Several factors shape the way a child develops from childhood to adulthood. Parents and other family members have a crucial role in child development and the people with who the child relates during school. Middle school always provides a background for a child's communication and interaction with others through friendship. According to Bandura and Hall (2018), the relationship that a child develops during middle school fosters their intellectual growth by providing a wide range of experiences. William Damon, a developmental psychologist, explains the three stages of friendship development in children (Bandura & Hall, 2018). Children between the ages of four and seven have a simple perception of friendship, and they do not consider individual qualities. Instead, they consider the qualities and traits of their friends when they reach eight to ten years. In this paper, I will discuss my social life and interaction in middle childhood.
When I was a kid, I was shy and had low social competence. I had only three friends whom I related with because we had the same social competence. Other students took advantage of my shyness and tiny body to bully me since I could not defend myself. However, my social competence changed when I reached middle school as I gained more courage but still did not have many friends. According to Jean Piaget, I was in the concrete operational stage in middle school since I was active and applied logic to most of the things around me. Erik Erikson describes this stage as the industry-versus-inferiority stage, as children concentrate their efforts to solve challenges resulting from peers and the people around them. Due to my ability to gain courage, I developed behavioral, cognitive, and emotional skills. According to Vygotsky's theory of social development, the zone of proximal development determines an individual’s level of cognitive growth (Krapp, 2005). It is the development level that an individual gains with social action. Development of the social skills also relates to Bandura’s theory that assumes that individuals gains knowledge from each other by modeling, imitating, and observing. I was also able to consult from my friends who did things better than me in class and out of class. I observed their illustrations, imitated what they did, and perfected it.
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I had a fairly good childhood, but I would say my status was low as I was a rather quiet kid, and I had friends with other low-status children. According to Bandura and Hall (2018), status refers to the evaluation of an individual or a role by members of a group. It is measured in several ways. Most of the time, it is measured by asking the children what they think of the other kids in the class. High-status children often enjoy access to resources like books, games, and toys. On the other hand, lower-status children do not have privileges to enjoy such resources; instead, they just follow what other students have. As a low-status child, I could not play with all the toys, so I observed more. Albert Bandura talks about children learning through observation being crucial to development (Espelage, 2002), and for me, this held as I would say I was a fairly observant child. The status also helps get an idea about the popularity of a child as high-status children typically have more friends than low-status individuals. I only had three friends, and I ate and played only with them.
I was not popular in school, and I associated only with low-status kids. I had friends that were shy and to themselves and did not have many friends but myself. We were both unpopular since we did not participate in major competitions in school. Liz was the popular kid in my school since she was very good at sports. Physical characteristics also played a role in her popularity. She was friendly, funny, good-looking, and nice to everyone, so everyone wanted to befriend her. Besides, she was very active and participated in different kinds of activities, so socializing with different people was not an issue. The popular student also seemed to maintain good grades.
Debra was the unpopular child in our school since she was unsocial and very quiet in class. She usually had her head down. The student seemed to have low self-esteem, as you can tell by the lack of self-confidence. According to Erikson's 4th of his seven stages of psychosocial development, Industry vs. Inferiority, it is vital to develop a child's self-confidence (Krapp, 2005). While in school and other activities, children get praised and attention for doing different tasks. Kids who do well in school and their activities are more likely to gain confidence and are more likely to become popular. On the other hand, children who struggle with their school work and do not participate in other activities after school does not have the reassurance, praise, and attention like others and, in turn, may have feelings of inadequacy and inferiority.
During the middle childhood years, Piaget's theory of cognitive development claims that children begin to understand the world around them. They experience life through their development. The goal of Piaget's theory is to explain the process by which a baby, which grows into a child, develops into an adult who can think and reason using questioning. Social competence is a very important part of human development, and during this time in growing up, it is important to gain good self-confidence and become more sociable.
References
Bandura, A., & Hall, P. (2018). Albert bandura and social learning theory. Learning Theories For Early Years Practice , 63 .
Espelage, D. L. (2002). Bullying in Early Adolescence: The Role of the Peer Group. ERIC Digest. https://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/bullying.html
Krapp, K. M. (2005). Psychologists and their theories for students. https://go-gale-com.library.esc.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3456300013&v=2.1&u=esc&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=4fc4576a66efa4647e94967f252f95cc
