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Children are unique. They are individuals and no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually, Because children are unique, even if there are common needs and characteristics that children of a particular age or stage of development share, they must be understood by their parents and teachers in their uniqueness, and their individuality must be respected.

The benefits of treating every child as unique individual:

Help to develop their personalities, talents and abilities irrespective of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties, disabilities or gender. This guidance helps adults to understand and support each individual child’s development pathway.

Make child responsible for this own actions, giving him the independence so many seek, typically acting out as teenager while trying to assert his independence. Listen to your advice and reasoning and take the more responsible choice.

Treat them as equals in every aspect of your daily life and you will be rewarded with honest, caring children that make good choices that celebrate them for the unique individuals they are.

Babies and children are vulnerable and become resilient and confident if they have support from others, also receive the chance to learn about other cultures and develop critical socialization skills that will serve them well.

By treat each child as unique individual we designing an environment that positively influencing all areas of children’s development: physical, social /emotional, and cognitive. Language and learning are nurtured in an environment that values and plans appropriate opportunities which can support the development of behaviours that are valued in our society, such as cooperation and persistence. An aesthetically pleasing space can develop a child’s appreciation for the beautiful world around them.

Help children and youth become full participating citizens of society and help to build a sense of community.

Question 2:

Describe how the principles of anti-discriminatory practice can be applied to practice.

Anti-Discriminatory Practice is an action taken to prevent discrimination against people on the grounds of race, class, gender, disability etc (see entry above). Anti-discriminatory practice promotes equality by introducing anti-discrimination policies in the workplace (i.e. the care settings.), Also known as anti-oppressive practice. All employees in a care setting should promote this practice in the workplace as it is way to combating prejudice, in doing so they are trying to eradicate discrimination and promote equality for service users and for staff.

Kind of discrimination:

1.Overt discrimination

this is when someone is openly discriminating against an individual, an example of this is a health and social care setting paying a male nurse more money than a female nurse for the same job, directly because of their gender. In the health care sector, overt discrimination is more likely to be seen in the way a patient is treated by staff.

2.Covert discrimination

Covert discrimination can be best described as being hidden away. An example of this is three individuals applying for the same job as a nurse; they should all be shortlisted using the same criteria. However, if the shortlist panel decided not to call someone for an interview based on their name or area they lived in, this would be covert discrimination.

Children have a right to non-discrimination. This means that all children, without exception, should enjoy their rights to effective protection.

The rights of all children and young people are stated in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). The UK government ratified the treaty in 1991 and must ensure that the rights of children in the UK are protected through law. These rights are extensive and include the right to education and the right for children to have their views respected, No child will be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, religion, colour or creed. Wherever possible those designated disabled or disadvantaged will be considered for a place, taking into account their individual circumstances and the ability of the nursery to provide the necessary standard of care

The promotion of anti-discriminatory practice should underpin all work in settings. It is not sufficient to have policies in place which make statements about anti-discriminatory practice or just to pay lip service to it, they must demonstrate anti-discriminatory practice. They must also monitor the ways that positive practice impacts on the education and well-being of the children and young people. As a member of the care setting team we should share responsibility to ensure that anti-discriminatory practice is promoted, and must also recognise when discrimination is happening.

The Nursery will strive to ensure that all services and projects are accessible and Relevant to all groups and individuals in the community within targeted age groups.

We will strive to promote equal access to services and projects by taking practical steps such as ensuring access to disabled people and producing material in relevant languages and media.

It is important to practice anti -discrimination to ensure that everyone is included and has the opportunity to fully access any areas of learning within the framework. Providing an inclusive environment for children enables them to develop self esteem and confidence. It shows them that they are valued and respected as unique individuals regardless of any additional needs, family and ethnic background, eliminate unlawful discrimination; promote equal opportunities; and promote good relation.

The Nursery and staff are committed to:

Encourage positive role models, displayed through toys, imaginary play and activities that promote non-stereotyped images. Books will be selected to promote such images of men and women, boys and girls.

All children will be encouraged to join in activities, i.e. dressing up, shop, home corner, dolls, climbing on large apparatus, bikes, etc.

Regularly review child-care practice to ensure the policy is effective

Ensure that individuals are recruited, selected, trained and promoted on the basis of occupational skill requirements. In this respect, the Nursery will ensure that no job applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, cultural or national origin or sexuality, which cannot be justified as being necessary for the safe and effective performance of the work or training for the work

Question 3:

Describe why it is important to plan activities that meet the individual needs of children.

Children of different ages have different needs. These needs are based on each child’s stage of growth and development. Remember that two children of the same age can be similar in some ways but different in other ways. Try to understand the unique characteristics of each child. This helps children to feel good about them. This will also help you plan activities that are developmentally appropriate for each child. Appropriate activities help children learn and are lots of fun. The planning process helps to set goals for children and aims for staff. It is directed at what children need and defines how the practitioners supporting them are going to provide for this effectively. Planning also means the environment is kept fresh and children are given new choices in their play.

The importance of planning activates meeting children’s individual’s needs is:

Promote development. Some children develop and learn faster than others and it is partly our responsibility to ensure all children’s needs are cared for no matter what stage of development they are at.

Identify the exact learning needs of children by carrying out observations which can show us clearly what stage of development each individual child is at, to compare each child against milestones for that age and stage of development and then we begin to plan to meet the learning needs of certain children who are not meeting milestones and also plan to accommodate for those children who are over excelling the milestones. Children will develop better if there are adequate numbers of staff/adults present, taking into account the correct staff ratios for each particular age of children. With more hands on around the setting children will benefit greatly so

Plan how many adults/staff should be present for a particular day/activity, by doing so there is a higher chance of meeting all of the children’s needs.

Have successful planning that will support children’s independence, and a well organised environment that will make it easy for the children to find and to put away activities of their choosing. This doesn’t mean rigidity, lack of choice or the loss of spontaneity for children. The well-designed and carefully structured environment will be planned in a way that means those working with children are clear and confident about developmental, play or learning needs, and what and how they are providing for these needs .

Effective planning means that contingencies can be dealt with easily, so staff know where and how they can source materials quickly and according to the required need of the child, Good planning allows opportunities for change to occur and provides a backdrop of support for children’s all-round development.

Question 4:

Explain how the practitioner can promote children’s physical and emotional well-being within an early years setting.

When children have positive early experiences with physical activity they are more likely to enjoy being active later in life and this will contribute to their long term physical, social and psychological health. Children benefit from having a wide choice of gross motor experiences that are non-competitive and focussed on having fun.

The role of the practitioner in supporting children’s physical and emotional well-being

To provide a balanced programme of activities to support the physical development and well being of the children

To provide sufficient space (indoors and outdoors), time and resources to allow effective physical development

Providing material and equipment for the improvement of fine motor skills

Providing cooking, sewing, woodwork and other activities to enhance hand-eye coordination.

To provide time, opportunity and support for children with motor impairments or physical disabilities to develop their physical skills. If appropriate this will include working with outside agencies such as physiotherapists

The programme of work should include some or all of the following types of activity:

Movement:

1. Group games involving running, jumping and hopping.

2. Group games involving movement followed by stopping.

3. Moving to music.

4. Balancing activities and games.

5. Play on a range of landscapes.

Sense of Space:

Role plays activities giving children the opportunity to create pathways.

2. Giving the children the opportunity to create their own spaces (e.g. tent from blankets).

3. Group games that involve following or imitating.

4. Encourage games and activities that involve sharing resources with other children.

5. Discussions about body parts and bodily activity .

6. Singing action songs (e.g. Head, shoulders, knees and toes).

Health and Bodily Awareness

1. Discussions about keeping safe, fit and healthy.

2. Discussions about eating a healthy diet.

3. Encouraging children to make decisions by choosing between different types of food.

4. Making and eating food from a range of cultures that can form part of a healthy diet.

5. Providing opportunities for children to talk about health issues.

When we talk about emotional development, we are referring to children’s growing ability to:

Identify and understand their own feelings

Accurately read and understand the feelings of others

Manage the way they feel

Shape the way they behave

Develop empathy for others, and

Build and keep good relationships with friends, family and others.

From the time they are born, children quickly develop their abilities to experience and express different emotions, as well as their capacity to cope with and manage a variety of feelings.

To support the children’s emotional well-being practitioner roles are:

Work in partnership with parents in order to find out about the child’s experiences, culture and home background, to build up a profile of each child, using information supplied by parents as the starting point.

Being warm and affectionate towards them.

Giving them the opportunity to express how they feel , Help the children gain an understanding of their feelings through the use of books, board games, puppets, interactive storytelling or role-plays and Help children to understand the difference between their own and other people’s feelings.

Making them feel secure and valued

Giving children time and attention to adjust to new situations

Observe the child’s nonverbal behaviour for clues as to how he or she is feeling.

Problem solve with the child by encouraging him or her to think of options and decide what constructive action to take

Keep lines of communication open.

Traditional Family Life Cycle:

Traditionally the life cycle, illustrated a progression of stages through which families passed; it comprised stages, starting from bachelorhood (single), to married (couple), to family growth (parenthood: birth of children), to family contraction (grown up children leaving home for studies or employment) to post parenthood (all children leaving home) to dissolution (single survivor: death of one of the spouses). Based on these, the traditional FLC can be synthesized into five basic stages, which may be mentioned as follows:

Stage I: Bachelorhood: Young single adult (male/female) living apart from parents and into a livelihood.

Stage II: Honeymooners: Young married couple.

Stage III: Parenthood: Married couple with at least one child living with them at home.

Stage IV: Postparenthood: An older married couple with no children living at home. Children have left home for studies or for employment.

Stage V: Dissolution: One surviving spouse.

These stages, consumption patterns and the product preferences are explained below:

1. Stage I: Bachelorhood: The stage comprises a young single adult (male/female) living apart from parents and into a livelihood. While incomes are low as they have just started a career, financial burdens and responsibilities are also low. As such bachelors have a high level of disposable income.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: They tend to spend their money on house rent, basic furniture and kitchen equipment. They are recreation oriented and like to spend on purchase of automobiles (particularly motor bikes), travel (trekking and holidays), adventure sports (motor racing, bungee jumping etc.), health clubs, clothes and fashion accessories.

Implications for Marketers: Marketers realize that bachelors possess large disposable income; they find in them an attractive segment for sports, travel, entertainment and fun.

2. Stage II: Honeymooners: The stage comprises a newly married couple and continues till the first child is born. One of the spouses may be working or both may be working. They are financially better off than they would be in the next stages. If both are working, income is higher. If both are working, the couple has discretionary income at hand that permits a good lifestyle, and provides for purchases or savings.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: They tend to spend on creating a home for themselves. They spend on cars, furniture, curtains and upholstery, electronics, kitchen appliances and utensils, and vacations.

