Topic 7. PRESCHOOL CHILDHOOD (from 3 to 6–7 years old)

Negativism is a specific behavior when a person speaks out or behaves demonstratively opposite to what is expected. Negativism can be situational or a personality trait. The psychological basis for the manifestation of the negativism pattern is a subjective attitude towards denial and disagreement with certain expectations, demands, and worldviews of individuals and social groups. Negativism can be demonstrated or have hidden forms of manifestation. Children display similar behavior in stubbornness, conflict, resistance to authority, and deviant behavior.

Initially, negativism is a psychiatric term. Active negativism is expressed in actions that deliberately contradict requests, with a passive lack of reaction at all. Referred to as symptoms of schizophrenia, possibly as a manifestation of autism.

Negativism in psychology is a feature of behavior.

What is negativism

Negativism in psychology is resistance to influence. From lat. “negativus” - denial - was originally used to designate pathological psychiatric conditions, gradually the term moved into the context of behavioral characteristics with a normal psychiatric status, and is also used in a pedagogical context.

Negativism is a symptom of crisis. A characteristic feature of this phenomenon is called unreasonableness and groundlessness, the absence of obvious reasons. Everyday, negativism manifests itself when faced with an influence (verbal, non-verbal, physical, contextual) that contradicts the subject. In some situations, this is a defensive behavior to avoid direct confrontation.

By analogy with its original use, negativism is presented in two forms - active and passive.

The active form of negativism is expressed in actions opposite to those expected, the passive form is a refusal to perform an action at all. Negativism is usually considered a situational manifestation of an episodic nature, but when reinforced, this form of behavior can acquire a stable character and become a personality trait. Then they talk about a negative attitude towards the world, a negative assessment of people, events, constant confrontation even with damage to personal interests.

Negativism can be a sign of age-related crises, depression, the onset of mental illness, age-related changes, and addictions.

How a manifestation of a negative attitude can be transmitted at the verbal, behavioral or intrapersonal levels. Communicatively – verbal expression of aggression and disagreement, refusal to do the required or demonstrative doing of the opposite, in the case of a behavioral form. In the deep version, there is resistance that is not transmitted externally, when, for objective or subjective reasons, the protest is limited to internal experiences, for example, if a person is dependent on the object exerting the influence. This form can sometimes be expressed in demonstrative silence. Manifestations can relate to society in general, a separate group or individuals. It seems to a person that they suppress individuality and there is a desire to do the opposite.

Negativism is also possible in relation to the perception of life. The personality perceives life itself, its organization as such, as forcing the individual to obey its laws, to become a “typical representative.” Existence itself is characterized as a problem, a conflict, a lack. This manifests itself as a constant criticism of the world order at different levels from the global to everyday situations. In extreme terms, a complete rejection of social realization is possible as a way of resisting suppression.

Reasons for negativism

The basis for the appearance of negativism can be defects in upbringing, including the family scenario of attitude towards life, formed accentuations of character, periods of crisis, and traumatic situations. What is common to all factors is intrapersonal infantilism, when a person creates the illusion of denying the need for this with the resources to solve a problem, the ability to get out of a conflict, argue one’s position, or ignore an attempt to interfere with one’s boundaries. If this form of perception is episodic in nature, then this may be a stage of recognizing and overcoming the new, unknown and frightening. But if such a pattern of behavior takes on a constant course, then we can talk about the formation of a character, a behavioral script. This is a form of pathological ego defense, a denial of the factor that attracts attention. The reasons include a feeling of internal uncertainty, helplessness, and lack of necessary knowledge and skills to overcome a problematic situation.

During periods of crisis, negativism as a frequent symptom is a reaction to a change in the social situation, as a result of which the individual cannot rely on previous experience and requires new knowledge. Since they don’t exist yet, the fear of not being able to cope causes a reaction of resistance. Normally, having received the necessary knowledge and experience, a person moves to a new level of self-development. Development requires a certain amount of work, a period of mastering and overcoming. If a person avoids this process, then he will grow old at the stage of resistance, refusing to develop and the accent that he cannot overcome is declared as undesirable. During periods of early childhood crises, the cause may be an overprotective upbringing scenario and parents do not allow the child to go through the overcoming stage on his own, trying to reduce his frustration (in fact, his own) from the unknown.

