toptermpaper.com

Brompton Bicycle is a uk manufacturer bicycle based in Brentford, London by Andrew Ritchie in 1976. Models are named using a code to describe the handle bar type, number of gears and factory attached fixtures. An optional suffix is appended to show the inclusion of titanium upgrades. In Britain the club’s membership is changing, now 35-40% customers of Brompton are women. The average rider’s age has also dropped below 40. It’s getting profit in uk .

Brompton Bicycle is a British company that specialises in folding bicycles, commonly known as Brompton which is popular among bicycle commuters, especially in the UK, the Netherlands, and Japan. The Brompton design has remained fundamentally unchanged over three decades, although it has been steadily refined. The Brompton increases people’s independence and freedom so people can use this cycle wherever they can use. Approximately 22,000 bicycles are produced by the company each year and 70 percent are exported to asia and Europe. The compact dimensions of most folding bikes allow easy transport in public transport where travelling with a normal bike can be difficult or forbidden. We can this cycle in different style handlebar like c type handlebar, m type handlebar, s type handlebar and p type handlebar.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brompton_Bicycle

PEST ANALYSIS OF BROMPTON BICYCLE:
Political factor:

Many people are cycling on London major roads and it has nearly doubled since 2000 and TfL is targeting a 5% mode share for cycling by 2025. South West Trains is a part of Stagecoach Group, has joined forces with Brompton Bicycle to encourage passengers for cycle as part of a fully integrated low carbon journey combining bike and train. Every one like this bikes because it is efficient to ride but can be quickly folded into a package smaller than an average suitcase, so people can take wherever they like.

Economic factor:

Though exports account for around 75 per cent of its output, it continues to manufacture all of its bikes in the UK. It’s getting profit here.

Social factor:

Brompton bike got a award, Mr Ritchie, who was awarded the prize that recognizes a lifetime contribution to design, he has spent 21 years perfecting to the Brompton, which is manufactured in Britain and sells around the world. At a reception in Buckingham Palace 50 years of British design genius was celebrating.

Technological factor:

When transporting a Brompton Bicycle by Train, Car plane or boat it would be beneficial to have a protective case. There is a need for such a protective case to also double as a fully functional bike trailer so it will attach to the rear of the bike and be used to transport light to moderate loads.

-http://www.stagecoachgroup.com

SWOT ANALYSIS OF BROMPTON BICYCLE:
strength:

Brompton bicycle is travel free and without booking restrictions we can use on rail, bus, underground, ferry or air services. It’s that freedom to travel anywhere that gives folding bikes a magic quality. A folding bike can be new ways of travelling. It’s have many colour with extra tall frame to fit tall riders.

From 1976, Brompton was in business, but growth was infuriatingly slow. Today, Brompton Bicycle Ltd turns out 100 precision-crafted bikes a day from its cosy in Kew.

Brompton bicycle sold in 27 international markets and servicing needs of the 200,000 Brompton users who are already on the road. They make something fashionable. People like the Brompton because it’s fun and it fits into their lives. In London, the bike is moving from being an issue of personal choice. On the corporate side, Brompton already leases a fleet of bikes to South West Trains at Waterloo. Mr Butler-Adams planned to provide package deals including bikes, training, storage and insurance to other companies.Brompton Bicycle is going to produce 25,000 bikes this year, achieving sales of ?7m- ?8m. Ritchie expects it to grow 25% a year under the leadership of managing director Butler-Adams. Brompton bicycle exports to markets to Netherlands, America, Germany, Japan and Scandinavia account for about 60% of its sales.

weakness :

Brompton bicycle’s seat pillars in both steel and aluminium versions. standard seat pillar, the Brompton and Brooks saddles can be up to 995mm from the ground. If customer’s inside leg is more than 33?/84cm,he will almost need either of the longer seat pillars. So for the shorter people it can be difficult for ride. It’s not adjustable as other bigger cycle. The merits and drawbacks of small and large wheels alike can be argued into the late hours.

Opportunities:

The Brompton is the only bike in the world to combine such ready portability with a first-class ride, and it creates countless new opportunities for using a bicycle. Malcolm Shepherd, Chief Executive of Sustrans said: “Cycling England has been a crucial conduit for funding which has touched the lives of millions of people by making it possible for people to cycle for everyday journeys. And Brompton bikes are suitable for the every journey.

Here are so many bike company competitor for the Brompton bikes. Alldays & Onions, Bickerton- folding bikes. Boardman bikes, british eagle, claud bulter, dawes, etc.. bicycles are here. Like Brompton bickerton is also a folding cycle. It can be a main competitor. The Bickerton was a portable, aluminium folding bicycle designed by Harry Bickerton it had manufactured in the UK between 1971 and 1991. The bicycle was made of aluminium profiles and riding properties were poor, aluminium parts could never be properly locked in place. its weight and folded package size broke and it is cited by Andrew Ritchie as one of his inspirations in creating the highly successful Brompton bicycle. So the Brompton is better than any cycle thats why70% Brompton bike are exporting to asia and Europe.

Threats:

The UK folding bike Brompton is a curious company. Brompton bicycle exports for around 75 per cent of its output, it continues to manufacture all of its bikes in the UK.

Brompton bicycle’s many parts are custom made so it may bring delays and extra costs for repairing than authorized dealers. The bike is less suited to long rides as most models have restricted gears. Riders requiring a bottom bracket to saddle top height of more than 715mm/28? can select an extended seat post to give a maximum saddle height of 775mm/30.5?

-http://www.bikesandtrailers.com/folding-bikes/brompton.html

Before doing any business first we have to do pest analysis in that country which is following:

PEST ANALYSIS OF BANGLADESH:
Political environment

Bangladesh is a poor nation in South Asia its gained independence in 1971 against West Pakistan .After independence, Bangladesh has established a largely moderate and democratic majority as a Muslim country. The Bangladesh National Party and the Awami League traditionally have dominated Bangladeshi politics, with the AL in government since January 2009. Bangladesh was ruled by a military-backed caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed for two years prior to the return to democracy that was ushered in by the December 2008 election. The current Hasina government came to power in free and fair elections with an overwhelming majority in parliament.

Economic environment

The economy of Bangladesh is a developing country its per capita income in 2008 was est. US$1,500. According to the International Monetary Fund, Bangladesh’s rank w3as the 48th largest economy in the world in 2009. The economy has grown at the rate of 6-7% p.a. over the past few years. Most Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, maize and vegetables are assuming greater importance

Social environment

Bangladeshi population is largely Muslim. There are many dialects of Bengali spoken throughout the region. The dialect spoken by those in Chittagong and Sylhet are particularly distinctive. In 2009 the population was estimated at 156 million. Religiously, about 90% Bengali people are Muslims and the remainder are mostly Hindus.

Technological environment

The Bangladesh have Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation which operates remote sensing facilities in both French and American satellites, and it is applying meteorological and geographic data to such basic problems as soil fertility, water management, forecasting, and agricultural census work. In 1986 it became the first non-American organization and it got a award by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. They provided training for Bangladeshi scientists and grants of equipment and technical assistance. Bangladeshi Atomic Energy Commission operates an experimental nuclear reactor and conducts as well important agricultural research on seeds, parasites, storage of harvested crops, and irradiation.

– http://www.traderscity.com/board/countrytargetedleads/Bangladesh.html

PEST ANALYSIS OF INDIA:
Political environment

After India’s independence on August 15, 1947, India received most of the subcontinent’s 562 widely scattered polities, or princely states, as well as the majority of the British provinces, and parts of three of the remaining provinces. Muslim Pakistan received the remainder. Pakistan consisted of a western wing, with the approximate boundaries of modern Pakistan, and an eastern wing, with the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh. India is a Sovereign, Secular, Democratic country with a Parliamentary form of Government. The Constitution was adopted by the Assembly on 26th November 1949 and it came into force on 26th November 1950.

Economic environment

India is eleventh largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity. The country began to develop a fast-paced economic growth and free market principles were initiated in 1990 for international competition and foreign investment. Per capita income in india is $1,030, ranked 139th in the world, while its per capita (PPP) of US$2,940 is ranked 128th. India’s large service industry accounts for 55% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while the industrial and agricultural sector contribute 28% and 17% respectively. In 2006 India exported US$21.8 billion worth of merchandise to the United States and Indian imports from the U.S. rose 26.3% to $10.1 billion in 2006, up 146% since 2002.

Social environment

Current Population of India is around 1,150,000,000 (1.15 billion) people in 2010, of which Hinduism accounted for 80.5%, Islam is (13.5%), Christianity is (3.0%) and Sikhism (2.3%). these are the major religions followed by the people of India. There are 29 language in india.

Technological environment

The Indian software industry was grown from a mere US $ 150 million in 1991-92 to a staggering US $ 5.7 billion in 1999-2000.The annual growth rate of India’s software exported consistently over 50 percent since 1991. India’s software exports would be around $ 6.3 billion, in addition to $ 2.5 billion in domestic sale.

-http://www.stylusinc.com/business/india/encyclopedia.htm

-http://www.locatehotelroom.com/India/encyclopedia.htm

PEST ANALYSIS OF NEPAL
political environment

An isolated, agrarian society until the mid-20th century, Nepal entered the modern era in 1951 without schools, hospitals, roads, telecommunications, electric power, industry, or civil service. The government encouraged import and export to promote good business and encourage growth which will hopefully result in a higher employment rate, higher salaries and a better standard of living for all in time.

Economic environment

Agriculture is Nepal’s principal economic activity which employing 80% of the population and providing 37% of GDP. Only about 20% of the total area is cultivable; another 33% is forested; most of the rest is mountainous. The main food crops are rice and wheat. The lowland Terai region produces an agricultural surplus is a part of which supplies the food-deficient hill areas. Export in recent years is approximately 70% of merchandise. Nepal’s merchandise trade balance has improved somewhat since 2000 with the growth of the carpet and garment industries.

Social environment

Nepal’s current population is 28,563,377 of which 80.6 percent are Hindu, 10.7 percent are Buddhist, 4.4% are Muslim, 3.6 percent are Kirat ,0.5 percent are Christian, and 0.4 percent are classified other groups such as Bon religion.

Technological environment

Nepal is a late starter in modem science and technology. it developed technological capabilities in some specific areas they are civil engineering, architecture, agriculture, metallurgy, water management, textile and paper manufacture, medicine, dyeing and food technology.

– http://www.visitnepal.com/business

PESTEL ANALYSIS IN SRI LANKA
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

Socialistic predilection in Sri Lanka was unswerving, but as time passed by it gave room for investment overseas in 1978. Board of Investment operates as a sovereign legal bureau with investment in foreign countries as a focus. BOI is authorized to yield grants to organizations that meet the basic eligibility standards on minimal investment, employment and exports. When the organization fails to meet the standards then its projects have to be sanctioned by the respective departments of the government. BOI also deals with the 10 zones of free trade, which is known as the export-processing zones. BOI possess the authorization to relieve any confinements on the FDI Eleven huge privatizations were accounted for 34% of the FDI. Nevertheless due to the instable political conditions and conflicting ethnicity the advancement on this issue is been decelerate for years. The president sketched out regarding anti-privatization economical scheme in his electoral pronunciamento known as aˆzMahinda ChintanaaˆY. Various enterprises of the state which designing itself to be privatized were not approved, this includes the airports and banks. Privatize. Organization was planned to be regulated by the government which will turn the loss into a profit-making organization.

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Sound rates of growth has been steady in Sri Lanka despite if its intense violence on ethnicity. Rich private demand of requirements, core industrialization, primarily the intensive labour textile industry and the advancement of domestic tea manufacturing hiked the growth rate of the economy. The well-disposed FDI policy of the government ensued the zooming inflows of capital. The deceleration in the global issues activated an acute condensation in the activities of the economy in the year 2001. Subsequently there was a recuperation in the sectors of the industries that is impelled by a firm external demand and an increased growth rates in the sectors relating to service resulted in a sizeable enlargement of economical activities though the tsunami that hit the sectors of agriculture was critically damaged. Deficits in the fiscal aspects are an important issue to the government, which has been diminishing in the years past. The current fiscal obligates to cut back deficits. There are many industries that imparts in great value to the GDP that engages greater population of the manpower, this comprises of the industry in tourism, and the service industries. When taking industries into consideration, it is the textile industry that yields greater sum of revenues in export.

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

Sri Lanka holds a populace of 20,238,000, of which Sinhalese constitutes about 74%, Sri Lankan Moors constitutes about 7.2%, Sri Lankan Tamils constitutes about 3.9% and the Indian Tamils constitutes about 4.6%. When religions are taken into consideration the Buddhists comprise a major share of 69.1%. Sri Lanka is prominently a rustic area that holds 79% of the population. The populace medial age is 30 and 7.8% constitute for an age group of 65 and over. The health index of Sri Lanka is fairly good when compared to other countries in Asia. The government has an expenditure of 46.3% from the 4% of the aggregate GDP for medical expenses of the country. The expected life span is 73.4yrs of the aggregate populace.

