知道

Sense of Self and School-Age Children

Within Lesson One, highlighted was that a sense of self includes the roles, attributes, behaviors, and associations that we consider most important about ourselves (Ylvisaker, 2006). Children begin to develop their sense of self from birth. They are taking in the world around them and developing relationships and likes and dislikes. School-age children are also developing their sense of self, but in a more mature and sophisticated way. For the first time, children are asking the question, who am I? During the school-age years, children are thinking about themselves in a new way. They begin evaluating themselves, their performance and achievements, in addition to comparing them to their peers. In this stage of development, children are demonstrating characteristics, behaviors and emotions that are unique to this age group as well as coping with new pressures. The table below provides examples of characteristics that school-age children are developing as well as the new pressures that they bring.

According to Erikson's theory of psychosocial stages, the developmental goal of school-age children is to fulfill a sense of competency. Between ages 5-12, children shape their sense of self based on their ability to perform and master skills that are valued by the important people in their life or themselves.

早在童年时期

During the preschool years children are able to describe themselves in physical terms, such as physical actions (I can run fast.) and traits (I am a girl and I have brown hair.). Between five and seven years old, self-descriptions will highlight proficiencies, most commonly in social skills and cognitive abilities. During this period, children become aware of cultural values and gender roles and begin to incorporate these views into how they describe themselves.

年轻的学龄儿童继续看到themselves in an overly positive way and will overestimate their abilities. While their perspective taking skills have increased considerably since the preschool years, they do not yet actively evaluate themselves or compare themselves to others. At this age when children compare themselves to others the purpose is to determine if they are being treated fairly ("His half is bigger than mine!") and to see how others complete a task to help their own performance. They are much more likely to compare their current self with their past self, which contributes greatly to their overly positive and unrealistic sense of self. Before eight years old children see themselves and others in all-or-none ways. While children at this age are able to understand the concept of opposites, they believe it is impossible to be both antonyms at the same time. Their logic tells them "I'm good, therefore I can't be bad;" although at this age they may acknowledge that people can switch qualities on occasion or in the future ("He was such a bad man at the beginning of the story! But now he is nice.").

在讲述自传故事并开始包括自己的个人经历时，较年轻的学龄儿童能够带头，但仍然让重要的成年人改变他们所说的话。随着他们的增长，他们更有可能为他们的账户增加意图和未来计划。这些孩子也承认他们是同一个人，尽管它们发生了许多发展变化。在描述自己五岁的时候可能会说“我变得更大，我知道更多的东西，但我仍然是我。我还有棕色的头发，我仍然有同名。”

Middle to Late Childhood

在8-11岁之间，儿童的自我描述达到重要里程碑，儿童开始识别自己的能力和人格特质。他们超越了自己的观点，越来越认识到他们可能具有积极和消极的特征，并同时感受到相互矛盾的情绪。在这个年龄范围的开始，孩子们更有可能基于个人经历根据“聪明”，“很好”，“乐于助人”或“受欢迎”的特征，准确地描述自己。在幼儿期间，与他人的友谊和互动成为孩子如何定义他或她自己的大部分;通过包括许多社会特征，自我描述反映了这一点。在这个时代，有些孩子更喜欢同性朋友，并且在与异性互动时可能避免甚至表达蔑视。

在这个阶段的另一个里程碑是孩子们开始将自己与周围的人进行比较并评估自己。他们开始以一种更现实的方式看到自己，特别是因为他们的社会世界进一步扩大了，他们更多地了解别人。孩子们将采用文化和社会价值观和标准作为自己的标准，他们将判断他们如何衡量这些理想。例如，大约八岁的孩子如果他或她符合其在文化中传统上有吸引力的标准，则会理解。看起来，敷料或表现特定的方式可能对孩子来说非常重要。

All throughout the school-age years significant relationships will continue to have the most influence on a child's sense of self. As a school-age staff member, every interaction you have with each child and the guidance you provide are very important to how the children see themselves. For example, when you help with math homework, you not only help a child learn the content, but can also influence their perception of themselves as successful academically. This is an excellent opportunity to build resilience and help children learn the importance of perseverance and hard work to success.

Promoting Positive Self-Concepts

Family, cultural, social, environmental and other factors all play a role in children’s concept of themselves. As a school-age staff member, you have a role in this, too. You will be helping to promote positive self-concepts in school-age children.