Implications for Marketers: They form an attractive segment for the marketer as they form the highest purchase rate amongst segments. The highest average purchase of durables takes place in this stage.

3. Stage III: Parenthood: The stage comprises married couples with children. This stage extends for about a long 20-25 year period; and could be further broken up into three stages, viz., Full Nest I, Full Nest II and Full Nest III. Throughout these stages, the size and structure of the family gradually changes, so does income and expenses with varying priorities. The financial expenses increase rapidly with children being born in Full Nest I and gradually decrease as children become independent and self-supporting as one reaches Full Nest III.

Full Nest I: The youngest child in the family is six or below.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: While liquidity of cash is low, expenses are high. The family spends on baby food, diapers, medicines for cough and cold, doctor visits, child toys and games, school admissions and fees and insurance policies. There are increased expenses on child care.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, purchasing is at the peak, and so this is an attractive segment for the marketer. The children in the family begin to impact family purchases, and are a huge potential for future.

Full Nest II: The youngest child in the family is six or above. Generally the stage comprises children aged 6-12 years.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: Financial position gets better as one begins to rise up the ladder. If the wife is also working, children are aˆ?latchkey kids.aˆ? The family spends on food, clothes for children, education of children, insurance policies and investments. They also pay for medical expenses and particularly, dental treatment. They go in for deals; buy larger-size packages, and economy packs. For example, junk food, fashion clothing and accessories, video games etc. are prime demands.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, purchasing is still at the peak, and so this is also an attractive segment for the marketer. The children, as also teenagers continue to impact family purchases. The latchkey kids are a potential for home delivered junk food like pizzas and burgers.

Full nest III: They are older married couples with dependent and/or independent children but staying together at home. Children reach the higher educational level; one of them may start earning too.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: The family income continues to increase and so do expenses. The family continues to spend on food, clothes for teenagers, higher education of children, and also repeat purchase of durables that were bought in honeymooning stage or Full Nest I. The family buys new furniture, electronic goods and appliances and cars. Thus there is high average purchase of durables. The family also invests in real estate and property and/or flats. They continue to spend on medical expenses, particularly dentists and visit general physicians for regular checkups.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, income begins to increase as one of the children begins to earn. As expenses see a rise, the stage offers a potential for marketers.

4. Stage IV: Postparenthood: This is a stage that occurs once children have left home. They leave home first for education, and then for employment. As they complete their education, and find employment, they gradually leave home one by one, thus, leaving the nest. Thus, this stage has also been broken into two stages, viz., Empty Nest I and Empty Nest II. As one moves across Empty Nest I and II, the size and structure of the family changes (quite similar to the Parenthood stage and the Full Nest I, II and III).

Empty Nest I: This is a stage that occurs when at least one of the children has left home. He/she has completed education, taken up a job and has left home to start his/her home. He/she is independent and can manage on own. While children are managing to start up on their own, parents are still working.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: The family size gradually begins to shrink. Parents are still earning; expenses gradually reduce, and so there is highest level of savings and disposable income at hand. The family spends on food, instalments for real estate/house, higher education of the dependent children, and, medical expenses on dentist, physiotherapy and heart. They have leisure time in hand, and watch television, movies, and may even go on a vacation.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, the couple beings to again have disposable income in hand. Financial responsibilities towards children begin to decrease. This stage offers potential for marketers who are involved in providing services like leisure, travel and holiday.

Empty Nest II: In this stage, all the children have left home, and the couple has retired from occupation. They live on pension and other social security investments. If health permits, they take up part-time jobs.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: The couple has higher disposable incomes because of savings and investments, and they have fewer expenses. They decide to spend on all that they had been thinking to spend on but had not been able to because of familial responsibilities. They spend money on food, travel and holidays, watch TV and form hobby clubs. They refurnish their home or may even move to newer homes after retirement. Medical expenses also see a rise. However, for those older retired couples who do not have much income from adequate savings and investments, the situation is much different. There is a sharp drop in their income.

Implications for Marketers: The stage is lucrative for those involved in the entertainment industry. Many industries provide special discounts in travel and stay as aˆ?Senior Citizen benefits, for example, hotels, airlines and railways. Banks and financial institutions also have special facilities for those above 60, especially higher rates of interest on deposits.

5. Stage V: Dissolution: This stage in the FLC occurs when one of the couple dies, and leaves behind the other surviving spouse.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: When one of the spouses is still earning, or earns money from savings and investments, things are little easier. However, if he/she is not earning, he/she follows a lifestyle that is economical. The primary expenditure is on medicines, checkups with doctors and restrictive diet.

Implications for Marketers: The stage is characteristic of a widow/widower with lower income and least shopping and expenses.

Modifications to the FLC:

With changes in our society, a change in the traditional Family Life Cycle and the various stages through which it progressed earlier. There are various forms like single; late marriages; divorced (with/without children); dual income, no kids, live-ins etc. Consumer researchers have thus brought about changes in the traditional FLC, so as to reflect changes in the family and lifestyle arrangements. Broadly speaking households may be classified as family households and non-family households (single individual or live-ins). Each of these family types has varying features and characteristics, which also get exhibited in their buying patterns and consumption expenditure.

Family life cycle of Dominos Pizza

Bachelorhood: Dominos pizza does not come under this stage because the income a person is very low and have to spend their money on house rent, basic furniture and kitchen equipment.

Honeymooners: Dominos pizza comes under this stage because they tend to spend their money more.

Parenthood: Dominos pizza also comes into this stage because in this the family income increases and then family continues to spend on food, clothes etc.

Post parenthood: Dominos pizza comes under this stage because family is small but wants doing expenses.

Dissolution: Dominos pizza does not come under this stage because their primary expenditure is on medicines, checkups and doctors.

Family life cycle of Mobile Phones

Bachelorhood: Mobile phones come under this stage because the income a person is very low but they have to spend their money on automobiles, clothes etc.

Honeymooners: Mobile phones come under this stage because they tend to spend their money more.

Parenthood: Mobile Phones also come into this stage because in this the family income increases and then family continues to spend on food, clothes, accessories etc.

Post parenthood: Mobile phones come under this stage because family is small but wants doing expenses.

Dissolution: Mobile Phone does not come under this stage because their primary expenditure is on medicines, checkups and doctors.

Family life cycle of Mutual Funds

Bachelorhood: Mutual Funds does not come under this stage because the income a person is very low but they have to spend their money on automobiles, clothes etc.

Honeymooners: Mutual Funds come under this stage because they tend to spend their money more.

Parenthood: Mutual Funds also come into this stage because in this the family income increases and then family continues to spend on food, clothes, accessories etc.

Post parenthood: Mutual Funds come under this stage because family is small but wants doing expenses.

Dissolution: Mutual Funds come under this stage because their primary expenditure is on medicines, checkups and doctors and spend for future stability.

Understanding child development means that we as carers and parents can understand skills and typical behaviours of children within our care, providing an environment which is nurturing and one that will foster growth. Laura Berk (2000) provides a simple definition of child development; “a field of study devoted to understanding all aspects of human growth and change from conception through adolescence.” (Berk: 2000, p4). This paper will look at three important theories of child development that you as a teacher or parent should know in order to understand the changes that take place from birth to adulthood.

When we talk about child development we refer to three stages called development areas;

– Physical development involves the growth and change in a person’s body and body functions. In this domain we look at the physiological and motor development as well as the influences of health, illness and nutrition.

– Cognitive development refers to the growth and change of a person’s ability to process information, solve problems and gain knowledge. In this area we consider the study of brain development, memory, learning, thinking, language and creativity.

– Social-emotional development involves the growth and change of our interactions with others and our feelings. Included in this area is the study of relationships, emotions, personality and moral development. Whilst we discuss each area of development separately it is important to realise that they do overlap. One domain can influence the other.

Interest in the field of child development began early in the 20th-century. (ref) Many theories have been put forward to explain why and how children develop. Theorist Jean Piaget played a major influence on the way we understand children. He explained children’s development in terms of their cognitive development in a theory known as Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget believed that children think differently from adults, arguing that it’s not that children know less than adults but their thinking skills are qualitatively different. (ref) Many of his ideas came from observing his own children.

Piaget was convinced that intellect grows through processes he termed assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation refers to using existing mental patterns in new situations. (ref) In accommodation, existing ideas are modified to fit new requirements. Thus, new situations are assimilated to existing ideas, and new ideas are created to accommodate new experiences. In his theory children mature through a series of distinct stages in intellectual development.

– Sensorimotor (0-2years): Piaget believed that an infant is born with no way of making sense of the world. Infants use reflexes which act on the world in specific ways so that the child gradually adapts to the world. Motor movements are seen as the basis for the eventual development of intelligence. These slowly become separated from motor activity as the child learns to represent objects, actions and thoughts through play and language. According to Piaget, object permanence emerges during infancy. This relates to the understanding that objects continue to exist even though they are out of sight.

– Preoperational (2-7 years): Piaget describes toddler’s thinking as illogical. This is due to two main characteristics of their thinking processes; egocentricism and centation. Piaget sees young children’s thinking as egocentric; meaning they can only see things from their point of view. They cannot take into account the ideas or needs of others. Due to their stage of cognitive development their thinking is not yet flexible enough to consider more than one aspect of a given situation. They are now in a stage of self-centred thinking. (ref). Centration is the term Piaget uses to describe young children’s tendency to focus their attention on a single aspect of a situation or object. This is where Piaget’s experiment for the conservation of volume. This stage of development also describes toddlers having improved memory skills, problem solving skills and begin to understand concepts; for example, words such as ‘big’ and ‘small’, colours and the ability to recite numbers. (ref) As children progress into pre-school, children practise mental representations by using mental imagery and language symbols. (Ref)

– Concreter Operational (7-12years): The typical school aged child is entering this stage of development. Children begin to think logically however, they tend to need concrete objects to help them solve problems rather than being able to use abstract ideas. (ref). Piaget would describe the school age child as less egocentric. According to his theory a child is now able to view the world and themselves from other perspectives. (ref) Children at this stage have a longer attention span, a better concept of time and distance and their ability to remember improves.

– Formal Operational (12-15years): Children at this stage break away from concrete objects and thinking is based more on abstract principles, such as ‘honour’ or ‘democracy’. (ref). Full adult intellectual ability is attained during this stage. For Piaget, the development of scientific reasoning is the pinnacle of development. (Vialle, Lysaght, and Verenikina: 2008, p55). At this stage older adolescents can comprehend math, physics and other abstract systems. (ref).

