Emerging Morality: How Children Think About Right and Wrong

At the middle level, conservative thought, development takes a turn from anxiety with self-centered morality to consideration for the needs of working and living together. The child begins to think in terms of agreeable others and doing what is cooperative. The stress is on being a good boy or a good girl. Anxiety starts to move beyond selfishness to the good of the group. While this level of conservative moral thought is further than that of most preschool children, it is the height toward which they are growing.

Preschoolers are up-and-coming into the world of moral thought. How children think about right and wrong may be just as developmental as how children think about letters and numbers. So, it is important to look at the young child’s characteristic developmental progression of moral thought in order better to recognize how to link emerging morality to developmentally appropriate practice.

How to Help Children Develop Moral Thought and Action by Teacher Training Mumbai

1. Deal with problems suitably. When dealing with discipline problems, decide whether the breach involves a moral issue or a social meeting, and deal with the circumstances accordingly. If a moral issue is concerned, be sure to talk with the child so that she understands the reasons her actions were wrong, lead the child to think that the other person also has a viewpoint, and help the child make a decision how to right the wrong. Use reasoning rather than punishment. “I’m sorry” should be spoken only from the child’s heart, never upon control.

2. Allow children to experience moral disagreement. Schedule large blocks of free play time so that children may knowledge natural moral conflicts and practice working out their solutions.

3. Discuss moral dilemmas. Select stories involving moral dilemmas and talk about the viewpoints of the various characters. Highlight that people make mistakes. We are not always good or always bad.

4. Encourage children to change the rules. When playing a favorite game, persuade children to change the rules. Play the game in different ways, emphasizing that if all the players have the same opinion, it is OK to change the rules.

5. Involve children in making some classroom rules. Stress what is good for the group. Keep away from having children make a decision on punishments because they will most likely prefer harsh, impractical punishments that do nothing to change behavior.

6. Encourage dramatic play and role playing. Theatrical play and role play allow children to stand in another person’s shoes and encourage the development of perspective-taking.

7. Praise moral behavior. Make it a point to mention on the helpful nature of an act that encourage or assists other individuals within the group. Admire children for putting the needs of the group ahead of their own needs. Identify children for being kind, fair, and helpful.

8. Use real dilemmas. Use real dilemmas and tangible classroom situations to discuss moral issues. Evade the use of fables and maxims as they are too theoretical for young children to understand fully.

Conclusion
Because young children are emerging moral thinkers constrained by their cognitive characteristics, the early childhood curriculum should provide opportunities for children to deal with moral issues and think about right and wrong in developmentally appropriate ways.