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

The telecom sphere was improved to an incredible extent in terms of liberalizing right in the

90aˆYs. Act of Sri Lankan Telecommunication of 1991 founded the Sri Lanka telecom also known as the SLT, it awarded the permit to function in the global system.

-http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/srilanka.html

After analyzing the market we have found out that there is huge market opportunity in Sri Lanka to sell folding bikes. Due to low price there are more chances that Brompton folding bikes can become the market leader successfully after some time because of many reasons such as low cost, already operation exist in Sri Lanka and due to climate condition. If we talk about local competition, it is very less. The local players get the help by the government also where the government has distributed a project to provide good cycle facility supply to those households.

I’m a manager of this product and i want to make profit that’s why I’m going to launch this product in south asia. I will launch this product in sri lanka and will export in 3 other countries, they are Bangladesh, india and Nepal. It will be better to launch this product in south asia because there labour cost will be low and we can sell this cycles in low cost. Brompton bicycle’s cost in uk is ?600 and over. Here, labour cost is expensive than south asia so we can’t export from here. In south asia there is a scope for this product. There is a great number of people who are using bicycle but they aren’t like Brompton they can’t fold, they are difficult for their journey. so it will be a new kind of cycle in south asia. I can make a profit. It will be cheaper so most of the people will buy it. I can make a market over there.

Here are different types to entering new market they are:

Export

Joint venture

FDI

Strategic alliances

Among these methods i’m going to use joint venture method because it will be better for my profit if i will export from here it will cost expensive. First i will go sri lanka and will talk in srilankan embassy, i will choose one cycle company as my partner over there and i will do good business over there and will make profit.

4PS ABOUT THE PRODUCT:

Product: my product is folding bicycle.

Price: labour cost will be low so per cycle it will cost ?90.

Place: i will open my company in Colombo kingdom of sri lanka because there i can gget more facility than other place.

Promotion: The literacy rate is 92% in Sri Lanka which is considered as a good rate. To sell the Brompton folding bikes every company more emphasizes on direct marketing such as event or trade show and personal selling. We will give this news first all over in sri lanka later 3 other countries by tv news and international news paper.

MARKETING PLAN:

Our product have made plan for Brompton folding bicycle for next five yrs. To increase our sale and profit we will spend half of our advertisement budget on personal selling because by this only we can aware consumers about our products and persuade consumers to buy the products.

PRODUCTION CAPACITY:

During the first year, product will be imported to Sri Lanka And later the demand of the product goes 3 other countries to have a manufacturing Unit can also be considered. This will result in better pricing of the product will result in more sales and Profits.

BUDGET:
Selling expenses:

Staff salaries, Sales support and distribution staff expenses are included. The total expenditure is

? 1210000.00

Sales and advertisement:

For radio advertisement =?5000

Newspaper/magazine =?6000

Tv ad =?25000

Sales promotion =?250000 including customer awareness program

Customer oriented =?200000

Trade oriented =?750000

Support line =?600000

This essay is deal with Bandura’s social cognitive theory which shows to people that children or even adults learn behaviors and manners from observation and modeling. The first section of this essay will introduce readers on what is child development? Explanations on stages of child development are included. Next, the details on basic concepts of Bandura’s theory and factors affect modeling learning. In third and forth section, readers will encounter with the application of social cognitive theory on child development and children of preschool and early primary schools. This essay is concluded with summary of Bandura’s social cognitive theory.

1. Introduction

Child development refers to improvement of biological, psychological and emotional that occurs in human between births to puberty. Development and growth are two different aspects. Development shows qualitative traits of child such as intellectual, spiritual, emotional and social interaction however growth display quantitative features like physical changes. Growth is the largest changes occur in human. From have to sleep almost 16 to 17 hours a day until they can dresses themselves is the growth of children. This changes are differing from each stage; newborn, infants, toddler, preschooler, school-aged child and adolescent.

Newborn are babies up to 28 days. At this stage, they only develop basic senses such as sight, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting and pain. Then, they become infants; 1 month till 12 month old. Some said it is ‘doing’ stage because infants’ sensory and motor abilities start to improve. They start to cry, coo and mumble most of vowels and some baby words that we can’t understand but they can grasping and recognize their mothers’ odor. When infants slowly learn to walk, they are call as toddlers.

From age 1 until 3, toddlers’ motor, cognitive and language abilities start to strengthening. They can walk with support, and then they can walk alone about 10 to 20 minutes until they can ride tricycle. It is ‘thinking’ stage since they will obey to simple command but at the same time they think for themselves much. In preschool stage; self awareness and imagination stage, children can jump up and down and they already begin to use adult-like words since their cognitive system can store over 2,000 words. They also able to cooperate on playing with other children and practice more social skills in their daily play activities.

When they move to school-aged and adolescent; 7 to 19 years old, they create more worries as they having conflict with parents and they fare more affected by peers. At this stage, most girls and boys start to reach puberty thus they having problems with emotional stability, seeking for new identity and start growing in sexual interest. All this stages involve in psychology and cognitive development as these changes will affect other area of human body systems.

Psychology growth is connected to development of social contact. This improvement is not innate because Bandura and Skinner were two psychologists that claimed, behavior is learned. Nevertheless, Skinner’s behavior learning process was through the causes and the effects of an action but Bandura emphasis on interaction of human with one another to learn a behavior.

Throughout this essay, I will explain more on Bandura’s social cognitive theory and how it affects in child development. The reasons I choose Bandura’s theory is because I agreed that human learn behaviors by imitate others. For instance, my mother always advice my siblings to use polite words because our two years old niece will try to imitate us some time later. Bandura’s theory was focused mainly on behavior modeling process since according to Bandura, children learn from imitate others’ behaviors which involve manners, actions, values and customs.

2. Basic Concept of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory

Social cognitive theory is about the process of learning behaviors through observation, modeling and repetition for positive and negative reinforcement. Bandura believed that human shaped and improved their behavior by involved in social context. To strengthen this claim, Bandura came up with two methodologies; observational learning and vicarious reinforcement. Human especially children learn new behavior by modeling others’ behaviors through observational learning processes whereas children learn new behaviors and strengthen their behavior by observing the effect of others’ behaviors and copy it through vicarious reinforcement processes.

In observational learning processes, children require model such as parents, siblings, teachers and peers but not reinforcement. Models are important because it allows children to cognitively process, encode and store displayed behaviors. Models might purposely or not purposely show certain behaviors to children and children probably go through modeling processes from various models. Apart from that, vicarious reinforcement processes need both models and reinforcement and it is often used to remind or inform others the advantages or disadvantages of doing something. Tradition of using famous celebrities in promoting products is based on the idea of vicarious reinforcement. When Aishwarya Rai said she uses L’oreal Paris Total Repair 5 shampoo to get ravishing and healthy hair, it reinforces others to model her by buying and using L’oreal Paris shampoo too.

There are three factors which stimulate modeling behavior which go through observation learning processes. First is Models’ Characteristics which included live model, verbal instruction and media. Models’ traits influence our probability to imitate them. We tend to copy someone who is similar in age and sex group, in high status and prestige; parents, older siblings and teachers and models show simple behaviors. A child will imitate his or her peers’ actions who are already know how to use bubble maker rather than asking their own parents. It is because they find it more comfortable to communicate with same age friends. In modeling learning, children have high tendency to copy simple adults’ behavior such as waving, shaking hands and nodding head rather than complex action.

Next aspect is Observers’ Characteristics. Modeling learning is effective when someone is in low self-confidence and self-esteem and when someone is reinforcing to copy the modeled behaviors. Children especially newborns, infants and toddlers are more probability to imitate other as there are still in ‘doing’ and ‘thinking’ stage. They learn by observe and imitate others. The third factor is Consequences of the Behaviors. Rewarding and punishment give impact on observers’ imitation. When someone is rewarding for imitate modeled behaviors, its reinforce them to continue the behavior. If someone get not meaningful rewards for imitate modeled behaviors, its reinforce them to discontinue the behavior. In preschool stage, children already face with limitation from parents especially involving home rules and norms. At this stage, children love to play outdoors and be friends with others; as they imitate their parents’ social skills. This worries the parents as the children might become too friendly with strangers or even with kidnappers. Thus, parents will stop them from playing outside of the house for a certain time. This limitation depressed the children and affects their development.

3. How social cognitive theory apply on child development?

In behavior development, children will observe and imitate their models around them. Children are leaning from observation as early as they born. For example, according to Harris and Liebert (1992), a six days old baby girl stick out her tongue after her mother showed the action repeatedly in front of her. Based on theory of modeling, newborns are having problems to immediately imitate their models’ behavior. It is because newborns’ brain equipped with 100 billion brain cells or neurons. Only few of them are connected through connection or synapses. The more the babies interrelate with environment, the more the process of synapses occur which can increases the growth of intelligence of children. Due to this phenomenon, there are two basic ideologies children’ models especially parents need to know.

First, parents need to repeat their action several times. The reason is infants’ cognitive capacities such as memories and imagination are not fully developed yet. Secondly, action of parents that they wish the infants to imitate need to done within the development of sensorimotor of the infants; about 2 years old. Before age two, children begin to imitate their models’ action some time later. It is due to the growth of their sensorimotor and cognitive system. After age two, children can imitate their models’ action immediately in form of verbally response or repetition actions.

Young children imitate their models’ behavior due to reinforcement. Earlier in this essay already introduce to reinforcement but what is exactly reinforcement means? Reinforcement is process of giving rewards or punishment to someone for successfully or fails to fulfill someone’s expectation. For instance, mothers always teach their newborns to call them “mom” and they will give kisses to the babies if they can utter it in their own language. It acts as a reward to the infants. Frequently children are reinforced by food, affection and punishment in modeling process. The question is how this reinforcement methodology by Bandura affects child development?

The parents and caretakers are the one who set some standards of the young children performance in reinforcement process. As the process of reinforcement continues, the children will normalize with many behaviors. Models will show some behavior like pronouncing words, showing face expression, holding things and more so that young children can imitate it. If they can imitate it, models will reward them. For example, a mother tries to teach her little son to hold his toy. She holds it first in front of the son hence the son can imitate it. She repeatedly demonstrates the steps and when she gives the toy to her son, he successfully holds it. She will hugs and kisses him as a reward for his effort. This will motivate her son to try hold the toy again. Eventually, these rewards strengthen the children’ self efficacy; feeling of ability to survive in life.

Self efficacy or self effectiveness will slowly develop in infancy stage as they start to involve in physical and social environments. They begin to learn about the effects of their own action which they imitated from models and these effects give them strength or weaken their development. The little boy might think that the more he tries to hold his toy, the more kisses he can get from his mother. Same goes as aggressive behavior shown by children because of their family environment; violent fathers, short-tempered siblings or even being ignored by the mothers will affect the children’ self efficacy. They might having fears and phobias with adults, feeling insecurities to make friends and become a quiet, gloomy child or involve in bullies. This certainly affects children performance as they grow.

For instance, siblings who show violence in the families of bullies will encourage the children in showing the same aggressive actions towards other children in school (Duncan, 1999). As I remembered, when I tried to snatch television remote control from my younger sister, I accidently pulled her hair. My two years old niece saw that and unexpectedly she tried to imitate our ‘pulling’ hair action with her baby toy. Fortunately, she done that aggressive action to her toy but from this experience and connection to the theory, it will not a surprise if my niece will pull her friend’s hair in preschool later. As mention before, this is because, children observe and imitate adults’ behavior.

Reinforcement and self efficacy which learn by modeling parents’ behavior and action give impact on child development; childhood till adolescence. This is because children will steadily build their self-esteem and self-awareness that influence their life progression. Inspiration of ‘I think I can do it’ will boost their confidence level to socialize with others. When children in kindergarten saw their friends can make an attractive Mother’s Day Card, they think ‘if they can do it, I can do it too’. Hence, they will try hard to make the best card too. As they grow, children need to cope with new challenges and pressure such as making peers, learning new things, personality problems and more. Level of self efficacy and confidence will assist them either they can effectively go through each stage of improvement and growth or they might fail to adjust.

4. How social cognitive theory apply on children from preschool and early primary level?

As mention in this essay, children learn behaviors by observation. Thus, we need to clearly understand the process in observational learning. These process always occur in preschool and early primary stage; 5 to 8 years old in Malaysia. Observational learning is run by four connected processes.

