The psychology of preschool children has a large number of features that all parents should know. Thanks to this, they will be able to create good conditions for the development of the child, making him stronger. As a result, it will be possible to form a harmonious personality.
Characteristic features of the development of a preschooler
Preschool psychology identifies several stages of development:
- younger age – falls on 3-4 years;
- average – in this case we are talking about 4-5 years;
- senior – applies to children 5-7 years old.
The psychological development of a child in preschool age directly depends on the group to which he belongs. For younger preschoolers, the love and attention of loved ones is of particular importance. Identification of one's gender is also important. A three-year-old child can understand what gender he is. The baby admires the parent of the same sex and tries to imitate him.
For representatives of the older group, the formation of self-awareness and self-esteem is important. They communicate with peers. At this stage, children develop creative abilities. Therefore, it is important that attitudes towards education change.
Mental development difficulties
The psychology of preschool age is such that rapid growth and development cause the emergence of a number of contradictions that affect the behavior and emotional manifestations of a preschooler. An abundance of external impressions and new opportunities, increased physical activity, and an increasing need to communicate with peers are the main driving forces in the development of a preschool child.
The mental development of a child in preschool age can be difficult due to a number of problems:
- emotional and personal problems (bad mood, aggression, anxiety, fears, etc.);
- slow development of cognitive processes (impaired attention, difficulty remembering, insufficient understanding, limited vocabulary);
- behavioral problems (deceitfulness, impudence, arrogance);
- neurological problems of various specifics (sleep disorder, fatigue, enuresis);
- communication problems (detachment from other children, touchiness, excessive isolation).
Preschool psychology claims that despite the complication of experiences, the psyche of preschool children is quite flexible and adaptive, capable of coping with a number of errors in upbringing and negative factors. Diagnostics of the mental development of children will help to understand such difficulties.
Psychological characteristics of preschool children: briefly about mental processes
Child psychology of a preschooler identifies several stages in the formation of thinking:
- Visual and effective – it is characteristic of younger people. At the same time, thought processes have a strong connection with actions. Due to constant manipulations with various objects and their transformations, the baby becomes familiar with their characteristics. Many children break toys trying to figure out what's inside.
- Visual-figurative – typical for middle age. The child tries to work not with certain objects, but with their images.
- Verbal-logical – this type of thinking develops at 6-7 years of age. The baby uses abstract concepts. Moreover, this happens even in the absence of a visual form.
When communicating with children, you should definitely take into account the psychological characteristics of the age category. So, a 4-year-old child may ask when dad will return home. If you answer that he will come after work, the question will arise again. Don't take this for pampering. The peculiarities of children's thinking are such that the baby cannot understand the answer.
The use of the words “in the evening” or “after” is an appeal to verbal-logical thinking. In a four-year-old baby it has not yet formed. In order for the baby to understand what we are talking about, it is worth noting the events of his life, after the completion of which dad will return. For example, it is worth saying that we will now play, eat, sleep, and when it gets dark outside, dad will come.
The psychological characteristics of children of this age lie in the involuntary nature of attention. Moreover, as it develops, it becomes more stable. To maintain attention, it is worth maintaining the baby’s interest in the activity. The use of speech will help organize attention. Older children can recite parting words that were received from adults. This helps you concentrate on completing them.
Voluntary memory is formed at 4-5 years of age. The easiest way to learn complex information is to organize its memorization in the form of a game. So that the child can learn the rhyme, you should play a skit based on it.
At this age, children usually complete the process of speech formation. In this case, the child moves from situational speech to abstract speech, which has no direct connection with the immediate situation. The baby's vocabulary is actively expanding.
Children aged 3-5 years are characterized by egocentric speech. At the same time, he comments out loud on his actions and does not turn to his interlocutor in order to somehow influence him. This is considered normal. It is a cross between social and inner speech. This option fulfills the tasks of self-regulation.
For normal mental development, a child must master speech. In this matter, much depends on the child’s communication with adults. Psychologists do not advise distorting words. A child’s speech develops through active imitation of adults. All words must be spoken slowly and clearly. At the same time, you should do this quite emotionally.
It is recommended to talk with the child and in his presence as often as possible. At the same time, any actions should be accompanied by words.
You shouldn’t limit yourself solely to everyday phrases. It is recommended to learn poetry and tongue twisters with your child. They have a certain rhythm and contribute to the development of the baby’s speech. Riddles are of no small importance. Guessing them helps develop the child’s analytical abilities. Riddles also form a tendency to generalize, the ability to identify signs of an object, and formulate conclusions.
Play as a child's main activity
The psychology of a preschooler determines play as the child’s leading activity. There are several categories of gaming activities:
- Movable – ensure the physical development of the child. This category includes blind man's buff, tag, and games with meat.
- Educational – form the intellect. These include puzzles and lotto.
- Role-playing games are very popular among preschool children. They play a key role in the formation of the baby’s psyche.
