Essay: Childhood Memories For Theories And Themes - Reflections On Early Child Development.

Role playing children

Discuss about the Childhood Memories for Theories and Themes.

Childhood undoubtedly is the best period of our lives, a timeframe where we get to live uninhibitedly, without any stress or pressure or depression. As children our days are filled with learning experiences, playing with friends and siblings, and our nights are filled with dreams that showcase our aspirations or our sweetest memories. Memories are a great device of the human mind, preserving the best moments and the worst fears, and the memories of our childhood are a part that we cherish the most (Crain, 2015). Childhood today is no longer as carefree as it used to be, children today do not play fearlessly or learn enjoying the novelty of learning something new. Children today play in a confined space mostly, on the set schedule with new age tools and appliances and carry the burden of syllabus and coursework on their tiny shoulders. However the children engagement and cognitive development theories by eminent researchers speak about the importance of these early years of a child’s life. This essay reflects on my childhood memories, my own experiences and their relevance in early child development, attempting to link theories with practice (Runco, 2014).

Studies suggest that our minds are at their most creative in the period of childhood, a child’s mind rarely engages itself onto pessimism, children psychology is simple and constructive rather than being destructive filled with restrictions that the adult psychology is filled with. The best cognitive development in the childhood is achieved in the interactive learning and playing (Daniels, 2016). When a child is in a playing environment, he is considered to be the most relaxed and his cognitive development progresses on a more rapid speed. Childhood memories are a vessel full of joy, laughter and wonder, and mine are no exception. I can proudly say that the major development of my psych has been based on bits and pieces of my childhood, the experiences that I cherish have developed me, for who I am, and as I reflect on those memories, I will explain why I claim childhood to be the most constructive period of our lives.

When I take a walk down the memory lane, the most I remember is the joyous time spent with my siblings. We used to play together all the time as we grew up supporting each other, harnessing our strengths and camouflaging theA flaws. As the theory of sibling relationship and communication by Leach, Howe and Dehart, 2014, the interaction between the siblings are a decisive indication to their cognitive development and nature (Leach, Howe & Dehart, 2015). I remember role playing with my siblings, pretending to be kings and queens and strategizing with each other to conquer other lands and constructed make shift castles with pillows and what not. The play session might seem silly to m now, but those moments taught me to strategize my steps, enhanced my decision-making power and strengthened my psych ((Leach, Howe & Dehart, 2015)). This theory suggests that sibling play sessions facilitate interactive learning in them forging significant associations between them by the exchange of shared meaning strategies and internal state language, furthering validating my understanding.                 

Children engaged in exploring the nature

Our childhood was not filled with tech-savvy tools and appliances; we played with what we had in hand. I remember the exploring we did together, using and utilizing anything and everything in our play sessions. I remember us to not wait around or whine too much for the things we did not have, we rather explored and found stuff we could use like wood, stones and what not, and it has enhanced my ability to adjust and compromise, a lesson learned early but would go a long way ((Grace, Bowes & Elcombe, 2014)). The theory of loose parts devised by Simon Nicholson agrees with my conception, renowned authors of child psychology state that the children learn the art of adaptation and compromise when they play with flexible elements in adjustable environments and learn to craft and mould the favour them and their cause (Grace, Bowes & Elcombe, 2014). This theory also emphasizes on how children learn to interact with their environment more by such experiences and practices, they learn to value what they have and struggle for what they overcoming all the hurdles that might come, a lesson that will help the children grow to become aspirants.            

Lev Vygostky’s theory of cognitive development states that the play experience of children emphasizes on the imaginative prowess of the children and how that can help in different aspects of cognitive development. The interactive dialogues enhance their language and vocabulary development and the creative flare to their imagination strengthens their cognitive abilities (Ward, 2015). I imagine myself having an imaginary friend, named Herbie, with whom is had forged a deep connection. I remember imagining him to be with me at all times, sharing my thoughts and plans with him and playing together (Ward, 2015). There are times when even as a child we sometime tend to get lonely, and probably that was the reason I fashioned myself with an imaginary friend, lending me support through my own thoughts so that I the zeal to face anything. I am also not ashamed to admit that I used to have an imaginary friend and that did not harm my psych but helped in my cognitive development as a fact.

