6.3 Socio-Emotional Development

• Play is the main agenda of the preschool years, it has a social dimension.
• Unoccupied - the child appears not to be playing but directs his attention on anything that interests him.
• Onlooker - the child spends time watching others play, a child may talk to them but does not enter into play with them.
• Solitary Play - the child starts to play on his own, a child seems not to notice other children playing nearby.
• Parallel Play - the child plays with toys similar to those near him, but only plays beside and not with them; no interaction takes place.
• Associate Play - the child plays with others, there is interaction among them, but no task assignment, rules & organization are agreed upon.
• Cooperative - the child plays with others bound by some agreed upon rules and roles, the goal is maybe to make something, play a game, or act out something.
• Through friendships, preschoolers are able to practice different social roles like being a leader, a follower, someone who takes risks and someone who helps out and comforts.
• Caregiving styles affect the socio-emotional development of the children.
• Caregivers refers to both parents and teachers and even other adults that care for the child.
• According to Baumrind there are determinants of styles of caregiving, the demandingness and responsiveness.
• Responsiveness refers to caregiver behaviors that pertain to expression of affection and communication.
• Demandingness refers to the level of control and expectations, involves discipline and confrontation strategies.
• Authoritative caregiving is characterized by high demandingness and high responsiveness.
• Permissive caregiving is characterized by low demandingness and high responsiveness.
• Authoritarian caregiving is characterized by high demandingness and low responsiveness.
• Negligent caregiving is characterized by low demandingness and low responsiveness.
• Four styles of caregiving according to Baumrind?

  Authoritative, Authoritarian, Negligent, Permissive
• In the early 1930’s, Mildred Parten did a study on children’s play behavior.