Crisis of three years

The age of obstinacy. About the crisis of three years

The crisis of three years differs from what happened at the age of one month (the so-called newborn crisis) or one year old (the crisis of one year). If the previous two “turning” moments could pass relatively smoothly, the first acts of protest were not yet of such an active nature, and only new skills and abilities caught the eye, then with the three-year crisis the situation is more complicated. It's almost impossible to miss it. An obedient three-year-old is almost as rare as an obedient and affectionate teenager. Such features of crisis ages as difficult to educate, conflict with others, etc., during this period for the first time appear in reality and in full. It is not for nothing that the crisis of three years is sometimes also called the age of obstinacy.

By the time your baby is about to celebrate his third birthday (or better yet, six months earlier), it will be useful for you to know the whole “bouquet” of signs that determine the onset of this crisis - the so-called “seven stars”. By imagining what each component of this seven-star means, you can more successfully help your child outgrow a difficult age, as well as maintain a healthy nervous system - both his and yours.

In a general sense, negativism means the desire to contradict, to do the opposite of what one is told. A child may be very hungry, or really want to listen to a fairy tale, but he will refuse only because you or some other adult offers it to him. Negativism must be distinguished from ordinary disobedience. After all, the child does not obey you not because he wants to, but because at the moment he cannot do otherwise. By refusing your offer or request, he is “protecting” his “I”.

Having expressed his own point of view or asked for something, the little stubborn three-year-old will stick to his line with all his might. Is this how he wants the “order” to be fulfilled? May be. But, most likely, he doesn’t really want to anymore, or has long since stopped wanting to. But how will the baby understand that his point of view is taken into account, that his opinion is listened to, if you act in your own way?

Obstinacy, in contrast to negativism, is a general protest against the usual way of life and the norms of upbringing. The child is dissatisfied with everything that is offered to him.

The little headstrong three-year-old accepts only what he has decided and conceived himself. This is a peculiar tendency towards independence, but exaggerated and inadequate to the child’s capabilities. It is not difficult to guess that such behavior causes conflicts and quarrels with others.

Everything that was previously interesting, familiar, and expensive is devalued. During this period, your favorite toys become bad, your affectionate grandmother becomes nasty, your parents become evil. The child may begin to swear, call names (old norms of behavior are devalued), break a favorite toy or tear a book (attachments to previously dear objects are devalued), etc.

This state can best be characterized by the words of the famous psychologist L.S. Vygotsky: “The child is at war with those around him, in constant conflict with them.”

Until recently, an affectionate child at the age of three often turns into a real family despot. He dictates norms and rules of behavior to everyone around him: what to feed him, what to dress him in, who can leave the room and who is not allowed, what to do for some family members and what for the rest. If there are more children in the family, despotism begins to take on the features of heightened jealousy. After all, from the point of view of a three-year-old toddler, his brothers or sisters have no rights at all in the family.

The other side of the crisis

The above features of the three-year crisis can plunge many happy parents of babies or two-year-olds into confusion. However, everything is, of course, not so scary. When faced with such manifestations, you must firmly remember that external negative signs are only the other side of positive personality changes, which constitute the main and fundamental meaning of any critical age. At each period of development, a child has completely special needs, means, ways of interacting with the world and realizing himself that are acceptable only for a given age. Having served their term, they must give way to new ones - completely different, but the only ones possible in the changed situation. The emergence of the new necessarily means the dying away of the old, the abandonment of already mastered patterns of behavior and interaction with the outside world. And in times of crisis, more than ever, there is enormous constructive work of development, sharp, significant shifts and changes in the child’s personality.

Unfortunately, for many parents, the “goodness” of a child often directly depends on the degree of his obedience. During a crisis, you should not hope for this. After all, the changes occurring inside the child, the turning point of his mental development, cannot pass unnoticed without manifesting itself in behavior and relationships with others.

