Variety Of Child Care

The enormous variety of child care practices which have succeeded in maintaining the race does not, however, attest to the equality of excellence. With the understanding that no general rule of child care practice will be appropriate for every child, it nevertheless can be argued that some general rules will be optimal for a higher percentage of children than other modes of practice. Defining such optimal test practice still remains a goal, even though it will always be necessary to deviate from such general rules with some children.
The youngsters for whom the prescribed child care practice proves to be incompatible require an analysis of their primary characteristics of reactivity and an individually planned modification of the favored practice. It should be borne in mind that, while the unadaptable, irregular child of negative mood is a departure from the average, such a child is not thereby pathologic.
Awareness of characteristics of primary reactivity is particularly important when working with youngsters who present behavioral disturbances. Maladaptation of children, expressed in behavior disorders, is frequently discussed in terms of defensive reactions to inappropriate parental handling. But when one has succeeded in describing primary behavioral characteristics of given children, it becomes possible to examine the patterns that preceded the problem behavior. In the children of the present study it has been noteworthy that the maladaptive patterns have represented in many cases a caricature of the premorbid pattern; in others there has been a reversal of specific behaviors that had been characteristic prior to the appearance of disturbance in functioning. At times, in the same child, one characteristic has been extended to the point of caricature while another has been reversed. These findings carry their own implications for child care practices, and consequently have been examined for clues as to the sequences and causes of their occurrence.
The caricature maladaptation was most clearly seen in those children whose normal pattern included initial withdrawal to new situations followed by positive approach after acclimatization. As demands multiplied for involvement with new groups of children or new places, the length of time needed for acclimatization often proved too great for productive interaction—the visit was almost over, the time allotment for the class activity came to an end, the other children were tired of the activity and went on to a different one before a shift from withdrawal to approach had occurred. In place of experiencing positive involvement, with the period of initial withdrawal being a negligible aspect, the child experienced instance after instance in which he was the outsider and onlooker. In time his behavior came to be characterized more by withdrawal than by participation.