I was reminded the other day about young children and Halloween. They do not like the costumes. Why? Because for young children the line between fantasy and reality is not a clear line. Remember that for children, seeing IS believing, so you can start to think about what goes on in the child's mind on Halloween with all it's costumes.
Maybe it goes like this: "If I put on a mouse costume then I AM a mouse. " [Then I'm not John anymore and that's scary.]
Children get upset when parents put on eyeglasses or change hair styles. "Maybe you are NOT my parent - but some other person."
So Halloween is not a fun thing until you are old enough to know about object constancy....until then, changing visions may mean the object has really changed.
2 comments:
What an interesting observation.
I remember as though it were yesterday, I was like 10 or 11, and my dearest closest friend down the street (we did EVERYTHING together, and had sleepovers every weekend at one place or the other), anyway her mother had her get her hair done.
I thought nothing of it.
Later the next day, when she came walking by with her Mom, I wanted to cry. She had this entirely new DO, from straight hair to curls, and I almost didn't recognize her.
My friend had been left at the salon, I was sure of it, and this was someone new, who might not even be as good of a friend to me anymore.
Maybe she wouldn't even love me like before.
I took a long time to get over it, and was never as trusting anymore because I was she she had changed inside.
I also wondered if I should get mine done like hers, so maybe we'd be the "same" again.
Amazing how things we see get so associated with what happens where we don't see, like inside the person - indeed still the same one.
I haven't thought about this in years, but your post reminded me...
:)
This phenomenon is very true and very important for parents to remember. For young children, appearance and reality are one in the same. They do not form the ability to comprehend abstract concepts until about age 11. According to Piaget's operational stages, from ages 0-11, children's cognitive abilities gradually improve from schemas, to recognizing numbers and words, to logical reasoning, and then finally to abstract thought and deduction. It makes sense that holidays like Halloween and Christmas, celebrated by dressing up as other figures, may be very confusing to children who do not yet obtain the cognitive abilities to separate the costume from the person wearing it. How can there be hundreds of Santas everywhere? Why have you turned into a ghost? Explaining costumes to a child as being just like other clothing would certainly help them to accept the costumes as temporary and unreal. Another helpful strategy to prevent a holiday meltdown would be to thoroughly explain the purpose of the holiday and dressing up.
AJP
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