Students around the age of four struggle with expressing their emotions. Over the past few weeks, I have taken notice of many behavioral issues taking place in this classroom. The students seem to be showing their emotions in a different way than the average pre-k individual. One particular student when he is angry puts up his middle finger, then squeezes it tightly with his other hand. Other students lean towards aggression and throw things or hit others. The students seem to struggle with expressing how they feel and instead, turn to the things they have seen others do around them. After talking to the classroom teacher about the issue, she says that almost every student in the class has been referred to counseling due to their behavioral issues. When you ask the child why they are acting this way, their response is this is what mommy or daddy does when they are angry, sad, etc. I have never noticed students acting in such a way before in any of my other field placements. It is normal for kids at this age to struggle with expressing their emotions, but to turn to aggression is not the solution. I wonder if the social economic status has an impact on these students behaviors. This leads me to my research.
In this sample, we found that, for children, family income and parental education when entering preschool were significant predictors of mental health problems after elementary school enrollment; in particular, low income and low maternal educational achievement predicted a high probability of the development of a psychiatric disorder. A greater understanding of the mechanisms of these associations could contribute to improvements in interventions aimed at preventing child maladjustment.
I think schools need to consider this more and take a proactive role in helping students better themselves. Through a new curriculum, teachers are showing students how to express their emotions verbally. Without the instruction of what emotions are and how they make you feel, generations will continue to repeat the same emotions of their peers and authoritative figures instead of learning to express their own emotions in unique ways. At an early age, children need to be instructed on how to react if they are feeling a certain emotion and what is appropriate.