Sinan Wang Case Discussion

Case (Case 24 on Page 56: Youre Gonna Get in Trouble): Two kindergarteners are best friends in Ms. Ronaldos class. There are some rules in their class like students need to clean up after themselves. Students were to treat their classmates the way they would like to be treated. These rules were established the first day of class and Ms. Ronaldo kept reminding her students to follow the rules. One day, when Debbie was putting away the red paint, she tripped and spilled it on the floor. Sara said in a sing-song voice youre gonna get in trouble, which scared of Debbie. Then Debbie cried to Ms. Ronaldo that it was an accident. Ms. Ronaldo comfort Debbie and let Debbie go back to play without any trouble. When Sara asked Debbie why she did not get in trouble, Debbie explained to her Ms. Ronaldo said it was an accident. Sara was amazed and asked You mean if its an accident we dont get in trouble? Then Debbie answered, I dont know, I guess.

There are three main roles in this case: Ms. Ronaldo, Debbie and Sara. In general, Ms. Ronaldos rules were established the first day of school and she kept gently reminding students of her rules. According to John B. Watsons theory, the making a mess is a stimulus for students (Rathus, 2008). With Ms. Ronaldos reminding, students had established a right response to the stimulus which is cleaning it up. However, Debbies case broke this relationship, which caused some problems in Ms. Ronaldos class. By reading the book Childhood and Adolescence by Spencer A. Rathus, I find some perspectives analysis this case: familial relationships and influences, friends, peers, and social networks, gender differences, personality, self-concept and social cognition, and antisocial and prosocial behaviors.

Family
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In this case, when little Debbie noticed that she made a mess and might get punished she was very scared and was going to cry. I guess Debbie might be from a family with warm parents who were less likely to use physical discipline. That was why Debbie was so scared of trouble as she did not have much experience of it. Another evidence was that when Debbie sobbed about her shirt, Ms. Ronaldos comfortIm sure your mom will understandworks well for Debbie. Her mother might forgive her before in a similar situation.

For Sara, her behavior was kind of aggression, even though she did not attack one another physically. It is not whose mistake since by age 6 or 7, aggression becomes hostile and person oriented ( Rathus, 2008). I believe when Sara said that youre gonna get in trouble with a sing-song voice, she did not mean to hurt Debbie. It is possible that Sara had brothers or sisters at home. She used to avoid involving in others trouble by saying that. Also children learn not only from the effects of their own behavior but also observing the behaviors of others. (Rathus, 2008) Sara might see her siblings did a similar thing without any punishment, which encouraged her behavior.

Friends and peers Debbie and Sara were good friends. Even when Sara said youre gonna in trouble in a sing-song voice to her friend Debbie, which showed a very aggressive behavior, I am not meaning that Sara was a bad girl as aggression is a normal behavior in early childhood. Young children may be aggressive at times as well as loving and helpful (Rathus, 2008, P. 344). Thats why Sara was very unfriendly to her best friend. Although Sara did not show the inappropriate manner on purpose, Debbie was influenced and she did not get emotional support from her friend, which made her more scared.

More importantly, other students might imitate Saras behavior. I cannot image a class with student blaming each other with a sing-song voice. Also, they might get the same conclusion as Sara did from Debbies experience that if its an accident we dont get in trouble. I am afraid that children took accident as an excuse to avoid punishment, which made Ms. Ronaldos rules in danger.

Gender differences Firstly, according to gender-schema theory, boys and girls would like to live up to gender-appropriate behaviorRathus, 2008. In this case, when Debbie made the accident and was scared by Sara s conclusion youre gonna get in trouble, Debbies first reaction was crying. Although the students in this case are all kindergarteners, their self-esteem for gender had been established. So I do not think if the accident happened to a boy, he would cry for the solution.

Secondly, when Sara said youre gonna get in trouble, she might be afraid that she would get involved in the accident. Kindergarten students are in the age that becoming more and more traditional in their stereotyping of activities, occupational roles, and personality traits. Often is afraid is a typical trait for girls (Rathus, 2008). It was very possible that not only Debbie, but also Sara was totally scared by the

mess in front of them. All the unfriendly behavior Sara did might be the ways she was trying to get herself out of trouble.