The psychological characteristics of preschool age are such that role-playing games help the child form an understanding of different roles in society. At the same time, he develops skills of certain behavior in basic life situations. The psychological characteristics of preschoolers are such that it is easier to convey morals and norms to them through play, whereas conversations may be ineffective.
Dramatic play out of conflicts has a good influence on a child. This applies to quarrels in the family or with peers. In this case, the baby should be asked to play the role of one of the parents, while mom or dad plays the role of the child. This technique helps the child cope with egocentric thinking. Thanks to this, he manages to correlate his position with the feelings of other people.
Children aged 3-4 years can borrow fairy-tale characters or plots. Games with everyday scenes are suitable for children of the middle age group. These could be mothers and daughters. Hospital or store games are also suitable. At an older age, ideas can be gleaned from cartoons or books.
In the games of the youngest children you can see features of familiar people. As they grow older, preschoolers can portray not specific people, but roles in society. It could be a policeman, a postman or a mother.
The most complex forms of games involve collective activity. It is through play that preschoolers can achieve the maximum level of interaction.
Children 3-4 years old find it difficult to communicate with each other. Their games are episodic in nature. They often end in conflicts and tears. Most often, kids form small groups of several people. However, their games do not last long - no more than 20 minutes.
As children grow, they become more eager to spend time together. At 4-5 years old, peers turn into more interesting playmates compared to adults. Children who belong to the senior preschool group distribute roles better. At this age, the child no longer needs help from parents or other people.
Older preschoolers can easily form groups of up to 15 people. They can play for several hours. At the same time, children strive to depict multicomponent social events. Children often play war or wedding.
During the game, kids coordinate joint actions. They are able to build relationships of leadership and subordination. At the same time, they can give up their desires so that the established rules of the game are not violated. This helps build communication skills with others and develop self-control.
Diagnostic examination of preschool children by a psychologist
In order to study the developmental characteristics of preschool children, a variety of methods are used. These are mainly tests that allow us to determine the child’s personal characteristics, the level of his mental development, as well as his psychological readiness for school. The psychology of preschool children is involved in the development of approaches to examination, methods, rules of conduct, and interpretation of results.
By the age of 5-6 years, a child already perceives information well by ear, can retell what he heard, and explain the answer to a question. Logical thinking, operations of analysis and synthesis, generalization, and classification develop. Since voluntary behavior at this age is still just being formed, psychodiagnostics of children should include tasks that affect both the voluntary and involuntary levels of cognitive processes.
Methods for preschoolers are mainly aimed at determining the formation of prerequisites for educational activities, the level of personal and cognitive development of a preschooler, and the characteristics of his motivational and need sphere.
Psychodiagnostic methods for preschool children are not limited to special tasks and tests. Optimal psychodiagnostic results are achieved by observing children while playing with peers or alone. As a rule, this process reflects the characteristics of relationships with parents, the degree of conflict and aggressiveness of the child, and the ability to obey rules and norms. Projective, drawing tests are great for young children. A piece of paper displays all experiences and problems, emotional state and degree of self-confidence.
An important condition for obtaining reliable results is the establishment of psychological contact between the preschooler and the psychologist. Only in this case will diagnostics of development be justified. If a child is forced or intimidated, the test results can be greatly distorted. If necessary, it will be recommended to attend correctional and developmental classes with a psychologist, speech therapist, speech pathologist or other specialist.
Crisis periods
The psyche of preschool children is characterized by heterogeneous development. At the same time, the smooth formation is replaced by sharp jumps. During this period, the baby’s behavior and attitude towards external factors changes dramatically. The psychology of a preschooler and the characteristics of age-related development include 2 crises.
Crisis 3 years
At 2-4 years old, the baby begins to treat himself as a separate person. At the same time, there is a desire to act contrary to parents on every occasion. This helps to establish your own independence. The baby becomes almost uncontrollable. At the same time, persuasion, shouting and threats do not allow achieving the desired results.
At this age, the child arranges a kind of exam for his parents. It helps you test the boundaries of your own freedom. In a child’s speech one can increasingly hear phrases – I myself, I don’t want, I won’t.
Children are accustomed to feeling the weaknesses of their parents. That's why they try to play on them. It is strictly forbidden to follow the child's lead. He needs to formulate certain rules, breaking which is strictly prohibited.
At the same time, it is forbidden to be angry with the baby for showing self-will or stubbornness. Don't try to break him. Adults will be able to influence the child, trying to direct his attention to some interesting events.
In order for the baby to cry and throw tantrums less often, prohibitions should be presented in a diplomatic form. A sharp order to put on a hat should be replaced by giving him the opportunity to choose the color of the headdress.
Crisis 6–8 years
The symptoms of this crisis include the following:
- the appearance of an intellectual component between actions and emotions - the child during this period loses his spontaneity;
- the appearance of isolation and secrecy in relation to one’s feelings;
- the appearance of social emotions - the child feels pride for good actions and shame for bad actions;
- a decrease in the importance of previous interests, the emergence of motivation to study.
