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Reflection On Socialization

Decent Essays

The process of socialization must happen in order to raise a child from their own individual-oriented lifestyle into one that will thrive within a diverse society. Though the child compromises aspects of their original, uncultured persona, the trade-off is for the better: a needy child could attend school and gain independence, or an ornery toddler could learn the balance of actions and consequences through time-outs. From what I have observed, effective socialization requires that the child must primarily learn from others of the same general status and age, as well as be able to find their niche within the whole group to specialize their methods and actions accordingly.
I personally witnessed socialization in action and how it may initially cause rifts within a child’s psyche as they find their niche in their society. For example, last year I interned at a women’s substance abuse rehabilitation center, concentrating on the resident children and their resulting behavioral tendencies. There was one 5-year-old girl who I bonded notably closer to than all of the other kids. During behavioral therapy sessions, I discovered that exposure to alcohol in utero had led to her developing various emotional and attachment disorders. Her natural reaction to triggering situations or conflict was to scream and whine relentlessly until she got her way, so in therapy she was taught self-soothing methods and practiced identifying her emotions in order to remedy her behavior. During counseling, she made tremendous progress, quickly seeming to understand the emotional concepts presented to her. However, when the morning therapy sessions were done, she would go to preschool and act out as if she learned nothing. One day, I was called into her classroom because she had allegedly struck a classmate after he stole a toy from her. I found her grinning guiltily while the boy sobbed on the floor beside her. Before I could intervene, a classmate of hers consoled the boy and invited him to play, all while ignoring her. As she observed her classmates interacting in this wholesome, benevolent manner, she was being socialized to react correctly to her emotions. Her actions did not receive the desired result, so she adjusted until they fell

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