Independence/Autonomy

Infants

What We Saw: A teacher puts one of the infants on his belly on the rug. She puts a toy just out of his reach. "Can you reach the toy?" she asks him. He struggles, and rolls over until he reaches the toy. He smiles and so does the teacher who is down on the floor with him. She gets another toy and repeats the game.

What It Means: Challenges encourage infants to develop new skills. Teachers need to be aware of the developmental levels of children to judge whether a particular challenge is appropriate or frustrating. Planning appropriate experiences that allow children to experience success helps to lay groundwork for healthy emotional development. According to Erik Erickson's theory, the second component of a healthy personality is a sense of autonomy. When children begin to succeed in doing things for themselves, they gain a sense of self-confidence and self-control.

Toddlers

What We Saw: In the corner were simple dress-up smocks for children. Two children, ages 13 and 14 months took the firefighter and EMS smocks on and off by themselves. The teachers only helped when the children looked for help. A 13-month-old child was crawling under a table and got stuck. He started to whine for help. The teachers encouraged him to try to figure it out for himself. He did and they praised him. A 14-month-old child tipped over a push toy and was using it for a slide. His foot got stuck. The teacher was immediately alert to what was happening and as she gently helped him get his foot out she said to him, " Is your foot stuck?" A 3-year-old buttoned his own shirt and was praised for completing that task.

What It Means: Toddlers have a strong desire to be independent and figure things out for themselves. The teachers were encouraging toddlers to be independent in many ways. The dress-up clothes were simple enough for a toddler to put on and take off by themselves. Teachers were skilled at perceiving when children really needed help and when they could most likely figure out a situation by themselves. Older toddlers were encouraged to complete self-help tasks so that they would be more prepared when they transition to an older classroom.

Toddlers

What You See: A two-year-old child is making an ornament for the Christmas tree. She begins tracing a gingerbread man. She is having a very hard time tracing so the teacher holds the template while the child traces. Then it is time to cut. The teacher holds the paper at different angles to make it easier for the child to cut along the line she drew. The child picks up her paper scraps and walks over to the garbage can to throw them away. She walks back with a look of satisfaction on her face, and continues cutting on her own. The teacher is helping someone else, but soon she looks at the first child and comments, "Cutting some more?" The child nods and continues her cutting. By this time the gingerbread man is completely unrecognizable. Shortly the child is done and wants to hang up her ornament. The teacher instructs her to punch a hole and put it on a hook. The child tries it on her own, but soon she is back asking for help. The teacher helps. When the ornament is ready the child walks to the tree with a look of satisfaction on her face.

What It Means: Here the teacher has effectively balanced the child's twin desires for independence and accomplishment, which were somewhat in conflict (since working entirely unaided might lead to no ornament to hang on the tree). She also provided many opportunities for the child to develop her fine motor skills. When the child began mangling the gingerbread man they had cut out together the teacher avoided the temptation to stop her. She allowed the child to decide how her ornament would look when she hung it on the tree. Throughout this interaction, the child's look of satisfaction and accomplishment attested that the teacher was supporting her work, not interfering with it.

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