"Look to the root"

The main content of each age crisis is the formation of neoplasms, i.e. the emergence of a new type of relationship between the child and adults, the replacement of one type of activity by another. For example, at the birth of a baby, adaptation to a new environment for him occurs, the formation of responses. The new developments of the crisis of one year are the formation of walking and speech, the emergence of the first acts of protest against the “unpleasant” actions of adults. For the crisis of three years, according to research by scientists and psychologists, the most important new formation is the emergence of a new sense of “I”. "I myself."

During the first three years of his life, a little person gets used to the world around him, gets used to it and discovers himself as an independent mental being. At this age, there comes a moment when the child, as it were, generalizes the entire experience of his early childhood, and on the basis of his real achievements, he develops an attitude towards himself, and new characteristic personality traits appear. By this age, more and more often we can hear the child use the pronoun “I” instead of his own name when he talks about himself. It seemed like just recently that your baby, looking in the mirror, answered the question “Who is this?” proudly answered: “This is Roma.” Now he says: “It’s me,” he understands that it is he who is depicted in his own photographs, that it is him, and not some other baby, the grimy face smiling from the mirror. The child begins to realize himself as a separate person, with his own desires and characteristics, and a new form of self-awareness appears. True, the awareness of the “I” of a three-year-old toddler is still different from ours. It is not yet carried out in an internal, ideal way, but has a character deployed externally: an assessment of one’s achievement and comparison of it with the assessment of others.

The baby begins to become aware of his “I” under the influence of increasing practical independence. That is why the child’s “I” is so closely connected with the concept “I myself.” The child’s attitude towards the world around him is changing: now the baby is driven not only by the desire to learn new things, to master actions and behavioral skills. The surrounding reality becomes the sphere of self-realization of the little researcher. The child is already trying his hand, testing his capabilities. He asserts himself, and this contributes to the emergence of children's pride - the most important incentive for self-development and self-improvement.

Every parent has probably more than once encountered a situation when it was faster and more convenient to do something for the child: dress him, feed him, take him to the right place. Until a certain age, this went “with impunity,” but by the age of three, increased independence can reach the limit when it is already vitally important for the child to try to do all this on his own. At the same time, it is important for the child that the people around him take his independence seriously. And if a child does not feel that he is taken into account, that his opinions and desires are respected, he begins to protest. He rebels against the old framework, against the old relationships. This is exactly the age when, according to the famous American psychologist E. Erikson, the will begins to form, and the qualities associated with it - independence, independence.

Of course, giving a three-year-old the right to complete independence is completely wrong: after all, having already mastered a lot at his young age, the baby is not yet fully aware of his capabilities, does not know how to express thoughts, or plan. However, it is important to feel the changes taking place in the child, changes in his motivational sphere and attitude towards himself. Then the critical manifestations characteristic of a growing person at this age can be alleviated. Child-parent relationships must enter a qualitatively new direction and be based on the respect and patience of parents. The child's attitude towards the adult also changes. This is no longer just a source of warmth and care, but also a role model, the embodiment of correctness and perfection.

Trying to describe in one word the most important thing that is acquired as a result of the crisis of three years, we can call it, following the child psychology researcher M.I. Lisina, pride in achievements. This is a completely new complex of behavior, which is based on the attitude that children have developed throughout early childhood towards reality, towards an adult as a model. As well as an attitude towards oneself, mediated by one’s own achievements. The essence of the new behavioral complex is as follows: firstly, the child begins to strive to achieve the result of his activities - persistently, purposefully, despite the difficulties and failures encountered. Secondly, there is a desire to demonstrate one’s successes to an adult, without whose approval these successes largely lose their value. Thirdly, at this age a heightened sense of self-esteem appears - increased sensitivity, emotional outbursts over trifles, sensitivity regarding recognition of achievements by parents, grandmothers and other significant and important people in the child’s life.

Caution: three year old

It is imperative to know what a crisis of three years is, and what is behind the external manifestations of a little whim and brawler. After all, this will help you form the right attitude towards what is happening: the baby behaves so disgustingly not because he himself is “bad”, but simply because he cannot do otherwise yet. Understanding the internal mechanisms will help you be more tolerant of your child.