First is Attention Processes. Cognitive system and perceptual ability in children are developing in order to assist them in paying attention to model. They will observe the displayed behavior of model accurately so that they can imitate it some time later. Next is Retention Processes. Children use their cognitive system to remember the models’ behavior so they can imitate it later. Methods of remembering displayed behavior are through either forming mental images or verbal descriptions. Third, Production Processes. The children need to translate the mental image or verbal descriptions same as the displayed models’ action by produce it physically and they will receive feedback from models either they done it correctly or they need some modification. Lastly, Incentive and Motivation Process. After observing the models’ behaviors, children realized that the models will be rewarding either by physical objects, affection or feeling of satisfying come from other person or themselves. Hence, children expecting that if they successfully imitate and perform the models’ action, they will get the same rewards.

Example:

However, Bandura claimed that reinforcement not exactly can stimulate children to learn. Sometimes, reinforcement is not necessary for learning processes to take place but it might be environment factors, emotional factors or curiosity factors of the children themselves to observe, imitate and perform models’ actions.

Although, close models of the children such as parents, caretakers or siblings wish the children grow in positive manners, but children have more tendencies to accurately imitate aggressive behavior of models. According to Bobo Doll Studies conducted by Albert Bandura, it is possible that children can give responses that they never displayed before when they keep observing the models’ behavior. In short, the object in this study was a Bobo Doll and the subjects were a group of preschool children. They watched an adult hit and kick the doll while shouted curse words. 80% of the children were repeating the aggressive actions to the doll when they were left alone with the doll. They imitate the adult behaviors towards the doll and this shows that children can act aggressively as they copy models’ behavior that they saw live, from television and cartoons.

A child modeled aggressive actions towards the doll after observing the model’s actions

In 2012, police of Malaysia released a statistics that 432 youths were arrested due to bullying problems aged between as early as seven to 18. 341 youth aged between 16 and 18, 87 youth aged 13 to 15 and that’s means 4 bullying cases involved seven to 12 years old children! (School bullies getting younger, say police, 2012). According to the report, the highest number of recorded bullying cases among children is Selangor with 66 cases.

The main factor of this problem is influence of family environment which include negativity surroundings, restricted environment and development and chaotic family interactions. Seefeldt, Castle and Falconer (2010) found that children use the image of parents’ social life to start their own effort in life. If the parents displayed good social interaction, the children will progress in life as good as the parents. On the other hand, if the parents demonstrated violent behaviors, the children will imitate it and faces many problems in life. Thus, models need to be careful with their actions; behaviors, attitudes and manners since it give impact on children especially preschool and early primary children.

5. Summary

Social cognitive theory by Albert Bandura focuses on learning of behavior through observation and modeling which in some situation, reinforcement is needed. Reinforcement can be in any form such as food, affection, punishment, limitation or even money. There are three causes of modeling behavior which are models, observers and impact of the imitation.

Cognitive system of children is developing by stages. They go through changes from basic senses development, imaginational skills and sensorimotor slowly shows progression until they move to much challenging phrases, adolescents. Children learn behaviors from parents, siblings’ interactions, teachers’ instructions, television cartoons and other media sources. All of these medium play important roles in children observation and modeling learning.

In observational learning, there are four processes involved; attention, retention, production and incentive and motivational processes.

Result from Bobo Doll studies shows that children can learn all types of behavior, positive manners or negative actions. Hence, the impact of this theory can cause either helpful or harmful behaviors learning.

Bandura studied that behavior learning are connected to cognitive abilities. However his studies excluded the human aspects of personality such as motivation and emotion influence. He also failed to explain precisely on the affect of cognitive abilities on behavior learning.

Children are regarded as precious gifts from God. It is rather curious and unfortunate that these same children are subjected to abuses and neglect. Universally, childhood is recognized as a period of sensitivity requiring special care, attention and protection (Awosola, 2008). Thus, children should know about their rights. However, the children awareness towards their rights is depending on the exposure that they got from the adult. It is the responsibility of the adult to educate the children regarding their rights. In Malaysia, the children are protected under the Child Act 2001 which covers the Juvenile Courts Act 1947, the Women and Young Girls Protection Act 1973, and the Child Protection Act 1991. It was enacted partially in order to fulfill Malaysia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Convention on the Rights of the Child). The Convention is divided into three parts containing 54 articles. It covers four broad areas of rights. The first is Survival Rights which include adequate living standards and access to medical services. Next is Development Rights that include education, access to information, play, leisure and cultural activities, freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Another area is Protection Rights which cover all forms of exploitation and cruelty, arbitrary separation from family and abuses of the criminal justice system. Last but not least, Participation Rights that include the freedom to express opinions and to have a say in matters affecting a young person’s life. This research is focusing on the right to participate among the pupil. Children’s participation is especially important in fighting their exploitation.

Problem Statement

The awareness towards the children right is important for the children for them to know the things that they deserve to get as children. According to the Convention on the Right of the Child, in participation right the child have three rights, which is right of expression, association and a child’s opinion. These rights can be seen in its practice at home, school and in general the society. This exploratory study was designed to find out the extent to which the primary school children were aware of their rights and practice the right to participate. Although this is a small-scale study with severe limitations with regard to generalization of the findings, it is nevertheless useful, as Melton and Limber (1992) have pointed out, for designing structures and procedures for implementation of children’s rights in a manner that is protective of children’s dignity (Ejieh, 2009).

Research Objectives and Questions
1.3.1 The objectives of this study are:

1) To investigate the level of the primary school pupils’ awareness of

their rights?

2) To explore if child’s rights awareness among pupils are affected by their gender and age?

3) To determine how far the right to participate is exercised.

1.3.2 Research Questions.

This study is set to ask the following questions:

1) Do the pupils know about the existence of children right?

2) Does right to participate are exercise at home, school and society?

2) Does age group influence their level of awareness?

3) Which gender is more aware of their rights?

Scope of Study
1.4.1 Area of Research

The area of research will be the level of awareness on children rights and the exercise of the right to participate among the primary pupils in Smk.St. Mary Limbahau Papar.

Respondents of the research

The respondents for this study are the primary pupils at Smk St.Mary Limbahau Papar. Questionnaires will be distributed randomly to the pupils from different classes.

Duration of the research.

The duration for this study is about two semesters which is about a year. Proposal will be completed at the end of the first 6 months. The questionnaires and findings will be completed in the next 6 months.

Subject of the research

The subject of this study is on the level of awareness of children rights among the primary pupils in Smk.St.Mary Limbahau Papar

Significance of the study

From the research, the level of awareness of children rights among primary pupil can be determined. Apart from that, it also can determine which gender has high level of awareness. Towards the end of this research it will determine how far the right to participate in decision making is exercised. This study is also as a platform to suggest possible ways to increase awareness among the primary pupil.

Definition of Key Terms
1.6.1 Children

According to the Children Act Of 2001, children is a person under the age of eighteen years; and in relation to criminal proceedings, means a person who has attained the age of criminal responsibility

1.6.2 Right

Oxford defines right as a moral or legal claim to have or get or to behave in a particular way.

1.6.3 Children Right

According to Wikipedia, children’s rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education, health care and criminal laws appropriate for the age and development of the child. Interpretations of children’s rights range from allowing children the capacity for autonomous action to the enforcement of children being physically, mentally and emotionally free from abuse, though what constitutes “abuse” is a matter of debate. Other definitions include the rights to care and nurturing.

1.6.4 Convention on the Right of the Child

According to Wikipedia, Convention on the Right of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of children.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW & CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Literature Review

John Fitzgerald Kennedy states that children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future (Thinkexist.com: John Fitzgerald Kennedy quotes). The children have to be mould into a shape that would benefit our country in the future. Therefore, to avoid the children from being exploited by irresponsible parties, Children Right has to be promoted to the parties that are closely related to the children life, which are parents and schools. Article 42 of the Convention on the Right of the Child, requires States Parties to publicize its principles and provisions to children, young people, parents and care givers, and every one working with children and young people (Ejieh, 2009). Besides, the children also must be aware about their right. Oduolowu and Ogunyemi (2001) observes that: “There is no duty more important than ensuring that their (children’s) rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace”. This study is conducted to determine the level of awareness among the primary pupil and their practice of the right to participate. Article 12 of the Convention specifically states that children have a right to be heard in matters that affect them and to have their opinions taken into account according to their age and level of maturity. Elaborating on the implications of this article UNICEF India (n.d.) states that children and young people have the right to participate in family decisions, in school and class decisions, in faith communities and even in the UN, among other organizations and groups (Ejieh, 2009).

A research conducted by Felicity McArdle and Barbara Piscitelli covers the three variables, such as home or parents, schools or teachers and the society. In their research they visited four schools in the Brisbane region to talk with five to twelve year old children about their rights and to encourage them to depict their views of their rights. They found that parents’ involvement in awareness program is crucial. This is because many parents have a great deal to offer the program in their own life experiences. Always remind the children that, while it is commendable to protect their own rights, they must also consider the rights of others. Make sure they know that having rights also means having responsibilities (Pettman, 1984). Another finding that they got that involving to the teachers support to create awareness in the children. If children are not shown respect for their opinions, interests, and culture, they cannot learn positive ways of interacting with each other and those with whom they come in contact. Many incidents occur when young children need help in resolving conflicts, sharing, dealing with hurt, learning to cooperate and be part of a group. By encouraging a ‘Rights’ environment in the setting, and introducing a ‘Rights’ vocabulary, teachers can assist the children in developing a sense of community, and respect for others’ rights, as well as an awareness of their own rights.

Apart from that, it shows that participation in group games might assist in the understanding of rules and rights. Some rules are for safety, some for cooperation and courtesy, some for protection of people and their rights or property. Many people in our community feel threatened by the idea that children have rights (Piscitelli & Frey, 1997). United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child where it is clearly stated that “…the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and welI being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities in the community” and recognizes “… that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his of her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding (UNICEF, 1997). Participation rights are the most controversial of UNCROC rights, and have often been interpreted as applying only to older children. UNCROC stated that these rights should apply depending “aˆ¦on the age and maturity of the child” (Layland, 2009). Yet other researchers (Carr, 2001; Flekkoy & Kaufman, 1997; Smith, 2000, 2002) have suggested that younger children too are developing agency, and that their learning is enhanced if they are able to exercise it.

By educating the young to participate can bring many benefits to the country in the future. In some countries it has been found that participation by young people not only contributes to building civil society and strengthening democracy but it also, in addition to other benefits, fosters learning and enables them to build life skills (Cook, Blanchet-Cohen, & Hart, 2004). Findings have shown that the training, care and exposure which a child is given at home and school during the formative years have lasting effects on their school achievement (Balli, 1997). This implies that home-school cooperation is very crucial for improved and better behaviour as well as achievement in children’s school subject.

Meanwhile the societies that are sometimes represented by the media are undoubtedly persuasive instruments in man’s struggle for self liberation and development. With respect to child rights issue, the media most especially television medium coverage has been used as weapon of awareness creation (Awosola, 2008). The denial of participation to children also diminishes the society in which they live, whereas the active participation by children has been shown to stimulate community development and change (Hart, 1992).

2.2 Conceptual Framework
Independent Variable

Home

Dependent Variable
Children right awareness and participation
School

Society

Figure 1.0

2.2 Independent Variable

2.2.1 Home

Education begins in the home and continues there through primary school, which is the ideal place for laying the foundation for in all round development type of education (Sarah, 2009). The parent plays important roles to instill the awareness of the child right as they are the closes to their children. The children may have a basis of awareness to the right if their parents are doing their responsibility to educate their children at early age even before the child are at the age of schooling. The practices of right to participate at home are the early steps to give awareness to the children.

2.2.2 School

School is referring to the teachers. They as accredited educators are also responsible to give awareness to the children about their right. This can be seen through an exercise of the right to participate in school activities.

2.2.3 Society

It is also known as community. This refers to the scope other than at home and schools environment. As children are a part of the society, therefore the societies are responsible to provide awareness of the children right.

2.3 Dependent Variable

Awareness of the children towards their rights is dependent on the people closely related to them which are their parents, teachers and the society. The level of awareness can be seen in the practice of one of their rights, that is, right to participate.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHOD
Research design

For the purpose of this study, the research design will be distribution of questionnaires. The research demands for information from the pupil. Type of approach is supplemented by a questionnaire survey.

Unit of analysis

This study is to know about the level of awareness of Children Right among primary pupil, thus the unit of analysis will be primary pupil in SMK.ST.Mary Limbahau Papar.

Sample size

The sample size for the study is 100 respondents.

Sampling technique

SMK.st.Mary Limbahau Papar will be selected for detailed analysis on the level of awareness of Children Right among primary pupil. The type of sampling is convenient sampling which involve selection on the unit of analysis. In addition, there will be a predetermined quota for male and female.

Measurement or Instrumentation

The questionnaire will be structured into 3 sections.