Developing a strong, positive self-concept takes time. Think about what it takes to make you feel confident and secure in a new skill or situation. Usually, the feeling of success and accomplishment gives you the sense of confidence in yourself to try new things, take risks and feel good about your abilities. The same is true for children and their self-concepts. Children and youth need to build up a track record of things that make them feel good about themselves in order to develop a positive self-concept. Children are working to build their track record each day. This is seen in the way children make choices, experience accomplishments, and establish relationships:

• When children and youth make positive choices，他们对自己感觉良好。随着孩子们的发展和发展，他们对权利和错误的理解也是如此。当介绍选择，行动和决策时，他们开始了解哪条路径是积极和成功的路径，可能会面临负面后果。随着孩子们学会选择积极的道路并从错误中接受并学习，他们开始相信自己。
• 当儿童和青年成功并经历成就时，他们对自己感觉良好。与积极的选择一样，儿童需要有机会成功，体验成就感。当孩子们努力实现目标并且成功实现它时，他们会觉得他们能够再次做到，尝试新事物，并冒险。
• 当儿童和青年发展和保持健康的关系时，他们对自己感觉良好。Healthy relationships help children to feel secure and loved. When children have established positive relationships with family, friends, teachers and caregivers, they feel accepted and safe. They know that they will be supported as they try new things, take risks and learn. Children also need to know they have a support system for when they need to ask questions or seek guidance.

School-age children are becoming increasingly independent. For the first time, children are able to make choices based on their past experiences and knowledge rather than from options provided by an adult. Children are beginning to develop their own identities, establish unique personalities, and enjoy a variety of interests and likes. As a school-age staff member, part of your role is to support their autonomy.

Maturity and autonomy are closely linked to a positive self-concept because it is all about how children feel about themselves. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there are key characteristics that help children establish healthy self-esteems. A positive self-concept and healthy self-esteem are necessary for children to establish their independence as they grow into adolescence. The chart below lists the American Academy of Pediatrics’ key characteristics important to developing a healthy self-esteem. On the right side of the chart, you will find examples on how to support these characteristics within the learning environment to encourage autonomy.

满足所有儿童和家庭的需求

No two children or families will ever be the same in your school-age program and meeting the needs of every individual can seem like a daunting and impossible task. There isn’t one best practice to help children develop a healthy sense of self; it requires many experiences over time. While you will need to pay special attention to accomplishing this goal, the tasks necessary to accomplish this will coincide with a large number of the best practices you do every day.

在第一课范围内突出显示，您有机会了解有关家庭和护理实践受文化影响的方式。例如，一个家庭可能会重视一个安静的孩子或青年，而在另一个家庭中，误认为是重视的。这些价值观和信仰指导成年人响应儿童的方式，这反过来会影响儿童收到的信息，实质上有助于定义儿童是谁。加上个人信仰和价值观是所有儿童的需求，以帮助他们以文化适当的方式发展，发展，表达情绪和展示行为，以及培养自我和自我价值的感觉。Brazelton和Greenspan（2000）强调，当满足这七种不可减少的需求时，孩子们能够感到安全并与他人相关联：

• Ongoing nurturing relationships
• Physical protection, safety and regulation
• Experiences tailored to individual differences
• Developmentally appropriate experiences
• Limit setting, structure, and expectations
• 稳定的社区和文化连续性
• Adults to protect the future

促进家庭参与儿童的自我发展

Considering that families have the largest impact upon children’s development, it is critical that they are actively involved in program efforts that promote their children’s sense of self and overall development.

在学龄课程的工作中，重要的是帮助家庭了解儿童参与活动的重要性，促进其自我和整体福祉感的发展。与此同时，对家庭的价值观，背景，信仰，文化实践和传统敏感，与儿童的技能发展和独立性相比，这也非常重要。虽然您可能对学龄儿童应该或不应该做出自我意识的某些意见，但重要的是要考虑家庭，并尝试理解和尊重可能与您不同的观点。作为一种关怀和资源丰富的专业，灵活，并考虑替代方式，以积极地与您的计划中的所有家庭互动。

Establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships between home and school promotes children’s optimum learning and growth. When it comes to families of children with special learning needs, communication is essential. As a school-age staff member, you should gather as much information as possible about the child and their particular needs, as well as accommodations that the family has used in the past. You should also invite the families to share concerns or ask questions.

挑战自己了解您计划中的每个家庭。你无法欣赏你不知道或看不到的东西。向儿童家属带来，了解他们的优先事项。专注于他们的优势，支持他们的斗争。而不是判断，对为什么家庭成员相信或行动他们的行为。

看

当您观看此视频并倾听这些学龄员工的员工，反思您在自己的计划中帮助学龄儿童和青年的方式做出积极的选择，经验成就，建立健康，有益的关系。

Promoting a Positive Sense of Self

Do

You will offer support through a variety of methods, depending on the child and situation. It is important to remember that all children develop at their own pace and while milestones and characteristics may be similar, all children are individuals with their own life experiences and perspectives.

• 提供鼓励孩子尝试新事物,take risks, and work towards a goal.
• 能够响应的情绪健康child. Take time to talk to each child every day, listen to what they have to say and observe how they interact with others. Make sure that children know you are always available to listen if they need an adult to talk to.
• 对孩子们善良，照顾和放心。在与家庭，工友和其他成年人互动的方式对待每个孩子的尊重和模拟善意。