However, in difficult situations, even understanding may not be enough to cope with “whims” and “scandals”. Therefore, it is better to prepare in advance for possible quarrels: as they say, “hard to learn, easy to fight.”

1) Calm, just calm

The main manifestations of the crisis that worry parents usually consist of so-called “affective outbursts” - hysterics, tears, whims. Of course, they can also occur during other, “stable” periods of development, but then they happen much less frequently and with less intensity. The recommendations for behavior in such situations will be the same: do not do anything or decide until the baby has completely calmed down. By the age of three, you already know your child quite well and probably have a couple of ways in stock on how to calm your baby. Some people are used to simply ignoring such outbursts of negative emotions or reacting to them as calmly as possible. This method is very good if... it works. However, there are many babies who are capable of “beating in hysterics” for a long time, and few mothers’ hearts can withstand this picture. Therefore, it may be useful to “pity” the child: hug, sit on your lap, pat him on the head. This method usually works flawlessly, but it should not be abused. After all, the child gets used to the fact that his tears and whims are followed by “positive reinforcement.” And once he gets used to it, he will use this opportunity to receive an additional “portion” of affection and attention. It is best to stop a beginning hysteria by simply switching attention. At the age of three, kids are very receptive to everything new, and a new toy, cartoon or offer to do something interesting can stop the conflict and save your nerves.

2) Trial and error

Three years is the development of independence, the first understanding of “what I am and mean in this world.” You want your baby to grow into a healthy person with adequate self-esteem, confident in his own abilities. All these qualities are developed right here and now - through trial, achievement and error. Give your baby the opportunity to make mistakes now, before your eyes. This will help him avoid many serious problems in the future. But for this, you yourself must see in your baby, yesterday’s baby, an independent person who has the right to go his own way and be understood. It was found that if parents limit the manifestations of a child’s independence, punish or ridicule his attempts at independence, then the development of the little man is disrupted: and instead of will and independence, a heightened sense of shame and uncertainty is formed.

Of course, the path of freedom is not the path of connivance. Determine for yourself the boundaries beyond which the child has no right. For example, you can’t play on the roadway, you can’t skip naps, you can’t walk in the forest without a hat, etc. You must adhere to these boundaries under any circumstances. In other situations, give your child the freedom to act according to his own understanding.

3) Freedom of choice

The right to make our own decisions is one of the main signs of how free we feel in a given situation. A three-year-old child has the same perception of reality. Most of the negative manifestations of the three-year crisis from the “seven-star” described above are the result of the fact that the baby does not feel freedom in his own decisions, actions, and actions. Of course, letting a three-year-old toddler go “free flight” would be madness, but you simply must give him the opportunity to make his own decisions. This will allow the child to develop the qualities he needs in life, and you will be able to cope with some of the negative manifestations of the three-year-old crisis.

Does your child say “no”, “I won’t”, “I don’t want” to everything? Then don't force him! Offer him two options: draw with felt-tip pens or pencils, walk in the yard or in the park, eat from a blue or green plate. You will save your nerves, and the child will have pleasure and confidence that his opinion is taken into account.

Is your child stubborn and you can’t convince him otherwise? Try to “stage” such situations in “safe” conditions. For example, when you are not in a hurry and can choose from several options. After all, if a child manages to defend his point of view, he gains confidence in his abilities and the importance of his own opinion. Stubbornness is the beginning of the development of will, the achievement of a goal. And it is in your power to direct him in this direction, and not make him a source of “donkey” character traits for the rest of his life.

It is also worth mentioning the “do the opposite” technique known to some parents. Tired of the endless “no”, “I don’t want” and “I won’t”, the mother begins to energetically convince her baby of the opposite of what she is trying to achieve. For example, “Don’t go to bed under any circumstances,” “You shouldn’t sleep,” “Don’t eat this soup.” With a small, stubborn three-year-old, this method often works. However, is it worth using it? Even from the outside it looks very unethical: the child is the same person as you, however, using your position, experience, knowledge, you deceive and manipulate him. In addition to the issue of ethics, another point can be remembered here: the crisis serves the development of the individual, the formation of character. Will a child who is constantly “deceived” in this way learn anything new? Will he develop the necessary qualities? One can only doubt this.

