Y156 Understanding Children Tma02
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TMA 02
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Even young children can be involved in decision making in the family and in schools
How can children be involved and what might make it difficult to involve them?
Task 1.
Who makes the decisions?… Who decides what a child should eat, What they wear or when they go to bed?. We would like children to gain confidence in decision making for later in life but how many good decisions can they make at an early age?. Here are some suggested ways in which we can involve children in making decisions in certain aspects of their young lives. Looking at first, the difficulties in helping them to make the right choices and then focusing on the ways in which we can involve them in everyday decisions.
If you asked a child what they would like for dinner you can pretty much guarantee the choice would sugar and chips! And to stay up late watching TV whilst eating it!. As we know these are the wrong choices for children and we need to help them realise this. In Rai and Flynn’s (2004) case study of Ryan, Ryan had problems going to and staying in bed. It was suggested to Jodie (Ryan’s mother) that she used a ‘Star chart’. This is a method based on the psychological term ‘behaviourism’ and in theory was to help Ryan associate his good behaviour with good outcomes (rewards). If he went to bed on time he’d receive a star and would not receive one if he played up. A good amount of stars gained would be rewarded and a lesser amount would lead to a ‘punishment’. These methods however have been criticized for being short lived which is what Jodie herself found to be true.
Alfie Kohn (1993) suggests that when faced with a problem (similar to Jodie’s with Ryan) we (as adults) should take a step back and consider his 3 C’s, content, collaboration and choice. Looking at the content, we should consider if...
Page 1/3
Even young children can be involved in decision making in the family and in schools
How can children be involved and what might make it difficult to involve them?
Task 1.
Who makes the decisions?… Who decides what a child should eat, What they wear or when they go to bed?. We would like children to gain confidence in decision making for later in life but how many good decisions can they make at an early age?. Here are some suggested ways in which we can involve children in making decisions in certain aspects of their young lives. Looking at first, the difficulties in helping them to make the right choices and then focusing on the ways in which we can involve them in everyday decisions.
If you asked a child what they would like for dinner you can pretty much guarantee the choice would sugar and chips! And to stay up late watching TV whilst eating it!. As we know these are the wrong choices for children and we need to help them realise this. In Rai and Flynn’s (2004) case study of Ryan, Ryan had problems going to and staying in bed. It was suggested to Jodie (Ryan’s mother) that she used a ‘Star chart’. This is a method based on the psychological term ‘behaviourism’ and in theory was to help Ryan associate his good behaviour with good outcomes (rewards). If he went to bed on time he’d receive a star and would not receive one if he played up. A good amount of stars gained would be rewarded and a lesser amount would lead to a ‘punishment’. These methods however have been criticized for being short lived which is what Jodie herself found to be true.
Alfie Kohn (1993) suggests that when faced with a problem (similar to Jodie’s with Ryan) we (as adults) should take a step back and consider his 3 C’s, content, collaboration and choice. Looking at the content, we should consider if...