by the end of the first year of life and remains leading up to 3.5-4 years. At first, the child can abstract and highlight the shape and color, therefore, when grouping objects, he first of all pays attention to the size and color of the object. At the age of about two years, he identifies objects based on essential and non-essential features. At 2.5 years old, the child distinguishes objects according to essential features: color, shape, size.

A feature of thinking in early childhood is syncretism. Syncretism means indivisibility: the child, solving a problem, does not single out individual parameters in it, perceiving the situation as a complete picture. The role of an adult in this case is to isolate from the situation and analyze individual details, from which the child will then highlight the main and secondary ones.

Visual-figurative thinking occurs at the age of 2.5–3 years and remains leading until 6–6.5 years of age. The formation of this thinking is associated with the formation of elementary self-consciousness and the beginning of the development of the ability for arbitrary self-regulation, accompanied by a developed imagination.

Memory development. By the age of two, a child develops working memory. Light logical and thematic games are available to him, he can draw up an action plan for a short period of time, does not forget the goal set a few minutes ago.

The development of speech. Up to a year, a child can already call a spade a spade. He has rich experience in learning about the world around him, he has an idea about his parents, food, environment, toys. And yet, out of the multitude of qualities contained in a word as in a concept, the child at first acquires only individual properties characteristic of the object with which this word was initially associated in his perception.

A one-year-old child reacts to words as to the situation as a whole. The word turns out to be associated with the situation, and not with the object representing it. The child carefully observes the facial expressions and gestures of the speaking adult, catching on them the meaning of what is being said.

From 11 months, the transition from pre-phonemic to phonemic speech and the formation of phonemic hearing begins, which ends by two years, when the child can distinguish words that differ from each other by one phoneme. The transition from prephonemic to phonemic speech lasts 3 years and ends in the fourth year of life. At the age of 3, the child learns to use cases correctly, first begins to use one-word sentences, then, at the age of 1.5 to 2.5 years, he can combine words, combining them into two-three-word phrases or two-word sentences, where there is also a subject and predicate. Then, thanks to the development of the grammatical structure of speech, he masters all cases and is able to build complex sentences with the help of function words. At the same time, there is a conscious control over the correct pronunciation of speech statements.

After 1.5 years, the activity of independent speech and verbal communication is noted. The child begins to ask for the names of objects or phenomena that interest him. At first, he uses the language of gestures, facial expressions and pantomimes or a pointing gesture, and then a question expressed in verbal form is added to the gesture. The child learns to control the behavior of other people with the help of speech. But a child between the ages of 2.5 and 3 years cannot follow the instructions of adults, especially when it is necessary to choose one action from several; he will be able to make this choice only closer to 4 years.

During the second year of life, the child begins to learn the verbal designation of surrounding objects, and then the names of adults, the names of toys, and only then - parts of the body, i.e. nouns, and by the age of two, with normal development, understands the meaning of almost all words related to the surrounding reality . This is facilitated by the development semantic function children's speech, that is, the definition of the meaning of the word, its differentiation, clarification and assignment of generalized meanings to words that are associated with them in the language.

By the age of 2, children have a clear understanding of the purpose of the household and personal hygiene items around them. They understand general questions that require a yes or no answer.

At about 3 years old, the child begins to listen carefully to what adults are talking about, loves when stories, fairy tales, and poems are read to him.

Up to 1.5 years, the child learns from 30 to 100 words, but rarely uses them. By the age of 2, he knows 300 words, and by 3 - 1200-1500 words.

The following stages were identified in the development of speech:

1) syllables (instead of words);

2) sentence words;

3) two-word sentences (for example, "mom here");

4) sentences of three or more words;

5) correct speech (grammatically consistent sentences).

The main trends in the development of the speech of a young child are as follows.

Passive speech in development is ahead of active speech.

The child discovers that each object has its own name.

At the border of the 2nd and 3rd years of life, the child, as it were, intuitively “discovers” that the words in the sentence are interconnected.

There is a transition from the ambiguity of children's words to the first functional generalizations built on the basis of practical actions.