4) What is our life? A game!

Increased independence is one of the features of the three-year crisis. The baby wants to do everything himself, completely out of proportion to his own desires and capabilities. Learning to correlate “I can” and “I want” is the task of its development for the near future. And he will experiment with this constantly and in a variety of circumstances. And parents, by participating in such experiments, can really help the child overcome the crisis faster, making it less painful both for the baby himself and for everyone around him. This can be done in the game. It was the great psychologist and expert on child development, Erik Erikson, who compared it to a “safe island” where the baby can “develop and test his independence and autonomy.” The game, with its special rules and norms that reflect social connections, allows the child in “greenhouse conditions” to test his strength, acquire the necessary skills and see the limits of his capabilities.

Lost crisis

Everything is good in moderation. It’s great if, around the age of three, you notice signs of an emerging crisis in your baby. It’s even better when after some time you are relieved to recognize your affectionate and flexible child again, who has become a little more mature. However, there are situations when the “crisis” - with all its negativity, obstinacy and other troubles - does not want to come. Parents who have never heard of or thought about any developmental crises can only rejoice. A problem-free, non-capricious child - what could be better? However, mothers and fathers, who are aware of the importance of developmental crises and do not notice any signs of the “age of obstinacy” in their three- to three-and-a-half-year-old child, begin to worry. There is a point of view that if a crisis proceeds sluggishly, unnoticed, then this indicates a delay in the development of the affective and volitional sides of the personality. Therefore, enlightened adults begin to observe the baby with keen attention, try to “out of nowhere” find at least some manifestation of the crisis, and make trips to psychologists and psychotherapists.

However, based on special studies, it was found that there are children who at three years old show almost no negative manifestations. And if they do, they pass so quickly that parents may not even notice them. There is no point in thinking that this will somehow negatively affect mental development or personality development. After all, the main thing in a development crisis is not how it proceeds, but what it leads to. Therefore, the main task of parents in such a situation is to monitor the emergence of new things in the child’s behavior: the formation of will, independence, pride in achievements. You should contact a specialist only if you still do not find all this in your child.

Signs of negativism

Signs of negativism include stubbornness, rudeness, isolation, demonstrative ignoring of communicative contact or individual requests. Verbally, this is expressed in constantly depressed, suffering, pitiful conversations, aggressive statements in relation to various things, especially valuable to society in general or the interlocutor in particular. Criticism towards people who speak positively or neutrally in relation to the emphasis of negativism. Reflections on the negative structure of the world, references to works confirming this thought, often distorting the meaning or ignoring the opposite opinion of a similar authority.

Often, a person’s assumption of negativism causes violent denial and a realistic, open-minded, unbiased view of the surrounding reality is declared. This position differs from a consciously pessimistic position in that negativism is not realized. The goal of negativistic perception usually becomes a desired, but subjectively inaccessible sphere, or an aspect that a person needs, but he does not want or is afraid to do wrong, to be condemned for a mistake. Therefore, instead of admitting his imperfection, he blames an external object.

The sign is an unreasonably aggressive reaction of resistance, emotionally charged and quite sharp, unexpectedly quickly gaining development. A person cannot calmly accept, ignore, or rationally discuss a request, topic, or situation. Sometimes the reaction may be aimed at arousing pity, in order to avoid further pressure, then stubbornness can be combined with tearfulness and a depressed state. In childhood, this is capriciousness and refusal to fulfill requests; in older age, this is supplemented by an attempt to justify one’s refusal by the unreasonableness or incorrectness of what is happening.

Crisis periods in children's development

Crisis periods in children's development

Dear specialists of institutions of additional education for children (ECEC), we previously considered the issues of age-related characteristics of the mental development of children, in particular the age periods of children’s development, or rather periods of relatively calm or stable ones. It was also noted that children develop unevenly and, along with stable ones, there are so-called critical periods (crises). They will be discussed in this article. This material may be useful to ECEC specialists, both in the development of additional educational programs and in the process of their implementation.