Some critics have faulted Piaget’s theory on several grounds but mostly for its vagueness. Some would say that Piaget’s theory has limited our perception of children’s capabilities- particularly in the pre-school years. (ref). Others may say there has been too much focus on what children can’t do rather than what they can. According to Siegler (2004) children continuously gain specific knowledge; they do not undergo stage like leaps in general mental ability. (more)

However, Piaget’s work has encouraged us to see children’s cognitive skills as being different from those of adults. His theory is valuable for understanding how children think. If we understand how children think and learn we can provide a stimulating environment that will support their learning. Using Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, a teacher or parent’s role is to provide the stimulation and observe carefully to see when to step in and interact or change experiences (ref). (125 more)

While Piaget stressed the role of maturation in cognitive development, Lev Vygotsky focused on the impact of socio-cultural factors. His Socio-cultural theory of cognitive development saw that social interaction and language has a major influence on the development of children’s thinking. Vygotsky places great importance on the tole of significant adults such as teachers, parents and also peers.

-The zone of proximal development: Like Piaget, Vygotsky believed that children actively seek to discover new principles. However there is emphasis that many of a child’s most important discoveries are guided by these significant adults. (ref). Vygotsky realises that some tasks can be beyond a child’s reach. The child is close to having the mental skills needed to do the task, but it may be slightly too complex to be mastered alone. The zone of proximal development means children learn with the guidance and assistance of those within their environment. Parents, teachers or other sensitive caregivers will know that children will need assistance, guiding the child to support them in the learning process.

Vygosky argued that children’s thinking is highly influenced by interactions and conversations with other peoples. If we want to understand how children think and learn, Vygotsky proposes that we need to observe them when they are relating with others. (ref).

Vygotsky proposed that language plays a critical role in learning. He noted that preschoolers often talk to themselves as they complete activities and tasks. He called this Private speech. According to Vygotsky, private speech enables children to talk through problems (ref).

Erik Erikson proposed a theory of development that focuses on the emotional and social aspects of development and how these impact on the overall development of the person from infancy to old age. (ref). He called it a Psychosocial theory of development focusing on the social experiences we have in life that shape our psychological make- up. Erikson was a student of Sigmund Freud and believed that the social interactions an individual experiences has a greater influence on development. (ref). Erikson identified eight stages of development over the entire human lifespan, each stage marked by a crisis. If each crisis is resolved in a positive way then the child would develop high self esteem and was more likely to respond to the next crisis in a positive way, developing a healthy personality. If the crisis was resolved in a negative way then it was likely the child would develop low self esteem and have difficulty resolving future crisis. (ref). His theory, particularly the first four stages hold vital considerations for you as a teacher or parent, ensuring that young children develop and maintain a positive sense of emotional wellbeing.

-Stage one (0-1 years) Trust vs Mistrust: According to Erikson, a critical emotional struggle in infancy is between trust and mistrust. Emotionally healthy babies come to understand they have nurturing, responsive caregivers who meet their basic needs. They view the world as safe and enter into trusting relationships with caregivers and later, other individuals. However, a degree of mistrust is also important to keep infants safe from harm. But for the most part, the emotionally healthy baby is trusting of the world. (ref) A critical part of achieving trust from Erikson’s view is the ability of infants to come to know and develop an emotional tie with caregivers; also known as attachment. Mary Ainsworth described attachment as “the affectional tie that one person forms to another specific person, binding them together in space and enduring over time” (Ainsworth: 1973).

– Stage two: (1-3 years) Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: Once toddlers have developed a sense of trust with significant adults and understand their basic needs will be met, they are willing to venture away from the safety of parents and caregivers. We see this as striving for control over their environment. (ref). Children express their growing self control by climbing, touching, exploring and trying to do things for themselves (Coon & Mitterer: 2007). Offering support, achievable tasks and time, children are more likely to experience success and thus feel autonomous and develop feelings of positive self-esteem. (ref). However, if we are impatient, provide tasks that are too difficult or become unsupportive with their efforts, children will develop feelings of shame and doubt about their abilities, resulting in low self esteem.

– Stage three: (3-5 years) Initiative vs Guilt: In this psychosocial theory of development, Erikson saw the preschool years as a time when children develop a sense of initiative. Preschoolers develop an increasing sense of their own ability and have a desire to make things happen. Through play, children learn to make plans and carry out tasks. Parents can reinforce initiative by giving children freedom to play, ask questions, use imagination and choose their own activities. (ref). When encouraged, this sense of initiative will support the development of high self esteem. However, when preschoolers receive negative feedback, prevent play or punished for trying to plan and make things happen they will develop a sense of guilt, thus developing low self esteem. (ref.)

-Stage Four (6-12 years) Industry vs Inferiority: Middle childhood is the time to resolve the crisis of industry versus inferiority, according to Erikson. Primary school years are a child’s ‘entrance into life’, where children begin to learn skills valued by society. His theory states that as children gain positive feedback from developing skills required for their particular culture, they will develop a sense of industry if they win praise for productive activities such as building, painting, cooking, reading and studying. This high self esteem will motivate children to challenge new tasks. However, if children receive negative feedback and have trouble developing skills and a sense of inferiority will arise, resulting in low self esteem and less motivation to try new tasks. (160 more)

Early childhood educators have long recognized the importance of play in infants and toddlers lives. Play is a strong feature which has meaningful learning practices. Play is embedded in and threaded throughout the New Zealand early childhood curriculum called. Te WhA?riki: He whA?riki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood Curriculum. This report will be discussing quality play as curriculum for infants and toddlers and will show the importance of play which supports children’s learning and development and will examine the value of play and how play promotes infants and toddlers to learn and develop. This report will also explain how Te WhA?riki supports play as indicators of meaningful learning and together what is my role in facilitating a play-based curriculum with my beliefs and philosophy of play.

Rationale

Piaget describes three cognitive stages of play. He explains that in the first sensorimotor practice play, Infants and toddlers experiment with bodily sensation and motor movements with objects and people. My personal philosophy is making things interesting for the infants and toddlers I believe that pushing and grasping happens during their play times and through doing this over and over again the children learn that for example balls roll away and through this they experience the sensation and pleasures of movement and my philosophy is that play is natural and important for children. Vygotsky stated that “the value of play is to promote children’s physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional development”(Gonzalez-Mena, 2009, p.72). By playing with blocks and boxes children gain to master object permanence. Piaget states that retrieving hidden objects reveals that infants have begun to master object permanence, the understanding that objects continues to exist when out of sight. (Berk, 2010). According to Gonzalez-Mena (2009) “a main ingredient of any infant or toddler program should be play”(p.72). Play is natural for infants and toddlers and it should be an important use of their time. Piaget indicates play as the nature, built- in way to contribute children to accumulate learning experiences for their development (Dockeet & Fleer, 1999). My own belief for play is giving infants and toddlers the freedom to play and extend on their interests while providing them with interesting resources to play with. Children develop eye-hand co-ordination from manipulation with toys. Vygotsky describes play is always a social experience even when they are engaged in solitary play as the children draw on themes, experiences and roles that have social originality (Berk & Winsler, 1995). Play also provides rich experiences for children to develop their language, social and emotional skills (Berk & Winsler, 1995). For example, when children pretend to be mothers, they become sensitive to other’s needs and feelings because they get the knowledge about how their mothers care for them. Therefore they need to control their emotions to show their love and kindness to accomplish their roles. During play, all children need to use language, gestures, and symbolic objects to express their interests and feelings, like “I am tired”, or sit nicely on your highchair, Children may also pretend to use blocks as imaginary cakes to feed their babies. Through his play experience children learn their own capabilities and the way to understand themselves by social behavior such as sharing and taking turns, co-operating, using manners and language, emotional management, the nature of social rules and the way of making friends and feel part of a group and learn how to live and work in groups. Therefore, children improve their language communication and negotiation skills, as well as gaining the development of imagination and creation (Jalongo, 2004). I believe that even when the children disagree on who gets to be the baby, they are honing their social skills. Play is extremely beneficial and children have many opportunities to expand their own world and through play children are learning all the time.

Aspect One: Group Sizing and age span during play for infants and toddlers.

Larger groups tend to be over stimulating

According to Gonzalez -Mena (2009), As larger groups are overly stimulating the quiet children usually get ignored and it is harder for the children to really get into their play, So a strategy that will be useful is to make sure that all children get to have their turn to play and teachers can encourage children to turn take and scaffold them during their play.

Arthur, Beecher, Docket , Farmer, and Death (2007) states ” through scaffolding, those with expertise in a particular area ,such as parents or teachers, provide the framework of support that enables the children to try out new ideas, so as to lead them to greater understanding” (p.95).

Mixture of Ages

As some play programs work well with a mix of ages others work well with the same age group. In this case with a mix of infants and toddlers it is best to protect the ones who cannot move around to the ones that can move. I can do this by fencing a portion of the room for the children that are immobile. It is best to not keep the children in playpens or cribs.

Space for preschoolers and toddlers

Children need space to move around as they need room to stretch. They need the space to interact with adults who share the floor space. Arthur et al. (2007) discusses that “recent research exploring children’s social play has encompassed not only how children play with each other but also the nature and quality of social interactions, interactions among adults and children, the influence of children’s social and cultural context, and the role of popular culture in play” (p.100).

White, O’Malley, Toso, Rockel , Stover, Ellis (2007) explains that “The position of a child within a powerful social vision is articulated within Te WhA?riki’s goals: all children will grow up as confident and competent learners, healthy in mind and body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the sense that they make a valued contribution to society (Ministry of Education,1996,p.9).

As sometimes the mixture is toddlers and preschools. It is important to make sure that the toddlers are protected from the equipment they aren’t mature enough to play with.

Aspect Two: Environments for infants and toddlers to play.

Environmental factors that influence play

Careful considerations need to happen when giving space for children to play as the age span and group size matters.

Educators need to think about how the room is appropriate for infants and toddler for this to happen be to set the environment up and what the space needs. There should be choices that need to be encouraged. Choice depends on the philosophy of the centre and the age of the children .Culture also has an influence to the environment of play. Rogoff (2003) notes that participation and play for children is how the children “change some of these routines and rituals through their participation. Through participating in play children learn the structure and cultural expectations of events. For example, participating in play conversations facilitates an awareness of the nature of conversations (such as turn taking, speaking and listening) ” (p.102).

Setting up environments for play

It is best for a caregiver to provide structure by doing this the environment gets structured to a play environment.

Caregivers must set up an environment that has a good deal of undesirable behavior.

For example if a child is not allowed to play in the kitchen it is a good idea to put a gate across the access.

For infants and toddlers educators must make sure that everything that is in the environment to be touchable and mouth able which means that the play object is clean and safe to put in their mouths as infants and toddlers learn through mouthing. Te WhA?riki (1996) states “toddlers have access to an increasing range of playthings that can enhance both gross and fine motor skills” (p.87).

It is good to set up the right number of toys with providing the right number of choices and let the children find special ways to combine their toys and material. Which are soft and hard that will develop their fine and gross motor activity.

Hygiene and gross motor activity for infants and toddlers.

