Fostering Positive Personality Development in Early Childhood

Personality development in early childhood plays a critical role. The word “personality” comes from the Latin word “persona” which refers to an actor’s mask in ancient times. In common belief, characters in theatres wore masks to conceal their identity and appeared in various characters. Personality development is enduring characteristics, interests, motives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns into our behaviour.

What is “Personality”?

“Personality” reflects a person’s unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that help distinguish one from another. Psychologically, ‘personality’ refers to deep-rooted traits and habits that routinely influence how we feel, think and act. Your personality determines upon how you interpret your life experiences, act consistently in different situations, and look at the world. Thus, Personality development in early childhood is critical to producing successful citizens in the future.

Role of Personality

When exposed to the world, personality plays a very important role. Personality includes behavioral traits both innate and learned and helps you to cut the figure in socio-cultural settings and in public.

The Concept of Personality Development in Early Childhood

Personality development in early childhood is a widely accepted idea that encompasses mental, social, spiritual, emotional, and physical growth. Maintenance of mental health and brain exercise is essential for personal growth

What helps you to improve Personality Development in Early Childhood?

To foster personality within your soul, you need to improve the following skills and conditions:

• communication,
• problem-solving,
• relationship-building,
• the capacity to respond appropriately,
• social connections and relationships
• self-perception; understanding and discovery of your spiritual values, emotions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors and also the ability to visualize those in others.
• sound body precedes physical, mental, and emotional health.

How long does it take to grow a Personality Development in Early Childhood?

Despite the fact that a person’s personality is created throughout their formative years, some experts believe that personality can be changed and reformed via subsequent encounters. Using experiences, research, and the behavioral sciences, many social and educational institutions are attempting to foster psychological development in the modern world. Prophetic training programs have prioritized mental exercises and instruction in true personality traits.

Advantages of Personality Development

Personality development in early childhood aids a person in numerous ways:

• To cultivate unique qualities
• To create your own style
• To reduce stress and conflicts
• To view life positively
• To develop outer appearance and spirituality
• To store many essential positive traits such as punctuality, flexibility, openness to learning, friendliness, generosity, and leadership.  
• To achieve greater job prospects, self-awareness, confidence, excellent communication skills
• To achieve goals and spend a stress-free life
• To develop your analytical thinking and decision-making skills

Role of Education in Personality Improvement

Life includes education, and learning that occurs at various points in your life. On the other hand, education is the first step in learning, which is a continuous process and lasts one’s life span. Thus, education lays a solid foundation for personality development in early childhood. Education can also aid you:

• In fostering strong interpersonal interactions.
• To interact with others politely.
• Earn respect in society through your behavior.
• To learn the rules of behaviour and appropriate behavior in various settings.
• To communicate with the right decent language in conversations and to avoid any abusive language.
• To control our emotions and sensations.
• To succeed in life. Personality development is a fundamental building block on the road to a successful profession and life.
• To foster a high quality of life, encouraging participation and work commitment while setting goals and objectives

Personality Development at Early Stage of Life

The personality development of a child begins when the child is growing up in his mother’s womb. Once the child is born into the world, he begins to grow physically and mentally. Further, the inputs given in the background, close and near ones lay a firm foundation to develop a child’s character and personality during the first five years of his/her life. Furthermore, as Erik Erikson theorized, there are eight stages in the personality development process. Of which, five stages are very significant for a child:

• (1).       Infancy (0-18 months), where the infant’s basic need becomes nourishment,
• (2).       Early Childhood (1.5-3 years) where the child explores the environment independently with his nervous and motor skills development over time.
• (3).       Middle Childhood (3-5 years) where the child learns to function independently and becomes more assertive, and eager to explore and experiment with new things.
• (4).       Late childhood (5-12 years)- The child’s attention span and strength increase and the child seek new skills, and begins to compare himself with others to understand his position.  Further, he is overwhelmed with pride in successfully accomplishing tasks and is spirited with competence, showcases his industrious behavior, and strives to achieve the goals set for him.
• (5).       Adolescence (12-18 yrs) during which, teens strive to find their own place in society and their personal identity.

Woes in Sri Lankan School Education

In Sri Lankan education, children are driven through three competitive government examinations, namely Grade Five Scholarship Examination, G.C.E O/L Exam, and G.C.E A/L exam. The first exam has become a very crucial one as the child was highly burdened by their parents, teachers, and educational trends to pass the exam with high marks, thereby getting the opportunity to enroll the child in a better school to continue with his further academic studies. As some scholars, educationists, physiologists, psychologists, and health experts comment, the child’s complete development takes place from age 5 to 12, during which human traits such as confidence, intelligence, physical fitness, mental stamina, and linguistic skills are fostered to greater extents.

In Sri Lankan education system, only around 15,000 students per annum are successful in achieving the cut-off mark out of approximately 360,000 students facing the grade five scholarship examination. This will open up a path for a limited number of students to enter a prominent school and obtain a government-funded scholarship. However, the disadvantages of the exam have overtaken its advantages. In their splendid childhood, what they experience are:

• High amounts of mental stress,
• lack of intellectual development,
• physical ailments,
• social issues, economic problems,
• psycho-physical disorders,
• diminution in values
• the deprivation of childhood.

In this primary educational environment, the personality development of primary-level students has caused extremely ill effects for a majority of children in highly competitive educational spaces.