Considering crises as a pattern of human mental development, knowing their frequency and causes of occurrence, they can at least be predicted, and therefore mitigate the inevitable ones built into human nature and avoid those that are the result of the wrong choice of the person himself.

The term “age-related crises” was introduced by L.S. Vygotsky, who defined them as a holistic change in a person’s personality that regularly occurs when stable periods change and considered this as criteria for age periodization, characteristic of a specific stage of development. According to Vygotsky, the age crisis is caused by the emergence of the main new formations of the previous stable period, which lead to the destruction of one social situation of development and the emergence of another, adequate to the new psychological appearance of a person. When something new arises in development, the old must simultaneously disintegrate. L.S. Vygotsky believed such destruction to be necessary.

The main age-related crises occur during childhood and adolescence; this is characterized by the fact that it is in the initial years of life that a person accumulates key knowledge and perceptions of himself, which are the basis for his further positioning of himself in the system of social and personal communication. In the first decade of life, the child’s psyche goes through such a “distance” that no other subsequent age can compare. During periods of crisis, dramatic changes occur in a relatively short period of time, which are very noticeable to others.

“We all come from childhood,” as the wonderful scientist, founder of psychoanalysis, S. Freud said, referring to the main causes of mental illness, neuroses, and deviations in an adult. Therefore, the greatest attention of our time has been paid specifically to childhood crises.

Among the crises of childhood is the neonatal crisis,

crisis
of the first year of life,
crisis of
three years,
crisis of
seven years and teenage
crisis. Due to significant individual, sociocultural and other differences, the chronological boundaries of age-related crises are quite arbitrary and can fluctuate noticeably (it is known that over the past half century, at least the last two of the above-mentioned crises have become 1-2 years younger).

The following features are characteristic of critical periods:

1. The boundaries separating the beginning and end of the crisis from adjacent periods are extremely unclear. A crisis occurs unnoticed; it is very difficult to determine the moment of its onset and end. A sharp escalation (climax) is observed in the middle of the crisis. At this time the crisis reaches its climax.
2. The difficulty of raising children during critical periods at one time served as the starting point for their empirical study. Obstinacy, a drop in academic performance and performance, and an increase in the number of conflicts with others are observed. The child’s inner life at this time is associated with painful experiences.
3. Negative nature of development. It is noted that during crises, in contrast to stable periods, destructive rather than creative work is done. The child does not gain as much as he loses what he previously acquired. However, the emergence of something new in development certainly means the death of the old. At the same time, constructive development processes are observed during critical periods. Vygotsky called these acquisitions neoplasms

   .

The form, duration and severity of crises can vary markedly depending on the individual typological characteristics of the child, social and microsocial conditions, characteristics of upbringing and the situation in the family, the pedagogical system of society and the type of culture as a whole.

Negativism, stubbornness, capriciousness, a state of increased conflict and other negative behavioral manifestations characteristic of a crisis age are exacerbated if adults ignore the child’s new needs in the sphere of communication and activity and, on the contrary, soften without disappearing completely, with proper, i.e. sufficiently flexible and sensitive upbringing. Therefore, it is extremely important that conflict and difficulty in educating a child during periods of crisis are perceived as a signal of the urgent need for change, and not as anomalies of behavior, and do not obscure from parents and educators the enduring positive significance of crises for the process of formation of the child’s personality.

Characteristics of crisis periods in children's development

1. Newborn crisis (0-2 months)

was not discovered, but calculated and identified as a special crisis period in the mental development of the child. A sign of crisis is weight loss in the first days after birth.

The social situation of a newborn is specific and unique and is determined by two factors. On the one hand, this is the child’s complete biological helplessness; he is unable to satisfy a single vital need without an adult. Thus, the baby is the most social creature.

On the other hand, with maximum dependence on adults, the child is still deprived of the basic means of communication in the form of human speech.

