Modeling: Middle Childhood

Modeling:

As children develop emotionally and socially in middle childhood, they also mature physically, cognitively, and their social relationships with family and peers also mature and change as well. During this turbulent time of middle childhood, peer friendships take on a more prominent role than ever before, and can include friends at school, in the neighborhood, teammates, and siblings close in age. Communication and cognitive skills continue to improve, white middle childhood children developing increased interpersonal awareness skills, as a result, becoming improved at reading and responding to others, understanding others’ intentions and needs, and why they behave the way the do. These social skills lay the foundation for the formation of closer friendships.

During this adjustment period, is when middle childhood adolescents begin to take on some key components of adult relationships and the dynamics of friendships begin to take on new dynamics. These include mutual regard for another’s individual personality, abilities, and behavior. They grow closer together because they learn to respect on another, in the form of the other child’s kindness, humor, loyalty, fearlessness, and intellect. Mutual trust and willingness to support each other are the cornerstones of these friendships.

This is where modeling comes into play, Modeling is when the children learn from someone else, such as their parent, adult, older sibling or role model. If these “models” have positive relationships with their peers, the children will more than likely develop the same type of positive relationships as well. It is human nature for people to form relationships in some fashion, so it is imperative that adults and others set up a positive environment for children to follow. Bandura illustrates how modeling is extremely important in childrens’ lives by stating that a positive environment for a child to follow is healthy and one of the important steps in development.

A prime example would be a young male person who had many friends in early childhood age group, but as he matured, his group of peers narrowed down to two or three close friends who have much in common. They have learned to respect each other and understand the boundaries of limitations each young middle age child presents.