What is Child Psychology?
Child psychology is the study of subconscious and conscious childhood development. We observe how a child interacts with their parents, themselves, and the world, to understand their mental development.
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What is the conscious and the subconscious mind?
The conscious mind involves all of the things that you are currently aware of and thinking about. Your awareness of yourself and the world around you are part of your consciousness. The conscious mind includes such things as the sensations, perceptions, memories, feelings, and fantasies inside of our current awareness.
Subconscious mind includes things that we might not be presently aware of but that we can pull into conscious awareness when needed.
For example, when a child is playing with a ball. That activity is in her conscious mind. In her subconscious, she learns about the shape of the ball i.e. sphere. Hence, when she is introduced to the sphere shape, the first thing that would come to her mind would be the shape of the ball.
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Why should teachers study about child psychology?
Mental health is an essential part of a child’s overall health. It has a very complex interactive relationship with physical health and the environment. Teachers play a very crucial role in a child’s mental well-being.
Children spend a major part of their time in school. Thus, teachers have a big impact on their development. They play an important role in shaping a child’s attitudes and behavior. Teachers help children develop self-esteem and confidence. They must create a safe environment in the classroom to help students learn new things. Child Psychology helps teachers to develop unique teaching techniques that apply to every child.
Here are a few psychological elements teachers need to keep in mind when dealing with children to promote positive and effective psychological development:
Individual differences: People are different from each other. They look, perceive, understand and respond to things differently, the same applies to children too. These differences majorly come from their home environment and it influences the way they behave with other children. Along with that, there are differences in their unique abilities and talents. Understanding of this can be of great help to teachers when it comes to dealing with children.
Giving explanations: When making a rule around the class, teachers need to explain the logic behind these rules. When an explanation is given, students are in a better position to understand the importance of and follow it.
Be a role-model: Since children spend so much of their time in school, teachers tend to be their role models. So, the teachers should be very careful about their behavior and movements since the children will reflect directly on it. Children learn a lot from observation; they also tend to do it unconsciously. Thus at times, it is not necessary to actually tell the child what to do but rather show them by doing it yourself.
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How to understand child psychology?
Realizing and accepting a child’s qualities, their wants and needs, is the key to being a good teacher. Here are a few things to keep in mind on how to understand child psychology -
- Observe: It is the simplest tool you can use in learning child psychology. By observing the kid while he is playing, asking for a thing, or reacting to certain situations, you get to know a great deal about his overall personality.
- Appreciate: Praising children for good work done will boost their self-esteem. However, overpraising them can make them arrogant and snobbish but when you appreciate them for their work, their acceptance or arrogance will help you understand what they are actually expecting from you.
- Listen to them: By listening to what a child has to say, you get to know them better. Doing so will make them feel that you are interested in their life. This will in turn help to strengthen the bond between you two and they will take a step forward in listening to what you have to say.
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