Phonemic hearing is ahead of the development of articulation. The child first learns to listen to speech correctly, and then to speak correctly.

Mastering the syntactic structure of the language is carried out.

The functions of speech develop, there is a transition from the indicative (indicative) to the nominative (denoting) function of speech.

In early childhood, along with the development of the cognitive sphere, personal development also takes place. First of all, it happens personal socialization child, because, watching adults, he tries to imitate them: to do as they do, to behave as they behave in certain situations. The process of imitation goes through communication and interaction between an adult and a child. Thus, observing the behavior of people and imitating them becomes one of the main sources of personal socialization of the child. In the development of personality, an important role is played by the feeling of attachment, which is formed in the child by the end of the first year of life and continues to develop in early childhood. The reason for attachment may lie in the fact that adults satisfy the basic needs of the child, reduce their anxiety, provide a safe environment for existence and active study of the surrounding reality, form the basis for normal relationships with people at a more mature age.

When the mother is near the child, he is more active and prone to exploring the environment. A positive assessment of the actions and personal qualities of the child by the parent forms in him a sense of self-confidence, faith in his abilities and capabilities. If a child is attached to his parents and they pay him the same, then he is more obedient and disciplined. If parents are friendly, attentive and strive to meet the needs of the child, then he develops a personal, personal attachment.

If a child is deprived of constant positive emotional contact with his mother or loved ones, then he will have problems in the future in establishing normal, trusting relationships with others.

In early childhood there is the formation of self-consciousness. The development of self-awareness will lead to the formation self-esteem(see 3.6 for details). There is a development independence. The phrase "I myself" is the best way to describe its manifestation. The child does not always want to be helped. Having mastered walking, he finds himself obstacles, obstacles and tries to overcome them. All this gives the child pleasure and indicates that he begins to develop such qualities as willpower, perseverance, determination.

At this age, many children show disobedience. When they are told that it is impossible to do this, they continue to do it their own way. Often this is due to the desire of children to know the world around them as quickly as possible.

From the age of 1.5, the child begins to realize his abilities and his own personality traits. A two-year-old child understands that he can influence people and achieve the desired goal.

Children begin to develop empathy- understanding the emotional state of another person. One can observe how a one and a half year old child strives to console an upset person: he hugs him, kisses him, gives him a toy, etc.

The child has a need in achieving success. This need is being built up in stages. First, the child begins to realize his successes and failures, then he can explain the successes and failures of other people, then he acquires the ability to distinguish tasks according to the degree of difficulty and evaluate the degree of development of his own skills necessary to complete this task, and, finally, he can evaluate his abilities and the applied efforts.

Table 5

In table. 5 shows the achievements of the mental development of the child, with which he approaches the crisis of three years.

The crisis of three years is characterized by the fact that the personal changes that occur with the child lead to a change in his relationship with adults. This crisis arises because the child begins to separate himself from other people, realizes his possibilities, feels himself a source of will. He begins to compare himself with adults, and he involuntarily has a desire to perform the same actions that they do, for example: “When I grow up, I will brush my own teeth.”

At this age, the following traits appear: negativism, stubbornness, depreciation, obstinacy, self-will, protest-rebellion, despotism. These characteristics were described by L.S. Vygotsky. He believed that the emergence of such reactions contributes to the emergence of the need for respect and recognition.

Negativism manifests itself in a negative reaction to the demand or request of an adult, and not to the action itself. For example, a child ignores the demands of one family member or teacher, while others obey. It was also noted that negativism is mainly manifested in relationships with relatives, and not with strangers. Perhaps, subconsciously, the child feels that such behavior towards relatives will not bring him serious harm. Therefore, we must remember that negativism and disobedience are two different things.

Another characteristic of the crisis of three years is stubbornness. Its reason is not in the child's desire to get what he wants or needs at all costs, but in the fact that his opinion is taken into account. It doesn’t matter to the child whether he gets this thing or not, he needs to establish himself in his “adulthood”, in the fact that his opinion also means something. Therefore, a stubborn child will insist on his own even if he does not really need this thing.

