5. Supporting families
In prosocial development, as in other
aspects of children’s lives, families are
the first and most influential teachers.
There are several areas where early
childhood educators might support families in this role. Whatever their culture,
many families do interact with their children in ways that are likely to encourage
children to become more empathic,
generous, and helpful. However, other
families may, without realizing it, undermine prosocial development by relying
on practices that are unlikely to produce
these desired results. For example,
many parents believe that children will
become more prosocial if they are given
treats or other rewards for “being nice.”
Research indicates just the opposite,
however (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad
2006; Warneken & Tomasello 2008).
Although such rewards may produce
short-term results, they actually back
firein the long term. Children may become
less generous when the expected
rewards stop coming their way