The preschool years are a special time of relationship building, exploration, and understanding oneself. Preschoolers are learning important skills, such as regulating their emotions and understanding others. They are also able to do many tasks independently. All of these skills will impact them throughout their lives. Children will continue to rely on their caregivers and the attachments formed during the first few years of life as they get ready to move on to the next stage of their lives—middle childhood.

Review of Learning Objectives

1. Identify the milestones of preschoolers’ social and emotional development.
2. Explore the development of adaptive skills and identity formation.
3. Describe the role of play in relation to developmental importance.
4. Analyze the impact of caregivers and environmental influences on social, emotional, adaptive, and identity development.

Comprehension Check

Review of Key Terms

• Child abuse: the physical, sexual, or emotional mistreatment or neglect of a child or children
• Emotional abuse: a pattern of behavior in which a caregiver insults, humiliates, instills fear in, or controls another person
• Initiative versus guilt: the third stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development in which a child establishes taking initiative and has a sense of power over what happens to them
• Neglect: a form of abuse in which a caregiver fails to provide adequate care for someone they are responsible for
• Personality: an individual’s consistent pattern of feeling, thinking, and behaving
• Physical abuse: a form of abuse that involves physical aggression directed at another person
• Protective factors: circumstances or traits that help a child cope with stressful events
• Self-esteem: an evaluative judgment about who we are
• Sexual abuse: a form of abuse in which a person abuses another for sexual stimulation
• Social competence: the ability to get along with others

Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion

“Conclusion” by Christina Belli is licensed under CC BY 4.0.