Mehreen Alberts
While playing, children begin to take initiative and may attempt to feel out leadership roles and actions amongst peers 🙈 For example, a child may choose the roles for themselves or others within a game 🔥 This is the first step towards taking initiative 😎 When children make errors while trying to navigate these situations, guilt can set in. Trial and error is required to master the art of getting other people to agree without being too bossy. This can cause a child to feel guilty and to choose to be kind to others. It can lead to a child avoiding leading others or initiating games. [1]
Intuition versus guilt is all about controlling impulses and learning to cooperate. It is when children start seeing “how far they can push boundaries”. So the example I was given at school was that it’s time for a child to go to sleep but the child is watching TV. The child was told that they would give you 10 minutes more and then they should go to bed. And what are you seeing? You can still see the child watching television. So they’re going to see how far they can go by adding extra time. They will also be punished if they are too harsh. The guilt is created when the discipline is too harsh. It is the child’s ability to take responsibility for his or her actions without impeding on other people’s freedom. This was modified by Dantavius Sumbner on June 4, 2021 [2]
Sherena J. Socialsci.libretexts.org Please contact us for more details. Trust and autonomy from the past stages develop Initiative-mindedness is a willingness to be proactive or think up ideas. The children may be inspired to create a castle with the pillows from their living room sofa, or to open a lemonade stand on the street. Or to make a zoo and give tickets to anyone who wants to visit. They may simply want to do their own thing and get ready for bed. To reinforce taking initiative, caregivers should offer praise for the child’s efforts and avoid being critical of messes or mistakes. A five-year old’s smile when she comes out of the bathroom with clean teeth, pyjamas, and toothpaste is a far cry from soggy towels and toothpaste that have been left behind in the sink. 8. (We really appreciate Shakeem Neff’s advice). [3]
This stage is when children feel guilty if they are penalized or take negative action. Tracking the mud in the house to deliver the beautiful mud cake and placing it on the new couch is considered neutral until there’s a negative reaction. Erikson states that children at this stage feel guilty when they have a negative reaction. At this point, it is possible for guilt about a negative action to turn into remorse. The child realizes that his or her action has caused Mom or Dad to spend almost an hour cleaning up the mud and s/he feels badly that the initiative caused others “pain”. Thank you to Sotero Meeks. [4]
Refer to the Article
- https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/guilt/initiative-vs-guilt-a-stage-of-psychosocial-development/
- https://practicalpie.com/initiative-vs-guilt/
- https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/Book:_Child_Growth_and_Development_(Paris_Ricardo_Rymond_and_Johnson)/09:_Social_Emotional_Development_in_Early_Childhood/9.03:_Erikson-_Initiative_vs._Guilt
- https://sites.google.com/site/childrenslifeonline/home/screen-time/three-to-six-years-psychosocial-stage-3—initiative-vs-guilt