Making sure that the toys are sanitized time to time is important .Children should not be getting restricted to their natural inclinations. Ailwood (2003) describes such play as a “natural, intrinsic and free, and progressivism’s version of ‘free-play”.

Providing gross motor activity is important inside as much as outside play. Infants and toddlers should be in an environment where they get to roll and slide and climb and also run. The area should be like a gym that is set up for active play.

Aspect Three: Caregivers creating curriculum out of play for infants and toddlers.

Safety as an overarching theme

Setting up an environment that put safety a primary considerate is good so that the children are free to explore and discover. Te WhA?riki (1996)states that “safe things are provided to assist infants to move, for example, something to hold on to, to balance against, or to pull them up on” (p.87).

Caregivers encouraging interactions and then stepping back

It is important to make sure that the caregiver’s interactions are encouraging for facilitating play for infants and toddlers. It is also important to support problem solving between children so they get to see themselves as capable children.

Observing is a way to understand each individual child and each situation to promote the children’s learning. Ailwood (2003) states “the process of play is characterized by ‘play as learning which maintains is the result of the legacy of developmental psychology with its associated truths.”

Adult Roles in Infant-Toddler Play

Caregivers can create curriculum out of play by giving the children their own freedom to play and also by helping them pursue their own special interests and adults should extend on their interests .Adults should also provide fun and colourful play resources.

While children are playing it is important to encourage child to child interactions and encourage youngsters to come and learn such valuable skills and how the children can resolve conflicts. It is important to step back until needed too. A caregiver should always know when to intervene and become sensitive. Te WhA?riki (1996) discusses “toddlers are encouraged to develop skills at their own rate and to know and understand their abilities and limitations. Adults wait to let toddlers indicate that they need assistance rather than assuming that they will” (p.87).

Timing is crucial for infants and toddlers play .When adults step in too soon. Te WhA?riki (1996) states that “toddlers have opportunities for active exploration with the support, but not the interference e, of adults.” Valuable learning can be lost but if an adult steps in soon but if it is too late there is a possibility that children can hurt each other” (p.87)

It is good to remember to encourage children to solve their own problems as it is a very important part of their education. But steeping back and not intervening is another adult skill that is important to practice.

We should not interrupt a child who is really absorbed into their play as absorption is a quality that educators should value.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, play as a curriculum is the highest form of learning in early childhood education. Infants and toddlers are able to reach their deepest, wide range level of learning best through play. Play has an important function and infants and toddlers are learning all the time through their interactions with others, as well as working through the rules and values of their cultural groups. Three aspects of the above will finally draw a conclusion of the importance of play in the learning and development of supporting infants and toddlers. Play is a professionalized process and play is a freedom of expression as well as a game for life.

This essay will critically assess the use of a counselling approach which might be appropriate for supporting an identified client through the process of change or coping with stress and Illness. This will be achieved through considering the counselling skills and counselling approaches and also considering how the practitioner will use the chosen approaches to support the client. The essay will also be looking at how the approach will be used with other aspects of intervention relevant for the service users.

The chosen client is a young child, who is of the age of 6 who is currently in primary school. The special needs co-ordinator who is working alongside the client feels that the child in question is withdrawn from the rest of the class and this could possibly be due to a speech and language difficulties that the child may be suffering from. The special co-ordinator will be using art as a form of counselling the child, alongside using the transactional analysis approach (TA) which inter-links with the psychodynamic approach.

The special needs co-ordinator was particularly used for this child over the other professionals such as a teacher assistant because the special needs co-ordinator is able to give the child regular periods of individual help, by raising the child’s self-esteem this is through classroom activities such as creative arts (Szwed, 2007).

For example story telling would be used by the child through puppets whereby the child would use the puppets to act out a story, this would allow the special need co-ordinator to identify how the child may be feeling through their thought process through their imagination (Wright, 1995).

It is important to understand that as children are seen to be vulnerable, that the right professional is chosen for them, as the special needs co-ordinator will be working with the child on a daily basis, the child will feel secure and is able to express how they are feeling, this will not only help the child but also the professional to, as the professional is able to gain information from the child, but also the child will feel secure (as they will feel conformable to talk to the professional) and able to recover quickly from their illness (The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2011).

Certain skills and training is required by the specials needs co-ordinator in order to support the child. For example as the special need co-ordinator is using art for counselling the child, the professional needs training on how they can interpret the art that the child has made. This is important because if for example the child draws a firework, that could either represent the child being happy or the child being sad as they are frighten from it, however these skills by the professional only comes when training and support is provide to them (Hegarty, 1993)

However, there are many problem that a child may be faced with when dealing with a special need co-ordinator. It is important that the special needs co-ordinator support both the child and the family this is because the family may feel neglected into the stages of the child development so it is important that the professional at all times informs the parent of what happening with the child (Lindsay and Dockrell, 2000)

It is essential that the professional make sure that the child needs and want are paramount this is important because the professional needs to make sure that certain barrier are not crossed and know what the limits are. For example the child may feel enhinder by the special needs co-ordinator because he/she is sitting to close to the child and the child may feel that he/she is not getting treated the same, this could be a result of peer pressure through being teased by the other children (Croll and Moss, 2000)

There are many different approaches that can by used when supporting a client who is going through the counselling process, some of which include the psychodynamic, humanistic and behavioural approach. However for the purpose of this essay, it will be focusing on the psychodynamic approach, which focus on the border picture of the therapeutic approaches (This session was introduced in the counselling module in Week 8 on 24/11/10) (The Counsellor’s Guide, 2011).

For example the psychodynamic approach would by used on a child to try to get them to bring their feeling to the surface, so that the child is understood and can experience their feelings (Hood, 2008)

The Psychodynamic approach looks at the principle of that everyone has an unconscious mind. It believes that everyone who has a feeling which is held by the unconscious part of the mind find it painful to face their feeling. An example of this within children are that children can become very in-denial of their illness or condition. The development of psychodynamic therapy was introduced by a man called Sigmund Freud (Shaver and Mikulincer, 2005)

This approach identified that the humans personality can be divided into three components of the Id, Super-Ego and Ego, through the three domains of the mental activity of the unconscious, pre-conscious and conscious (Segrist, 2009).

For example the special needs co-ordinator will chose a specific art activity as a way of looking at how the development in the childhood process has had an impact on the child today (Kaplan, 2007)

The transactional analysis approach is an approach that incorporates both the theory of psychotherapy and psychology, however the transactional analysis is based on a integrative model whereby it uses an element of cognitive and psychoanalytic approach but it mainly focuses on the psychoanalytic approach. The transactional analysis approach was developed by a psychiatrist Eric Berne in the late 1950’s (Hargaden and Sills, 2002).

According to Berne everyone has three behavioural characterises, which are the adult, parent and child, these are referred to as ego states.

The child ego states looks at the way in which the child thinks, feels and behaves from the first few years of their life. For example, for a child it will be looking at how the child has survive through life to reach the stage that they are now (Stewart, 2007)

Whereas the adult ego looks at the thinking, feeling and behaviour in the way which is appropriate with what is actually here and now. For example how a persons bereavement process is after losing a love one, through the feeling, thinking and behaviour (Pitman, 1982)

However the parent ego looks at how you can copy and borrow from parent and other grown-ups through a variety of social influences such as the media. An example of this would be when a child behaviour changes through a influence of a adult peer due to peer pressure or role models (Midgley, 1999)

For example this approach in relation to the child is saying that the child always has an adult inside them and can experience different characteristics, for example they can show empathy by acting like the adult (Killick and Schaverien, 1997).

Transactional analysis is used on children so that they are able to understand their own emotions and how this affects the child’s behaviour. For example the transactional analysis approach would be used on a chid who may have a speech and language difficulty by using drawing to express how the child maybe feeling. For example, when the child has drawn the picture if he/she is feeling anything different and if he/she does feel different, what is it, that is making the child feel the way that they are. If they drawing made the child feel happy what is it that made them feel that way, it could possibility be the use of the creativity used in art through the colourful drawing, then you would look at the past and ask the child how they were feeling then (Teacher.Tv, 2006).

Art is used by the transactional analysis approach for children as it provides an aid which enable the child to communicate in an creative way. This is because as the chosen child is withdrawn from the class due to a speech and language difficulty, the child is less likely to open up and express how they are feeling. Art provides a good bases for the professional to understand the child and change the way in which the child is thinking (Clarkson, 1992).

An integrated art therapy exercises was used in the counselling module on the 26/01/11 through creativity by making an object out of art material to identify the process of university life in the last year. From this activity it identified that arts can bring out what the person is feeling and the way in which they can express their feeling and through through the use of art.

The approaches to counselling can overlap each other for example transactional analysis and cognitive behavioural therapy according to Hann (2011) stated that both of these approaches use a collaborative methods, this means that the child and the professional work on equal grounds.

However these both do have some limitations, for example although both of the approaches look at the child’s past experiences the transactional analysis approach focus’s more on the childhood rather than focusing on the here and now whereas the cognitive behavioural approach look at both however it mainly focus’s on the behaviour of the child and how that can change the child’s thoughts and feeling (Taylor and Francis, 1977).

The transactional analysis approach itself both has it strengths and limitations. For example the strength of the approach is that it look at the child’s childhood experience this is a positive as you are able to identify the root cause of the problem however this also can be seen as a disadvantage as you are not considering other factors that may have contributed to the illness such as lifestyle factors.

In relation to the ego states the ego’s may overlap this could be seen both as a positive and a negative, it can be seen as a positive as the communication can be lost when the ego’s overlap this can be seen as be a negative as the child may loose trust, however it can bee seen to be positive as it considering the overlapping factor of all the ego’s because the child can’t just have one ego’s sometime a child may overlap through different stages of counselling.

