Nurturing
Objectives
• Understand the stages of youth development.
• Learn how adults can help young people gain
confidence through positive reinforcement.
• Understand how setting goals can help young
people grow.
In a poll entitled “What Matters
Most,” Newsweek asked 506 parents
with children ages 0-3 what their
most important goal was as a parent.
Forty-eight percent of the parents
who responded said they wanted
their children to grow up with high
moral values. (McDaniel, 1998)
Why is character education
important?
• Children learn good morals early in life.
• As society becomes more complex, it becomes
harder to teach good character traits to young
people.
• 4-H and FFA focus on character education.
• The Six Pillars of Character are fundamentals of
character development.
– Trustworthiness
– Respect
– Responsibility
– Fairness
– Caring
– Citizenship
The Stages of Youth Development
• Erik Erikson’s eight stages of youth development
describe how individuals develop their personalities in
different stages of life.
• Success is determined by how well one progresses
through the stages of development.
• Physical, emotional and intellectual growth vary at
different stages of development.
• The more adults understand about youth development
the better character education they can provide.
Erikson’s Stages of Development
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Oral – Sensory
Muscular
Locomotor
Latency
Adolescence
Young Adulthood
Middle Adulthood
Maturity
Oral - Sensory
• Age – 1 to 1 ½ years
• Adult roles
– Gain trust from individual
– Provide a loving and safe environment
– Mother is typically the most important in a
child’s life
– Help the child feel safe in
his/her environment
Muscular
• Age – 1 ½ to 4 years
• Adult roles
– Provide a balance of freedom and protectiveness
– Support children as they experience trial and
error in activities
– Be firm but tolerant so the child
will develop self-control
and self-esteem
Locomotor
• Age – 4 to 6 years
• Adult roles
– Support initiative and exploration
– Allow children to use imagination and avoid
an excess of formal education
– Help children learn they are no longer babies,
but are growing up
Latency
• Age – 6 to 12 years
• Adult roles
– Keep a balance between letting kids be kids and
providing formal education
– Help children begin to “tame the imagination”
– Encourage children to keep trying regardless of their
success
– Social sphere becomes much broader
– All people in a child’s life have
an influence
– 4-H can begin at this age
Adolescence
• Age – 12 to 18 years
• Adult roles
– Be a good role model
– Gain young person’s respect
– Provide information about career options
– Society plays a big role
in a child’s life
– Teach good character traits
Young Adulthood
• Age – 20s
• Adult roles
– Encourage teamwork
– Support cultural and gender differences
– Encourage involvement with friends
and the community
– Help young adults weigh decisions
based on the effect on society
Middle Adulthood
• Age – 20 to 50 years
• Adult roles
– Role reversal begins as young
adults start their own families
– Help others at each stage of development
– Be a mentor and role model
Maturity
• Age – 50 + years
• Adult roles
– Share wisdom with young
adults and children
– Be a mentor
– Grandparents can give
excellent support to grandchildren
Never Stop Learning
• We sometimes forget about the why’s
and just concentrate on the how’s!
• Teaching young people why they should
do something a certain way gives them a
better understanding of how to do it.
Building Confidence Through
Positive Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement encourages continued
behavior by offering attractive consequences
(rewards) for desirable performance.
• It is very effective in helping young people
progress through the stages of development.
• Successful character education does not
depend solely on giving rewards to promote
good behavior.
Proper Use of Positive
Reinforcement
• Emphasize the positive first, then talk about things
that can be improved.
• Examples:
– Chris, you set up the back legs of your steer very well, but the front
legs could be a little more square.
– Jenny, you swept up the aisles in the barn well, but the pens could
use some more cleaning.
– Christy, your showmanship skills have
improved greatly, but there are still a
few things we can work on to make
them better.
Goal Setting
• Goal - the result or achievement toward
which effort is directed
• Goal statements are written by individuals,
4-H clubs and FFA organizations.
• Goals should be
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Specific
Challenging
Attainable
Committed to by the individual
• Goals must be written down!
Goal Setting (continued)
Adults should:
• give feedback to help young people write goal
statements
• help young people develop a vision for what they
wish to accomplish
• help young people identify their strengths
and weaknesses
• have the following traits
– Respect (Let young people set their own goals.)
– Patience (Give them time to make decisions.)
– Encouragement (Support their decisions and
recognize their initiative.)
Goal Setting (continued)
Setting goals
– increases attention to the immediate task
– increases the effort expended on activities
– increases persistence because there is less temptation to quit
once a goal has been clearly established
– increases motivation and performance by encouraging the
development of specific task strategies
Summary
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•
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Understand Erikson’s Stages of Development.
Be able to identify the stages people are in.
Never stop learning.
Use positive reinforcement to teach young people.
Writing goal statements is an important part of
youth development.
• Goals statements should be:
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Specific
Challenging
Attainable
Committed to by the individual
Written down