The next feature is depreciation- inherent in all crises. It manifests itself in the fact that all the habits and values ​​\u200b\u200bthat used to be dear begin to depreciate. For example, a child may abandon and even break a favorite toy in the past, refuses to follow previously accepted rules of behavior, now considering them unreasonable, etc.

obstinacy directed against the accepted norms of behavior in the family and is similar to negativism and stubbornness. For example, if it is customary in the family to have dinner together, then the child begins to refuse to eat at this particular time, and then he develops an appetite.

willfulness expressed in the desire of the child to do everything himself. If in infancy he strove for physical independence, now his behavior is aimed at independence of intentions and plans. Such behavior is manifested not only in the actions offered by adults, for example: “Do it yourself”, “You are already big and you can do it”, etc., but also in the stubborn desire to do this and not otherwise. This feeling captures the child to such an extent that he openly opposes his desires to the expectations of others. The manifestation of independence is reflected in relationships with adults. When a child realizes that he can do something myself, He doesn't need adult help. They should understand this and try to avoid negative statements about this, not to criticize the child, but to allow him to show independence.

protest riot expressed in frequent quarrels between children and parents. According to L.S. Vygotsky, “the child is at war with others, in constant conflict with them” (Vygotsky L.S., 1991).

Manifestations despotism are as follows: the child begins to dictate to everyone around him how to behave, and strives to be obeyed and act as he says. Such behavior can be observed when the child is alone in the family or the last in a row.

In early childhood, the leader becomes object activity, which affects both mental development and communication with adults.

In infancy, activity is manipulative in nature: the child can repeat the actions shown by adults, transfer the learned action to another object, and master some of his own actions. But in manipulating, the child uses only the external properties and relations of objects. In early childhood, objects become for the child not just an object, but a thing that has a specific purpose and a specific way of using it. The child tries to master more and more new actions of the subject, and the role of an adult is to mentor, cooperate, and help in difficult situations.

By manipulating an object at the end of infancy and early childhood, the child will never be able to understand its function. For example, he can open and close a closet door an infinite number of times, but he will never understand its functional purpose. Only an adult can explain why this or that thing is needed.

Assimilation of the purpose of the object does not guarantee that the child will use it only for its intended purpose, but the important thing is that he will know how, when and where this should be done. For example, having learned that pencils are needed for writing and drawing, a child can still roll them around the table or build something with them.

At first, the action and the object in the understanding of the child are closely related. An example of this is the following fact: he cannot comb his hair with a stick or drink from a cube. But over time, there is a separation of the object from the action.

There are three phases in the development of the connection between an action and an object:

1) any actions can be performed with the object;

2) the item is used only for its intended purpose;

3) the free use of an object is possible, but only if its true purpose is known.

D.B. Elkonin singled out two directions for the development of objective activity:

1. Development of action from joint with an adult to independent performance.

The path of action development from joint to independent was studied by I.A. Sokolyansky and A.I. Meshcheryakov. They showed that at first the orientation, execution and evaluation of the action are in the hands of the adult. This is manifested, for example, in the fact that an adult takes the child's hands and performs actions with them. Then a partial or joint action is performed, i.e. the adult starts it, and the child continues. Then the action is performed on the basis of the display and, finally, on the basis of the verbal indication.

2. Development of means and methods of orientation of the child in the conditions of the implementation of the action. It goes through several stages. The first stage consists of:

a) in the non-specific use of tools (manipulation of objects);

b) using an object when the methods of its use have not yet been formed, for example, the child understands what a spoon is for, but takes it very low when eating;

c) mastering a specific way of using.

The second stage occurs when the child begins to perform actions in an inadequate situation. In other words, there is a transfer of action from one object to another, for example, a child, having learned to drink from a mug, drinks from a glass. There is also a transfer of action according to the situation, for example, having learned to put on shoes, the child tries to pull them on the ball.

The third stage is accompanied by the emergence of a game action. Here the adult does not tell the child what to do, how to play or use the object.