Data Collection

Basically, there are two method used for the collection. Those are primary data collection and secondary data collection. Primary data is a data which collected originally by the researcher based on his effort. Example, the data for this study will be collected through questionnaire to the focus group. This method was chosen because the designed questionnaire could be sent personally to them in a limited time and they have to return it back on that time. While, secondary data is the information which is already in existence that related to the study. It includes the data from the journal, book, and internet search. For this study, both of the data collection method is being used so that it will be help in term of an understanding and the accuracy of information that will be received.

Data Analysis

The data analysis for this study conducted through ‘Statistical Package for Social Science’ software or SPSS version 17.0 which use the descriptive analysis and also crosstab. SPSS will be used as medium to analyze the data where the raw will be entered in the computer as a data file. By using the tools, any missing value can easily be identified. The tool will help in analyzing data such as table, figure also percentage.

Childcare robots are being manufactured and developed with the long term aim of creating surrogate carers. While total childcare is not yet being promoted, there are indications that it is ‘on the cards’. We examine recent research and developments in childcare robots and speculate on progress over the coming years by extrapolating from other ongoing robotics work. Our main aim is to raise ethical questions about the part or full-time replacement of primary carers.

The questions are about human rights, privacy, robot use of restraint, deception of children and accountability. But the most pressing ethical issues throughout the paper concern the consequences for the psychological and emotional wellbeing of children. We set these in the context of the child development literature on the pathology and causes of attachment disorders. We then consider the adequacy of current legislation and international ethical guidelines on the protection of children from the overuse of robot care.Who’s to say that at some distant moment there might be an assembly line producing a gentle product in the form of a grandmother – whose stock in trade is love.

From I Sing the Body Electric, Twilight Zone, Series 3, Episode 35, 1960aˆˆ

Introduction

no one can deny that technology play a big role in our daily life , technonolgy reached above the predicted limits, one of the latest technologies is robot nannies . is it future or fiction? Can robot nanny be as good as human nanny? What is advantages and disadvantages of robot nannies? What is the current capabilities of robot nannies. All of this is important must be asked and consdired in applying robot nannies; Sharkey and Sharkey included all o this in their interesting paperpaper.

the distinction between attachment (bond formation) and expectations of availability and responsiveness (security) within attachment relationships has many factors to consider in comparison first the current technologies and abilities of robots as every day new technology occurs and new capabilities added to robot nannies , until this moment available technology capable to produce part time child carer (robot nanny) so bonds now is completely focused on human as the current technology is not capable to produce nannies with this capabilities.

Besides that robots as attachment figures until now is very limited according to robots technology although robot nannies may be used for old adults as well not only children

Psychological damage must be consdired as well is robot nannies is dangerous for children what are the risks of using robot nannies? and also deception of the producing company and the parents can not be neglected ; to be more specific deception that theproducing company is afraid of misuse of the robot nannies and the parents deception in robot capabilities.

Literature review

According to [1] Robots are similar to standard toys, video games and medicine; the main point of similarity that all of them have usage regulation and some guidance; for an example “Not recommended for children under X years old”, “Do not use without the supervision of an adult”, or “Do not use for long periods of time”

[2] stated that robots are intelligent machines which cause no physical harm and also protect the child ; but psychological harm isn’t that simple to avoid because it depends on many other factors such as the child’s predispositions or even to insensitive parenting.

Also[1] stated Children under 5 years old could be damaged psychologically due to the extended use of robots in caring ,specially when the the robot is a main care giver, unfortunetly many parents would do this which leads to un balanced emotional and social development for the child; on the contrary according to [1] there isn’t any psychological damage to children above 5 years old when the interaction between the child and robot is regulated properly , in this case the interaction is very useful for the child and the parents. The main useful usage of the robot when the parents are busy the robot nanny will fill this gap with their children increase the child curiosity in many fields such as science , technology and creativity in general. Also robot nannies will occupy the child time such that child will be much more entertained at home which protect him from bad influences (e.g. street gangs and drug dealers);

As result , the robot as a nanny has different effect on the child according to the child age therefore , usage regulations must be analyzed depending on child’s age.

There are many points w must consider and analyze it well to avoid misuse of robot nanny for the safety of the child.

One of these points is the ethical usage of stored data and information the main point w must concern as stated in Sharkey and sharkey’s article the children’s privacy , to be more specific pictures and videos taken by robots must be analyzed and used well therefore parents have to control this data not anyone else to make the point more clear for an example robots will store children activities in school as the children must have privacy these public recordings must be destroyed but as I mentioned only home robots can store data and be under supervision of the parents otherwise the same the criteria must be applied. As a result of these points concerning privacy must be law enforced and also force specific regulations to these stored data

One of the major problems that robot nanny might help fixing it is that the child is left by himself for a long time according to [1] the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “Every Day thousands of children arrive home from school to an empty house. Every week thousands of parents make decisions to leave children home alone while they go to work, run errands, or for social engagements. It is estimated over 40% of children are left home at some time, though rarely overnight aˆ¦” (AACAP, 2009).

Also the USA 2002 Census survey 9.75% of all children between the ages of five and fourteen years spending between 2-9 hours home alone (Overturf, 2005).

Children affected by this situation are called latchkey children: “latchkey kid or latchkey child refers to a child who returns from school to an empty home because his or her parent or parents are away at work or a child who is often left at home with little or no parental supervision” (Wikipedia, 2009).

As result of this improper care occur to the child causing physiological damage from being continuously left home alone with no one to talk with ,therefore they become socially isolated also this problem can get much bigger rustling higher levels of behaviour problems as mertens [1] stated problems such as depression, and lower levels of self esteem than other children.

Also the child become totally unprotected from alcohol and drug abuse and also from the emergencies as the child is left alone most of the time; it is stated [1] that these physiological damage are more often to latchkey children.

One of the effects on the child future career is that their academic efficiency is 10% lower especially in middle grade than the others that are properly are cared and raised by their parents.

As the majority of parents ignore published medical guidelines (van dewater etal, 2007) they will also ignore robots guidelines as well[7]; S&S investigate do parents get back from their work to their child, to be around their child and give them attention the answer is the majority of parents can’t do that. Therefore robots could be a useful tool used as compliment for human care not a replacement because robots can’t handle emergencies there for someone responsible must be there but robots w supply attention without stress or exhaustion.

Robots are not as same as dogs and TVs that they respond to children according to their actions but one of major difference between robots and human that robots are following system of rules which make them predictable to the child but we must concern that robots increase the attention defects to the child which increase bonding issues with parents and friends as TV

The child ability to form friendship, romantic relation and generally dealing with the society is based on their ability to bond with their parents. So if the child is raised by a robot and most of the time he interact with it , the child will be used to deal with predictable reactions and will prefer dealing with machines to human because he won’t understand human way of thinking because he is not used to it

“There is a very real chance that protracted experience of AI Might in fact enhance a child’s understanding of themselves and what it means to be human” (Bryson & Kime, 1998).

Besides these physiological damages the child is bored most of the time which make him to try to access adult websites and it become much easier for the child because the lack of surveillance and also the phenomena of pregnant teens will occur much more due to improper parental control.

So we have to fight these problems as [1] introduced that “. Robots, together

With other mechanisms, such as after school community programs, could play an Important role in avoiding or reducing these situations. As already mentioned, the

Availability of a robot nanny to interact with children can be very beneficial for them. The robot nanny can provide entertainment, companionship, supervision

And educational support (motivation, information, housework support, help with repetitive exercises, language training, etc.), and even moral advice, although probably not in the near future.

Attachment

According to [3] attachment is significant relationship completely different than friendship and any other type of relation. [3] Stated that attachment is specified by 6 main points which is preference, familiarity, (relative uniqueness, identity, use as a secure base, and grief and mourning in response to loss. uncertainty is one of the main points that made attachment figures more preferred than others.

The difference between robots attachment and human relationships that robots consternate on very few variables in the attachment with one person such as availability and responsiveness , but human relation has very large range of variable and dimensions that rule the relation like neighbours ,friends , classmates and relatives not only for few people as robots .

Besides human can differentiate between identities very good not as robots following rules that is fixed because human is not fixed their availability and responsiveness depends on their mood and this robots wouldn’t understand it in these day with current available technology

According to [3] attachment figure is someone who is used as secure base which robot trust their actions and activities and follow their orders; therefore attachment figures is a good step in robots as a nannies besides attachment figure play a big role in development and adaption of robots.

Finally as robots don’t really understand relationships because only human brain understand these reltin so robots use attachment as replacement for relationships which robots difrreniciate attachment by distinctive response of human.

Therefore robots are not replacement for parents despite they protect the child from any physical harm but psychological harm cannot be neglected; physiological damage can be avoided as much as possible be calling for discussions with the parents and scientists.

Insecurity [3]

Robots are supplementary carers can support confident expectations of availability and responsiveness (secure attachment); as illustrated in [5] robot and parents can be explained by great example which id doctor and nurse relationship; the doctor (parent) give order and totally responsible for the decisions but the nurse (robot) only follow the instructions that the doctor had given. Therefore as explained robots must be supervised and given orders to operate well. So robots give results to the parents and sometimes in emergencies it call parents which is perfect ability which make parents more comfortable .

Finally reports are very good complementing for the parents not replacement

Deception will be largely self imposed

According to [4] robots as a start will be sold as toys and surveillance devices not as parents aiding devices; companies will do that in the beginning as a test for robots and not be responsible for any damage besides a warning sticker will be put on the robot as any other device “This device is not a toy and should only be used with adult supervision,”

Or “This device is provided for entertainment only. It should not be considered educational or to replace responsible supervision.” But shortly human will find robots a good nanny to leave there children with as they leave them with TVs, dogs and other children.

In addition to warning sticker is required to specify maximum time to leave the child with the robot but as always it will be ignored as child games and TV unless the children might get addicted to this machine.

