The Preschooler and Family : Cognitive Development

• • Cognitive Development
    • Piaget’s stage of preoperational thought continues throughout the preschool period to age 7. 
      • Magical thinking
        • Thoughts are all powerful and can cause events to occur
        • Preschoolers believe whatever they think is real and will happen
      • Animism
        • Preschoolers believe that inanimate object are sentient and are able to think and act
        • Ascribing lifelike qualities to inanimate objects
      • Centration
        • Preschoolers understand terms very literally 
        • Preschoolers’ fears are often unrelated to reality
      • Time
        • Preschoolers begin to understand the sequence of daily events
        • Time is best explained to them in relation to an event
        • By the end of the preschool years, children have a better comprehension of time-oriented words
• Cognitive parent education
  • Parents of preschoolers should continue to reinforce learning and language 
  • Preschoolers begin to learn about reality by pretending to perform behaviors that they see their parents perform. To assist with that learning, parents can provide children with imaginary play material 
  • Parents of preschoolers should be advised that their children may make some unusual requests or may act in unusual ways
  • The vocabulary of preschoolers increases to more than 2,100 words by the end of the fifth year
  • Preschoolers speak in sentences of three to four words at the age of 4 to 5 years
  • This age group enjoys talking, and language becomes their primary method of communication
• Coping with concerns
  • Preschool and kindergarten 
    • Assess readiness for school 
  • Sex education 
    • Start asking why and where babies are from 
    • Answer their questions honestly 
  • Fears 
    • Preschoolers have a lot of fear- actively involve them in practical methods to deal with the frightening experience 
  • Stress 
    • Be aware of signs of stress of the preschooler 
    • Identify sources of stress- birth of siblings, marital separation, illness etc. 
  • Aggression 
    • Frustration: disapproval, humiliation, or insults can lead children to act out against others 
    • Modeling: children may be modeling the behavior of their parents at home 
    • Reinforcement: needing attention and knowing attention will be given if they hit or need punishment