Overall it can be concluded that

Reference
aˆ? Clarkson, P (1992) Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy (An integrated approach). London: Routledge
aˆ? Croll, P and Moses, D (2000) Special Needs in Primary School. London: Cassell
aˆ? Hargaden, H and Sills, C (2002) Transactional Analysis (A Relational Perspective). Sussex: Routledge
aˆ? Hann, C (2011) About Counselling/Psychotherapy [WWW] Counselling/Psychotherapy. Available from: http://www.caroledehaancounselling.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/3459?opendocumentHYPERLINK “http://www.caroledehaancounselling.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/3459?opendocument&part=2?&HYPERLINK “http://www.caroledehaancounselling.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/3459?opendocument&part=2?part=2 [Accessed 02/03/11]
aˆ? Hegarty, S (1993) Meeting special needs in ordinary school, 2nd ed. London: Cassell Education Limited
aˆ? Kaplan, F.F (2007) Art Therapy and Social Action. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
aˆ? Killick, K and Schaverien, J (1997) Art, Psychotherapy and Psychosis. London: Routledge
aˆ? Lindsay, G and Dockrell, J (2000) The behaviour and self-esteem of children with specific speech and language difficulties. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70 (4), pp. 583-601

aˆ? Midgley, D (1999) New Direction in Transactional Analysis Counselling. London: Free Association Book Ltd

aˆ? Pitman, E (1982) Transactional Analysis: An Introduction to its Theory and Practice . Journals of Social Work, 12, pp. 47-63

aˆ? Segrist, D (2009) What’s going in your professor’s head? Demonstrating the Id, Ego and Superego. Teaching of Psychology, 36 (1), pp. 51-54

aˆ? Shaver, P and Mikulincer, M (2005) Attachment theory and research: Resurrection of the psychodynamic approach to personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 39 (1), pp. 22-45

aˆ? Stewart, I (2007) Transactional Analysis Counselling in Action, 3rd ed. London: Sage Publication Ltd

aˆ? Szwed, C (2007) Reconsidering the role of the primary special educational needs co-ordinator: policy, practice and further priorities. British Journal of Special Education, 34 (2), pp. 96-104

aˆ? Taylor and Francis (1977) Free Paper. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, 6 (4), pp. 25 – 146

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aˆ? Wright, A (1995) Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Introduction

This report will be looking at the theoretical and historical perspectives of childhood. Furthermore, it will compare theories of atypical development and possible effects on individuals, besides it considers the changing role of the rights of children and young people. The area that this report will be discussing is bullying, which is one of the main issues in children’s development.

What is bullying?

Each day, countless children begin the day with the feeling and fear of being bullied. Bullying is when someone or a number of people constantly devalue others. It involves actions and behaviours that are unsociable, physical and verbal abuse are examples.

There are some reasons why some children bully:

They maybe bored and think bullying is fun.

The background and situations that they’re brought up in.

“A negative basic attitudeaˆ¦ increases the risk that the boy will later become aggressive and hostile toward others” (Olweus,D 1993)

They think that they’ll become more popular.

Some are upset and they feel like they want to pass on this anger by bulling instead of dealing with it themselves.

Some believes that violence gives them feelings of belongings, status and power.

Bandura (1973) suggested that “children’s aggressive behaviour is rewarded with status from their peers”.

Some believes violent behaviour is one of the solutions to resolve conflict.

Effects of bullying on children
emotional
physical
social
educational

Bullying can seriously harm children in many ways. It affects their emotional health, which induces depression and makes them miserable and frightened all of the time. Bullying also makes children stubborn and distrustful, it makes them bad tempered, feeling helpless, hopeless; this causes loss of their self confidence, self esteem, and leaves them feeling guilty. As a result this also has an extreme effect on physical health for the worst, it may lead to: weight loss, obesity, self harm, hair loss, skin conditions, anorexia, lack of energy, insomnia, illness, bowel movements and lack of personal hygiene. Moreover, this has a great influence on a child’s social life and causes them to not get involved with other groups of children. This causes children to stay indoors and prevents them from communicating with other children and causes loneliness. Bullying can cause children to even commit suicide and negatively shape them into adult criminals. Furthermore, it affects their achievement and attendance and influences them in a negative way which leads to a poor educational performance.

There were two examples of children, those who were bullied by other children at school and those who weren’t. The research showed that those who had been bullied developed with a lower self-esteem and self-confidence and high-levels of depression in comparison to those who had never been bullied before.

The National Conference of State Legislatures states: “In 2002, a report released by the U.S. Secret Service concluded that bullying played a significant role in many school shootings and that efforts should be made to eliminate bullying behaviour”

http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/Education/SchoolBullyingOverview/tabid/12952/Default.aspx

Effects of bullying on the bullies

Bullying, whether it’s, intellectual, physical, emotional or social causes a variety of long and short term effects for the bully as well as the victim. Later on, the bully starts to lose his/her power, his/her self esteem will decrease and he/she end up being a social withdraw, and Due to his/her lack of ability to deal with violence he/she may face many problems in relationships later in his/her life. Moreover, they’ll have a greater risk of being involved in crime and the abusing of drugs.

History of bullying

Research on history shows that help for bullying has only started over the past decade. In the past, some children used to bully others and there wasn’t a sufficient amount of help available for victims of bullying like the anti bullying campaigns around these days. Unfortunately bullying still exists around the world and didn’t really change over time, the one change is, that there’s now more people have an understanding about it. There are now many organisations available for children which protect them from bullying. Child line is an organised charity established in the 1980s to help children with any problems that they may face.

Around 60 years ago children didn’t get much help whilst they were being bullied. This is because teachers didn’t bother with pupils compared to our days at school where they’re all the time and on the look out for children that look sad and miserable. In the past, children didn’t talk to parents because the majority of families were large, that children thought that they couldn’t help. However, parents and schools are much more aware of the issues these days. In the past, some teachers didn’t believe bullying is a serious issue which needs to be addressed; they basically thought the children are playing. In our era schools provide children with information and explanation of what it really feels to be bullied and how it may affect the victim and the bully itself.

Nowadays “a lot of schools have an anti-bullying policy in place that aims to protect students against harassment and abuse” http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/youngpeople/healthandrelationships/bullying/dg_10031374

The government is now enforced to set up an anti-bullying policy in all schools. They are now help lines and websites available for children, brochures and Leaflets are now given to parents providing them information and advice on how to stop bullying and how to discover how bullying occurs.

The anti bullying Alliance also set up in July 2002 the national society for the prevention of cruelty to children, to help create a secure atmosphere in which younger children will be able to live. In these day schools anti bullying policies encourage children to not suffer in silence.

Theories of bullying

Olweus, D (1993) states: “A student is being bullied or victimised when he/she is exposed repeatedly over time to negative action on the part of one or more other students.”

According to olweus’s (1993) theory: There are 3 different kinds of victims, provocative, passive or submissive. He states: “the passive victim signals to others that they’re insecure and worthless individuals who will not retaliate if they’re attacked or insulted”.

According to (Tattum & Lane, 1989) the provocative victim is more confident and physically stronger than other victims. Throughout the work Olweus has done about bullying in schools, he found that male bullies are physically much stronger than their victims. Farrington (1992) believed that male bullies are likely to have kids who bully others in school.

Parents also play a significant role in children’s life. The research illustrated that some victims have a closer relationship with their parents, especially boys with their mothers. This may perhaps be a reason and result of the bullying, because this relationship might be identified as “overprotection from the child’s peers”, and victim’s mother doesn’t provide the child with freedom. Therefore, the victim wouldn’t be able to deal with his own problems.

One factor which causes some children to bully is the negative relationship between their parents, which could be influenced on them and their behaviour. Emery (1982) stated: “when parental conflicts are held in private, the less negative effects on the child”. Magid (1989) stated: physically abused and neglected children would develop to be violence seeking adults. The most important aims of organisation must be “to reduce bully/victim problems in and out of the school setting and to prevent the development of new problems” (Olweus, D. 1993)

Why do children have right?

“Every child is unique – in characteristics, interests, abilities and needs; and every child has the ability to enjoy his or her rights without discrimination of any kind.”(Thomas Hammarberg, 1997)

http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/855923/Inclusive-practice-guide-fully-inclusive-setting/

Every child has the right to be protected and be free from involvement in bullying. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child prevents bullying and promotes a healthy development. Moreover, encourages children to build-up social skills, understanding and citizenship. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

“The Children Act 1989 is designed to help keep children safe and well and, if necessary, help a child to live with their family by providing services appropriate to the child’s needs”.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CaringForSomeone/CaringForADisabledChild/DG_10027594

There are several acts being introduced to protect people such as:

Disability discrimination Act

Racial discrimination Act

Sexual discrimination Act

Age discrimination Act

Gender discrimination Act

Religion discrimination Act

These acts are introduced to give people the right to live and not suffer or get humiliated. The right to have freedom of beliefs, speech and thoughts, the right not to be discriminated against for any reason and also the right to vote and educate.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states: “Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of the parent, legal guardian or any other person who has the care of the child”.

http://www.unfpa.org/rights/language/right9.htm

Conclusion

Overall bullying has a negative effect on victims as well as the bullies for; this is a long term effect. It’s a serious issue which can lead to unexpected conclusions. However, in our day’s discrimination acts have come into place and provide a safe environment where children can live and learn without the feeling of fear. Hopefully, by putting these specific strategies into place bullying can be reduced and both the bully and the victim will be more contented.

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Mothering is the interaction style of mother with her children. A mother should be patient and good listener. She should keep herself cool in negative circumstances. She should her child at every step. She should be responsible for needs and belongings of her child. She should take interest in the activities of her child. It will bring positive changes in her child (Freud, 1946).

Fathering is a big responsibility. Father is a role model for his child. Child observes the behavior of his father and imitates it. He has to take the responsibility of his child’s every need like food, shelter, clothing and education. He should affection and love towards his child. Little words of appreciation and encouragement can develop the confidence of child (Runkel, 2008).

1. Temper tantrums

Temper tantrums are very challenging. If a toddler is becoming tantrum then try to divert his attention. Try to engage him in another activity and give him choices. A daily routine schedule can be established with regular eating, sleeping and play times. It will result a happy and developed behavior.

2. Potty training

Children might oppose potty training. But mother should not enforce him potty sitting but she should keep herself calm. Sleep affects potty training session. Mother should take care about his sleep. She should set their timing by limit food and drink 2 hours before bed .She should encourage for a potty trip before sleep.

Bullying is violent behavior that can be verbal or physical. Boys show bullying behavior mostly by physical actions like pushing, kicking or hitting. While girls engage in verbal bullying. Parents can help their adolescents deal with the common issue of bullying by following these guidelines:

Parent should understand the situation and seriousness of bullying.

Parents must recognize initial behavior that led to bullying.

Parents should use suitable strategies according to the nature of child.

Parent should educate their child about bullying that is not accepted behavior and they must avoid it.

Parent should teach their children to cope stress. Physical exercise, spending time in playing or spending time in the company of nature can cope stress (Campbell, 2005).

In limited caretaking parents are primary caretaker and grand parents have limited connection with their grand children. Grandparents can not involve in the education of their grandchildren. They can not check their school records. But in involuntary caretaking grand parenting, grand parents are primary care taker. They have full-time custody over them and responsible for their every matter.

Grandparents have positive impacts on the life of grandparents. They change their life style and built up positive character of their grandchildren. Grandchildren become aware of dealing with different circumstances of life without parents. They behave as responsible person and become more disciplined. They did not feel alone but being loved and feel satisfied. Grandparents told them past stories and about their traditions and cultural values and they become aware of cultural values. Due to positive attitude towards life, they take interest in studies and show good performance in studies.

Due to these positive impacts of grandparents on the life of grandchildren, parent should include them to influence their child’s life.