Robot nanny’s sensors [5]
If anything, robot nannies should sense children’s emotions; cf. Donovan et al. (1978) and Siciliano & Khatib (2008, Chapter 58). As Dautenhahn, Bond, Canam ero, & Edmonds (2002, p. 6) stated: “Agents that can recognize a user’s emotions,
Robot nannies display meaningful emotional expressions, and behave in ways that are perceived as coherent, intentional, responsive, and socially/emotionally appropriate, can make important contributions towards achieving human-computer interaction that is more ‘natural’, believable, and enjoyable to the human partner.” This statement is in line with the general notion that emotions are the missing link in AI and human-robot interaction (Broek et al., 2010; Healey & Picard, 2005; Picard, 1997).
Emotions cannot be ignored; they influence us, be it consciously or unconsciously, in a wide variety of ways (Picard, 1997; Vinciarelli, Pantic, & Bourlard, 2009):long term physical well being; e.g. cardiovascular issues (Frederickson, Manusco, Branigan, & Tugade, 2000) and our immune system (Ader, Cohen, & Felten, 1995); physiological reactions/biosignals (Agrawal, Liu, & Sarkar, 2008; Broek et al., 2010; Donovan et al., 1978); e.g. as present in communication; cognitive processes; e.g. perceiving, memory, reasoning (Critchley, Elliott, Mathias, & Dolan, 2000); and behavior (Vinciarelli et al., 2009); e.g. facial expressions, speech (Gelder, 2009; Zeng, Pantic, Roisman, & Huang, 2009), movements, and touch (Bailenson, Yee, Brave, Merget, & Koslow, 2007; Gelder, 2009; Poppe, 2010).
Children, being in development, are more vulnerable to influences on each of
these levels than adults are.
Automated emotion recognition, also known as affective computing, can be realized through the recording of various signals that humans transmit continuously (Broek et al., 2010; Picard, 1997; Vinciarelli et al., 2009) and that can be perceived through a robot nanny’s interface; see Figure 1. As Sharkey & Sharkey (2010) mention, the most often employed techniques comprise computer vision, movement analysis, and speech processing. However, each of these techniques, has its drawbacks, in particular in ambulatory settings such as those of robot nannies:recording and processing of facial expressions assessed through computer vision techniques suffer from changes in light; e.g. causing a lack of contrast or shadows (Zeng et al., 2009; Gunes & Piccardi, 2009)movement analysis requires continuous tracking, which is often not feasible in practice (Gunes & Piccardi, 2009; Poppe, 2010), and speech processing (Broek, Schut, Westerink, & Tuinenbreijer, 2009; Zeng et al., 2009) suffers from severe distortions (e.g. environmental noise, multiple voices in parallel).
These concerns limit the feasibility of emotion recognition by robot nannies significantly. Hence, either other signals need to be identified for emotion recognition or emotion recognition in the wild is not possible (Broek et al., 2010). A possible solution lays in what William James already noted in 1893, humans are psycho neuro physical mechanisms, who both send and perceive biosignals that can be captured; e.g. electromyography, electrocardiography, and electrodermal activity. These biosignals can also be used to reveal a range of characteristics of people, among which are emotions (Broek et al., 2010; Friedman, 2010; Healey & Picard, 2005; Picard, 1997).
Biosignals have the additional advantage that they are free from social masking (Broek et al., 2010). Moreover, nowadays, they can be measured by non invasive unobtrusive sensors, which makes them suited for child care (Broek et al., 2010; Thiemjarus & Yang, 2006). So, biosignals could act as an interface between infants and their robot nanny (see also Figure 1, which could provide robot nannies with the information to develop empathic abilities.
However, it should be noted that biosignals, computer vision, movement analysis, and speech processing have some other serious drawbacks. The children differ in how their emotions and the accompanying signals are related (Stemmler & Wacker, 2010). Moreover, their personality can play a significant role in how the emotions are expressed through biosignals (Broek et al., 2009; Stemmler & Wacker, 2010).
Although combinations of either computer vision and speech (Zeng et al., 2009), computer vision and movements/touch (Gunes & Piccardi, 2009), computer vision and biosignals (Bailenson et al., 2008), or speech and biosignals (Broek et al., 2009) are still rare, initial results are promising. Hence, such a triangulation of emotions could possibly be a solution to the problems mentioned (Broek et al., 2010), which make the development of a robot nanny’s interface (see Figure 1) very complex. However, as with most research towards affective computing, these studies were conducted in (semi ) controlled environments. One of the rare truly ambulatory studies conducted illustrates the complexities that arise with affective computing in the wild (Healey & Picard, 2005). Hence, it is unknown to what extent they are of use in ambulatory settings such as those in which child care takes place.
More recently, brain computer interfaces (BCI) have became popular (Gerven et al., 2009; Nijholt et al., 2008). BCI can be considered as advanced, massively parallel biosignal (e.g. EEG) recording and (real time) processing. BCI could be an interesting interface for robot nannies since significant results have already been reported in neuroscience concerning emotions (Gelder, 2009); e.g. with respect to mirror neurons, as is also mentioned by Sharkey & Sharkey (2010). This new field of research is starting to develop its guidelines (Gerven et al., 2009), and massive investments are being made to ensure future progress. However, so far, BCI has not redeemed its promises and is too obtrusive and noise sensitive for ambulatory applications such as robot nannies.
?µ. Conclusions
With this discussion on robot nannies, a range of aspects of AI were taken into
account; see also Figure 1. Once more, it was illustrated how brittle AI’s advances
are. In particular, the lack of integration of various paradigms and processing
schemes is striking. AI seems to be scattered in itself and knowledge transfer
between its subfields is limited. To enable the determination of (lack of) progress,
recently, an initiative on benchmarks for human-robot interaction was launched
(MacDorman & Kahn, 2007). Specific benchmarks should be developed for robot
nannies. Such benchmarks would facilitate the development of a general prog-
ress indicator for robot nannies and for AI and robotics in general; cf. Siciliano &
Khatib (2008, e.g. Chapter 50).
As Sharkey & Sharkey (2010, p. 177) state, “While it seems unlikely that a robot
could show a sufficient level of sensitivity to engender secure attachment, it could
be argued that the robot is only be standing in for the mother in the same way
as a human nanny stands in. But a poor nanny can also cause emotional or psy-
chological damage to a child.”. Regrettably, no other conclusion can be drawn than
that good, reliable robot nannies are beyond current state-of-the-art AI. Even with
the progress ahead and vast investments being made, it is questionable whether
the time will come when robot nannies will take care of children. So, the question
remains, will robot nannies be something of the future or will they remain fiction?
In summary, we believe that the use of robots for childcare needs to be regulated
and that studies such as the one presented in the paper under analysis present
important elements and concepts to be used in the discussion of the specific regu-
lations. We also think that it is very important to analyze carefully the pros and
cons of using robots for childcare. In the case of latchkey children, older than five
years old, we feel that the use of robots for childcare could be very beneficial.
Isaac Asimov’s (1940) short story ‘Strange Playfellow’ describes how a young girl
called Gloria forms a strong attachment bond towards Robbie, her robotic carer.
Even with the nearly 70 years of technological development since ‘Strange Play-
fellow’ was published, robots with the capability of Robbie are still an unrealisable
fiction. In highlighting this reality gap between possible future aspirations for
robotic carers and their present potential, Sharkey and Sharkey have stimulated
interaction between robotics and attachment study, and helped clarify what are
worthwhile and achievable aims for current research. Considering how and why
currently achievable robots might fail as carers for human infants is to the advan-
tage of both robotics and attachment theory. This is because to answer these
questions involves firstly considering the developmental requirements for, and
functions of, attachment relationships, and then considering how human carers
fulfill these requirements and functions.
Although robots will not be effective sole carers of infants in the near term,
they may find useful roles in extending the range and quality of care that humans
can provide and enriching childhood exploration and also in providing care for
older adults and individuals with special needs. We agree that each of these appli-
cations has ethical dimensions, even if the stakes for robotic carers are less high,
and may avoid the hazards which Sharkey and Sharkey set out in their interesting
analysis. Many existing examples of human-robot interaction involve only short
term interactions. Sharkey and Sharkey have taken a useful step toward explor-
ing the full range of robot human interactions and promoting interdisciplinary
collaboration.
Refrences

[1] Ruiz-del-Solar, Javier.” Additional elements on the use of HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9It5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?robotsHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9It5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12? for childcare.” Interaction Studies, 2010, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p253-256, 4p; DOI: 10.1075/is.11.2.12rui

[2] Sharkey, Noel; Sharkey, Amanda.” RobotHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOLGwsUu4qLU4zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLuorkyyqa9Osq+zPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Ir5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=112” nannies get a HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOLGwsUu4qLU4zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLuorkyyqa9Osq+zPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Ir5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=112?wheelHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOLGwsUu4qLU4zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLuorkyyqa9Osq+zPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Ir5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=112? in the door: A response to the commentaries.” Interaction Studies, 2010, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p302-313, 12p; DOI: 10.1075/is.11.2.20sha

Are robots like people

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?hid=12HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?sid=28c269ad-124c-471b-b472-90385d3fa749%40sessionmgr13HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufhHYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=25461786?AN=25461786

[3]Petters, Dean; Waters, Everett; Schonbrodt, Felix. “StrangeHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jrpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12” HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jrpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?carersHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jrpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12”: Robots as attachment figures and aids to parenting.”Interaction Studies, 2010, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p246-252, 7p; DOI: 10.1075/is.11.2.11pet

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?hid=12HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?sid=ef3a07ba-3016-4c63-ae27-04aa0b051bbd%40sessionmgr11HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufhHYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983110?AN=51983110

[4] Bryson, Joanna J.. “Why HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jtpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?robotHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jtpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12” HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jtpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?nanniesHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Jtpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12? probably won’t do much psychological damage.” Interaction Studies, 2010, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p196-200, 5p; DOI: 10.1075/is.11.2.03bry

.

[5] Broek, Egon L. van den. “RobotHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Is5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12” HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Is5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?nanniesHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Is5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12”: Future or fiction?”Interaction Studies, 2010, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p274-282, 9p, 1 Diagram; DOI: 10.1075/is.11.2.16van

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?hid=12HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?sid=8b57962d-e18e-4b18-89a1-7049a4ab414d%40sessionmgr15HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufhHYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983105?AN=51983105

Sharkey, Noel; Sharkey, Amanda. “The crying shame of HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Krpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?robotHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Krpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12” HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Krpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?nanniesHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Krpzkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?: An ethical appraisal.” Interaction Studies, 2010, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p161-190, 30p; DOI: 10.1075/is.11.2.01sha

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?hid=12HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?sid=06dc7dca-0546-4784-a95d-81792b7d3ac5%40sessionmgr13HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufhHYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?&HYPERLINK “#db=ufh&AN=51983120?AN=51983120

Kubinyi, E.; Pongracz, P.; Miklosi, Adam.” Can you kill a HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Js5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?robotHYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Js5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12” HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3btZzJzfhrurr1G2qa9Js5zkh/Dj34y73POE6urjkPIA&hid=12?nanny?HYPERLINK “http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2/dV0+njisfk5Ie45PFItam2SbOk63nn5Kx95uXxjL6nsEevqq1KrqeuOK+wrky4p684zsOkjPDX7Ivf2fKB7eTnfLunsk+3qbdOsKexPurX7H+72+w+4ti7jeTepIzf3

When a child is lacking the bond with their caregiver, they don’t have the ability to for or even maintain loving relationships. They’re raised with a damaged ability to trust therefore they believe they can only depend on themselves. They do not believe the world is a safe place of that the people around them care for them. Attachment disorders are stemmed from abuse, neglect, insensitive care, psychological disturbances, unresolved family-of-origin issues and even substance abuse. For example, a baby begins crying because they are hungry. Instead of feeding the baby, the mother becomes irritated and yells at them to stop crying. The baby begins crying louder in hopes that their mother will understand and satisfy their hunger. Instead the mothers slaps the child and they’re immediately quiet. While the baby was upset his needs ended up being fulfilled by abuse. Abuse replaces the nourishment that baby needs. From then on the baby will expect abuse instead of nourishment and that is typically what they will get. The child has learned to trust himself and no one else to fulfill their needs. (When Bonding Is Broken 3) Attachment disorders may also form when an infant has too many caregivers. The infant doesn’t get a chance to realize who their primary caregiver is. They are tossed between different people and are never able to form a deep connection with anyone. In the book, Can This Child Be Saved, Cathy Helding says that “an unattached child is a danger to himself and society. He has no sense of belonging to anyone, nor anyone to himaˆ¦ he lives by his whims and unchecked impulses. He does whatever he feels like with no regard for othersaˆ¦ he is unable to internalize right and wrong.” (When Bonding is Broken 4) The child has no conscience that tells him before he does something wrong, that it will have bad consequences. Children with an attachment disorder often hurt family members physically, threaten to kill or harm them with no sign of guilt. As they get older they will often express anger when they are forced to deal with consequences for their actions.

If an attachment disorder is caught while the child is still an infant, it can easily be treated. Some common symptoms in infants are avoiding eye contact or not smiling. They will also reject any efforts to calm, soothe or connect with them. Infants will also seem to not notice or care when they are left alone. Infants are known to coo and make many different sounds but an infant with an attachment disorder will not do that. (Early Warning Signs) An older child may flinch or say “Ow” when they are touched. Typically when a child is touched it is supposed to have a positive reaction but instead the child feels threatened. They will also go out of their way to be in control all the time and often become angry when they can’t be. Children with RAD will have a difficulty showing genuine care and affection. Many families who adopt say that they don’t feel closeness with their child and this is because of the attachment disorder. All of these symptoms are because of abuse and neglect when they child was a newborn-infant.

The most important thing to do once symptoms are notice is find the right kind of treatment. Every child is different so what may work for one might not work for the next. The first thing the primary caregiver needs to be aware of is prior family issues. (Corrective Attachment Parenting) Primary caregivers also need to know that traditional therapy is ineffective. Traditional therapy aims to change certain behaviors and is extremely unsuccessful with children who have an attachment disorder. During attachment therapy the attention is taken away from negative behaviors. It’s better to look at the negative behavior as a way for the child to protect themselves instead of the child just being bad. When a child is having hard times they need to be close to the caregiver so they can receive help. The child needs to learn that their caregiver is there for them when they are having troubled times. Being punished or sent to their room won’t always help. In fact, it could make it worse. When there is a problem the caregiver should take charge but still remain calm. Yelling will only make matters worse. That doesn’t mean the child should get away with everything. If a child does need to be disciplined then it should be done but the caregiver needs to be sure to reconnect with the child afterwards. It is also very important for the caregiver to own up to a mistake and fix it. The willingness to take responsibility and make amends can strengthen the weak bond between the child and their caregiver. (Repairing Reactive Attachment Disorder) There is a lot of stress that comes with a child who has an attachment disorder. Sometimes it is so great that the child may require out-of-home placement.

In a case study done by Margot Richters, PH.D. and Fred Volkmar, MD, Shannon was evaluated and diagnosed with an attachment disorder after being placed in child protective services. Other children had died due to unknown reasons while under the care of Shannon’s mother. Shannon and two other children had been placed in child protective services after unexplained injuries. After examination Shannon looked much smaller than she stated. She was extremely underweight due to malnourishment while living with her mother. Socially, Shannon did not understand turn-taking or how to interact with other children her age. She was withdrawn and couldn’t easily engage with others. She was also diagnosed with depression and anxiety. After being taken care of properly and undergoing attachment therapy she started showing signs of improvement. She was noticeably happier and began playing with others. (Reactive Attachment Disorder) Through therapy and a loving environment, Shannon was able to begin forming healthy relationships.

