Interacting With Others

     For this weeks blog I decided to talk a little about Chapter 5.3 in the text book. This chapter basically talks about how, and at what age, children hit different milestones in playing and interacting with one another. Being a mother myself, I found this whole chapter to be very fun, and engaging to read.

Like my previous blogs, I'll go over some main concepts on "The Joys of Play" :)

• Parallel Play: This stage of play normally takes place a little after a child's first birthday. It is when the child plays alone, but remains interested in what others around him/her are doing.

• Simple Social Play: This stage happens when the child is between 15 and 18 months old. Toddlers now begin to semi-interact with one another, such as smiling, or talking as they play.

• Cooperative Play: This last stage of play normally happens around the child's second birthday. This type of play is a when children begin to really collaborate with each other, taking on a more organized type of play that includes each child having a different role.

     One of the things I found most interesting about this chapter was the "Gender Differences in Play". I never really thought about how girls prefer to play with girls on their own, and same for boys preferring to spend their time around other boys. I guess I mainly thought that they were happier playing with their own genders because of their parents encouraging that sort of play. When I read that girls are typically enabling (remarks that sustain or support a certain action) with what they say or do, and boys are often constricting (trying to make one person be the "victor" in the situation, by threatening or contradicting the others), It was a big eye opener. I never really see that in my son, but then again, it's one of those things you don't normally notice until you're looking for it I guess.

     I can definitely relate to this section of reading. Normally, when I'm taking my son to the playground, birthday party, sleep over, or play date of some sort with other kids, I tend to try and get him to interact with all kids his age, be it boy, or girl. I was always a little curious why he wasn't so interested with playing with the opposite sex. If he were one of those kids who was all in to karate, wrestling, or some other type of aggressive play, I think I would have just pegged it as that and left it alone. But since he's very content with just sitting and reading quietly or playing "restaurant" I always kind of figured he would enjoy playing with any kid (boy or girl) who enjoyed the same things as he does. This section definitely helped with explaining the other factors at play with why they choose the same gender in their interplay.

     I think if I could take something and research it further from this section it would have to be on altruism (when a child does prosocial behavior such as helping another child or sharing, where the child does not directly benefit from the action). I just thought it was nice to see that kids are starting this kind of behavior at such a young age (around 18 months of age). In the book it states that scientists believe that we are biologically predisposed to be helpful, to share, and to be concerned with others needs. It also states in the book that people who are more altruistic tend to get more help in return. Which to me, is kind of like "You only get what you give". I just thought it was neat to see that children so young are engaging in this type of benevolent behavior :) For me, I'd just like to dig a bit further into why exactly that is.

     Again, this chapter was really fun and stimulating for me to read about. Seems like every chapter so far has been one to make you take a minute and think about things from another point of view :)

Thanks for reading!

-Keisha