Understanding Children's Personal Development

UNDERSTANDING CHILDRENS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Understanding a child's personal development is not only done through observation and experimentation, but can also be done through introspection and empathy, namely the ability to place oneself within the child's personality, so that the child's psychological world can not only be understood, but can be interpreted (verstehen). Understanding the world of children, not only as biological creatures, but as psychological and spiritual creatures. As biological creatures, children can be identified in terms of their instinctive life (for example; self-defense instinct, sex instinct, fight, flight, association with other people, etc.). Meanwhile, from the psychological aspect, children can be identified from various dimensions of their mental life, such as their motivation, emotions, cognition, and psycho-motor life. Understanding the world of children is in the context of efforts to develop children's potential to understand their abilities and achieve maturity. In general, the development of a child's life can be divided into periodization as follows: 1. Infants (0 - 1 year) 2. Children (1 - 5 Years) 3. School children (6 - 12 years) 4. Adolescence or adolescence (12 – 18 years) Each period of development has its own characteristics, because there are certain dimensions that stand out, so that we can understand the characteristics of the child's behavioral profile in each period. Let us follow the description as follows: a. Infants (0 - 1 year), also called the vital period (vita = life). This period has the meaning of maintaining life, namely that children are equipped with several abilities, especially instincts or instincts. Instinct is an ability that has been present since birth which is psychophysical in nature (has psychological and physical aspects) to be able to react to the environment (through certain stimuli or stimulation in a unique way. This behavior of reacting to the environment occurs without learning first, and includes cognitive (awareness), affective (emotion) and cognitive (behavior involving the psycho-motor system) and physical aspects. An example of an instinctive action in children is the reaction to breastfeeding. If a mother brings her nipple close to her baby's lips, the child's reaction will be to suck the milk and swallow it, without studying it first. A child's instinct is to cry as a reaction to feeling cold, so after being picked up and stroked by his mother he immediately falls silent, because he has been filled with a sense of security. A sense of security is vital for a baby's survival. Babies will feel safe and satisfied when they receive caress from their mother. Caress (stroking hunger) is a primary need for babies. Babies who rarely receive affectionate caresses from their mothers will later become thirsty for caresses, live less calmly, and always try to attract the attention of other people. In infants, social instincts appear, as a tool to enable children to communicate with their environment (social environment). We can observe this when a baby reacts with a smile when his mother asks him to talk, even though the baby does not yet understand the words his mother is saying. When a baby feels uncomfortable, he will cry. The crying reaction is also called the flight instinct. even though the child does not make running movements, because he cannot run yet. The instinct to run is accompanied by an emotional reaction of fear which we can see in his facial reaction. Running in this case means avoiding. In children there is also an instinct of imitation, namely children like to imitate their mother's actions, for example imitating the words "mama" or "papa". This happens when the child starts learning to talk. Without the instinct to imitate, children cannot learn language. Therefore, the language that children learn at the beginning of their lives is their mother tongue. Furthermore, the mother tongue is developed with the influence of the surrounding environment. Next, what we need to understand in children is that there are reflex instincts that are innate from birth. A reflex is an automatic reaction from certain parts of the body when stimulated, such as the pupils of the eye (pupil reflex) when there is a change in light that hits the eye, then it will blink if it is exposed to too strong light. Other reflexes, for example knee reflexes, startling, grasping, toe reflexes, etc. A baby's mental capital, apart from instincts and reflexes, also has the ability to learn, although not yet in the form of intellectual learning. Babies can improve skills involving body movements and other body parts such as their hands and feet. He can learn to hold objects, lie on his side, face down, crawl, sit, stand, walk and jog. Learning can also be in the form of habituation, so that behavior is smoother, more efficient and orderly in terms of time and place. Some examples of learning are the result of habituation, for example sleeping, waking up, eating, and going to the toilet at a certain time and place. Previously this had not happened. The basis of learning is experience and repetition or frequently performing certain actions. In matters relating to children's psychology, we can pay attention to sensory awareness, meaning that children can react to external stimuli through their sense organs: sight (light and color), hearing, smell, touch, taste. Babies' mouths are often used as a touch tool, to recognize objects around them, including their own hands and feet. Children are also equipped with the potential to expand the world, namely by exploring space. At the time when children start to walk, they begin to get to know various places/spaces and the surrounding environment. What may be discovered and recognized from places and spaces are various objects, people, or there may be certain values that the child does not initially understand as rules. Next is language development in children. At the beginning of language development, children often say language that is reduplicative in nature, for example the words "mama", "papa", "baba", and so on. This ability begins at around 11 - 12 months of age. If development is normal, then at the age of 12 - 15 months the child begins to speak in conversation. Likewise, at this age children also learn to walk. If at this age a child has not yet learned to speak or cannot walk, there is an indication that the child's intelligence development is slow. b. Childhood Period (3 - 5 years old), namely pre-school age as a transition period from infancy to school age. Before children enter school, their souls are mature for school, that is, they are mature because they are prepared for kindergarten or TPA, and other types of pre-school education. Kohnstamm called this period the aesthetic period, meaning beauty. Why is this period called the period of beauty? This period has three distinctive characteristics that are not found in other periods, namely • emotional development of joy of life, • freedom, and • fantasy. These three characteristics can develop with various forms of expression such as; games, fairy tales, singing and drawing. That is why these four activities are often used as curriculum material in kindergarten. In the period of childhood that is free and happy, children can enjoy the happiness of life as a very important element in human life. Freedom and joy are recreation that can balance intellectual life which only seeks the usefulness of all human activities. This was once stated by J.J. Rousseau from France, who stated that childhood is a happy period as the right of every child in an atmosphere of freedom and joy in life. By developing four types of activities, namely playing, storytelling, and drawing, children can develop their creativity by using their fantasy powers a lot. Fantasy is the mental ability to create all kinds of dreams or ideas that did not previously exist. The development of sensory abilities also develops in this period, namely vision including distinguishing colors, hearing which includes singing, red smooth or rough objects, smelling fragrant and pungent odors, and tasting delicious tastes, salty, sweet, sour, bitter, etc. Another very important development is the development of language. There are three types of language functions, namely to express one's heart and feelings, to communicate with other people, and as a thinking function by using various types of meaning contained in each word and sentence. Language as a thinking tool is the most difficult function, especially the use of symbols or symbols. A symbol is a sign that contains a purpose or meaning implicit in the symbol, meaning that it cannot be directly seen from the shape of the sign if we do not know the system key. that symbol or that language, for example the word "chair" is a symbol, while the image is a sign. Children who are deaf and mute will not develop their minds if they are not given language lessons, both written and oral. Thus, language lessons that start from childhood are very important lessons in order to develop thinking, imagination, creative, social and emotional abilities. In terms of interests, children have "egocentric" interests, meaning that all their attention still revolves around their own interests and views, and they cannot yet understand the interests of other people. This period is also called the "stubborn" (trotzalter) period, namely the period when their will is difficult to bend and often stubborn, cannot be forced, likes to roll around on the floor to enforce his will. This period is also a cheerful period, namely the child begins to learn to clean the toilet, no longer wet the bed and urinate carelessly. c. School Children (6 - 12 years). This period is called by Kohnstamm the "intellectual" period, because most of the time is spent developing intellectual abilities. Children's attention is mostly directed to the world of science about nature and its surroundings, where children enjoy reading adventure stories that add to their world of experience. Children at this age This is in elementary school, which begins to learn about nature and society. Interest in this period is called the objective period, meaning that attention is focused more on the world of reality or the objective world, which is analyzed and synthesized and understanding the existence of the law of cause and effect. Children at this age are easily given tasks to carry out, and if their environment is full of understanding, they will easily learn various habits, for example; sleep and wake up at the right time, eat and study at the right time and place. Likewise, children are easy to work with and obedient. Actively participating in scouting will really help the formation of a stable personality. Children really enjoy reading books about adventure and nature, and children easily memorize science and social science facts. If educational errors occur at this age, various behavioral problems will arise such as wetting the bed, lying, likes to fight, is naughty, likes to bother younger siblings, is lazy about studying, likes to travel, daydreams, runs away from home, doesn't go to class, smokes a lot, etc. To correct maladjustment, it is necessary to examine the child's life background, why the deviant behavior occurs. We often find that the cause is a lack of attention from their parents, especially girls who lack attention from their mother, and boys from their father's side, or because their parents treat them too harshly. d. Adolescence, puberty, and adulthood (12 - 18 years). Kohnstamm calls this period the social period, because during this period children have an interest in social matters, and enjoy living in organizations or various sports clubs or other clubs. During this period, teenagers develop their sexual desires very prominently, because the sex hormone glands are active, and they begin to be attracted to the opposite sex. It is not uncommon for children to masturbate with the accompanying symptoms of a feeling of sin that disturbs their conscience, which sometimes causes anxiety or conflict within them, which often appears in their inability to get along with their peers. At this age, children experience rapid physical growth, so they sometimes feel awkward because the ratio of the growth of their legs and arms to their body doesn't feel right. He began to pay attention to his body shape by frequently looking in the mirror, by paying attention to his haircut, facial expressions, clothes, etc. Girls, their physical growth is more indicative of an adult woman, namely the growth of hips, breasts, smooth skin, hair, etc. In their moral development, at this time children begin to recognize spiritual values such as the values of truth, justice, goodness, beauty and divinity. Children are looking for their own identity, wanting to know how other people evaluate them, paying attention to social, political and cultural issues. If you experience failure, at this age (either at school or in dating) if there is no compensation in various fields (such as sports, arts, martial arts, or organizations) various forms of escape or violent aggression (marijuana, smoking, gambling) will arise. , stealing, mugging, delinquency, speeding, rape, even escape from "nervous" or "neurosis"). Puberty is the period between 12 - 15 years, namely when children are in junior high school. After that comes the time for adolescence which can be continued until the age of 21, that is, when the child has entered college. In this period children begin to show the characteristics of maturity, being more stable, having greater responsibility, being interested in work and having stable aspirations. In general, after the age of 18, children begin to have close friends from the opposite sex and begin to settle down. Good school performance will bring stability to the child's personality, whereas failure in school will give rise to various types of problems and inappropriate behavior.