Age crises in children (from the Greek krisis — a turning point, outcome) — a problematic period in the development of a child during the transition from one age stage to another.
The development of the child is uneven, some transitions from one age stage to another can be painful, accompanied by the child’s stubbornness, objections, conflict and other negative behavioral traits. If parents do not differ in pedagogical talent, this happens, and when this happens everywhere, the opinion takes root that age-related crises in children are inevitable and natural. However, it is not.
“The “crisis” of behavior, often observed at the age of three, occurs only under certain conditions and is not at all necessary with appropriate changes in the relationship between the child and adults,” wrote D.B. Elkonin ↑. The position of A.N. Leontiev: “In reality, crises are by no means inevitable companions of a child’s mental development. It is not crises that are inevitable, but fractures, qualitative shifts in development. On the contrary, a crisis is evidence of a break, a shift that did not take place in time and in the right direction. There may not be a crisis at all, because the mental development of a child is not spontaneous, but is a reasonably controlled process—controlled upbringing” (1983, vol. II, p. 288 Age-related crises of children).
Crises in children lie within the relationship between an adult and a child. They arise where parents do not respond in time or illiterately to the desire of the child to show their independence. In good families, where parents have a reasonable, coordinated position and they control upbringing, there are no age crises in children.
L.S. Vygotsky singled out the following age-related crises in children:
- crisis of the newborn — separates the embryonic period of development from infancy;
- crisis of 1 year — separates infancy from early childhood; (See →)
- crisis 3 years — transition to preschool age; For more details, see → (See also The vagaries of a one-year-old and a three-year-old — different)
- crisis of 7 years — a connecting link between preschool and school age; See →
- crisis of adolescence (13 years), see →.
Age personality crises of adults
Gail Sheehy has suggested that identity crises visit us every seven years. In a highly simplified form: 16 years old «I’m not small!», 23 years old — «I’m a full-fledged adult», 30 years old — «Dreams of youth are untenable», 37 years old — midlife crisis, Death loomed, and so on … See →