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Children are extremely impressionable. They actively learn through mirroring and observation, as their behaviors are still highly dependent and shaped by outside factors. Everything they’re exposed to can make a difference in their development, which is why it’s significant they’re exposed to only educational children’s literature.
As children are typically left in a controlled and closely observed environment, their primary source of learning and development comes from literature and the limited experience they’re allowed to enjoy. They can’t go on independent adventures that teach them resilience and resourcefulness. And besides the interactions, they encounter at school, at home, and with their direct neighbors, they don’t have any other opportunities to teach them about empathy and the basic understanding of human emotions.
Most of their learnings are from vicarious experiences, from situations they don’t necessarily encounter. For instance, they learn the most from what adults teach and warn them about and from what stories convey about life. Despite not experiencing these situations, children learn important lessons, so they know what to avoid and expect during these situations. For them, literature primarily assumes an informative role in their lives. While these situations happen figuratively, they provide children with more knowledge and information they can apply in real-life situations.
Role of Children’s Literature
Children interact with people in different circumstances through the stories they read. They’re exposed to other worlds and circumstances, which help shape their perspectives and views on various matters and affairs. Children are also provided with opportunities to recognize how people can be different, teaching them how to safely and warmly interact with people. They can learn these and many more from the comfort and safety of their homes – rooms, even.
Beyond developing their grasp of the language, children’s literature provides various avenues to increase their awareness about different concepts that are foreign to them. With how limited their routines can provide new experiences, literature can stand as a mirror to children and show them what happens in life outside their comfort zones and typical patterns. As their first means of exposure to the so-called real world, literature plays a crucial role in setting the tone for what children may anticipate, love, or dislike about the world they’re living in. This gives them the first glimpse of the common concepts and experiences they may encounter when they grow up, letting them get a sense of the world before they set foot in it.
Vicarious Learning
Take the Little Peggy Lou stories for children, a book teaching children what happens when they get in trouble and what they can do to avoid these situations. These stories give children a detailed look at negative behaviors that typically lead to them being reprimanded and chastised. Through these literary examples, they already know what not to do before adults and what to expect if they slip up and observe an unpleasant behavior.
Reading allows children to have mindful experiences. Children’s literature provides descriptive narratives that thrust children into experiences that raise their awareness of societal affairs. While they may not be personally experiencing these situations, they’re emotionally and mentally transported to the stories, making them comprehend circumstances differently than they would. Compared to those they will encounter in adulthood, literary experiences are relatively more conscious.
Children are placed in situations with absolute and concrete steps to a solution or conclusion with children’s literature. They aren’t allowed to second-guess, making them understand that by undergoing one situation and doing a specific activity, they will most likely come up with a definite outcome. Children’s literature is an excellent source for teaching-learning processes, teaching children what happens during different situations and allowing them to learn skills and values from a young age.
An Avenue to Make a Difference
When children stand on their own worldview, they can’t perceive any other perspective and discern the situation beyond the present. A suitable book can help them provide this perspective and bridge their present experiences to future or alternate views and ideas.
While literature primarily teaches readers action, to think independently and take action toward change, it also defines what shouldn’t be done. It’s not all about action and movement. That often actual difference is also about what should be avoided and stopped. Depending on how these stories are narrated, literature can make a positive difference in children’s behavior, thus influencing their growth and development. Reading may seem like a passive, non-reactive routine for children, but it provides them with countless values and lessons that actively shape their development.
Literature can make a difference in children, depending on how each element is utilized. It isn’t just a tool for language development. Instead, it increases skills and values like emotional intelligence, empathy, and cognitive skills. By exposing children to literature, society is rearing them to be more responsible and emotionally mature individuals that can regard the world with kindness.
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