Growing Up: Signs of Maturity in Children - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

As children grow, they start to recognize and learn adult behaviors and also listen to them. It is from this point that they grasp the need for various social factors such as safety and health. Love is also a factor that shapes a child’s perception, especially towards his or her parents. When children start to differentiate between wrong and right and act accordingly, parents learn that their children have attained a certain level of maturity. Another sign of maturity is shown when people choose a better path than they were when younger. Children who are brought up by their parents or other grown-ups have so much to imitate from them while developing. However, at a young age, children may not tell when parents make poor decisions for them until they have matured. This paper is a discussion of how a child's perception changes, especially towards parents as he or she matures.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Perception Influenced by the Need for Safety and Physical Health

According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), children need to be cared for in a way that protects them from physical injuries or maltreatment. Any type of physical danger or state of insecurity makes mature children uneasy. Children may not know how to protect themselves when they are in danger while young but develop to be very cautious when mature. At a young age, children rely on their parents for safety and physical health; hence if the parents are careless in their duties, the children are not to blame. Consequently, children may blame their parents for recklessness when they grow up. For instance, in the “Powder” story, the narrator confesses that while he was young, his father was a reckless parent. He says that his father once took him to a nightclub and later went skiing while it snowed. The narrator reveals that his mother was relentless about trusting him to be with his father. The narrator later shows maturity when he says, “I actually trusted him” ("Powder" 3). Also, when he says that his mother would not forgive his father for going out while it snows shows a certain level of maturity for the narrator.

Perception Influenced by Behavior and Emotional Competence

Children require care that promotes positive emotional well-being and health that boosts their mental health, sense of belonging, and ability to cope with temper, stress, and emotions, accept disappointments, and overcome fears (NAS). While providing support, parents offer respect, love, and a sense of security, which helps children overcome depression and anxiety while in the community and school. Children also learn the developmental stages and the level of responsibility involved in these stages. They also learn what is acceptable and when it is allowed for them as they grow up. A significant example that explains this concept is in "In the Fall," where after Scott was sold to MacRae, David was quite disappointed that his father had released the horse to go. David had earlier heard MacRae use the “Cocksucker” word when disappointed after the horse refused to follow him to the truck (Macleod 9). Later on, David uses the same word to show his grief for the sale of the horse. At this point, even if his mother always warned them against cursing, she was silent. This reveals that the mother realized that David had attained a certain level of maturity, where he achieved behavior and emotional competence and could express himself accordingly. David, in this scenario, understood that it could not matter if he cursed after his parents disappointed him. He also learned that people curse when they are annoyed to express their emotions.

Behavior and emotional competence open the eyes of children to realize that adulthood has great and huge responsibilities. Other than the usual responsibilities to live or have a great life, children learn the responsibility of their actions. Adults may seem to have it all going and think that young people do not understand. However, the young generation learns the heavy burden the adults have as they grow up. A certain level of maturity based on behavior is also revealed by James, the narrator of the “In the Fall” story. When MacRae cursed because Scott had refused to follow him to the truck, James began to “understand for the first time how difficult and perhaps how fearful it is to be an adult” (Macleod 8). James explains that he thought that if a person cursed like that before men and women, he would probably have the earth open and swallow him, be struck by lightning, or have people clap their hands and scream against his action. To his surprise, none of that happened. Indeed, everybody went silent, and MacRae had to deal with his action. From this scene, James closely related behavior and emotions, whereby he felt that fear because of the cursing words and learned that MacRae had to endure shame for cursing. Thus, exposure to behaviors and expressions of emotions helps children mature. For James, the cursing experience made him relies on how fearful it is to be an adult.

Perception Influenced by Social Competence

Mercer and Saunders (12) mention that children who possess basic social competence develop and maintain positive relationships with parents and their peers. Social competence helps children get respect and get along with people of different sexual orientations, cultures, races, or even religions. The basic social skills revealed by these children are prosocial behaviors, including cooperation, sharing, empathy, concern, taking perspective, and many other behaviors that contribute to their success in school and out of school. These prosocial behaviors are learned from their parents and other adults within their environments. The skills attained are associated with children's level of success, even when they reach adulthood.

A very practical example of maturity based on social competence is seen in "In the Fall," whereby James's friend, Henry Van Dyken, explains why James's father does not like raising poultry or flowers (Macleod 4). He states that Scottish men find it shameful to do such works, which are meant to be done by women. However, Dyken's father is very comfortable raising the chicken and the flowers. Dyken is to be assumed not to be Scottish; hence his father rears chicken. Prosocial competence behavior is that James can interact with other children from different cultures or ethnicities very well. Dyken is also showing maturity by taking the perspective that James’s father is not lazy or ignorant; instead, he follows his culture diligently. Another example of social competence is still in the same story when James’s mother indicates that he should follow his father as he goes to sell the horse to MacRae (Macleod 5). The mother did not speak to James but rather used their eyes to suggest that he should follow his father. The ability of James to relate well with his mother to a level of decoding eye signs indicates maturity. Also, the relationship between James and his father is well developed to the level that his mother entrusts James to accompany his father during a transaction.

Perception Influenced by Cognitive Competence

Cognitive competence entails capacities and skills attained at a certain stage of development and age to succeed in school and the rest of life for children. Cognitive competence n children are shown by skills in communication, language, problem-solving, mathematics, writing, and reading. Thus children often benefit from challenging, supportive and stimulating environments that help them be creative thinkers. This competence also helps children stay calm when faced with challenging moments that they may not solve or have a solution for. One of the most significant examples of cognitive competence is seen in the "powder" story, whereby the narrator, together with his father, is faced with challenging moments. The narrator states that he was in the car with his father when snow covered the whole road such that his father could no longer see a trail of where the road passed through. Maturity is shown when the narrator, despite his young age, remains quiet. The speaker would have started crying in fear that they were stuck or would miss the Christmas Eve dinner. However, that did not happen, and despite feeling much cold, the speaker kept quiet.

Conclusion

Children develop a different perception towards their parents as they mature once they learn the need for safety and physical health, and attain behavior and emotional competence, social competence, and cognitive competence. Children learn from imitation, listening, speaking, and even acting. Parents play a huge role in childhood development, and as they attain maturity, children start to learn why their parents behave in a certain way. Many parents warn their children not to curse and give various reasons as to why they should not. However, as children grow, they learn that their parents were not only protective but also cover their dignity. Children often copy their parents' behaviors; hence parents with poor behaviors risk having their children grow to be just like them. From the "Powder" and "In the Fall" stories, children have illustrated all the four factors that contribute to their changed perspectives, especially towards their parents. Children also have the habit of doing what they are warned not to do as a way of adventuring and fulfilling of curiosity.

Works Cited

Macleod, Alistair. "In the Fall." pp. 1-10. Accessed 3 Aug. 2020.

Mercer, Jenny, and Danny Saunders. "Accommodating Change: The Process of Growth and Development Amongst a Mature Student Population." Research in Post-Compulsory Education 9.2 (2004): 1-19 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13596740400200171

National Academy of Sciences. "2 Parenting Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices | Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8 | The National Academies Press." The National Academies Press, 2020, www.nap.edu/read/21868/chapter/4#46. Accessed 2 Aug. 2020.

"Powder." pp. 1-3. Accessed 2 Aug. 2020.