Margot Richters, PH.D. and Fred Volkmar, MD also did another case study on an eight year old boy, Jimmy. Jimmy grew up in a military family so he did a lot of moving around. His family life was poor and his parents got a divorce when he was younger. Between the ages of three and eight Jimmy lived a hectic life. He moved between his mother and father before child protective services sent him to live with his father after they investigated his mother for child abuse. Jimmy’s father noticed a change in his sons’ personality after the move. Jimmy was very aggressive and needed constant supervision. Jimmy also displayed an extreme dislike when he was touched. (Reactive Attachment Disorder) Through therapy and constant love from his father, Jimmy began working towards becoming a different child.

Twelve percent of adopted children have been diagnosed with attachment disorder. (Social and Emotional Well Being) With a nurturing environment a child can get past their attachment disorder and learn to trust and form healthy relationships. Younger children can form a bond by non-negotiable closeness with their primary caregiver. No matter how severe the attachment disorder is, children do have the ability to heal and form healthier attachments. The sooner the healing process begins, the sooner they can start to live their life with a healthier outlook. Children need an environment where they will be nurtured and are able to develop trusting relationships. Medication can be used to treat associated issues but there is no quick fix for an attachment disorder.

In general, all around the world Children do not have the right to make major decisions in their life. Most of the decisions that affect the children are made by their parents or guardians such as teachers, social workers etc…So because of this lack of decision making, children are sometimes abused and exploited for the benefit of their guardians. And as a result, the child is both mentally and psychologically harmed. For this reason governmental and nongovernmental organizations and their expertise are trying to overcome this crucial society problem by making laws that protect the children from being harmed by their guardians and the society they are living in. Furthermore, these organizations make sure that children’s get the basic necessities like, education, food, shelter etc… In a sufficient and proper way.

There are some international and local children rights that are drafted by international governmental and nongovernmental organization who work toward the benefits and safeties of the children. So we would be discussing who should be considered as a child and what laws exist to protect these children. Then, we’ll briefly describe what Islam says about the rights of children and role of parenting. And finally, we are going to introduce some of the major local and international organizations working on this area and our group’s practical part which we created awareness we about the children rights and the role of parenting through surveys and meeting with students .

What are children rights?

As any human being children’s have rights. And these rights are nothing but human rights with some special protection and care given to the young ones (children). These rights are the right to associate with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs such as shelter, water, food, education, criminal laws appropriate to their age and health care .Children rights are very large and respective to each society. However, most society agrees that we should allow children to be free from being mentally, emotionally and physically abused.

Who is a Child?

A child is a young person especially between infancy and youth (Merriam Webster , 2010). However, this is a very general and vague definition .The question may arise, how old should the person be to reach youth or in other word what is the range of infancy and who is youth. For these questions there is no specific answer because each and every country has their own ways of considering someone as an adult or not. I think it would be easy to define adult than a child. And this would help us understand the child which is just the opposite of being adult.

Adult is the age that someone can legally vote, marry or sometimes can buy alcohols, be charged with crime as the adult age. However, this can vary from country to country. For instance child labor in Syria, Bangladesh or Paraguay is minimum 12 whereas most other countries set 14 to 16 years old. And In USA the figure is completely different. A person to legally work should be minimum 18 years old and 15-17 can only work if they have permission from their guardians only.

Marriage is one of the major things that separate adults from children. A married person is usually considered as an adult. Because he/she is going to become a guardian of their children and they should be able to take care of their families. In many countries the age of marriage varies. For instance, in many African countries, such as Mali, Niger and Mozambique, over 50% of girls are married before they turn 18. In Yemen, 64% of girls are married before 18, and in Bangladesh, 81% of girls marry before 18. (Nour, 2006)

Another interesting issue that most people consider themselves as an adult is the age to vote and decide who should lead or being able to run for election. In most countries around the world the legal age to vote is 18 however in some countries like Australia and Germany the legal age to vote can be only 16.This shows that a 16 years old in Germany is considered as an adult while in Italy the minimum age to vote to elect a senator is 25 and in Liechtenstein, a person to vote should be 30 years old or above.

Also, in different religions scripture there are differences on who is a child or who should be considered as an adult. In Jews, a 13 years old kid is considered as an adult and is able to attended ceremonies and parties. On the other hand in most of the time Islam considers someone who is above 15 as an adult.

In short, there is no specific exact age of considering someone a child. However, in each country they have some part of the society that are considered as a child .So with respect to each country there are some right given to the child prior to the age of adolescence.

Historical background of the rights of children’s law

So far there is no specific point where we can say the history of children rights started, however for the past 50 years and so the rights of the children are becoming clearer and separated from the other general human rights.

Universal Declaration of Human rights is considered as the basis for all the international legal children rights. The 1923 declaration of rights of children drafted by Englantyne Jeeb and Dorothy Buxton in London, England in 1919 is appreciated by league of Nation and adopted by the united nation in 1946, and then considered as the Convention on the rights of the Child.

The first legally binding international body that incorporates with civil, cultural, political, social and economical rights is the Convention on the rights of the Child monitored by the Committee on the rights of the child. It is human right treaty with 190 ratifications. Only the two countries which didn’t sign for this treaty are the United States and Somalia. Somali didn’t sign because of the internal problems it’s currently facing and United Sates didn’t sign because of some contradicting rules like children’s rights to inheritance in same-sex marriages and particular rights for youth.

The CRC have four major principles. This principles are the principle of non discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development, Considering the views of the child in decisions which affect them (according to their age and maturity).

Children’s rights law is defined as the point where the law intersects with a child’s life. That includes juvenile delinquency, due process for children involved in the criminal justice system, appropriate representation, and effective rehabilitative services; care and protection for children in state care; ensuring education for all children regardless of their origin, race, gender, disabilities, or abilities, and; health care and advocacy. (Ahearn, 2007)

Children rights can be categorized in to three major categories as Provision, Protection and Participation. Or depending on the child right information network (CNN) we can categorize children rights in to two major categories as Economic, social and cultural rights and the second as Environmental, cultural and developmental rights (Freeman, 2000)

Provision is the right to live a standard living, get a proper health care, education and be able to enjoy a child life. This includes being able to have a playing place and recreation places. This helps the child to grow healthy, confident and happy in his life. They will learn how to treat people well, how to care for people and help their society in the future.

Protection: Children have the right to be protected from abuse, exploitation, discrimination and neglect. This includes offering the child a safe place to sleep, live and play.

The last category is Participation. A child should be offered a place in the society. They should be able to participate in community programs, youth voice activities and decision makings.

Art is important. Even as adults, we do enjoy engaging in different form of arts. The art has been associated with private leisure experience, separated from the main business of life. The arts are naturally playful however we should not associate it as unrealistic or lack of seriousness (Swanwick, 1988). Playing is part of learning and arts can help children flourish personally and emotionally (Swanwick, 1988). The arts are complementary part of a broad education; the arts when taught well can help raise attainment in other areas as they are intimately entwined with other learning areas (Arts in Schools Project, 1990).

Drama comes naturally to young children and they are often engaging in pretend play. Children dramatic experience should be supported in school with activities that develop the child’s ability to use his or her imagination, body and voice. Drama allows preschoolers to express themselves freely and interact with others.

Some dramatic activities in which have been conducted in class since the taught module was drama games and role-play. The activities conducted were the “Jungle game” (similar to fruit salad) and “freeze game”. Through the activities, the children were encouraged to explore the limitations and the possibilities of movement inside a given space. The children learnt to share space with others and how to relate to others playful way. They explored how space, and people or objects in space, can have symbolic and dramatic meanings (Winston and Tandy, 2009).

During the period of time, we were working on the theme of animals, thus I made use of some of the games taught during the module and modified a little. The children were from the age range 4 to 6 years old. There were two new children who were in the class for less than a month. They were Chinese expatriate and did not understand English. One child was more shy and withdrawn. He usually only interacts with the other child who was also from China. However during the activity, all the children were seen engaging in the activity. At first during “Jungle game” the children were given new role which are different types of animals in the jungle. They had to swopped places when their animals were called; when “hunter” is called out, everyone had to swop places. In the process, some children were seen knocking into each other and most only went to the few seats away from them. However, after a few rounds with the game, they were able to explore the possible movement inside the specified place. The children were able to explore and share the space without knocking into each other. Even the two China boys were able to engage in the activity and pretended to be the animals by imitating their movements as they move in the circle. As for the “freeze” game, the children pretended to be animals moving in the jungle, avoiding to be caught by the hunter. It was surprised that the children imitated the sounds of the animals as they moved when it was not told to them that they had to. It was amazing how dramatic games can lead children into different world showing their different side and creativity.

Another activity conducted was interview of the character in the story. During that period we were working on the theme of animals, thus I made use of the story “The forest child” and pretended to be the hunter. The children were really involved in the activity and took turns to ask questions. That was the first time that we engaged in this kind of activity thus the children were excited and eager to ask questions. After several questions, I was surprised that the boys from China actually put up their hands and asked question: “Why you so angry”. I did not think that they could understand the activity we were engaging in, not to even say ask question using English language, which was a foreign language to them. Through this activity, the children could enter into the world of the story and try to find solutions. As the children are familiarised with the activity, they took turns to be the hunter.

Through the activities, the children learnt to take turns by respecting other’s contribution, develop spatial awareness, and explore own body possibilities through imitating of different characters. Minimum props were used during the activities to encourage more imagination. Through imaginative play, children are experimenting with and learning how to manage the core elements of drama, those of time, space, people, action objects and subject matter (Winston and Tandy, 2009).

Drama is a great way in providing children the opportunities to learn about themselves and others. It encourages interaction with each other and learn about body and spatial awareness. During drama, children are also encouraged to think differently. During role-play, they can become others, enhancing the creativity, and encouraging them to think about what certain people might think, say, or do in a given situation. It allows children to hide behind a mask and to be different.

Music

Music is a way of knowing the life of feeling (Langer as cited in Swanwick, 1988). In our preschool setting, we did not have much chance for musical activity during lesson time. It was usually during enrichment programmes which several children will go for their music lessons. During the module, many fun and meaningful activities were taught which could be implemented into the preschool setting.

The activity that was conducted with the children was making music through musical instruments. I made used of the activities planned with my group during the module presentation, which was regarding the story of “Big Al”. The children were provided with musical instruments such as bells, tambourine, cymbal, maracas, drum, triangle and some other traditional musical instruments that were made of bamboos. The children were given the opportunities to choose and play the instruments according to different emotions and scenarios of the story. Music was combined with drama work in this case. Half of the children in the class acted out the story while the others created effects for the dramatisation using the instruments. The children had to imagine that they were in the story. According to Swanwick (1988), young children enjoy very loud and very soft sounds and are fascinated by tone and timbre and they can begin to see music as expressive. It can be observed during the activity. The children enjoyed exploring the loudness of sound produced from musical instrument. When it was exciting situation, they played the music fast and loud, and soft when sad. They were able to determine the speed of music by playing the various musical instruments. The children were able to create different expression using music. During the activity, two older boys were observed to be leading the group in the change of the music. Working in cross-age groups enables younger children to observe and learn from more experienced learners, while the opportunity to scaffold the learning of younger children enables the older children to clarify their thinking (Duffy, 1998, p.116).

According to Duffy (1998), children need sufficient place to work and easily accessible resources if they are to make the best use of creative and imaginative experiences. Thus educators should provide more experience for art activities even when outside of lessons. After the module, I tried the method of giving the children freedom of recording. Recorder was introduced to the children and it was placed in the music corner in the classroom. After a week, to my surprised, I heard the voices of the two boys from China with a few other children from the recording. At first they said their name and begun humming some unfamiliar music (probably self-composed) with accompany of the musical instruments. When they sang louder, the music became louder too. This showed that they could make use of the tempo and dynamics according to the different emotions. There was expression in the music formed. Through the activities, the children could develop musical awareness and skills in terms of tempo and dynamics.

Elements of play

According to Swanwick (1998), the three elements of play significant to learning through arts are mastery, imitation and imaginative play. All these three elements were evident during the implementation of the activities. For mastery, the children were able to learn to work with others to make dramatic meaning and control of the musical instruments, keeping consistent rhythm. For imitation, the children were able to deal with the expressive nature of the art form. They were able to make musical sounds that suggest different scenarios. Lastly for imaginative play, the children could experiment with musical instruments until it suggest the appropriate scenario. The children were also seen experimenting with different movement during dramatic play. Practice motivates children as practice teaches them how to concentrate which in turns leads them to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of art they are learning and the pleasures of producing work of quality (Winston, 2010, p.77). If we wish children to be creative, we should ensure that all children feel valued and accepted; thus children will feel secure to take risks or make mistakes (Duffy, 1998). That was apparent in the case of the two Chinese boys who were at first withdrawn from the group and slowly got into the activities, engaging with the others.

