A Guide to Preschool Self Awareness
Self-awareness is one of the core competencies of social-emotional learning. Self-awareness is to understand one's own emotions, values, thoughts and how these are interconnected. It is to be able to sit and reflect on these emotions to accurately judge one’s performance and behaviour and to respond appropriately to different social situations. It is significant in building confidence by helping children recognise their strengths and weaknesses, how to improve by learning from past mistakes, accept criticism and understand others- which, in return, gives them a positive mindset, making them caring individuals.
Self-awareness is taught and practised regularly. It is a gradual process of learning and evolving. Private self-awareness begins at around 18 months (Lewis and Brooks-Gunn experiment). Co -awareness leads the child toward a growing awareness of the self with others. In 2003, Emory University’s Philippe Rochat scoured developmental studies to construct his Five Stages of Self-Awareness. He describes how children learn to identify themselves and caregivers as distinct entities, from birth until age 5.
For toddlers (age group 1-3), self-awareness is body awareness. Objective self-awareness lays the foundation for self-regulation, self-concept, and personal identity later in life
(Garcia, Hart, Johnson-Ray, 1997; Harter, 1999; Mascolo & Fischer, in press; Moore & Lemmon, 2001).
Preschoolers, when pressured to learn in schools with “academic” as opposed to developmentally appropriate curriculum, show signs of being more anxious and perfectionistic (Rescorla, 1991) than their more playful peers.
Cognitive development is highest at the age of three. Skills like logic, reasoning, memory and attention are forming and it has to be moulded in such a way that it helps in his/her comprehensive reinforcement. As the child matures, his/her abilities to grasp concepts gradually reduces- making the preschool years crucial for overall development. Incorporating Self-awareness skills in young children helps them build their self-esteem. It also helps them to get along with peers and score better- academically.
Children should not be treated as empty vessels rather concepts should be made clear and playfully taught to them. Entirely academic-based programs can create students who are unlikely to experience empathy with their peers but are hyperactive and may indulge in delinquent acts. (Play=Learning, Dorothy Singer, Roberta Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek)
After developing private self-awareness, they learn public self-awareness- how the people around them understand them. Journaling and other self-expression techniques should be nurtured. As developing this skill is a steady process, many preschoolers have difficulty following it as it is hard for them, with their limited but growing vocabulary, to communicate emotions. Accepting one’s emotions and being honest with the self is the key to self-awareness at any age. With the assistance of the caregivers and teachers at school to improve the child’s vocabulary so that he/she can verbalise their emotions.
Making it a habit to ask questions to the child, for example, “what are you feeling?”, “Why are you feeling this way” and “what will you do to reduce this feeling?”, when the child is uneasy or going through a difficult emotion. This will promote the kid to question themselves when going through stress, anxiety or anger- buildings better coping strategies and also better self-expression.
Roleplay is another way where self-awareness can be incorporated in preschoolers. Roleplay or pretend -play is an act of creating future lifelike scenarios with which the child can associate himself/herself with the protagonist. As preschoolers are still in their early stages of cognitive development, they learn better when teaching is visualised. They can place themselves and their peers into different roles and create various imaginary scenarios and designs.
Self cueing is a reminder to take a moment and to point out what emotions one is going through. It is also called a body scan- to scan the entire body and see where the pain originated from and then take charge of physical discomfort signs. If the child's feeling unfocused, stressed, angry or anxious, they should follow the S.T.O.P.(Stop, Take a breath, Observe and Proceed) self-awareness activity for children.
Social and Emotional engagement in children can be increased when the child is confident enough to take risks. If they fail in a task they should be encouraged to solve the task themselves, with an assurance that they have someone to rely on. Motivating children to take risks is critical. As self-awareness instils in them values and respect for peers, they appreciate and recognise their peers' success, making them trusting, caring and independent young individuals.