The theory of socio-dramatic play encourages children to have limitless imagination through the shows and dramas, which they watch in films or TV (van Oers, 2013). While memorizing my childhood, I remember that I used to play this socio-dramatic play with my siblings. In this play, I used to recreate the situations and events, which I used to seen in the TV shows and films. From whatever I used to do through this play, I have developed my fine motor skills. Moreover, I have improved my ability towards manipulating small objects. I have also enhanced my creativity skills through constructing the scenarios in the plays. Moreover, socio-dramatic play performed in my childhood also enhanced my cognitive skills. In such situation, playing different types of characters enhanced my negotiation skills and conflict management skills.

Socio Dramatic Play

In case of the theory of Fantasy Play, it defines the non-literal and non-realistic play of the children. It involves symbolism and pretence of something, which mostly evokes the imaginative capacity of the children (Meins et al., 2013). In this play, children act various types of roles, which are not real and require high level of interpersonal skills. Fantasy play fertile the ground, where the ideas of the children are nurtured, flourished and scattered (Neville et al., 2016).

While memorizing my childhood memory, I remember that I used to play Fantasy play with my siblings and used to apply self-guided planning, negotiation and regulatory control towards imagining any situation of character. Such actions have strengthened the executive functions of my brain. It had also enhanced my communication skills through frequent communications with my playing partners. On the other hand, the pretending role of this play has built up my imagination and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, the power of human intellect collected through fantasy play has enhanced confidence to solve any issues in my practical life. It has also helped me to interpreting the symbolic presentation into different innovative ideas and concepts. Pretending play also enhanced my critical thinking process towards solving any complex real life issue. Moreover, the social and emotional skills gained through the fantasy play have actually extended my abilities towards identifying any significant social issue.

The cognitive theory of Piaget defines that cognition can be built into the children through playing different games. As per this theory, the repetition of experience in the plays can outline the cognitive structure of the children and this can sustain the mental equilibrium of the children (Rosi et al., 2016). Different types of experience through the games can loss the equilibrium and the cognitive structure of the children accommodate with new condition (Krcmar & Cingel, 2016). In this way, more structures of cognition are erected.

In respect to this theory, I can mention the play, which I used to play in my childhood. It used to play exploratory play in my childhood. In this play, I used to play with objects, which were new to me. Children mostly learn about the characteristic of the materials, which are new to them. They explore their surrounded physical environment whenever touch, smell, sight, sound and taste. This play immerses children in complex experience and enables them towards being aware thoughts and emotions. In this way, they can learn to discover the world from their perspective. Moreover, I used to explore new things about the objects. The exploration has explored my emotional environment and encouraged my curiosity, initiatives and problem solving skills. The exploration play has actually enhanced my cognitive structure of my brain through which I make different innovative ideas. I was quite interested in making queries regarding any new object, which has built up my problem solving skills.

Reference

Crain, W. (2015). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. Psychology Press.

Daly, L., & Beloglovsky, M. (2014). Loose parts: Inspiring play in young children. Redleaf Press.

Daniels, H. (2016). Vygotsky and pedagogy. Routledge.

Grace, R., Bowes, J., & Elcombe, E. (2014). Child participation and family engagement with early childhood education and care services in disadvantaged Australian communities. International Journal of Early Childhood, 46(2), 271-298.

Krcmar, M., & Cingel, D. P. (2016). Moral foundations theory and moral reasoning in video game play: using real-life morality in a game context. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 60(1), 87-103.

Leach, J., Howe, N., & Dehart, G. (2015). ‘An Earthquake Shocked Up the Land!’Children's Communication During Play With Siblings and Friends. Social Development, 24(1), 95-112.

Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Arnott, B., Leekam, S. R., & Rosnay, M. (2013). Mind?mindedness and theory of mind: Mediating roles of language and perspectival symbolic play. Child development, 84(5), 1777-1790.

Neville, T. J., Salmon, P. M., Read, G. J., & Kalloniatis, A. C. (2016). Play on or call a foul: testing and extending distributed situation awareness theory through sports officiating. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 17(1), 80-103.

Rosi, A., Cavallini, E., Bottiroli, S., Bianco, F., & Lecce, S. (2016). Promoting theory of mind in older adults: does age play a role?. Aging & mental health, 20(1), 22-28.

Runco, M. A. (2014). Creativity: Theories and themes: Research, development, and practice. Elsevier.

van Oers, B., (2013). Is it play? Towards a reconceptualisation of role play from an activity theory perspective. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 21(2), pp.185-198.

Ward, K. (2015). The Natural World as Content for Interconnection and Divergence of Pretense and Storytelling in Childrenis Play. Children’s Play, Pretense, and Story: Studies in Culture, Context, and Autism Spectrum Disorder, 227.