Nursery World - A step at a time

As children develop their moral and social skills, early years practitioners should model behaviour carefully and avoid reciting simplistic rules, says Jennie Lindon Young children gradually build up their learning of how to behave both socially and morally. Their actions, and their ideas about what to do or not to do, link closely with their abilities in other areas of development and their experience of life so far.

Young children gradually build up their learning of how to behave both socially and morally. Their actions, and their ideas about what to do or not to do, link closely with their abilities in other areas of development and their experience of life so far.

Early years practitioners and parents need to pay close attention to a child's age, otherwise expectations can be unrealistic and, from the child's perspective, unfair. But developmental patterns for behaviour do not follow rigid stages. Children's actual experience is a strong influence on how they behave in daily situations where they have choices to make, as the following case study illustrates.

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