Theoretical Approaches to Working with Children.

Children are my life.  I work with children, I live with children, and I have a heart to help children.  I have read a few books on the brains that lie within those small heads, however none of them have been this interesting.  I have learned quite a lot about psychology and how it affects the way we interact with kids through this book.  Today I will share something I found really interesting within the pages of Child Psychology by Dr. Kairen Cullen.  In Chapter 3 of this fascinating book I read about the theoretical approaches to working with children.  The first and perhaps most interesting one is Behaviorism. Behaviorism is an approach in where the worker, let us say a parent, interacts with the child in a physical way.  They stress less feelings and emotions and hold the view that "behavior is learnt through experiences."(Cullen, 12).  As I read the example given in the book I thought of a time in which this has happened to myself.  When I was 5 years old I was bitten by a dog.  It was an extremely traumatic event for a small 5 year old child as myself.  The dog was larger than my small physique and the bite resulted in 7 rabies shots, seeing how i was living in Russia at the time.  This traumatic event lead me to fear dogs and obtain a gradual dislike for most large animals.  To work with this fear of mine a behaviorist would have gradually exposed me to friendly dogs until I knew that only some dogs where mean and others where nice.  This has influenced the way I help children face their fears. Understanding the process and the information behind n=behaviorism is extremely helpful to me.  Below Is a picture of my cousin and I.  This was taken and when I saw it I knew it would be perfect for this post.  My cousin is mildly afraid of some dogs and when I read this text I understood more on how to help her next time I work with her.

Do you use Behaviorism in the way you interact with people?

 

Works Cited
CULLEN, KAIREN. INTRODUCING CHILD PSYCHOLOGY: a Practical Guide. ICON BOOKS LTD, 2018.