Gradually, the child begins to correlate the properties of objects with operations, that is, he learns to determine what the object can best do, which operations are most suitable for a particular object.

The stages of formation of such fastenings were identified by P.Ya. Galperin. He believed that at the first stage the child varies his actions based not on the properties of the tool with which he wants to get the object he needs, but on the properties of the object itself. He called this stage “targeted trials”. At the second stage - "waiting" - the child finds an effective way of acting with the object and tries to repeat it. At the third stage - the "stage of obsessive intervention" - he tries to reproduce an effective method of influence and master it, at the fourth stage he discovers ways to regulate and change the action, taking into account the conditions in which it will have to be performed.

Correlative and instrumental actions are significant for mental development.

Correlating actions consist in bringing several objects into certain spatial interactions - for example, folding pyramids from rings, using collapsible toys, etc.

Gun actions- these are actions in which one object is used when acting on other objects. The child masters instrumental actions in the process of learning under the guidance of an adult.

It was found that gun actions can be an indicator of the intellectual development of children, and subject actions indicate the degree of their learning, the breadth of contacts with adults.

By the end of early childhood, play and productive activities are born in object-tool activity.

What are life skills?

These are the basic skills necessary to live among people. Several of these skills are easy to see in the behavior of children, starting from four and a half to five years. A small person learns to interact with others, seek help, express their needs, get to know each other, enter into discussions, take the initiative - these are life skills. Scientists list 45 such basic skills and competencies. In Life Skills for Preschoolers, I list the entire list of skills, noting what mistakes at what age it is still acceptable to make.

Life skills are adult (age-appropriate) behavior in a specific repetitive situation. Behavior in a sense is standard, mature. Take a closer look at the child: does he know how to listen to other people, does he ask questions, how does he enter into a conversation, can he offer his help to an adult or a peer? The child learns these skills by observing the behavior of adults, copying it. But if for some reason he has not yet mastered certain skills (perhaps because adults themselves do not possess them), then parents need to connect. For example, you have noticed that the child takes other people's things without asking. Think together about what you can do, help him "try on" the best way out of this situation. “Do you want to take your favorite toy? In order not to be caught stealing, be sure to find her owner and ask permission to play.

If a child, in principle, has such an idea - to turn to others and ask who is the owner of the thing that he wants to take - then we can say that the skill has been formed. Moreover, it is important to find the one who really owns the thing, and not to ask the first one who runs past - “Can I take it?” After all, he will easily answer: “Yes, take it, she is not mine!” A child who takes a thing without asking is easily called a "thief", and he simply has not mastered this skill. The task of parents is to carefully look at which step the child makes a mistake and explain to him the procedure.

Another important skill is the ability to listen. By observing the parents, the child gradually adopts their way of perceiving the world. Later, from 4.5-5 years, this ability will become one of the basic skills necessary for life.

How do you know if a child can listen? Pay attention to the following important criteria. When a child listens, he...

• looks at the person who says
• trying to understand what they are saying
• shows it with “body language” (nods or expresses disagreement),
• asking counter questions
• is silent while the interlocutor speaks.

When the skill is not formed, the child ...

• does not turn to the one who addresses him,
• running away from the speaker
• interrupts or switches (as if on purpose) to another activity while being spoken to.

Life skills are like the tip of the iceberg. Socially acceptable behavior is laid not at 4-5 years old, but earlier, from birth. For example, the first listening experience is given to a baby by a mother who reacts to his crying, enters into a dialogue with him: “Yes, I know you are hungry, now I will warm up the porridge, and we will eat with you.” The child remembers: the adult hears him. This becomes his experience. Feelings that dictate this or that behavior develop gradually and spontaneously in communication with parents and peers. It is difficult to develop the habit of asking permission from a child who does not believe that if he asks, he will be given. Probably, life has already taught him: when you ask, you are most often refused. But this experience can be corrected. Yes, parents are not chosen. But, as Jean-Paul Sartre said, freedom is what I did with what was done to me. At any age, I can review this and change my attitude.