Last, but not least, Ms. Ronaldo, as a female, unavoidably had some personality traits such as kind and easy-going as well. She might have more sympathy and could not stand the little kids who were crying for help. That was why she did not make Debbie do anything but go play.

Personality, social and emotional development The two kindergarteners, Debbie and Sara, were experiencing the early development of their personality and emotional development. They might regard other things from limited perspectives. Here, in this case, the phenomenon caused by their understanding of the mess rule for both of them.

Adults prohibit children from doing certain things, and children begin to internalize these adult rules. (Rathus, 2008) Debbie felt guilty and scared because she noticed that she broke the rule as making a mess. However, obviously, Debbie did not know that Ms. Ronaldos rule was not used for accidents. That was why she was surprised when she got out of the trouble.

By observing what happened to Debbie, Sara was wondering you mean if its an accident we dont get in trouble, which could be seen as she was testing new thing. Being curious, try new things, and test themselves are the traits of characters of children in her age (Rathus, 2008). This question might be followed by two different behaviors. The first is that Sara was just curious and she forgot about the accident later. Second one is that Sara wanted to further prove her guess, so she made accident on purpose to see Ms. Ronaldos reaction. I do not think the second behavior would have good results.

Prosocial and antisocial behaviors Sara was in her early childhood, during which aggressive behaviors might occur at times as well as loving and helpful behaviors (Rathus, 2008). However, if teacher or parents did not stop such antisocial behaviors on time, bad results might come. Because it was quite possible that Saras aggressive behavior caused her classmates to reject her, which made her more aggressive.

Base on the analysis above, I have some suggestions for Ms. Ronaldo and the girls parents. For Ms. Ronaldo To start with, she could decrease Debbies fear of getting in trouble by explaining to her that as it was an accident cleaning the floor was not a punishment but taking responsibility of her accident, which sounded much better than trouble. Also, it would be nice if she could call Debbies mom and tell her what happened in school ahead of time.

Ms. Ronaldo could explain to Sara why her reaction to the accident was not appropriate. For example, she might tell Sara your words made Debbie more nervous about her accident and even cry. It was not nice at all to say that. Such explanation would foster Saras prosocial behavior (Rathus, 2008). Apology to Debbie might be useful to help Sara remember this experience. Also, Ms. Ronaldo might call Saras parents, not for punishment, but reminding them to avoid Saras similar behavior at home.

I like one of Ms. Ronaldos rules that: treat others as the way you want to be treated. However, kindergarteners might have difficulty to see things from the vantage points of others (Rathus, 2008). Teachers guide would help them develop perspective-taking skills. Ms. Ronaldo could ask Sara and other students to imagine that she was in Debbies situation and provide some possible choices of the reaction from her friend. I believe that all of them would select the one who treat them nicely. Then Ms. Ronaldo might tell them that it was also the way that Debbie wanted to be treated.

Furthermore, to establish a good model for both Sara and other students in the class, Ms. Ronaldo could organize a role play activity to show students the right action for friends accident. Reward to the child to offer help to friend who is in accident would encourage students to copy such behavior. Whats more,
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during the model education period, Ms. Ronaldo must be careful about student who takes advantage of accident. One suggestion to that is add such situation in the role play and emphasize that telling a lie is much worse than making a mistake and would get a more severity punishment.

For girls parents Firstly, Parents might pay attention to the way kids solve problems. Be careful to avoid girls having a concept that cry would solve everything. Encouraging them to take responsibility of their behavior and research for solutions by themselves would help girls grow into persons who are more independent.

Additionally, it is important to establish a good model for children that how to treat others. Family members, especially female adults round their life would be the best model for them. For children like Sara, such aggressive behavior should be forbidden at home. It might help to provide children some alternative means to deal with problems except for aggressive means. And of course, no reward should be provided at all for any aggressive behavior.

Finally, the cooperation between school and family are very significant for children who are in early childhood. Girls parents should keep communicating with teachers to update their behaviors, which would help them notice and solve problems in time.

Reference: Spencer A. Rathus,(2008) Childhood and Adolescence Voyages in Development, 3rd Edition, New York University