1

The Secret Life of the Little Ones

Bachelors of Applied Social Sciences ( Majoring in Psychology and Counselling)

South African College of Applied Psychology (Pty) Ltd.

Developmental Psychology A

Micheal Stuart

17 October 2022
 2

Table of Contents

The Secret Life of the Little Ones...................................................................................................3

Reflection...............................................................................................................................3

The concept of developmental milestones.............................................................................3

Key Developmental Milestones.............................................................................................4

The Secret Life of the Little Ones through the Lens of Erik Erikson's Emotional

Development Theory..............................................................................................................5

The significance of Early Childhood Development and The Challenges South African

Parents Face...........................................................................................................................8

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9

References......................................................................................................................................11
 3

The Secret Life of the Little Ones

"There is in every child at every stage a new miracle of vigorous unfolding (Erikson,

1993, p. 255)."

The documentary The Secret Life of 4, 5, and 6-Year Olds follows the growth of

children as they explore their surroundings at ages four, five, and six. To illustrate how play

encourages the development of language, social interaction, and physical development, I will

refer to the second episode of the documentary. Erikson's stages of development will be used

to describe the important developmental milestones shown in this episode. In addition, I'll

discuss how crucial early childhood development is and the difficulties South African parents

encounter.

Reflection

It is clear from the documentary that social interactions between boys and girls differ.

Compared to boys, girls appear to be more socially inclined. They are beginning to hone

their communication skills in how they interact with one another as well as adults. Although

they are beginning to express their feelings, they are still unable to respond appropriately to

those or others. While adapting to new social groups, the children are learning how to share

and defend their interests. They are very competitive and want to win, but they also stand up

for their friends.

The Concept of Developmental Milestones

From birth through childhood, developmental milestones serve as indicators of a

child's growth. They can be used to identify whether a child is displaying regular

development or whether they have experienced delays in one or more aspects of their ageing

development. Developmental milestones are categorised into social and emotional

 4

development, gross- and fine-motor skills, language and communication-related skills as well

as cognitive development (Gerber et al., 2011).

Developmental milestones include abilities like a first walk, a first smile, and waving

"bye-bye”, a child's play, learning, speaking, acting, and movements that are achieved at

certain stages. Every day, you can observe children accomplishing certain milestones.

Although every child develops at their own pace, most children accomplish developmental

milestones at or around the same age.

The Key to Developmental Milestones

The social contact between the girls and boys is one of the milestones that is clear

from the documentary. Girls seem to be more socially inclined than boys. They place a high

value on friendship and strive to win over their friends. One of the things that could endanger

some friendships and relationships is envy, especially in young people who are unable to

control their emotions. You could see Connie starting to grow a little envious of Lola while

she was playing with Tia during their fantasy game and telling Tia that Lola was not even her

friend. This kind of response makes girls fairly mean to each other, which hurts other people.

They have a strong sense of gender. Tia claimed that boys don't kiss boys and that

girls and boys go together when she kissed one of the boys, Ivan, and Theo kissed the boy as

well.

The children love to sing, dance, and twirl around. Lola expresses her feelings by

singing when she misses her friend Alisa to avoid appearing too harsh toward Connie. They

also enjoy acting and putting on plays. Each child was quite proud of the performances they

delivered to the other children.

They struggle to distinguish between the actual world and the fantasy world while

expressing their creativity through imaginative play. The other girls started calling Tia a bad
 5

princess after she became domineering when they were pretending to be princesses. Fantasy

play quickly gave way to reality, and the girls swiftly got nasty.

The kids are fearless and ask questions with confidence. "Connie" commented on

Lola's tiny foot and requested that she show it to everyone. Lola displayed it to everyone,

explaining that it was her baby foot and that it was natural for her to be born with her "little

nibble"

The Secret Life of the Little Ones through the Lens of Erik Erikson's Emotional

Development Theory.

The life span approach to personality development focuses on how a person's

personality develops throughout their entire life, from birth to death. According to Eric

Erikson, who developed this theory, a person goes through eight stages of development

throughout their lifetime. These stages are trust versus mistrust; autonomy versus shame and

doubt; initiative versus guilt; industry versus inferiority; identity versus role confusion;

intimacy versus isolation; generativity versus stagnation; and ego integrity versus despair.