What to do in a situation where a child has chosen an activity (playing the piano or dancing), and six months later he doesn’t like it? Do you need to listen to his desire, or is it still necessary to teach the child to bring things to the end?

By agreeing to do something, children do not understand what it means to "play the piano" or "learn to dance." They very quickly pick up the enthusiasm of both adults and peers. This responsiveness is wonderful in itself, but it can be a source of problems - after all, any activity requires mastering the skill of getting things done. Parents should carefully monitor what the child really likes, what motivates him, and what demotivates him. Find out what discouraged him from studying - maybe the whole point is that the teacher has changed, or maybe it has become too difficult for him. The recipe here may be as follows: to set some final achievable goal, to mark the border. It is always easier to withstand the load when you know where the finish line is, when everything is over and you can relax and unwind. There can be no good life in a state of constant stress.

Do you want to paint a picture of a happy future for your children? Then already today begin to clearly outline its contours.

You, of course, dream of your children becoming sane adults who are able to take responsibility for their actions, value system, and their lives. However, only instructions from your side are not enough for this. From the moment of the first childhood whims and ending with the most difficult period of adolescence, you must help children: teach them to take responsibility for their behavior, feelings and opinions. This can be done by drawing the right boundaries.

Boundaries are the foundation of human relationships. There are no boundaries - there will be no maturity, security and growth for your children and yourself.

The task of parents is to help the child develop responsibility, self-control and inner freedom by their own example. Creating boundaries and maintaining their integrity is not an easy task, but if you follow the rules, the result will not be long in coming.

Exist three ways, following which, you can influence the process of forming boundaries in a child.

The essence and principles of boundaries are clear and definite. These are not some vague concepts known only to the initiates. On the contrary, they are based on reality, the laws of God and everyday life. Therefore, you can teach them to a child, and he is able to master them. It is in your power to help the child express his feelings in words, to teach him to act in a new situation. As the child grows and develops, you are able to explain to him the tasks facing him, to vary the ways of learning.

Do not be afraid to use the word "border" when communicating with children - it is very useful. If the child defiantly does not stop acting up, thereby expressing his displeasure with you, then wait until he calms down. Then say: “Masha, in our house there is a border that cannot be crossed. This border is a ban on whims. If you are unhappy with something, then come and tell me about it. And loud whims cause people anxiety. If you cross this border and start acting up again, then you will have to face the consequences - after class you will not go for a walk.
Go even further: teach your child the principles of boundary formation, not just their practical application. The child is able to learn the following statement:
"You are responsible for your own behavior." This means that he takes responsibility for things like cleaning his room, getting good grades, being polite at the table, holding back when irritated. And he will never blame anyone else for it. The formation of such boundaries will very soon become part of your family's daily life. Children themselves will begin to draw boundaries in other areas of life. One four-year-old boy once said to his brother: “Don't touch this toy; here is my boundary. Carefully instill this thought in your children as soon as they reach the appropriate age (see Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

Children of different ages need to form different boundaries. The following tips will help you feel the difference.

From birth to a year. During the first year of life, the baby is very strongly attached to the mother and father. There is absolute trust between them. At this age, the boundaries should be the most minimal. The baby is not yet able to fully demonstrate his love and discipline, he does not know what disappointment is. At this stage of upbringing, the mother is obliged to protect and feed the child, as well as to satisfy his needs for love and affection.

From one to three years. At this age, children are already able to learn to understand the word "no" and understand the consequences of their disobedience. This period is characterized by uncontrolled behavior, bouts of irritation, hooligan antics, etc. At first, the child may not understand your logic, but he will quickly learn: if he begins to obey his parents, then he will feel good, and if he does not, it will be bad.

Three to five years old. Now children already understand why it is necessary to be responsible and what are the consequences. It is quite possible to talk about it with them. They learn that to be kind to friends, to respect elders, not to allow disrespectful attitude towards themselves, to do the necessary household chores - these are the boundaries corresponding to their age. During this period, the following consequences of incorrect behavior are established: to forbid going for a walk or watching TV, not buying a new toy, depriving a Sunday trip to an amusement park.