The main new formation is the emergence of the child’s individual mental life. The neoplasm appears in the form of a revitalization complex

, which includes the following reactions:

• general motor excitement when an adult approaches;
• the use of screaming and crying to attract people to oneself, that is, the emergence of an initiative to communicate;
• excessive vocalizations during communication with the mother;
• smile reaction.

The revitalization complex serves as the boundary of the critical period of the newborn, and the timing of its appearance is the main criterion for the normality of the child’s mental development. The revitalization complex appears earlier in those children whose mothers not only satisfy the vital needs of the child (feed on time, change diapers, etc.), but also communicate and play with him.

2. One year crisis

characterized by the development of speech action. The baby's body was regulated by a biological system associated with biorhythms. Now she came into conflict with a verbal situation based on self-order or orders from adults. Thus, a child aged about one year finds himself without a system at all that allows him to reliably navigate the world around him. Biological rhythms are greatly deformed, and speech rhythms are not so formed that the child can freely control his behavior.

The crisis is characterized by a general regression of the child’s activity, a kind of reverse development. Emotionally manifests itself in affectivity. Emotions are primitive. In this case, various violations are observed:

• disruption of all biorhythmic processes (sleep - wakefulness);
• violation of the satisfaction of all vital needs (for example, hunger);
• emotional anomalies (sullenness, tearfulness, touchiness).

The crisis is not an acute one.

3. Crisis of 3 years.

When approaching a crisis, there are clear cognitive symptoms:

• acute interest in one's image in the mirror;
• the child is puzzled by his appearance, interested in how he looks in the eyes of others. Girls have an interest in dressing up; boys begin to show concern for their efficiency, for example, in construction. They react sharply to failure.

The crisis of 3 years is considered to be acute. The child is uncontrollable and becomes angry. The behavior is almost impossible to correct. The period is difficult for both the adult and the child himself. The symptoms are called the seven-star crisis of 3 years

.

1. Negativism

   - a reaction not to the content of the adults’ proposal, but to the fact that it comes from adults. The desire to do the opposite, even against one’s own desire.

2. Stubbornness

   - the child insists on something not because he wants, but because
   he
   demanded it, he is bound by his initial decision.

3. Obstinacy

   impersonal, directed against the norms of upbringing, the way of life that developed before the age of three.

4. Self-will

   - The child strives to do everything himself.

5. Protest riot -

   a child in a state of war and conflict with others.

6. Symptom of devaluation

   manifests itself in the fact that the child begins to swear, tease and call his parents names.

7. Despotism

   - the child forces the parents to do everything he demands. In relation to younger sisters and brothers, despotism manifests itself as jealousy.

The crisis proceeds as a crisis of social relations and is associated with the formation of the child’s self-awareness. “I myself” appears

. The child learns the difference between “should” and “want”.

If the crisis proceeds sluggishly, this indicates a delay in the development of the affective and volitional sides of the personality. Children begin to develop a will. They no longer need adult supervision and strive to make their own choices. Feelings of shame and uncertainty instead of autonomy arise when parents limit the child’s expressions of independence, punish or ridicule any attempts at independence.

4. Crisis of 7 years.

The main symptom of the seven-year crisis is the loss
of spontaneity
.

This is a crisis of self-regulation. The child begins to regulate his behavior with rules. Previously flexible, he suddenly begins to make demands for attention to himself, his behavior becomes pretentious. On the one hand, a demonstrative naivety appears in his behavior, which is annoying because it is intuitively perceived by others as insincerity. On the other hand, he seems too mature: he imposes standards on others.

For the child, the unity of affect and intellect disintegrates, and this period is characterized by exaggerated forms of behavior. The child does not control his feelings (cannot restrain and control them). The fact is that, having lost some forms of behavior, he did not acquire others.

Basal requirement

- respect. Any younger student makes a claim to respect, to be treated as an adult, to recognition of his sovereignty. If the need for respect is not satisfied, then it will be impossible to build a relationship with this person on the basis of understanding.

