Abstract
Playing games is an integral and essential part of early childhood development and the following process of personal evolution. However, a closer look at the games that children play will reveal that, apart from providing chances for training their basic skills, these activities also create the premises for training the ability to interact socially and learn the key societal roles.
A study of children’s behavior within two different age groups and on different locations has shown that, in the course of playing outdoors, children acquire not only communicational, but also basic social skills, which affect their acceptance of certain gender and societal roles.
Introduction
Background: about the experiment
In order to define the patterns of interaction between children in the course of playing games, two different locations were chosen (the Maple Playground and a smaller local playground in Flushing, NY). Seven hours were spent on observing the behavior of the children playing in the specified locations, and corresponding notes were taken in the process.
Thesis statement
Though at the early stage of their development, children seem to be engaged in active games training their vestibular apparatus and basic physical skills with practically no regard for gender and age differences between the participants, older children tend to engage in the activities that allow them to accept specific social and gender roles, therefore, creating a specific mock “society,” and the types of games chosen for these activities contribute to accepting these roles.
The Choice of Games
According to the observation results, both younger children (Group A) and older girls (Group C) preferred playing group games, which do not have a leader; this stands in a sharp contrast to the Group B (older boys), where the choice of games was predetermined by the availability of the leader position or the prize. The fact that Group B eventually joins Group C may indicate surrender to the system of the modern society.
Identifying Gender Issues
It is quite peculiar that younger children did not seem to pay such a great deal of attention to the gender issue as the older children did. This can be explained with the help of the key tenets of Kohlberg’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory (Banerjee, 2005). According to the latter, gender identification is not innate– the process of a child identifying themselves with a specific gender occurs in the course of participating in social activities and, therefore, learning the specifics of the gender roles that are traditionally accepted in the society.
For instance, the fact that the Group C was playing dolls for the first half an hour shows that the girls were acquiring the skills of nurturing and “mothering” others, which the present-day toy industry continues to encourage by producing all kinds of plastic imitations of toddlers and infants.
The boys, on the other hand, chose a more “masculine” game, the goal of which was winning, being the best, etc., as a means of asserting their masculinity and training the qualities of leaders, which they will have to assume in order to become successful in the contemporary society.
At this point one must note, though, that the gender issue is a rather complicated concept, which cannot be viewed as solely the product of foisting societal norms on children (Hines, 2011). The aforementioned supposition is supported by the fact that the children on the playground did, in fact, play in mixed groups without much regard to their gender at some point.
Interaction
While the children from the Group A were eager to play together, B and C displayed the need to claim their gender specifics by splitting into male and female groups. It is noteworthy, though, that Group B finally allowed Group C to join them. The lonesome girl from the Group C is a graphic example of the fact that the interaction between the children was starting to be based on certain rules of their mini-society.
Curriculum
The lessons that the children have learned from the games that they played are quite obvious, yet quite different for each age group and gender. For the Group A, the key information concerned the necessity to compromise, share and communicate.
The lessons that Groups B and C have learned concern gender issues for the most part. Not all these lessons are positive, though. The girls (Group C) learn to accept the rules set by boys; Group B, in their turn, realizes that playing together is more exciting than having only boys in their team. Therefore, Group B learns an important lesson about diversity.
Games and Society
There is no need to stress the fact that the games, which children engage in, represent a projection of the basic social principles onto the children’s vision of the world. Games help shape the social skills that children will need to acquire in order to integrate into the society. It is quite peculiar that the games, which the children of the Groups B and C (the older groups) engaged in presupposed that the participants should comply with a specific hierarchy.
For instance, the king of the hill game, which the children played, represents a very rough structure of the society, with a leader and the helm and the subordinates in his/her command. More to the point, the fact that the both the younger and the older groups have an outcast displays a greater degree of societal structure acceptance among kids.
It is quite amazing that at this point, children accept the rules, by which adults play, without even questioning the ethical implications of these rules – the girl gets dismissed from playing with the rest of the children with no opportunities for a compromise or any chances for redeeming her status.
Younger children, however, seem to be more flexible, since they finally manage to find room for the youngest one. Therefore, largely, the games that older children play reflect the basic principles of the society that they live in, whereas among younger children, the societal norms concerning gender and roles do not make the basis for their games yet (Branscombe, Burcham, Castle & Surbeck, 2013).
A Look into the Future
As it has been stressed above, games affect the development of one’s personality greatly. Children choose the activities that will help them remember gender specific behavior and be able to follow it in the future. Hence, it can be assumed that, in the future, the children mentioned above will follow the stereotypical behavior patterns according to their gender as the society defines it.
This acceptance of behavioral patterns may cause major problems once these children start locating their identity and learn about their individuality. Being afraid of causing a conflict and being ostracized by the society, these children may be wearing socially accepted masks for the rest of their lives.
Reference List
Banerjee, R. (2005). Gender identity and the development of gender roles. In Ding, S. & Littleton, K. S. (eds.) Children’s personal and social development. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Branscombe, N. A., Burcham, J. G., Castle, K. & Surbeck, E. (2013). Early childhood curriculum — a constructivist perspective (2nd ed.).New York, NY: Routledge.
Hines, M. (2011). Gender development and the human brain.