COMMUNICATING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

Prepare to Serve

VMSA

Jan. 2026

We tend to teach what we want to say,

not what they need to hear or what they can learn

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Teacher

VS

Servant

Communicate does not mean speak

Share, impart, make common

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6

Am I important enough?

Does my life matter?

Younger kids has limited memory

They tend to have black and white thinking

Who’s good and who’s bad

Kids of the same age are not the same in maturity

As they grow, they start thinking in abstract, concepts and ideas

They might appear as argumentative

How to deal with mischief?

People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel” Maya Angelou

Name their emotions if you can

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Help them manage emotions better

The child is not an individual

He/she exists in a context

Curious

VS

Judgmental

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Erik Erikson – Psychosocial Stages

Erik Erikson – Psychosocial Stages

• Erikson’s theory outlines 8 stages of psychosocial development from infancy to late adulthood.
• At each stage, individuals face a conflict between two opposing states that shapes personality.
• Successfully resolving the conflicts leads to virtues like hope, will, purpose, and integrity.
• successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths that the ego can use to resolve subsequent crises
• Failure leads to outcomes like mistrust, guilt, role confusion, and despair.
• Failure to complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and, therefore, an unhealthier personality.
• These stages, however, can be resolved successfully later.

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