Children learn to meet their physical and spiritual needs in ways that are acceptable to themselves and those with whom they interact. Difficulties in mastering new norms and rules of behavior can cause unjustified self-restraints and excessive self-control. Encouraging children to be independent helps develop their intelligence and initiative. If manifestations of independence are often accompanied by failures or children are punished too harshly for some offenses, this can lead to a feeling of guilt prevailing over the desire for independence and responsibility.

5. Adolescence crisis - uh

then a crisis of social development, reminiscent of the crisis of 3 years (“I myself”), only now it is “I myself” in the social sense.

It is characterized by a drop in academic performance, decreased performance, and disharmony in the internal structure of the personality. The crisis is an acute one.

Development at this stage really proceeds at a rapid pace, especially many changes are observed in terms of personality formation. And, perhaps, the main feature of a teenager is personal instability.

There is a decrease in productivity

and ability to perform educational activities even in the area in which the child is gifted. Children are able to perform the same as before, only mechanical tasks.

There is a transition from visibility and knowledge to understanding and deduction (deriving a consequence from premises, inference). The concrete is replaced by logical thinking. This manifests itself in criticism and the demand for evidence. The teenager is now burdened by the concrete, he begins to be interested in philosophical questions (problems of the origin of the world, man). He loses interest in drawing and begins to love music, the most abstract of the arts.

With the development of thinking comes intense self-perception, introspection, and knowledge of the world of one’s own experiences. The world of internal experiences and objective reality are separated. At this age, many teenagers keep diaries.

Thinking in adolescence is not one function among others, but a key for all other functions and processes. Under the influence of thinking, the foundations of a teenager’s personality and worldview are laid.

The second symptom of crisis is negativity

. The child seems to be repulsed by the environment, is hostile, prone to quarrels and violations of discipline. At the same time, he experiences internal anxiety, dissatisfaction, a desire for loneliness, and self-isolation.

In boys, negativism manifests itself more clearly and more often than in girls, and begins later - at the age of 14-16.

A teenager’s behavior during a crisis is not necessarily negative. L.S. Vygotsky writes about three types of behavior.

1. Negativism is pronounced in all areas of a teenager's life. Moreover, this either lasts several weeks, or the teenager falls out of the family for a long time, is inaccessible to the persuasion of elders, is excitable or, conversely, stupid. This difficult and acute course is observed in 20% of adolescents.
2. The child is a potential negativist. This manifests itself only in some life situations, mainly as a reaction to the negative influence of the environment (family conflicts, the oppressive effect of the school environment). These are the majority of children, approximately 60%.
3. 20% of children have no negative effects at all.

6. Adolescence crisis

resembles crises of 1 year (speech regulation of behavior) and 7 years (normative regulation).
At the age of 17,

value-semantic self-regulation of behavior
occurs . If a person learns to explain, and therefore regulate, his actions, then the need to explain his behavior willy-nilly leads to the subordination of these actions to new legislative schemes.

The young man experiences a philosophical intoxication of consciousness; he finds himself plunged into doubts and thoughts that interfere with his active position. Sometimes the state turns into value relativism (the relativity of all values).

This is the period in which further professional activity is determined.

Having considered the main characteristics of crisis periods, we cannot ignore how to soften and minimize the negative manifestations of age-related crises and how adults (parents, teachers, etc.) who are faced with these manifestations should behave. These are the questions we will consider next time.

Sources:

1. Age crises. https://www.syntone.ru/library/psychology_dict/vozrastnyje_krizisy.php
2. Craig G., Bokum D. Developmental psychology. — 9th ed. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2005.
3. Malkina-Pykh I. G. - Age-related crises: A reference book for a practical psychologist. – M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2005.
4. Mukhina V.S. Developmental psychology: phenomenology of development, childhood, adolescence. - M.: Izdatelsky, 1999.
5. Turevskaya E.I. Developmental psychology. - Tula, 2002.
6. Object and subject of developmental psychology. Basic problems of developmental psychology. Age crises. https://bank.orenipk.ru/Text/t11_5.htm#22
7. Developmental psychology. Dictionary. https://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/psychlex3/article/PS3/ps3-0011.htm

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