3.2. CHILDHOOD AS A SOCIO-PEDAGOGICAL PHENOMENON

The specificity of childhood has not yet been studied properly, the science of childhood has not been created as an independent branch of knowledge, and there is no holistic, integrated approach to childhood as a socio-pedagogical phenomenon.

Experts in various sciences each have their own idea of ​​the age periodization of children and childhood as a whole, investing different meanings in the content of such concepts as "children", "childhood", "childishness", "childhood phenomenon", "position of children" and their place in structure of society, but the study of the social connections and relationships of adults and children is on the periphery of the interests of many of these sciences. For example, physiologists and psychologists consider the end of childhood and the onset of youth to be the period when psychophysiological changes associated with puberty (from 12 to 16 years) are completed in the body of a teenager. Sociologists in the category of "youth" include all who have already turned 14 years old. Medical statistics takes into account the health status of children only under 14 years of age.

Modern specialists tend to consider the child as a socio-biological phenomenon, and childhood as an age stage in the development of the individual. Teachers interpret childhood as a period during which the adult generation actively influences the younger one, shaping their abilities, skills and abilities.

Given the presence of conflicting points of view, clarify the key concepts. So, a child is a human being from birth to the age of 18. Children are an object of special social concern for society. Childhood is a stage in the development of man, preceding adulthood, characterized by intensive growth of the body and the formation of higher mental functions.

EAT. Rybinsky, analyzing the phenomenon of childhood in Russia, gives the following definition. Childhood is the stage of a person’s life cycle, when the organism continues to develop, its most important functions, the most active is the socialization of the individual, including the assimilation of a certain system of knowledge, norms and values, the assimilation of certain roles that allow the child to form and function as a full member of society.

Socialization is a complex process of entering an individual into a society. On the one hand, it includes the assimilation of a certain system of values ​​(norms, models, knowledge, ideas). On the other hand, the process of gaining one’s own social experience and active self-determination of the individual.

Childhood as a social phenomenon is a social phenomenon, the determining role, place and position of children in general in a given state and society, the state and level of attitude of the state, society and the world of adults to children, the creation of sufficient fair conditions for the survival and development of children, for the protection of rights each child, primarily through the formation and implementation of an adequate social policy of the state.

The value of preschool childhood is difficult to overestimate. D. B. Elkonin noted that “in the period of childhood a child appropriates society ...” A child as a child joins the wealth of spiritual and material culture created by society, acquires human-specific abilities and moral qualities of a person.

The period from birth to enrollment is, according to experts from around the world, the age of the most rapid physical and mental development of a child, the initial formation of mental and physical qualities necessary for a person throughout his life, qualities and properties that make him a person.

The peculiarity of this period, which distinguishes it from other, subsequent stages of development, is that it provides precisely general development, which serves as the foundation for the acquisition in the future of any special knowledge and skills of mastering various types of activities. Not only the qualities and properties of the psyche of children are formed, which determine the general nature of the child’s behavior, his attitude to everything around him, but also those that are “backlogs” for the future and are expressed in psychological neoplasms achieved by the end of this age period. Education and training must be addressed to the whole range of mental qualities of the child, but are addressed differently.

The implementation of specific age-related possibilities of mental development occurs due to the participation of a preschooler in age-appropriate activities: play, verbal communication, drawing design, musical activity, etc.

The organization of these types of activities, their management, care for and: perfection, the acquisition (as children accumulate relevant experience) of free amateur character should always be in the center of attention of teachers, psychologists and parents.

In some periods of childhood, the most favorable conditions arise for the development of various aspects of the psyche. These periods are called sensitive, i.e. especially sensitive to the corresponding external influences. For example, for the development of speech, the sensitive period, from 1 to 5 years, for the formation of many motor skills, is the primary school age. If a sensitive period is missed, then in the future the corresponding properties and qualities of the psyche develop with difficulty and do not reach perfection.

Thus, childhood is a special subculture of human life. It is obvious that the world of the child and the world of the adult do not coincide in a single space, but between them there are special connections I interactions that interpenetrate and complement each other.