Each stage builds on the one before it (Erikson, 1980).

Every stage of development requires the resolution of a task or crisis. It is the

personality that dictates how the work or issue is resolved. These tasks or crises are

psychosocial; they involve the person's psychological needs, which in turn lead to a conflict

with the demands made on them by society. Failure to complete a stage results in challenges

to complete subsequent stages and can cause an unhealthy identity and personality crisis, but

these stages can be successfully resolved later on. By completing each stage, the individual

acquires fundamental virtue and character strengths that aid in the resolution of future crises

(Ciccarelli & J. Noland White, 2014).

The Preschool years are when the third stage, Initiative vs. guilt occurs. This stage

typically spans between the ages of three and Five. Children in this period become more
 6

assertive while dealing with people socially. This is typically practised through play since it

allows children to demonstrate their leadership abilities by initiating activities and coming up

with games. Parents might interpret this stage as their child starting to learn how to be

aggressive (Mcleod, 2018). Children will develop confidence in their ability for leadership

and decision-making if this stage is handled properly. The child may experience guilt if they

fail at this stage. If the third stage is successful, the virtue of purpose is established.

The key characteristics of Erikson's emotional development evident in the episode are

anger, fear, jealousy, curiosity, happiness, sadness and love. The children are given the

chance to assume leadership roles, develop their assertiveness, and have the freedom to

choose their playmates and activities, which helps them to develop ambition and direction.

Theo expresses anger after losing his temper during the guessing game. A child will

frequently throw a "temper tantrum" to express their displeasure resulting in crying, kicking,

stamping, and jumping up and down before collapsing to the ground. This usually happens

when disagreements over toys or other items develop or when a child doesn't get their way.

Typically, young toddlers find it difficult to control their anger. They need to learn how to

deal with the core issues they face.

When Elliot is unable to play with his "comfort toy," which provides him with the

comfort of having something familiar around him, it causes him to exhibit social anxiety and

fear. Various things can help identify the cause of a child's fear. Recollections of painful

experiences, viewing graphic television or movies, a dread of animals, imaginary monsters,

and being left alone are a few examples of what they might be. Eliot experiences fear and

social anxiety as a result of the trauma of his mother's passing (Vogler et al., 2008).

When Zoey and Lola bake cakes for each other but not for Tia, she is jealous, which

makes her feel excluded and rejected. Due to their need for security, children feel jealous

even at the age of four or five. The good news is that they are becoming more rational and
 7

sensitive to others' needs. This means that we can begin by educating them on how to

recognize and control the emotion of jealousy. When a child feels that their parents' interests

and focus have switched away from them and toward someone or something else, they are

more inclined to act jealously.

Every facet of a child's small world piques their great curiosity, but the gumball

machine particularly piques Elliot's interest in how it functions and encourages others to turn

it. Their body and environment are used to explore their innate curiosity in addition to the

numerous questions they ask.

It's easy to make a young child happy, as seen by the squeals of excitement and

happiness when the gumballs started to roll out and go everywhere. When young children

finish their duties, visit new places, or even play practical jokes with their friends, they may

feel happy. When someone feels happy, they may express it by smiling, laughing, clapping,

bouncing up and down, or hugging the person or thing that makes them happy.

When the girls refused to play with Tia cried and called her a "terrible princess." Tia

displayed sadness. Children experience sadness when they lose something they consider to

be important. It may be a person, a pet, a toy, or a set of clothes. People commonly express

their sadness by sobbing or losing interest in activities.

Tia shows affection when she kisses Ivan and declares that it is a dream come true and

that she is in love. Young children express their love by embracing, kissing, stroking, and

appreciating the person or object they feel has shown them affection. Usually, they don't

express their affection verbally. They can express their love for other people, animals, and

enjoyable things.

The third stage of psychosocial development's key theme is that children need to

begin asserting their authority over their environment. Children who try to exercise too much
 8

control get criticism, which causes them to feel guilty. People who lack these abilities

experience remorse, self-doubt, and a lack of initiative (Mcleod, 2018).