National Extension Parent Education Model provides research based information about parenting. It improves parenting skills. It assists parents to care themselves first. By caring themselves, their stress level will decrease which will decrease gap between parent. And close relationship brings confidence in child. It enables the parents to understand the behavior of their children by observation. Parents understand the needs of their children by their behavioral cues. It enables the parents to guide and discipline their children effectively. Consistency in guidance play significant role in the development of child. It makes the parents to nurture their child which brings positive outcomes and increase their level of competence. It practices the parents to motivate their children which provides opportunities to students to learn more and more. And they develop intellectually and become responsive.

Poverty refers to economic hardships and meeting the basic needs of life. It impacts both parents and children. It resists parents to become good parents. It increases the stress level of parents which result into bad attitude towards children. It may led to child abuse. It effects physical health of children due to insufficient money. When they do not meet their basic needs, they effects psychologically and show mental and behavioral problems. It lowers down the educational outcomes of children.

Education of child is combined responsibility of parents and children. Parents can support their children in the classroom in many ways. They meet the teachers face-to-face on regular basis to about the progress of their child. They should try their level best to attend school’s field trips and concerts. It send a message that they take care about the education of their child.

There are following two outside resources to support your family: Parents should act as teacher. They should guide their family members. It is their responsibility to provide medical services to their family.

Divorce is a somber decision. It breaks down a family bond and effects the children both psychologically and emotionally. Parental loss is major effect. Child feels alienated and become victim of anxiety and depression. He has to face many problems in school. He is teased by his peer group. Moreover, he has to face financial problems sometimes. Parents can encounter act the negativity and support their children in following way: social support by parents can help them to adopt positive attitude towards life. Parents have to make their children to face multiple situations in school and how to cope with them.

Take a calendar and set your time schedule for whole day morning to night. Avoid wastage of time from morning to evening. Then follow your time table. It will enhance the lives of their children. Parents should themselves in child’s school functions like field trips and concert. As, it send a message that they take care about their children.

Overweight consider body weight with respect to body composition or height. Overweight children have chances of sever obesity in adulthood. Overweight leads to serious physiological health problems. It affects mental development of children and cause psychological problems like anxiety. It involves high risk of asthma, cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It leads to musculoskeletal and fatty liver disorder. It causes orthopedic problems and agitation during sleep. Fat accumulation resists insulin production and cause diabetes.

Parents can help their children in following ways: They should make their children to adopt healthy life style by changing their eating habits. They should develop their routine with maximum physical activities to burn their calories. It may include sports or just playing. They should let them avoid carbohydrates and junk food. They should let them eat fresh fruits and vegetable instead of packed juices.

Physical disable children are very sensitive. It is great task for parent to handle them positively. Parents can help their child in different fields of life in many ways. Parents should adopt positive attitude towards their children. They should take them as burden. It will increase their pain and sufferings. They should try to understand their problems and help them in finding solution of these problems. Like other children, choice making is a great and difficult task for them. Parents should guide and help them in this concern. They should grant them emotional support in classroom activities. They should encourage them. It will bring confidence and positive learning outcomes. They should teach the peer group their disable child to offer their help their help respectfully and may not damage their self-respect socially. They should assess their children to search creative ways to involve physical disable child to different play activities. For example, it is easy for disable child to play with blocks on a table with his peer group, sitting on his wheel chair.

Adopted parents may face many fears and natural insecurities after adopting a child. Adopted child also feels alienation and anxiety due to loss of their biological parents. Some children feel curiosity about their genetic history, which will create confusion and mistrust towards their parents. It will lower their level of self-esteem. Adopted parents can help them in their grievances for their separation from their biological parents. They should tell him about his genetic history and help him to find their identity. It will develop trust on adoptive parents and establish good relationship and raise their level of self-esteem. Some of this information has been taken from Caught in the middle: Protecting the children of high-conflict divorce. Because it manages the custody case of contested child and evaluate parent child relationship and parenting skills effectively.

There is variety of child care program due to different school of thought. There are many positive effects of s quality childcare program. High quality childcare programs in childhood lead to academic success in next life. While poor parent’s child can not compete them in academic performance. By effective strategies, children show positive behavioral change. It also leads to intellectual development a child. You can convince parents that your program is ideal childcare program by informing them about your high objective for intellectual and behavioral development of a child, effective plans to achieve your objectives, and its positive effects.

Parents often wish that a parenting manual came with their children. A it suggests that they are member of their child’s classroom. An appropriate parenting model which is suitable for every social class, race and ethnic group convey to parents that your classroom is tolerant, supportive and encouraging to all families.

Street children want the freedom o being abused by parents; nevertheless, their lives seem not so easy. They want working in some odd jobs; if they have no job, for them it’s normal to steal to eat, and if they have extra money, they buy drugs. In general, street children’s lives are rather short. They are in bad health, because of their abuse of drugs, venereal disease.

First, street child is a term used to describe those kids who live and work in streets. There are more street children around the world than the whole populations in Egypt and United States, there are currently 100 million children living on streets. In turn this sector population it is increasing through the years, because of the economic crisis, family disintegration. Wherefore they are more inclined to drugs, not only bringing troubles to the society, also problems to their health. When we talk about street children, we are talking about young people who face poverty, hunger, disease, violence and homelessness. We are talking about children who have resorted to all sorts of drugs because they think this is the only way they can remain happy under their difficult circumstances. These children that have been allowed to live on the streets are on a daily basis exposed to diseases of all sorts. We have seen some of these children on the streets a result of poor people since access to food is another problem for them. These children live in the street because they do not have anything to call a home.Street child are children between five and seventeen years old who live in parks, or light stop sign. In the same way they are deprived of family protection. Children on the street divide themselves into groups who can sell things to people and who can steal money from people car. The street kids do whatever they can to earn money. Whereas that more than 20 million of kids are living on the streets, we can see the, drugs as a normal activity in the streets. The reality begins talking about food, because they only eat what they find in the garbage or what they can steal. Likewise they steal money or drugs to forget hunger. Those kids do all of these activities in order to forget about street troubles, but they feel that these activities are necessarily to survive, so it makes them more inclined to drugs.

In addition to that, Street child commit illegal in America. It means if a child’s get in the street without any reason the police have to take them. That called breaking the law because it’s not legal to do it. Each child in America have chance to work and get more also they can learn in the school without any more. United states havedrug policy and Alcohol too. If the police saw any one who drink and child fewer than 18 they will take this child to the police station. But in Egypt child can’t go to school without pay more for their books Because of the high cost of services many street children are unable to go to school .Even in countries where schools are free they are unable to buy books, uniforms and shoes that are required to attend., also they do not have any chance to work to get money. The money is an important factor in their lives that can determinate important things in their daily life like eating or not.

Likewise, the drugs affect not only their thoughts but also affect their health. A street kid, they cannot imagine their daily live in the streets without using drugs. In the other hand the main problem is that most of types of substance consume by street kids are legal, so they can find it easily. The drug abuse is the worst problem for them and it brings them health problems. Those kids do all of these activities in order to forget about street troubles.

Therefore, a lot of country have this problem too, The problem of street children in Vietnam, a country rapidly growing and integrating with the world, arises from the interaction of traditional causes such as the loss or divorce of parents and new causes such as economic incentive. We then propose a new typology of street children based on causes and situations. Causes are classified into broken family, mindset problem, and economic migration. Situations are divided into current protection and future investment. It is shown that the broken family group is most difficult to assist while the economic migration group often shows strong desire for study and better life. Since street children are not a homogenous group, intervention must also be diversified according to the needs of each type of children.

Also, there is a lot of country that effected by street child such as; Russia consists of two million street children. Officially, the number of Russian children without supervision is more than 7 million. Also china the number of street children population continues to grow at 15 million and India is home to 4 million-8 million street children. The republic of India is the seventh largest populated country in the world. Due to the economic growth has appeared.

Consequently, Vietnam is the country that has from 21 thousand in 2003 to 8 thousand in 2007 street child. Not just these countries had effected by the population of street children there are more and more had effected by this population. Which is going to affect all people life and future and countries future too? In a poor developing country, a child will have disabilities to learn how come he will learn without any money and when the children think about their future, they will find out that there are no work no future and they can’t connect with their family too. Poor country gives children scary future.

Moreover, Children who drop out of school due to the wrong attitude of the parents are less deprived, relatively speaking, in the current situation than the first group since their parents can look after them. They are relatively well fed and protected. It is rare to see them severely by street joining them. The biggest problem with this group, however, is the strong opposition of the parents when someone (teacher, social worker, or the children themselves) proposes an education for them.

There are many causes of there being street children: Poverty, Neglect, Disease, War, Famine, Social, and Family Breakups. From another of perspective on the word “causes”, the causes they or others on their behalf fight for are the reasons that they become street children in the first instance and to provide ways out of their problems through things like providing shelter and education them with their families.so they find the way to get themselves freedom from home and school. Do whatever they want to do.

The causes of children to the street can be divided into two main groups which we shall call broken family and mindset problem. First, children with extremely difficult family situations such as being abandoned as a result of the death. This is the traditional cause of street children which exists in any developing country with or without economic growth. Also the parents continue to take care of them. Children abandoned as a result of parents’ divorce have to undergo an even greater emotional shock. Being left with relatives or grandparents, such children are easily discouraged from study and lured by bad friends. Most of the street children who have left home because of domestic violence are spiritually and emotionally impaired.

Second causes where the family enjoys relatively unbroken relations and an average or at least not so destitute standard of living but still sends children to work in the street due to the wrong attitude of the parents or the children themselves. Some children leave home because they are lured by friends or because they want to freedom instead of going to school. Seemingly exciting life in big cities and friends who already know the street life are the pulling force. For such children, earning money is not the main purpose. However, the mindset problem most often arises on the parent side. Some parents think that cash income is more important than children’s education.

How we solve the problem for the street children with their home and family?

For the children and their families, being on the street is not a problem. It is their solution to a number of problems. Crowded living conditions are a problem. A young lad, who shares a single-room with his mother and two grown-up sisters with children of their own, solves a problem by finding somewhere to sleep with his friends. He remains attached to his family and visits them regularly. He is integrated with them and does not need to be reintegrated. But it is better for him to sleep out than to stay at home. When he finds a group of friends with whom he can stay at night, his situation has improved. He becomes visible as a street child and part of our problem, but for him, being on the streets solves the problem of sharing an overcrowded room.

For the families and the children, it is the solution to the problem of not having enough money to feed and clothe the children. Child can be a problem. If a child is forced to work all day for an adult who takes most of the child’s earnings as sometimes happens with refugee children who are afraid .It may be a problem for children to have to do hours of manual at school, or to spend much of their day in misery learning useless and boring information. Somehow, we always accept child if it is enforced in the respectable environment of the school. But spending a few hours earning a bit of extra money for himself or the family can be quite fun.