Five to eleven years old. At this time, considerable diligence and a lot of work outside the family will already be required: at school, church, among friends. The concept of boundaries now includes the rational use of free time at home and with friends, doing homework and school assignments, the ability to set a specific goal, the ability to manage your time and money. The consequences can be: a ban on spending time with friends, a restriction of personal freedom and a reduction in privileges.

If you have a teen, help them with things like building new relationships, developing values, organizing their time, and setting a life goal. Set as many natural consequences as possible (for example, don't give money or support the restrictions set by the school).

The most important thing at this stage is that a teenager who behaves like a three-year-old child should not enjoy the freedoms afforded to a mature young person. Freedom comes only with responsibility; it is not a gift that everyone receives when they reach a certain age.

Your example is what is in front of the child's eyes all the time, and not only when you are doing special "educational work." Leading by example works as long as you are within sight and sound of your child. Many mothers are dismayed when they discover that the child is acting the way she does, and not the way she tells him to do: “I taught him what is good and what is bad!”. Perhaps she taught.

But the child has been counting the game for a long time, in which mother's (or father's) words either coincide with her (his) actions, or they do not. The best example is the universal rules of family behavior. These rules for the most part provide different privileges and different degrees of responsibility (for example, time to go to bed and watch TV) for children and adults. However, certain points apply to all family members equally. Here is one such clause: "No one should interrupt the speaker." It often seems to parents that what they want to say is much more important than the child's incoherent chatter about the events of school life.

However, if there is a general rule in the family, according to which any person can express everything that he did not like in the behavior of another, then the child always sees before his eyes an example of mutual respect. If a little boy can calmly say: “Mommy, you are interrupting me” and the mother will answer without any indignation: “You are right, you are wrong and apologize, following the established rules is an integral part of the behavior of adults.

And this is not seen as a positive quality of a sane and mature adult; it is the norm of human life. And the child is just desperately in need of such norms that could become a solid support for him. That is why, if mom says instead of the right words:

"Son, you don't understand. You simply have to listen to what I want to tell you, because it is very, very important, ”the boy will naturally try to find an excuse and a reasonable explanation for his behavior when he is given comments. The child's need to belong to the adult world is stronger than his need to be good. If the boundaries of obedience established in the family help him to belong to this world, then he will observe them. If belonging to the world of adults and attention to the child is ensured only by violating these boundaries, then he will violate them. In any case, your personal example will be decisive.

The difference between theory and practice may scare you, but once you acknowledge the fact of its existence, it will be easier for you to get along with your child. If you want to form boundaries with just words, you are wasting your time. If the boundaries are built with the help of actions and deeds, then the children learn the experience, remember it, absorb it into themselves - it becomes part of their nature.

Recently, my wife Barbie and I began to develop a responsible attitude towards money in our sons, seven-year-old Ricky and five-year-old Benny. The boys had to perform certain duties around the house, and we gave them a small amount of money weekly. Part of this amount was used to pay church tithes, part was pocket expenses, and part was put aside in a piggy bank. The children liked having money, but they had no idea what liability was. They took the existence of money for granted, believing that in the future there will be more and more of them. Barbie and I repeatedly told them that they should not spend all the money at once, that some part should be saved for a certain purchase.

The guys started crying. We sympathized with the children who cannot buy what they want, but their wallets remain empty. After a while, Benny said, "I'll be waiting a long, long time for the next time." And began to wait. And his brother too. The day of the next payment has arrived. Putting the received money in a pile, they thought hard: how to make it so that they save more and immediately spend less. Children learned a simple truth: if you spend all the money now, then there will be nothing left for later.

Endless admonitions and moralizing cannot achieve such a result. Only the boundaries of the parents will help develop the boundaries of the children. Parents are an oak tree, in which the child hits his head over and over again until he learns: the tree is stronger than the head, and therefore it is better to go around it.

Based on the book by Henry Cloud, John Townsend "Children: Limits, Limits"