Feature Articles—Child Care
Children's Relationships with Other Children in Child Care
Sara Gable, Ph.D., Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
Young children form a variety of different kinds of peer relationships in child care. They have peers as friends, peers as playmates, and peers as unnoticed classmates. Each of these relationships provides an opportunity for children to practice and develop their social skills and their relationship skills. Peer relationships help children learn how to join groups of children already playing, form and maintain friendships, share personal information, avoid the bully, take turns, resolve conflicts, and help others.
Researchers have discovered that children develop their peer
relationships independently from their relationships with
caregivers. That is, children do not necessarily transfer their
interactions with caregivers to their interactions with peers
and friends. This suggests that adults need to consciously pay
attention to what occurs between peers and friends when trying
to understand peer relationships in the child care program. It
also indicates that adults need to take the unique perspective
of the child in a peer relationship when coaching the child
about how to get along with other children.
| Age Period | Social Interaction with Peers | Friendship Formation |
| Early Toddler (13-24 months) |
Complementary and reciprocal play | Stable friendships |
| Late Toddler (25-36 months) |
Communication of meaning or Cooperative Pretend Play | Flexibility of friendships |
| Preschool (3-5 years) |
Social knowledge of the peer group | Differentiation of friends from playmates |
Social Interaction with Peers: This column describes child ease of entry into play groups, type of play with peers, and the child's sensitivity to peer communication.
Early Toddler: Social interaction is characterized by
complementary and reciprocal play. Children exhibit the ability
to exchange turns and roles in action. For example, you will
observe children running and chasing each other, playing
rudimentary games of hide and seek, and handing and receiving
toys to/from one another.
Late Toddler: Social interaction is characterized by the
communication of meaning, as during cooperative social pretend
play. Children take on complementary pretend roles while
engaging in interactive social play. This type of play depends
on the symbolic function because the child must recognize that
the play partner is acting out a role. For example, what happens
when you arrange chairs 2 across and 3 deep, like a bus or mini
van? If the children are this age, one child will probably take
the role of driver and the others will become passengers and the
play will begin.
Preschool: Social interaction is characterized by social
knowledge of the members of the peer group. Children are aware
of the behavioral characteristics of individual children.
Children can make judgments about an individual child's
personality traits and tendencies. Such knowledge translates
into a wider range of potential playmates, play activities, and
pretend play themes. For example, a child may be recognized by
the group as "smart" because s/he prefers to look at books and
complete puzzles. If another child is seeking a playmate for a
game of Go fish, s/he may seek out the "smart" child; if the
same child is wanting to play "astronauts", s/he may make select
a different playmate.
Friendships: This column describes how friendship
relationships look during the different developmental periods.
Friendships during toddlerhood and preschool are defined as
stable, dyadic relationships characterized by reciprocity and
shared positive affect. Friends typically seek each other out,
prefer to be together, and enjoy each other's company. In the
research world, friendships are typically indicated by
mutuality; that is, each partner considers the other as the
"best friend".
Early toddlerhood friendships are stable and characterized by
emotional responsiveness and reciprocity. Young toddler friends
often giggle a lot together and seek out one another.
Late toddlerhood friendships become more flexible; different
friendships serve different play functions; and, children are
more overt and intentional in the language that they use to
select their play partners. Friendships and playmates are not
markedly different.
Preschool Friendships are differentiated from playmates;
preschool friends share more positive and less negative emotion,
more reciprocity, and are more mutually responsive to one
another.
Notes on Children's Friendships
Young children tend to keep reciprocal friendships when they
can. However, children also show the ability to form temporary
friendships and to replace friends when they move to a new
program or community.
Children who have more intimate friendships tend to engage in
more elaborate fantasy play. These friends typically play
together a lot and select each other to play with.
Resources:
Howes, C. (1988). Peer interaction of young children. Monographs
of the Society for Research in Child Development, 53(1).
Last Updated 10/11/2007
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