Sometimes the children have to adopt the tough culture of the streets. When they are with their friends from the street, they have to act and speak as if they enjoy street life. All children should have security. They should be able to play games and have fun. They should be improving themselves at school. Children should not have to earn their own living. They should be clean and wash regularly. They should be healthy, and get help immediately when they are sick. These we regard as the fundamental rights of children and street children appear to all of these rights. This is there life and they should enjoy it.

What happen to today’s street children when they grow older. Are they going to affect their countries or they are going to affect us. These children can grow up and constitute nuisance in the society. They will make government’s project fail. They won’t do these because they enjoy it, but because that is all they have grown to know and love. At the end, nothing will work because they will fight back because we had a chance to give them good lives but we failed to do it.

All children should have security. They should be able to play games and have fun. They should be improving themselves at school. Children should not have to earn their own living. They should be clean and wash regularly. They should be healthy, and get help immediately when they are sick. These we regard as the fundamental rights of children and street children appear to all of these rights. This is there life and they should enjoy it.

Lastly, street children problem always cause a lot of terrible to people who walk in the street and they can’t be save from street child also this children they need a future to be better people and they can help their country. If we help these children they can help us in the future. For example if a child from the street get a good job in the future and he got a lot of money that give his country a better future and his family too and himself. He will be better than anyone who lives in the street. Inside of steal money from people and ate from the street , he can now eat a health food and get a good family that carry his name and his good future.

Overall, streets children are poor and as a result they are untaught. As a result, they have bad food and unhealthy body system. The street children are kids who live and work in streets and homeless people. Furthermore, they use drugs as a way to forget about their harsh reality. Lastly, they steal money in order to get food and survive. Although, they can be educated children with the government help, but they got used to their life as a children streets.

We now move to ” How can we contain those street children, first of all Ms. Agnelli “(April 24, 1922 – May 15, 2009) was an Italian politician, businesswoman and writer. She was the only woman to have been Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy” neither underestimates nor dramatizes her topic, but rather carefully explains the complexity of how children arrive on the street, how they do or do not survive and what has or has not worked to improve their lives. There is no mistaking the understated prose for detachment. As Ms. Agnelli states in her prologue, ‘Let their plight be known to all: let the conscience of humanity revolt.’

Ms. Agnelli has prepared this report for the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues (ICIHI). ICIHI, organized in 1983 and recognized by the United Nations, is composed of private individuals dedicated to informing policy makers and the public about neglected humanitarian issues. The report focuses on street children, a highly vulnerable social group, described simply as children who exist on the street or in abandoned buildings and lack adult protection.

The United Nations Children’s Fund places the global total of street children at over 30 million. This estimate, acknowledged as conservative, varies considerably. By definition these are children whose existence is not recorded on school, employment or prison registers. Some of these children are totally abandoned, others know of their families and may maintain sporadic contact. Critical is the recognition that whatever the count is today, the trends towards increasing global urbanization and younger populations portend far greater numbers of threatened children.

The report provides brief descriptions of the lives of individual street children. Some are abandoned, and some are trained and left to perform or beg to contribute to their family’s survival. For others the street represents an escape from an abusive family or situation. Their work is part of an underground economy and includes cleaning windshields, carrying bags, reselling items bought or stolen, and scrounging, as well as prostitution and drug-related acts.

As their stories differ so do their attitudes about their situation and their hopes for the future. What is overwhelmingly similar is that on the street these children are vulnerable to exploitation, and survival means learning how to cope with physical danger and terror. A major means of ensuring survival is the formation of gangs. These groups develop highly complex organizations which offer structure, information and safety to each member in exchange for stiff obedience and obligation.

Ms. Agnelli describes the various forces that result in dispossessing the most vulnerable societal groups, in this case children, from full participation in the community. She draws a parallel to the past when groups were dislocated by social upheaval, whether by drought, famine or the process of industrialization. In the present this is compounded by the lack of urban jobs and the subsequent pressures on family structure. There are obvious differences between countries. Developing countries, with their waves of migration to cities, are likely to have the most severe problems with limited solutions. Those with largely rural populations are just beginning to experience the phenomenon. In industrialized countries, the immediate availability of social services provides for unprotected younger children. Street children in these countries are generally over the age of 15.

With the full presentation of multiple causes on both the micro- and macro-levels, the reader is aware that a simple solution is not in the offing. Rather, Ms. Agnelli presents a detailed discussion of various programs, generally small in scale and close to children, that have provided support for these youngsters. Never giving up on the potential effects of general social programs, i.e., employment, elimination of poverty, and support for women and families, Ms. Agnelli calls for the currently possible- support for programs with demonstrated success.

In many ways the young street child is similar to other children. He(they are becoming males at this age) wishes for a bike, seeks affection, wants to belong. However, he has achieved some independence and cannot reasonably be expected to discount his experience and relinquish control over his life’s decisions. Generally, paternalistic programs have not been successful. Approaches advocated by this report suggest finding the means to locate and contact the child, respecting his perceptions and offering support. One of the programs described is the ‘Bosconia/La Florida’ in Bogota which has successfully moved children, in phases, from the street to a self-governing community with its own business. Programs that sort out youth in positive community service, such as New York’s Guardian Angels or California’s Conservation Corps are cited as opportunities for the development of personal strength and self-worth for the participants.

Examples of ways that the problem has been ameliorated in different cities suggest that as the situation of street children becomes ever more apparent in cities, usual bureaucratic solutions will not be sufficient to help either the children or the community. This report calls for a grassroots lobbying effort to promote public awareness and governmental policies that support community efforts and within which on-governmental national agencies can operate. This approach recognizes that just as important as government support is implementation by people whose life experiences have prepared them to recognize street children as citizens with a right to be included in their community.

The purpose of this report is to assess the issues surrounding the childrens human rights in Nepal by criticising their status in conjunction with the applicable International Treaties. Simultaneously its aim is to illustrate the current situation, by providing information from findings regarding the violations on the rights of the children. Particularly it focuses on health status, sexual exploitation, forced labour and education and it reflects those violations, by providing statistical data and paradigms during and after the armed conflict.

It would also give emphasis, on whether Nepal has complied with the International Conventions as well as whether any NGO.s gave any attention towards the crisis sustained in Nepal.

Finally the report would make a general evaluation by providing recommendations in respect of Nepal’s implementations and promises for the improvement of children’s human rights, including the need of their protection and their future concern.

II.Introduction

Nepal in reality is one of the poorest and undeveloped countries in the world, which tries to be reborn from its own ashes, after witnessing and experiencing a 10 year internal violent armed conflict, due to the Maoist insurgency which ceased in 2006.

Nonetheless the last years have been made significant changes and developments. In 2008, Nepal went from political instability to a Federal Democratic Republic as the UCPN-M [1] had agreed with the Nepalese government to come to an end with that conflict. Thus was guaranteed a peaceful government according to the CPA, [2] establishing equality and safeguarding fundamental human rights and freedoms.

Despite the fact that, there is a gradual recovery and progress, serious human rights violations continue to occur, as Nepal still faces the aftershocks of the crisis. Arguably the armed conflict has stigmatised the most vulnerable group and has deprived from them their basic rights. Children have been victimised and faced ostracism of their houses, forced to be soldiers and arbitrarily detained by the government, subjected to ill-treatment and even torture. Others were used for exploitation and being subjected to sexual abuse depriving their right to be educated and also their health status has been deteriorated.

Immediate help from human rights defenders and INGO’s [3] was rapidly given globally, but still it is an imperative need as children demand their protection. Most of them still live under insecurity and instability facing risks of further violations of their rights. Thus is due consideration to highlight the current situation.

III.Children’s Health Status and Human Exploitation in Armed Conflict
It is claimed that “children are majority in statistics but minority on social status in real world”. [4] This statement reveals the current situation concerning children’s rights status in Nepal.
Recent reports indicate that there have been grievous violations of children’s rights as hundreds have been killed by armed groups due to the political situation and others continue to be at risk even if the country is in a post-conflict stage. Moreover thousands were seriously injured and others have died because of diseases particularly from HIV/AIDS. [5] Their health status has been degrading [6] both physically and mentally as the armed conflict deprived from them their basic rights such as the right to family, food and shelter.
The unfriendly environment had exposed orphaned children to conditions which had never experienced before. Moreover hundreds have been displaced from their families and have been subjected to violation, prostitution and involuntary servitude without their consent becoming vulnerable to high risks of infectious diseases. During and after the ceasefire, children exploitation had worsened their health as the majority of the victimised children have been unlawfully treated and exposed in dreadful conditions, facing oppression and coercion. Simultaneously the inadequate health system, resources and the insufficient manpower has worsened their health status.
Even if Nepal has attained to streamline child’s health the last decades by reducing mortality under 5 from 118% in 1996 to 61% in 2006, however disparities exist by different social groups regarding accessibility in the health system.
The phenomenon of child trafficking is Nepal’s one of its major problems. Yet, no formal surveys have been prepared by the Nepalese government but the Committee concerned that there is lack of actual statistics of children victims on exploitation and trafficking. [7] However a research conducted by CWIN [8] in association with Save the Children revealed that 73,8% of 110 boys living on the street, had had non-consensual sexual intercourse. [9] Another tragic study conducted by ILO [10] estimated that about 5000 children, mainly girls are working as commercial sex workers. [11]

Nonetheless Nepal had successfully ratified and had abided by the terms of OPSC. [12] Also the Interim Constitution of Nepal guarantees the protection of children against any form of abuse and exploitation as well as many acts such as the Children’s Act [13] and Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act [14] is opposed to CSEC. [15] However the study of the CRC [16] Sub-Committee of the HRTMCC [17] reveals that the Nepalese provisions do not explicitly address the issues that fall under OPSC [18] and fail to accord with the CRC.

Consequently that means the legislation does not safeguard the rights of the children from CSEC. According to the same study it was observed that even if institutions, centres and initiatives are combat against CSEC there is a lack of coordination between them [19] as there is an overlap due to government institutions. At the same time different projects cease to continue their work as there is no adequate financial support and also there is no specific programme to work against CSEC for the best interests of the child.

Notably children who have participated in consultation meetings did not know about the government programmes regarding OPSC dissemination. Since most of the children are illiterate they cannot understand the provisions conducted by the Nepalese government combating CSEC; so without having the proper knowledge and support it would be an utopia for them to fight for their rights against CSEC which could be characterised as a modern type of slavery.

