Feature Articles—Child Care
Children's Relationships with Other Children in Child Care
Sara Gable, Ph.D., Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
Young children form a variety of different kinds of peer relationships in child care. They have peers as friends, peers as playmates, and peers as unnoticed classmates. Each of these relationships provides an opportunity for children to practice and develop their social skills and their relationship skills. Peer relationships help children learn how to join groups of children already playing, form and maintain friendships, share personal information, avoid the bully, take turns, resolve conflicts, and help others.
Researchers have discovered that children develop their peer relationships
independently from their relationships with caregivers. That is,
children do not necessarily transfer their interactions with caregivers
to their interactions with peers and friends. This suggests that
adults need to consciously pay attention to what occurs between
peers and friends when trying to understand peer relationships in
the child care program. It also indicates that adults need to take
the unique perspective of the child in a peer relationship when
coaching the child about how to get along with other children.
| Age Period | Social Interaction with Peers | Friendship Formation |
| Early Toddler (13-24 months) |
Complementary and reciprocal play | Stable friendships |
| Late Toddler (25-36 months) |
Communication of meaning or Cooperative Pretend Play | Flexibility of friendships |
| Preschool
(3-5 years) |
Social knowledge of the peer group | Differentiation of friends from playmates |
Social Interaction with Peers: This column describes child ease of entry into play groups, type of play with peers, and the child's sensitivity to peer communication.
Early Toddler: Social interaction is characterized by complementary
and reciprocal play. Children exhibit the ability to exchange turns
and roles in action. For example, you will observe children running
and chasing each other, playing rudimentary games of hide and seek,
and handing and receiving toys to/from one another.
Late Toddler: Social interaction is characterized by the
communication of meaning, as during cooperative social pretend play.
Children take on complementary pretend roles while engaging in interactive
social play. This type of play depends on the symbolic function
because the child must recognize that the play partner is acting
out a role. For example, what happens when you arrange chairs 2
across and 3 deep, like a bus or mini van? If the children are this
age, one child will probably take the role of driver and the others
will become passengers and the play will begin.
Preschool: Social interaction is characterized by social
knowledge of the members of the peer group. Children are aware of
the behavioral characteristics of individual children. Children
can make judgments about an individual child's personality traits
and tendencies. Such knowledge translates into a wider range of
potential playmates, play activities, and pretend play themes. For
example, a child may be recognized by the group as "smart" because
s/he prefers to look at books and complete puzzles. If another child
is seeking a playmate for a game of Go fish, s/he may seek out the
"smart" child; if the same child is wanting to play "astronauts",
s/he may make select a different playmate.
Friendships: This column describes how friendship relationships
look during the different developmental periods. Friendships during
toddlerhood and preschool are defined as stable, dyadic relationships
characterized by reciprocity and shared positive affect. Friends
typically seek each other out, prefer to be together, and enjoy
each other's company. In the research world, friendships are typically
indicated by mutuality; that is, each partner considers the other
as the "best friend".
Early toddlerhood friendships are stable and characterized by emotional
responsiveness and reciprocity. Young toddler friends often giggle
a lot together and seek out one another.
Late toddlerhood friendships become more flexible; different friendships
serve different play functions; and, children are more overt and
intentional in the language that they use to select their play partners.
Friendships and playmates are not markedly different.
Preschool Friendships are differentiated from playmates; preschool
friends share more positive and less negative emotion, more reciprocity,
and are more mutually responsive to one another.
Notes on Children's Friendships
Young children tend to keep reciprocal friendships when they can.
However, children also show the ability to form temporary friendships
and to replace friends when they move to a new program or community.
Children who have more intimate friendships tend to engage in more
elaborate fantasy play. These friends typically play together a
lot and select each other to play with.
Resources:
Howes, C. (1988). Peer interaction of young children. Monographs
of the Society for Research in Child Development, 53(1).
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Last update: Tuesday, August 25, 2009
