THE SECRET’S OUT
CLINICAL PYSCHOLOGIST SHONA GOODALL – FROM THE SECRET LIFE OF 4 AND 5 YEAR OLDS – EXPLAINS TO KATE WHITING WHAT THEY’RE REALLY THINKING
AS ANY parent whose child has just started school for the first time will attest, finding out what little one’s been up to all day is like getting blood out of a stone.
Often the response is a shrug, or a simple (and frustrating), “Nothing”, but there’s a very good reason they’re so noncommittal says Shona Goodall, a clinical psychologist at Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Trust, who’s also one of the new faces on Channel 4’s The Secret Life Of 4 And 5 Year Olds.
“They’re really, really tired and they don’t always show it or tell you. And, generally at four, they can’t hold in mind anything they’ve done through the day, so as a parent, don’t be put off.”
Instead of asking direct questions, suggests Shona, it’s better to engage them with a prompt or an observation.
“If they’re smiling, you might say, ‘You look like you’ve had a good day’, and then leave it and see what they say, or you might say, ‘You’re looking a bit tired, shall we get you a snack?’ More of a commentary to try and engage them is what I find tends to help with a tired child.”
The documentary series, which started in 2015, returns next week with more fascinating insights into why our children behave in the way they do. Here Shona answers pressing questions about what’s really going on in their heads...
WHY ARE THE AGES OF FOUR AND FIVE SUCH A CRUCIAL TIME IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT?
“IT’S a key developmental stage in terms of executive functioning, that starts to kick in around four and five and school definitely promotes them to practise.
“There’s a certain point when you don’t have theory of mind (the knowledge that other people think differently from you), your working memory is quite short, your processing speed is slower, in terms of what you can take in and hold at once.
“And it’s different, some at four are starting to get it, some at four are nowhere near, but by the time they’re six, you’ll be able to tell who has got good executive functioning and is able to apply it, and who hasn’t.”
HOW CAN PARENTS BEST SUPPORT A CHILD’S LEARNING AT THIS AGE?
“IT’S about encouragement and how you word it. Research has shown it’s important to catch children in the act of doing something.
Rather than saying, ‘That was great’, and it was 10 minutes or an hour ago, you want to catch them very much in the act. As they get older, you can praise them afterwards a lot more easily and they will hold that information in their mind.
“So, if they’re sitting and being really quiet, you might want to put your hand on their shoulder, catch their attention and give them a little stroke and say, ‘Aw, you’re sitting really well’ – there’s something about the ‘-ing’ action that encourages someone to keep doing something.
“Children really respond to being noticed in the moment.”
WHEN DO CHILDREN START LEARNING TO SHARE WITH OTHERS?
“SHARING comes along with theory of mind, which is that ability to know that you have an idea that’s different from somebody else’s.
“There’s an age at which children will just share because they’ve been told to, but they might not necessarily understand why. And there’s an age at which theory of mind comes on board and they start to understand what the meaning of sharing is and then, around seven and eight, they start to understand the equality and morals of sharing.
“So, it happens in layers across time, and the depth of understanding around what sharing means changes over time.
“Children start to realise when somebody didn’t share with me, I didn’t like it, so I will share with them because they’re my friend.
“That varies from around age four to around six. So, some of our four-year-olds can be quite advanced and some can be quite