IV.Forced Labour-DCL

Myriad studies, indicate that the mission of the government is to enrich the status of the child in Nepal and make attempts in order to formulate strategies so as to eliminate the worst forms of DCL. [20]

Nepal has one of the worst backgrounds regarding the forms of forced labour especially in the DCL. Frans Roselaers claimed that “unacceptable forms of exploitation of children at work exist and persist but they are difficult to research due to their hidden, sometimes illegal or even criminal nature.” [21] The phenomenon of child labour in Nepal takes lots of dimensions the last decades as children are economically active from their young age. In accordance to NFLS [22] the participation rate for children is estimated at about 40.4%. [23]

The current political situation, poverty and the harmful traditional practices use children to be exposed in the worst hazardous conditions and forced them to drop out from school depriving from them their education. The constitution of Nepal prohibits child labour and the Nepalese government after the ratification of CRC indicated the commitment of ensuring that children do not have to work. Therefore Nepal was obligated to enact respective domestic laws. Within this context enacted the Children’s Act [24] and also Child Labour Act [25] strictly prohibiting and eradicating child labour. Furthermore in 1997 ratified C138 [26] with object the abolition of child labour and became a member of the SAARC. [27] Also, the IPEC [28] operates in Nepal with intention to create policies against child labour.

An issue which is yet due consideration is whether children rights have indeed made progress after the ratification of the Conventions in conjunction with the new democratic system of Nepal by enacting respecting legislation, policies that present a development on their human rights status. It must be emphasised that there is a significant reduction of bonded labour to 40.4% compared to 47.0% of the total child population which was detected in NLFS 1998. Although the Committee in its one observation concerned that “despite the efforts of the state party to abolish the worst forms of child labour, the prevalence of child labour remains high particularly in hazardous conditions of work”. [29]

In 2009, the CEACR [30] despite Nepal’s ratification of C182 [31] and Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict [32] requested the government to take measures in order to amend its domestic legislation and prohibit the forced recruitment of children less than 18 years for use in armed conflict. The Committee also observed that the government has not made respective laws which are consistent with the provisions of the Convention in order to prohibit a person below 18 years to be exposed in hazardous work.

V.Education

Education is children’s prime concern and also it could be considered the basis of creating a safe future for a nation. Children are the principal participants of a country and especially Nepal which is a nation where education must be promoted among other developments made by the state. Nepal has ratified the ICESCR [33] where Articles 13 and 14 highlight the issue of free compulsory education. Although Nepal consented to the terms in order to provide free education between the ages of 6 and 11; the provisions regarding the Covenant are not followed.

Also in one of its latest reports the UN [34] Committee observed that Nepal has yet to adopt a policy of compulsory education and further comments that there is a gap concerning the attendance between girls and boys as well as there is great disparity between castes ethnic and indigenous groups. The emancipation of children from a young age had used them to work hard as their families do not invest in their educational needs because of monetary hardships. Statistics from a recent survey conducted by the ILO demonstrating the seriousness of the situation; 9% of the total child population, have never attended school and 59% have not even completed their primary education. [35] Remarkably the gender gap remains a problem as mostly girls are discriminated from education due to the patriarchal traditions who want girls to be married from their young age.

VI.Human Rights Defenders

NGO’s such as UNICEF [36] play a fundamental role as their mission is to safeguard the rights of the children in Nepal. UNICEF had provided mechanisms for the needs of the children supporting them in various ways: providing rehabilitation and remuneration programmes as well as reintegration programmes. A NGO named “Save the Children” focuses mainly in the development of education and health of the children by trying to regulate and reduce youth mortality. establishing strategic partnerships with the government.

VII.Conclusion

Hence the poor economic status, poverty and also the bad cultural practices in Nepal, illustrate children’s human rights in their worst form. Even if the state has made step forward by ratifying international conventions there is lack of enforcement of the law and policies which in reality constitutes the main gap for any solutions. Nonetheless, Nepal could not be the only fighter of safeguarding the child rights through its legislative framework, but the key lies on the general system of human resources and society which must be sensitive on issues surrounding children’s rights.

IX.Recommendations

Effective strategies must be conducted by the PPCC [37] which would enforce policies for solving the issues of DCL. Even if education has been hindered by poverty, it could be the response to diminish child labour and enrich the status of the child.

The Nepalese government must immediately ratify the third Optional Protocol, [38] as pursuant to it, abused children that became victims of prostitution and trafficking could have the opportunity to raise their voice and bring complaints for violations of their rights.

The state must give attention to the UN observations concerning discrimination in education in which it must eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education. Trade unions should continue to encourage these challenges in the process of educational restructure and put pressure to the government of changing its policies in all levels of education corresponding to the provisions contained in ICESCR.

Streamline

2000 words.

X.Bibliography-References

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The purpose of the current study was to determine whether children exhibited a preference for solitary play, same gendered play, or opposite gendered play. The hypothesis was that both males and females would spend more time in gender-segregated play than engaging with opposite-gendered peers or in non-interactive play. Play is a vital contributor to the cognitive, emotional, and social development of children (Chea, Nelson, & Ruben, 2001). One important component of childhood play is early peer interactions. The choices a child makes with regards to peer selection contribute to their development by determining the quality of their early social interactions. A number of factors must be taken into consideration when evaluating children’s social situations. Children can either play alone or with one or more peers. Solitary play can take a variety of forms, each carrying a different implication for the child’s social experience. Social play can involve interactions with same gendered peers or with opposite-gendered peers. Each of these components contributes to the unique social experience each child encounters.

Recent work has suggested that solitary play is not always an indicator of poor social skills. Motivations for solitary play vary and could include self-reflection or regulation, task-oriented motivations, personality characteristics, or an inability to engage with peers. Work by Moore, Everston, and Brophy (1974) has found that the majority of time children spend in solitary play is engaging in goal directed activities. These activities are beneficial for development. The researchers suggest that rather than being an immature and developmentally harmful method of play, this type of solitary play represents independence and task orientated behaviour that should be seen as indicating maturity. It has been suggested that the category of interaction that Parten (1932) referred to as parallel interaction is a more immature form of play than solitary play rather than an intermediate step towards cooperative play (Johnson, Ershler, & Bell, 1980). This type of interaction is more frequently exhibited in younger children. Research suggests that in many situations it acts as a bridge to cooperative group play, and is often only engaged in for a very short period of time (Smith, 1978). The parallel interaction initiates communication with the child and leads to cooperative play. If the attempt to open up an interaction fails, the child may resort to parallel play again. Extensive time spent in parallel play may indicate poor social skills (Pellegrinin & Bjorklund, 1998).

As children develop, they generally spend more time in cooperative play with their peers. Research by Smith found that solitary play decreased throughout the preschool period. Another study by Rubin, Watson, and Jambor (1978) found that preschool children engaged in significantly more solitary play and less group play than children at the kindergarten level. As a child spends more time in cooperative play, peer selection becomes an important component of their social experience. The decisions a child makes regarding those they play with contribute to their development by determining the quality and characteristics of their social interactions.

Participants

The participants in the study were 10 students from Dr. Mary J. Wright University Laboratory School. The 10 participants consisted of 5 males and 5 females. The students were from the Five-Afternoon Kindergarten class and all participants were four years old. All of the participants were Caucasian and from the middle to upper socio-economic class. During all four of the one hour observations there were approximately fourteen children including the participants and approximately six adults were present. There were child-initiated activities which included playing with Lego or blocks, drawing and colouring, and playing with various toys. There were also teacher-guided activities that included book reading, show and tell, and arts and crafts.

Observational Procedure

The participants were observed using a play partner index, which catalogued the different play partners that the children engaged with. This index had six different categories, which were: same gender play, opposite gender play, male parallel play, female parallel play, goal oriented play, and non-goal oriented play. The participants were timed in 30-second intervals using the stopwatch program on a cell phone. All of the participants were monitored from an observation room, which contained headphones, chairs, a writing table and a one-way mirror used to observe the children without disturbing their play. The students were observed in the Mary Wright Classroom during the child-initiated and teacher guided activates. Each child was observed one child at a time for 20 intervals of 30 seconds, and recorded the category of play that the child was engaging in. For example if a student was near another female student but not directly interacting with her, it would be recorded as female parallel play.

Results

The type of social play that each target student engaged in was recorded in 20, 30-second intervals for 10 minutes. The total numbers of intervals were added up for each participant and the participant was labeled by the condition that they spend the most time in. In the single case of an equal number of intervals between two categories, each category was assigned 0.5.

There were no significant differences that were reported between the play categories for males or female. Both genders spent the majority of their time engaging in solitary play. There was only one child who demonstrated any sort of preference for opposite gendered play, and even in that case, only 50% of the participant’s total interactions within the ten-minute period were within this category. These results can clearly be seen in Figure 1 on the table’s page at the end of the paper. There are many possible reasons for the failure to demonstrate significant results, such as sampling issues, environmental factors, and the transitory characteristic of the age range observed.

Discussion

The hypothesis was that that both males and females would spend more time in playing with children of their own gender than interacting with opposite-gendered peers or in non-interactive play. The results failed to support the hypothesis. No significant relationship was found between the categories for males or females. Research by Smith (1978) has demonstrated that solitary play decreases throughout the preschool period, as children begin to engage more with their peers. The children were in their later years of preschool and they failed to show this preference for social interaction. It is possible that the children in the current study have not yet made this transition. The age range considered represents the transitory stage, and this may contribute to the lack of significance in the results.

Furthermore, research by Rubin, Watson, and Jambor (1978) considered preschool aged children compared to kindergarten children, and found that kindergarten aged children spent much more time in group play than the preschoolers. The children in the current study were on the older end of the age bracket for preschool but had not yet reached kindergarten. These children may have been too young to begin to demonstrate the preference for cooperative play that was exhibited in these studies.

This research is of significant value to schools, daycare, parents, or anybody interacting with children on a regular basis. Being aware of the dominant social patterns for each age group can allow caregivers to identify children who may be diverging from the norm. If children fail to engage in positive interactions with their peers or tend to engage in long periods of parallel play, they may be developing poor social skills. Caregivers who can identify these children can then assist them in working towards positive relationships with their peers. Knowing the beneficial forms of solitary play can allow caregivers to provide children with stimulating activities that can assist them in their development, and monitor children for extensive periods of time spent in non goal-directed behaviour. Each child has independent needs when it comes to social behaviours. Being aware of the trends and risks can allow caregivers to meet the unique needs of each child.

There are many extensions that can be made to provide further insight into social patterns in children. For example, the family situation and siblings in particular may influence social preferences exhibited in children. Some children may enjoy playing by themselves because they come from a larger family of many siblings and desire time alone. The opposite may also be true. In regards to gender preferences, children may gravitate towards peers that are the same gender of their siblings. For instance, a young girl who has three brothers and no sisters may demonstrate a preference for male play partners. The impact of being an only child could be considered, as well as the effect of a participant with mixed siblings. Patterns between siblings and peer interactions could be investigated.

As research continues to shed light on the social patterns of children, caregivers of all kinds will become more able to meet the needs of each child. Their unique traits can be appreciated and specific personal weaknesses can be attended to. As social beings, it is vital that humans be socially adjusted in order for them to reach their full potential and experience overall wellbeing. This research allows for increased insight that can ensure children are provided with the opportunity to achieve this goal and experience a positive social environment that is beneficial to their development.