Social/Emotional Development

Preschoolers and Social-Emotional Development

Relationships with others

Preschoolers engage in pretend play with friends and use words and sentences to express their feelings and thoughts. Even though they may still need adult support to share toys and materials with friends, they improve on their own as time passes. Preschoolers also improve in their ability to understand and appropriately respond to their friends’ feelings. Children with healthy social-emotional development have a balance of all these components.

Self-awareness

Preschoolers improve their ability to control their bodies during different activities throughout the day (e.g., sitting at circle time or playing in the gym), take turns and have conversations with peers, acknowledge and use their own names and the names of others, and self-evaluate and know when they made appropriate or inappropriate choices.

Emotional regulation

Preschoolers display a variety of emotions in different ways. For example, they may say, “I’m upset!” They may match facial expressions to happy, mad, sad, or they may laugh when excited. At the same time, they improve their ability to manage their emotions to match the situation and environment and to control their emotions (e.g., separate easily from family members). Although preschoolers are better than toddlers at regulating emotions, they still need a great deal of help and practice developing these appropriate behaviors.

Independence

Preschoolers with healthy independence will follow predictable daily routines and activities in family child care, at home and outside the home, for example, at an outdoor playground. They may start identifying a favorite friend and ask that friend to play; independently play with toys and materials; and complete many self-care tasks, such as getting dressed, going to the bathroom, eating snacks, feeding themselves, or getting ready for bed. Independent preschoolers will also tell caregivers about their day and learn and use new vocabulary daily.

Emotional Literacy

Emotional literacy is children’s ability to label and talk about their own emotions or feelings, as well as the feelings and emotions of others. This is an essential component of social-emotional development because it helps children understand their own emotional experiences and, at the same time, helps them acknowledge and understand the emotional experiences of others. Emotional literacy helps children solve problems and regulate their emotions; these skills are essential for success in preschool and beyond. Children who label, talk about, and are aware of their emotions are more likely to focus on and engage in daily routines and activities and less likely to become easily frustrated, have excessive tantrums, or act impulsively.

Many children learn to identify and discuss emotions through interactions or conversations with responsive adults in the context of positive relationships and supportive environments. In our program, we will embed opportunities for social-skill development throughout the day. For example, we may share our emotions about events or experiences and encourage children to share their own emotions. We will also read books that discuss emotions or social interactions.

Supporting Preschool Children’s Social Emotional Development

Children learn social-emotional skills in the context of their relationships by watching, imitating and responding to the social behaviors of others. Children also learn from the ways others respond to their emotions. Social-emotional skills are closely connected to a child’s family, cultural background and early experiences. Children learn by interacting and forming relationships with members of their families, child care groups, schools, and communities.

Social-emotional learning begins in infancy, and adults are the most influential models for young children. When caregivers validate children’s feelings, address their needs, and are responsive and supportive, preschoolers are better able to communicate their needs and emotions and are more likely to demonstrate healthy social-emotional development.

Healthy social-emotional development is strongly associated with responsive caregiving. Responsive caregivers are supportive and positive, provide stimulating materials, play and engage with children, share events and experiences, follow children’s lead, and support children’s interests and learning. Responsive caregivers plan meaningful opportunities throughout the day to help children practice and learn social skills.

What we will do:

Preschool-age children in care need daily opportunities to participate in activities and routines that help them learn new social-emotional skills or practice existing skills in fun, stimulating, and supportive environments. We will purposefully use strategies throughout our day to support young children’s social-emotional development. Understanding developmental milestones is an important aspect of working with young children. Learning and understanding how preschoolers develop social-emotional skills and competence will help us foster their social-emotional learning and determine what kinds of experiences are most valuable. In our daily interactions with our preschoolers we will strive to:

Be responsive to children’s interaction attempts and build on what children say.
Engage in frequent, developmentally appropriate social interactions with children and adults throughout your daily experiences and routines.
Follow children’s leads, cues and preferences.
Include emotion words in conversations with children.
Make books available that discuss feelings and social interactions.
Ask children meaningful questions about their actions, interests, events and feelings.
Encourage children to use their words and talk to their peers when conflicts arise. We will use developmentally appropriate language and provide conversation models and cues for children to follow if they need help solving a problem.
Ensure that you are sensitive to children’s unique needs, experiences, and backgrounds.
Reach out to you, our children’s families and be responsive to your needs and preferences.