Children Observations

Parental and social involvement, including emotional support, a positive environment, financial stability, and active presence in a child's life, is crucial. Early childhood is a pivotal period that shapes a child's cognitive, social, and emotional growth, setting the foundation for their future well-being and success. During these formative years, children are highly influenced by their surroundings and the relationships they develop (Osborne & Ahinkorah, 2024). For example, a child can see their older sibling clean up their toys and then receive praise or a treat from a parent. The younger child learns that cleaning up can lead to positive attention. There can also be bad behaviors learned, where if one uses aggression to get their way, they may start using those strategies.

Growing up

With the brain being like a sponge at a child's young age, they're constantly observing the behavior of others such as their family, friends, teachers, or even people on social media. When a child watches someone do something and sees what the result is, they figure out if it's a good idea to do the same thing. If the person gets something out of it or something good, the child will most likely copy it.

Research suggests that regular activities, especially unstructured socializing, can explain why teens or kids change their focus on different types of bad behavior. Being exposed to certain opportunities can explain why teens or children might focus on one type of bad behavior at one time and switch to others later on. This gives us a clearer explanation for why this happens, in addition to other reasons like their local environment and the friends they hang out with. For example, one study suggests that when teens hang out with friends who do things like steal, vandalize, use drugs or alcohol, or act violently, they're more likely to do those things themselves (Hoeben et al., 2021). Some may see these activities or objects as rewards.

Overall, children learn by watching others and are more likely to repeat behaviors that are rewarded.

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