Conclusion

As children grow, it seems that much of the school day is taken up by core subjects; creativity and imagination are often treated as additional or luxury. Thus it is the role of the educators in helping to ensure that the children have opportunities to engage in creative and imaginative experience (Duffy, 1998). A cross-curricular approach allows us to draw on the appeal ad potential of creative experiences to encourage learning and development in all areas of the curriculum.

Children should be active participants in their learning. With appropriate planning, we can connect art with many other areas of the curriculum. This can provide valuable opportunities to place learning in real life experience by making stories and living through them, rather than hearing them told by the teacher. Arts provide creative release for children; children will have fun while they are learn, enhancing a lifelong desire for learning.

Elementary school age or middle childhood, is generally termed from the age of 6 to 12. Children from this age group are beginning to develop their character at a more mature and concrete operational cognitive level. According to developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (), school-aged children have the ability to mentally classify groups or act on concrete objects in their head. They are also able to find solutions to problems which are not too hypothetical and abstract.

Psychologist Erik Erikson (1868) also claimed that a child at the age of 6 to 12 must master social and academic skills and keep up with their peers or faces inferiority. Inferiority may develop into low self-esteem issues. Children who face inferiority or low self-esteem might develop symptoms of withdrawal or aggression and find ways to compensate by defense mechanism to reaction in reality (Lin, 1997). Children who turn away negative emotions through withdrawal would usually be neglected as they tend to be shy and assertive. Aggressive children tend to be “rejected” as they are submissive and seen as easy to bully. Children from a minority group (e.g. race, social-economic status etc.) or children who are disabled in any way have higher risk of being rejected socially.

The Rejected Child

The children who are socially rejected due to their aggressive behavior tend to remain rejected as they move on (Keenan & Evans, 2009). They lose their chance to socialize with other peers and may develop negative attitudes towards other people. Some of their peers do not always discriminate the rejected child like the others, but they do not want to be left out or mocked at and hence conformed due to peer pressure. Boys face stronger pressure than girls to comply with group behavior (Martin & Ruble, 2010). Some kids who discriminate or have prejudice against the rejected children act as they receive satisfaction and support when bullying and achieve a sense of common identity.

As social rejection usually stables down gradually, it becomes hard for the child to get over (Cillessen & Bukowski, 2000). Rejected children tend to have lower self-esteem; they are more likely to hang out with other socially rejected children. They would then form their own social group and negatively influence one another with anti-social behaviors. They become easily angered and turn hostile to whoever that tries to harm them (Trembley, 2000). They also show little empathy and concern for others, and often feel little guilt and remorse.

Intervention

As the instructional leader of the school, the principal assist, instruct, plan and implement systems and programs to meet the child’s needs. They have to work closely with the teachers and give advice and updates to parents on the current situation of their child in school. Therefore the principal, teacher and parents should work hand in hand, in every child’s development for a better future.

Teacher

Teachers can group students with similar personality up to encourage friendship and cohesion among the students. Students can get over rejection a lot easier as they do not have to get into a larger peer group with majority strangers.

The teachers should judge their student’s social skills and find out if they are being socially rejected. The teachers can pay attention to their student’s level of classroom participation. Through careful observation and interview, the teachers can identify victims of peer rejection. The teachers should also carefully distinguish the important figures in the social group and counsel them if needed. With proper education, chances of social rejection in school will be reduced and peers will learn to accept each other better.

The teacher will set and maintain high and positive classroom standards where every student has the same amount of respect and value for one another. They can do so by having a group project with students identifying positive social skills from negative behaviors like bullying. Students will have a clear mind of what negative behaviors are and are educated not behave in that manner. The teachers shall be reminded not to single out negative points of the rejected students, or compare them to others as it might add-on to the peer rejection and unknowingly add-on to the student’s weakness.

Parents

The teacher and student’s parents must also remain in contact and update each other on the child’s progress. Both the parent and child should accommodate to each other’s needs. The child would understand their parent’s perception and become more sensitive and independent. When the parents understand the child’s needs, insecurities and fears, they can help the child to overcome them.

When parents realize that their child is a victim of social rejection, they should not overreact. Instead, they should encourage their child to participate in extra-curriculum activities. Participating in extra-curriculum activities like sports, art and hobbies can build up the child’s confidence outside school. Parents can also encourage their kids to ask their classmates or friends over to play together or for sleepovers. The children would learn how to interact among themselves which is very important for their social skills. The children can also identify how to be a good host or guest and behave accordingly. This also develops close-friendship between the child and their friend as they spend more time together and understand them better. When they are being confronted by other kids, they will know how to react and avoid being bullied.

Teachers and Parents Intervention

Once, the teachers to found out if there is any kids who are rejected among their peers in class, they will rearrange their seating locations so that it is easier for the child to participate in class and to monitor them.

When setting up group projects, the teacher should appoint the rejected child with more responsibly than the other children. This would allow the rejected child to feel valued as they are entrusted by a person of authority, responsibility of the group and lies in their hands. The teacher can also take the opportunity to encourage the students to help one and other and not to seek help from the teacher. The children would learn to work as a group and foster a good relationship. The children are also encouraged to start a conversation or take turns during a conversation.

After school, the teacher would conduct extra-curriculum activities for all the rejected children that were identified and spend more time with them. The parents of the child are also invited to join so that the parents can also understand what their children is going through and how the teachers are helping them. Both parents and teachers should teach or have one-on-one coaching sessions with the children. The child will learn how to take turns, share and abide by the rules of any event. The child should also be taught the ways to cope with teasing by their peers.

Conclusion

During a child’s development phrases, parents, teachers and the child’s peers are very important roles that would influence the child. With positive and authoritative parents, children can recover from peer rejection and build up their self-esteem. Parents are also one of the best listening ear for the child. If the teacher or parent is unable to encourage the child, they should consult the school psychologist or counselor for more strategies that could help the child cope with social peer rejection.

One of the guiding values of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) 1989 is participation, as well as one of its basic challenges. In the Convention, children’s contribution rights are restricted in the bunch of Articles 12 through 17 that pass on to public participation: right to have voices heard and measured (Art.12), right to freedom of expression (Art.13), right to beliefs (Art.14), right to association (Art.15), right to protection of privacy (Art.16), and the right to access appropriate information (Art.17) (Alderson, P. 2005). However, mainly article 12 and 13 of the Convention that focus on the rights of children to participate in all matters of concern to them, both in the family and in society (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). The principle recognizes that children are full-grown persons who have the right to articulate their views in all matters moving them and entails that those views be heard and given owed load in agreement with the child’s age and maturity. In addition, it recognizes the potential of children to develop administrative processes, to split perspectives and to take part as citizens and actors of change (Alderson, 2005). The children’s right of participation must virtually be measured in each and every stuff connecting to children. The children’s participation in this essay will be alert on Articles 12 & 13.

B. Understanding the notion ‘children right to participation’

Human life is a continuum in which all periods should receive equal respect against the prevalent view that regards adulthood as the standard according to which other phases of human life weighed. Childhood is not as an impediment but rather as the first of many steps that makeup human life. Childhood emerges when young persons’ responsibility to protect themselves is taken over by the state, using its powers to recognise, shape and respond to what it perceives as the fundamental traits of young people. The need for safeguarding children’s wellbeing is widely acknowledged in theory and legislation in the Western world (UNCROC, 1989). Therefore, the recognition of children as rights-bearers, and the institution of basic rights for children have proved to be helpful in supporting children’s wellbeing (Benporath, 2003).

Understanding of children’s participation is still in its relative infancy, having only really begun to be widely explored in the early 1990s (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). From a system perspective, participation is quickly interpreted as a requirement for the well functioning of society (Jans, 2004). According to Stephenson (2004), the notion child participation can be defined as ‘children influencing issues affecting their lives, by speaking out or taking action in partnership with adults’. The energy behind child participation comes from:

– the growing emphasis on child rights

– good community development practice enabling people to address their own problems (Stephenson, Gourley & Miles, 2004).

C. Why child participation in decision making process?

Children create a picture of themselves from the message they get from the surroundings. If others particularly adults identify them as able and competent, children will come to see themselves in the same way. Therefore, Prout (in Woodhead, 1998) declares that ‘respect for children’s right to participation demands that children be viewed not just as subjects of study and concern, but also as subjects with concern’ (p.135).

Children need to have the self confidence and skills to explore, take on new challenges, test their theories about how the world works, make mistakes and discover unexpected consequences. This self confidence is more likely to occur when children are provided with an occasion to add to their own experiences and learning, sharing in the decisions about what they do and how they do it. If children have the right to express their own views, they must also be given the opportunities to develop standpoints and skills, which enable them to declare them (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001).

Learning to make decisions is an important life skill. Just like any other skill it needs time and practice to master and refine. The early childhood setting is a safe environment in which to rehearse. The pre-school should be one place in which children can participate and practice influence and through participation learn that their opinions and feelings are respected and valued (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001).

D. Children’s right to participate in early childhood settings and teachers’ role

Early experiences set children on developmental paths that become progressively more difficult to modify as they get older (Alderson, 2005). This fact has also been recognised in the discussion paper (for Australia) on ‘A national framework for early childhood education and care’ that says, “The early years of children’s learning and growth needs to be seen as vital in their own rights as well as being a base for life outcomes. During the early years children ask, discover and learn much about the world around them, establishing attitudes to learning that stay with them all the way through their lives” (Productivity Agenda Working Group, 2008).

The UNCROC emphasises for the development of child as a whole (Article 29(1)) and the contribution of early childhood education and care cannot be denied. In their daily lives, children mainly remain within and connect to three settings – their schools, home and recreational institutions (Rasmusen, 2004). These environments have shaped by adults therefore quality early childhood performance is built upon the distinctive role of the adult. The experience, dispositions, competencies, and understanding of adults, in addition to their ability to reflect upon their job, are necessary in sustaining and ensuring quality experiences for each child (Wyatt, 2004).

Therefore for high quality in pre-school, the children participation is an important criterion. However, for teachers in such settings, it can be difficult to facilitate children’s participation – to know the limits of child’s right to participation in decision making and the consequences of involvement of children in decision making processes and roles (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). It is the responsibility of early learning and child care practitioners to not just present children with facts, but to offer children opportunities to experiment, and to support them as they explore. Involving children as participant, providing them an opportunity to get engage and learn from the experiences (Alderson, 2000). For example when children play a part in singing and dancing, they may learn new words from the song. They start to gain bodily alertness through dancing; they learn that they can move in unique and artistic ways to the music and express themselves all the way through dance.

Does the Teacher or caregiver know what children like to do? Based on a research study, Sheridan & Samulesson (2001) says that most children gave answer to this question a definite ‘No!’ because children believe that the teachers don’t know what they like to do in the preschool (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). It is the right of the child to communicate and to develop skills to argue their standpoints. In order to be possible, an interactive environment that involves children is required (Saljo, 2000).

Therefore, carers can ensure that they acknowledge children as being competent and capable. Before starting any activity relating to children, the carers either consult them or ask their permission (Benporath, 2003). For example, before starting play or drawing activity and before packing away materials. Observe and listen to children, let them tell us what and how they want to learn, what they need to do and the way they want to do it. The carers should offer only genuine choices to the children and respect their decisions. Enough time should be given to children to do things in their own way. Sometimes overprotection may becomes an obstacle in children’s learning (Benporath, 2003), therefore, avoid being overprotective and encourage children to investigate and manipulate materials at their own pace and to try new things. However, at the same time carers should remain sensitive to each child’s ability and confidence and should know when to offer assistance as children attempt something unfamiliar.

When guiding children’s behaviour carers should be prepared to compromise in conflict situation and ask themselves that whether their demand from a child is reasonable or necessary. They should involve children in setting the rules and in decisions about acceptable behaviour in childhood setting. Children should be encouraged to use their own skills first in resolving a conflict, but carers should stay close enough to offer assistance and support the child when required. Carers can assure children by expressing their ability to deal with conflict in positive and constructive ways. The feelings of participating and being able to exercise influence seems to occur when a child asks the teacher something and the teacher says yes (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001).

To decide

Participation cannot be genuine if children have no opportunity to decide. The child perceives the teacher as an authority and seems to take his / her right to decide for granted. What the teacher tells the child to do is also of real affective significance (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). But children should be consulted and their views should be considered. The UNCROC stipulates the right of children to express views freely and to get enough knowledge to make knowledgeable decision, although it does not entail compulsion for children to express their views (Article 13). However, it does not give children a universal right to decide and /or to supersede the decision of others. Decisions are to be made in an independent way, and parents (as well as teachers) should give appropriate direction and support when children presume their rights, as declared in the Convention (Article 5) (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001).

Children are quiet certain that they can decide about their own play, their own belongings, some activities and about themselves (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). Therefore, choices and opportunities should be provided to children to make some decisions for themselves. For example, to select the book or activity for group time. Such opportunities to choose are easy for the child carer to put into practice, but can have thoughtful belongings on a child’s wisdom of empowerment and self confidence.