Children of this age have the ability to think logically and abstractly. They begin to need serious argumentation of parental demands. So, when reminded of the need to brush their teeth, a child may say: why brush baby teeth if they are going to fall out anyway?
Often a child develops traits that help him emphasize his maturity. So, a girl can paint her nails, imitating her older sister, and a boy tries to talk about politics.
To cope with the next crisis, you can start preparing your child for school. The educational institution attracts children because it helps them catch up with older children. At the same time, it helps to gain knowledge that adults possess.
The child begins to understand that society makes specific demands on him. The feeling of well-being is influenced by relationships with other people and approval in a social group. Before starting school, children are characterized by high self-esteem. At the same time, at school it is necessary to engage in new activities that are not like games.
When difficulties or problems arise in learning, there is a risk of a strong drop in self-esteem. At this stage, the child understands that he cannot do everything.
Pochemochki, greedy and brawlers
Preschool age is the age of a thousand and one questions. The baby is actively exploring the world, and he is interested in knowing everything: what the sun is made of, and why the bag rustles. Although sometimes these questions are inappropriate, always take the time to answer them. This way you broaden your baby’s horizons and strengthen your relationship.
On the playground you can often see little “greedy” children who do not want to share toys with other children. Mothers who do not want conflicts urge their children to give the toy away to play with. But is this right? Preschool children are still characterized by selfishness, and it is important for them to “own” their toys. Besides, there is nothing wrong with a sense of ownership over your toys. Imagine if a person came up to you and asked you to play on your phone. You would refuse, and others would call you greedy.
This is how a child feels when asked to give his toy to another. It’s better to explain to your child that the toy belongs to him, and if he wants (I emphasize: if he wants), he can give it to someone else to play with, but that child will definitely return it. If the baby does not want to give, it is his right to dispose of his toy.
There are also children who strive to hit, push or call you names. Firmly, but without anger, stop the child. Usually at the age of 4 years, the child begins to test the boundaries of other people. In other words: “How can I interact with others?” And if unwanted behavior is not stopped, it will continue to appear.
Features of the formation of normal self-esteem
The basis of self-esteem in adults is the so-called self-concept. It is a combination of ideas about oneself and is a consequence of assessing one’s own behavior in different situations and comparing oneself with other people.
The psychological characteristics of the child are such that it is more correct to reason about the “You-concept”. A child’s attitude toward his or her personality is based on how important adults—primarily parents—perceive him.
If they do not approve of the child's spontaneity and natural activity, there is a risk of developing incorrect self-esteem - usually it becomes low. It is important to stimulate and support the child’s curiosity and initiative. Don't ignore your child's questions. It is important to take into account that a child has his own attitude towards all things ordinary for adults - he sees them for the first time.
At the same time, it is necessary to convey to the child the features of learning and the course of this process. Intermediate and final results are of no small importance. Thanks to this, the student will not panic over accidentally receiving a bad mark.
It is recommended to teach your child not to be afraid of failure. It is important to jointly analyze errors and try to draw appropriate conclusions. It is worth creating such an atmosphere so that the child understands that he can count on the love of loved ones, regardless of grades. It is recommended to show your child confidence that he will subsequently be able to get excellent results.
Parents should not set the bar too high for their children. Praise and punishment should be selected taking into account the age category and characteristics of the child. It is recommended to make any comparisons of the baby exclusively with him. It is worth comparing the victories and achievements that occurred yesterday and today.
You should not cite the achievements of peers or relatives as examples, as this negatively affects self-esteem. The child should treat his results as the norm. Only this will help him calmly perceive the successes of others.
To help increase your child’s self-esteem, you can give him important assignments by involving him in household chores. By performing simple household chores and helping elders, the baby will be able to feel useful and important.
It is important to ensure that negative assessments of a child’s behavior do not affect his personality. We can say that the mother is upset by the scattered toys, because the room seems uncomfortable. At the same time, it is not recommended to call the baby lazy. It is worth remembering that the child perceives the attitude of the parents not only by the words spoken, but also by gestures, facial expressions, and intonation.
How to help a child develop?
There is a concept called the “zone of proximal development.” It was introduced into psychology by the famous Soviet psychologist L.S. Vygotsky. The zone of actual development is the child’s skills that he performs independently, without the help of adults.
Also, in preschool age, a child actively develops many mental functions, and with the assistance of an adult, he can learn a lot. You just need to do it not FOR him, but TOGETHER with him. What a preschooler can do with the help of an adult, a little later he will be able to do on his own. This is called the zone of proximal development. If you want to teach your child something, do it with him first. In addition, this is how we develop his confidence in his abilities.
We are always in a hurry to get somewhere, and it seems easier and faster to do something for the child. But then we expect that he himself will be able to put away toys, cut out paper and put clothes in the closet.
Children are capital in which you need to invest time and attention, and they will pleasantly surprise you.
