Sunday, June 21, 2015

Collaborate Discussion: Development of Values in School aged Children


This week’s collaborate session covered school aged children ranging from 6- 12 years of age. During the discussion, we weighed the benefits and disadvantages of homeschooling a child. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that a homeschool setting doesn’t provide the social environment that children need to socially develop and build relationships. One of my peers made a comment of how a child may not learn how to interact with peers of the same age range and have the tendency to be antisocial. In my opinion, a child that is homeschooled may have issues collaborating in groups or working with a team later in life. Homeschooled children do not have the opportunity to work with other kids their age and will likely show difficulty in accepting and utilizing information that others have to offer. They may depend more on independent thinking and lack the insight offered by others. Another classmate mentioned that the benefits of homeschooling could depend on the urban or suburban area of the school. A co-worker of mine has decided to homeschool her school aged daughter because the school system in her area is not academically successful and does not foster further education.

Ugly Ted
Another part of the discussion was on the three common values among children (ages 6-11). I think that these values encourage children to bully others or accept bullying behaviors from others. Its interesting to think how a child won’t express to an adult figure that they are being bullied to avoid being called a tattletale. In some cases, children who speak up about their mistreatment from a peer or peers face harsher bullying than before they told an adult. I like the idea of using an “Ugly Ted”  teddy bear to teach children about tolerance, acceptance, and the differences among them. I think a child becomes more aware of how their behavior affects others when they are asked to put themselves in another’s shoes. I think this is a useful technique when working with adults as well.


Children aim to be similar to their peers but it is obvious that there are some apparent differences that might separate a child from their peers. This made me reflect on my adolescents and the friends I made at school. It is true that children, at such a young age, begin to identify themselves with peers of similar backgrounds. They also begin to call the friends that they share the most interests with as their best friend. I remember making clubs with girls in my class where we shared a common in boys, the Spice Girls, and glittery pens.