E. Examining participation

In order to involve children in decision making in programmes / matters relating to them, we need to examine ourselves and our roles in relation to children. A balance should be adhered between the type and quality of participation that occurs. Children should be involved in a way that respects and supports their roles as decision makers. This is not an easy task. According to Lansdown (2005), the children participation in any programme can be measured from three dimensions which are (Lansdown, 2005);

Scope – The extent to which children are empowered to exercise agency within an initiative will be influenced by the degree to which they are participating. This perspective needs to be considered in respect of each potential stage of children’s involvement – what is being done?

Quality – Practically how far programme complies with some standards such as an ethical approach, child sensitive and enabling environment, voluntary and relevant participation, inclusive participation, secure environment, qualified dedicated and responsive staff, and community, professional and family links – how is it being done?

Impact – The impact of child participation will need to be assessed in accordance with the objective for involving them. For example, the objective might be to promote children’s self-esteem and build skills and confidence – why is it being done? (Lansdown, 2005).

If children’s participation is to be sustained, replicated, resourced and institutionalised into wider communities in which children live, it is necessary to begin to construct methods of measuring what is being done and how it is impacting on children’s lives. Only by doing so, and demonstrating its efficiency, will it be possible to argue the case for continuing investment in strategies to promote participation, and indeed, to build and share understanding of what constitutes effective participation (Lansdown, 2005).

F. Elements for children’s active participation in decision making

Child contribution stands on its own being a basic right of the child that requires a clear assurance and useful actions to become a living truth and therefore is much more than a simple policy or style (Alderson, 2005). Possibly it was for this reason that the Committee on the Rights of Child recognized the right to contribution as one of the guiding values of the Convention. Regarding children’s views signifies that such views should not be disregarded; however it does not mean that their opinions should be automatically certified. Because expression of opinion cannot be equated with decision taking instead it implies the capability to control decision (Alderson, 2000). The support of discussion and views exchange process will give to children a sense of trust and self-confidence – where they will presume increasing responsibilities and will become vigorous, democratic and tolerant (Jans, 2004). In any such process adults are anticipated to provide suitable route and guidance to children while bearing in mind their views in a way consistent with the child’s age and adulthood. Such like practices will allow the child to understand that why specific options are followed, or why decisions are taken that might be different from the one he / she favoured.

To make effective and meaningful the participation of children in decision making, it is necessary that such participation should be;

1. Free from pressure and manipulation: Children should not be pressured, constrained or influenced in ways that might prevent them from freely expressing their opinions of leave them feeling manipulated (Alderson, 2000). This principle is usually applies where a child is forced to choose some tangible material from few offered resources without providing them a variety of open ended resources – where a child has the choice to choose those that interest him/her and match his/her level of competence.

2. Recognizing Children’s evolving capacity: The UNCROC didn’t set any minimum age for children that could limit their right to express their views freely and acknowledges that children can and do form views from a very early age and thereby refers to children’s evolving capacity for decision making (Benporath, 2003). This means, for example, that parent and other family members and/or, where require, members of wider community are expected to give appropriate direction, guidance or advice to children. However, parents’ guidance and advice will take on greater value and meaning till the child grows, develops, gains sufficient maturity and experience for becoming more autonomous and more responsible.

3. The role of parents and carers: The Child’s developing capability pointing towards one side of the equation: the other involves adult’s growing aptitude and readiness to listen to and learn from their children for considering and understanding the child’s point of view, and as a result prepared to reconsider their own opinions and attitudes and to imagine solutions that address children’s views (Benporath, 2003). Contribution is a demanding learning process both for adults and children that cannot be condensed to a simple procedure. The realisation of children’s right to participate requires preparation and mobilizing adults who live and work with children, so that they are ready to offer opportunities to children to contribute liberally and increasingly in society and expand self-governing skills.

4. Providing appropriate information: The children’s right to participate is closely linked to freedom of expression. But this right can be made meaningful and relevant when children are equipped with necessary information relating to potions that exist and the consequences of such options so that they can make informed and free decision (Alderson, 2000). Providing appropriate information enables children to gain skills, confidence and maturity in expressing views and influencing decisions.

G. Conclusion

Children’s are considered the world’s most valuable resource. The right to participation is a guide to the exercise of all other rights, therefore, children’s development to full potential and to continue to flourish as conscientious citizens, they require opportunities to work out their participatory privileges throughout all stages of their growth. Early childhood carers and educators are well located to endorse children’s participatory rights and preschool institutions their voice must be heard (Sheridan & Samulesson, 2001). Children should be asked to split their views on aspects of their learning environments.

Child labour has been in India from a long time in some form or the other. Practice of child labour in match box industries, glass bangle industries and is very commonly seen in cheap restaurants and dhabas etc. Generally speaking child labour can be said to be the exploitation or abuse of children in factories, industries etc, who are below the age specified by law working (mentally or physically) to earn for his/her own survival or to support his/her family partially or fully, and which prevents his/her social and education development may be said to be “child labour”. The reasons which are generally responsible for child labour may include [1] :

Poverty,

Ignorance,

Illiteracy,

Population explosion,

Lack of knowledge of their own rights,

Big amounts of debt on the parents,

Large size of family but not enough income to support such big family,

Lack of social security scheme in the country,

Weak enforcement of labour laws.

According to an U.N.O report India has the maximum child labour in the world i.e. approx 20 per cent. [2] On the basis of Census 1991 and various governmental and non-governmental organizations following are the number of child labourers in India [3] :

Census 1991 – 2.63 crore,

Organization research group, Baroda, 1994-95 – 4.44 crore,

Centre for concern of Child Labour – 10 crore.

Extra-governmental volunteer organization – more than 5 crore.

The numbers may vary according to different organizations but the fact is clear that the numbers of child labourers in India are in crores, which is again a pathetic sight, especially with all the various child labour legislation and the Constitutional provisions. In a report by the Labour Ministry every 4th child is a child labour, aged between 5-14 years and there is one child labour in every three families. [4]

But it’s not as if Indian governments haven’t done anything about this grave social stigma, over the years it has enacted many statutory legislations and Constitutional provisions in order to eradicate the problem of child labour, to name some of them, we have:

Labour legislations:

The Child Labour Act, 1986,

The Factories Act, 1948,

The Mines Act, 1952,

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009,

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948,

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000

Constitutional provisions [5] :

Article 24 provides: strictly prohibits children to work in hazardous environment.

Article 21, 45 gives the right to education to all the children below the age of 14years.

Article 39 declares the duty of the State to provide the children a free facilities to develop in conditions of freedom and dignity in a healthy manner.

India is also a party to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1959. India is also a signatory to:

ILO Forced Labour Convention (No. 29);

ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105);

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

World Declaration on the Survival,

Protection and Development of Children.

The Government of India adopted the National Policy for Children (NPC) in August 1974. This Policy provided that [6] “It shall be the policy of the state to provide adequate service to children both before and after birth and through the period of their growth, to ensure their full physical, mental and social development. The State shall progressively increase the scope of such services so that, within a reasonable time, all children in the country enjoy optimum conditions for their balanced growth.”

Indian is also a party to United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1959 and Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1992 and has formulated its labour laws in accordance to International Labour Conference resolution of 1979.

The first part of the paper aims to look into the various legislations relating to child labour. In the second part we shall look into the various precedents set by the Supreme Court of India on the issue of child labour and finally the conclusion.

Chapter 1
CONSTITUTIONLA AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS
Constitutional provisions

The government of India has enacted various labour laws has in accordance to International Labour Conference resolution of 1979. The Constitution of India, through various articles enshrined in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy, lays down that:

Article 21 (A)

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to 14 years;

Article 24

No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. The word hazardous employment in Art 24 also includes construction industry, also in P.N. v. U.O.I [7] , it has been laid down that Art 24 is enforceable even in the absence of implementing legislations; [8]

Article 39(e)

States that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength;

Article 39(f)

States that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment [9] . Hence Art 39 in whole requires the state to ensure and protect the children and provide proper child care.

Article 45

The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years

The framers of the Constitution imposed a duty on the State under Article 45 as one of the directive principles of the State Policy to provide free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 year with the sole objective of completely eradicating illiteracy and child labour. Also many of the states had passed various Acts providing for free and compulsory primary or elementary education to children. But unfortunately years after the commencement of the Constitution the goal set by this Article which was to be achieved in 10 years, have yet not been reached. But the provision in article 39(f) and 45 of the constitution gave certain directions in providing a better quality of life of children employed in the factories.

Labour legislations

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986:

The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in 13 occupations and 51 processes that are hazardous to the children’s lives and health listed in the Schedule to the Act [10] .

The Factories Act, 1948:

The Act completely prohibits children working below the age of 14 years [11] . It further states that if a child is between 15 and 18 years of age, can be employed in a factory only if he has a certificate of fitness granted with reference to him under section 69 which is in the custody of the manager of the factory. The Act also says that no child shall be employed or permitted to work, in any factory for more than four and a half hours in any day;

The Mines Act, 1952:

The Act prohibits the employment of children in mines, who have not completed their 15th year.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000:

This Act was last amended in 2002 in conformity with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child covers young persons below 18 years of age. Section 26 of this Act deals with the Exploitation of a Juvenile or Child Employee, and provides in relevant part, that whoever procures a juvenile or the child for the purpose of any hazardous employment and keeps him in bondage and withholds his earnings or uses such earning for his own purposes shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable for fine.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009:

The Act states that all children aged 6 to 14 years shall be provided free and compulsory education. It further states that all private schools should allocated 25 per cent of their seats for disadvantaged and differently abled children.

Chapters 2
Precedents set by Supreme Court

Though the government of India has enacted various labour legislations to prevent child labour still there are some contradiction among them, mainly the definitional debates on child labour as different legislation provide different definition of a ‘child’. Section 2(ii) of The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, defines ‘child’ as ” a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age”; Section 2(c) of The Factories Act, 1948 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed his fifteenth year of age”; Section 2(e) of The Mines Act, 1952 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed his fifteenth year”; Section 2(c) of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, defines ‘child’ as” male or female child of the age of six to fourteen years”; Section 2(k) of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed eighteenth year of age”; Section 2(c) of The Plantations Labour Act, 1951 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age”

Hence, we can clearly observe that these legislation are at contradiction to each other in defining who’s a child and setting an uniform age limit. Therefore the centre and respective state governments should set a uniform universal minimum age of the child as these contradictions adversely affect the objective of protection from child labour and providing a better educational and social development to children of India.

Following are few of important Supreme Court cases that have helped in framing better laws regarding child labour:

In Democratic Rights V. Union of India [12] , it was contended that the Employment of Children Act, 1938 was not applicable in the matter of employment of children in construction works, as it was not mentioned in the act. But the court held even construction work is a hazardous employment and no child below the age of 14 years can be employed as given under Art 24 of the Indian Constitution, even though construction industry has not been specified in the schedule to the Employment of children Act, 1938, thus the SC rejected the contention.

In Salal Hydro Project vs. Jammu and Kashmir [13] , the Court has restated the principle laid in Democratic Rights V. Union of India [14] that Construction work is hazardous employment and any child below 14 cannot be employed in this work.

In Sheela Barse and others vs Union of India and others [15] , Bhagawati, C.J. quoted from National Policy for the welfare of Children incorporated to provide better social and educational development to the children of India : “The Nation’s children a supremely important asset. Their nurture and solicitude are our responsibility. Children’s programme should find a prominent part in our national plans for the development of human resources, so that our children grow up to become robust citizens, physically fit, mentally alert and morally healthy, endowed with the skill and motivations needed by society. Equal opportunities for development to all children during the period of growth should be our aim, for this would serve our large purpose of reducing inequality and ensuring social justice”.

In M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu & Ors [16] , the SC gave direction to the Union and state governments to identify all children and withdraw them from working in hazardous processes and occupations, and to provide them with free and proper education as incorporated into the Constitution, Artcle 21-A. The Court also directed the Union and state governments to set up a Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund using contributions from employers who breach the Child Labour Act.

In Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh, [17] the SC held that every child has the right to free education till the age of 14 years. Artcle 21-A which was incorporated into the Constitution, reflects this standard.

CONCLUSION

It is said that “child is the father of man”, and the children of our country are our biggest asset. The government of India has enacted several laws in order to provide healthy social and educational environment for the children. But in spite of all the laws enacted, problem of child labour still persists in our Indian society that is because child labour laws are themselves flawed in some way or the other or suffer from poor implementation of programmes. Though awareness towards child labour has increased and now there are several NGO’s trying their best, but today what we require is to take concrete actions, the central and respective state governments need to provide for better machinery for enforcing child labour laws. Unless this is achieved our country won’t be completely free the burden of child labour.