Different stories and books present different perspectives about life and some of the events around the world. Every writer ensures that they present their perspectives and feelings to the audience. Children’s ability to analyse an event from the perspective of others enables them to relate perfectly with others in the society. The social development of a child depends on the child’s social experiences and cognitive development. Children should be guided to understand other people's feelings and interpret different emotions. This essay will analyse my view on the use of literature to enhance children's social and moral development.
The use of literature is an effective way in the moral and social development of children. Literature obtains its effectiveness from its ability to achieve developmental goals by providing young people with the experience to make inferences about other people's intentions and feelings. Based on the children’s hypothesis, they can explore the evidence from the literature to support their guesses (Giorgis & Glazer, 2013). The illustrations used in literature enables children to interpret the non-verbal cues used in the text. Through facial expressions and body language of characters in wordless picture books, children can understand the emotion, enhancing their emotional growth. The tone used by the speaker can enable the children to relate voice inflection to meaning, which enables them to understand the speaker’s feelings. Besides, literature is effective in children’s social and moral development as it fosters their ability to see events from the viewpoint of others (Giorgis & Glazer, 2013). Teachers can share books that present several perspectives about an event to recognize different perspectives such as stepsisters in Cinderella. The use of role-playing also enables children to dramatize some parts of the story, assuming the role and perspective of other people. By doing so, they can grow up with a diverse social perspective.
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Most writers strive to influence their readers. They want to change or enhance the feelings of their readers. They want their writing to make readers more aware of the world and be more aware of their feelings. As a result, some literature provides models for prosocial behaviour among children by portraying characters engaged in social behaviour (Giorgis & Glazer, 2013). For instance, providing children with books on bullies might influence them not to bully others since they sympathize with the victim. Therefore, I support the use of literature by children as it is an essential tool in enhancing their social and moral development. Besides, books that compare themes of help enables students to experience the urge to help others without being forced. The whole experience that children obtain from literature strengthens them socially and morally as it encourages them to judge the suitability of specific behaviours.
The school and the parents have a huge role in ensuring children are socially and morally developed. Besides, parents play a huge role in promoting the children's moral understanding by explaining the social world to the children. By doing so, it helps children to develop more mature reasoning. The school also provides the required literature to widen the children’s viewpoints about various events in the world (Giorgis & Glazer, 2013). A school culture that encourages students to learn and practice various life perspectives prepares them to interact with other people. Moreover, schools and teachers fulfill important secondary roles. Since students spend a lot of time in school, the school culture influences their perspective and eventually their moral development. The perspectives that teachers instil in their children through literature affect their moral, emotional, social, and cognitive behaviours in the real world. Besides, the family influences the children's identity and beliefs, which impact their social and moral development.
Some parents challenge the books that their children use based on their social, moral, and religious beliefs. However, the current world is full of diversity, and people should understand others before judging them. When the children’s parents are against the literature they are using, the child should first listen to their arguments against the book to determine their problem. Being a listening child has helped to create a strong bond between parents and children. Therefore, we must treat conflict of interest with utmost care to guard the existing relationship between us. The child should convince their parents that their decision to study the book does not mean they want to go against their cultural or religious beliefs. They should elaborate on some of the importance of cultural diversity to enable them to have a wider perspective. The role of the parents is to ensure that the books that children use are certified by their teachers. Therefore, children should talk to their teacher to explain to their parents the effectiveness of studying diversified books and their social and moral development role. Studying other people's cultures does not mean that someone will abandon their own and emulate the newly studied one. It only acts as a tool to enable children to understand different viewpoints, making them treat people equally despite their race, culture, and religion.
Conclusively, the use of literature is an effective way to foster moral and social development among children. The school and parents should provide students with appropriate books to enable them to develop socially and morally. Literature enables children to understand various viewpoints and behaviours of individuals. By understanding the various social and cultural perspectives, children can understand the feelings of the speaker. The tone and nonverbal language used in various literature expose children to different perspectives contributing to their moral and social development.
Reference
Giorgis, C., & Glazer, J. I. (2013). Literature for young children: Supporting emergent literacy, Ages 0-8 . Pearson.
