DAILY LIVING SKILLS –
< My Thoughts > Developing ‘daily living skills’ and developing ‘self-awareness’ go together hand-in-hand. This becomes one of the trickier tasks to teach with any child. So, before teaching ‘daily living skills’ one must have ‘self-awareness’
According to Duff & Flattery (2014), understanding ‘self’ is contingent upon understanding there is ‘other’, in other words, someone ‘other’ than ‘self’. They say that understanding ‘other’ also requires a high-level of understanding ‘object permanence’. We are reminded that “the understanding of ‘self’ is not present at birth, but develops through a process of social experiences.”
In Child Psychology class, I remember learning that babies cry when mommy leaves the room because they lack ‘object permanence’. Mommy is gone forever, because the concept of her just being in another room isn’t part of the newborn’s experiences or understanding yet.
These authors say that the tried and true method of whether or not a child has discovered ‘self’, is to put rouge on their nose then place them in front of a mirror. If they touch their nose or try to wipe off the rouge, then they are relating to the image in the mirror as themselves... ‘self’.
< My Thoughts > Developing ‘daily living skills’ and developing ‘self-awareness’ go together hand-in-hand. This becomes one of the trickier tasks to teach with any child. So, before teaching ‘daily living skills’ one must have ‘self-awareness’
According to Duff & Flattery (2014), understanding ‘self’ is contingent upon understanding there is ‘other’, in other words, someone ‘other’ than ‘self’. They say that understanding ‘other’ also requires a high-level of understanding ‘object permanence’. We are reminded that “the understanding of ‘self’ is not present at birth, but develops through a process of social experiences.”
In Child Psychology class, I remember learning that babies cry when mommy leaves the room because they lack ‘object permanence’. Mommy is gone forever, because the concept of her just being in another room isn’t part of the newborn’s experiences or understanding yet.
These authors say that the tried and true method of whether or not a child has discovered ‘self’, is to put rouge on their nose then place them in front of a mirror. If they touch their nose or try to wipe off the rouge, then they are relating to the image in the mirror as themselves... ‘self’.
Begin teaching your child ‘daily living skills’ by first playing around with the mirror idea. Sonny has mirrors everywhere in the house. The only time I see him actually looking in the mirror at ‘his’ reflection is in the bathroom. He usually looks a little puzzled and taken back, but I think that he does recognize himself in the mirror. He also seems to see and know that the person’s reflection waving to him is me. He usually seems to recognize himself in pictures on the shelf and in photo albums.
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