w i t h    y o u r    e y e s    w i d e    o p e n

This page is not only for those who are teachers by profession. It is for anyone who wants to teach a child. Maybe you're wanting to teach yourself.

I have geared my methods to deal with children who are ages 9 - 18. I feel that this is when a child begins actively discovering who she is. Psychologists such as Erik Erikson agree. Erikson believes that, as people develop, they proceed through stages where they must face age-specific crises. During adolescence, the crisis that people go through is Identity vs. Role Confusion. Personally, I believe that children begin thinking about who they are when they are around the age of nine.

I am a fourth year psychology student at the University of South Carolina and am working toward a bachelors of arts in experimental psychology. I have taken courses such as general psychology, marriage and family, sociology, educational psychology, psychology research methods, psychology statistics, developmental psychology, psychology of the midlife woman, adolescent psychology, child development, and psychology lab. In high school, I learned humanistic councelling through the Peer Helper program. Currently, I am taking physiological psychology.

Being a psych major does not qualify me to write an article about teaching children identity. Being a child, however, does. I have reflected upon my experiences in developing my identity, reviewed old diaries that span my childhood, and have activily searched out my own identity by, as I call it, going on a Quest.

The following are my ideas of how to help a child learn about her identity:

• Give the child a binder. Have her fill it with articles, photos, stories... anything that has to do with hobbies or that she feels represents herself. Allow her to keep the binder private if she wants.
• Diaries are an excellent outlet for everyone, especially children. I have found mine profitable, in releasing tension when writing a volume and in discovering about myself when reading. As an elementary school student, I have had to keep journals for some teachers. I really enjoyed it. I felt that my teacher knew me better than she would have, and she helped me out with my problems. If you ask a child to keep a journal for class, tell the child that she can write a second journal if she would like that you will not read.
• Allow the child to create a web page. This is much like constructing a binder, in that it helps the child define who she is.
• Encourage children to make up stories. Even if she don't enjoy writing, she may be comfortable with telling stories or drawing about them. Record these stories and let her read them over. There may be common themes in her works.
• Whatever wholesome activity a child finds to do, encourage her to participate in it whole-heartedly. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with they might".

If you have any other ideas about teaching children identity, please write to me so that I can add them to my web page. Learning about ones identity is an important part of every child's life, and I want as many children as possible to benefit from this page. Thanks!