Thea is the perfect example of assertiveness and leadership. When the new friends

first come, Tia asks Theo if he can help her with something important. She then asks him to

make friends with Taylor, while she will do the same with Connie, so that neither of them

feels excluded. Theo agrees, and she thanks him and calls him a good boy. Thea tried to assert

her leadership when they had to construct a castle out of boxes, but the others objected and

insisted that no one is in charge.

The criticism levelled against the theory

Erikson's theory has been criticized for assuming that each stage of development must

occur just once in orderly succession. The theories' failure to explain how or why these stages

occur, as well as how to deal with the encountered life crises, are other complaints. Finally,

the paradigm is critiqued for favouring the growth of boys over girls (Braaten, 2018).

The significance of Early Childhood Development and The Challenges South African

Parents Face

A variety of social and economic inequities have a detrimental effect on the majority

of young children in South Africa. Most black South African children experienced an adverse

childhood due to apartheid and the ensuing socio-economic disparities, which included

limited access to social services, education, health care, and nutritious food. This has

hampered the growth of our children.

Early childhood development (ECD) is described as "...the processes by which

children from birth to nine years of age grow and thrive physically, cognitively, emotionally,

morally, and socially" by the National Department of Education (Wium & Louw, 2015).

Early childhood development is considered the foundation for subsequent academic

 9

performance. Children who take part in excellent early learning programs have the

opportunity to grow emotionally, physically, intellectually, spiritually, and socially, preparing

them for adulthood. These programs foster a love of lifetime learning and lay the foundation

for development on the whole (Biersteker & Dawes, 2015).

Children under the age of 7 who live in extreme poverty make up 59.2% of the

population (Atmore, 2012). Along with their families, teachers, and communities, these

children face a variety of challenges. Among them, HIV/AIDS, poverty, education, and health

are the most significant. Some of the main challenges and obstacles that ECD facilities and

parents must overcome include a lack of instructional materials and resources, insufficient

funding, a lack of qualified teachers, inadequate security for children while they are at the

ECD facility, inadequate toilet facilities, infrastructure, nutrition, and financing (Atmore,

2012).

Due to South Africa's high percentage of poverty, children confront major issues

related to malnutrition in communities all over the country. A fundamental physical need is a

food. Malnutrition significantly hinders a child's early development (Beesley & Ballard,

2013). Many households do not have the funds to pay for early childhood development

services due to poverty and distance.

Conclusion

The documentary The Secret Life of 4, 5, and 6-Year Olds shows the skills and qualities

that children acquire every day as they grow, it reflects on the changes in character across

different age groups and how the family influences the child. We now have a greater grasp of

how children grow and respond to various circumstances as a result of it.

 10

References

Atmore, E. (2012). Challenges facing the early childhood development sector in South

Africa. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 2(1).

https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v2i1.25

Beesley, A., & Ballard, R. (2013). Cookie cutter cooperatives in the KwaZulu-Natal school

nutrition programme. Development Southern Africa, 30(2), 250–261.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835x.2013.801195

Biersteker, L., & Dawes, A. (2015). Early childhood development. Repository.hsrc.ac.za.

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/5683

Braaten, E. (2018). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intellectual and Developmental Disorders.

SAGE Publications.

Ciccarelli, S. K., & J. Noland White. (2014). Psychology. Pearson Higher Ed.

Erikson, E. H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle. W. W. Norton & Company.

Erikson, E. H. (1993). Childhood and Society (p. 255). W. W. Norton & Company.

Gerber, R. J., Wilks, T., & Erdie-Lalena, C. (2011). Developmental Milestones 3: Social-

Emotional Development. Pediatrics in Review, 32(12), 533–536.

https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.32-12-533

Mcleod, S. (2018, May 3). Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Simply

Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Vogler, P., Crivello, G., & Woodhead, M. (2008). Early childhood transitions research: A

review of concepts, theory, and practice Early Childhood Development.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED522697.pdf

Wium, A.-M., & Louw, B. (2015). The South African national school curriculum:

Implications for collaboration between teachers and speech-language therapists

 11

working in schools. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 5(1), 23.

https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v5i1.348