40 Developmental Assets for Early Childhood
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EARLY CHILDHOOD 40 DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS PROTOTYPE FRAMEWORK:
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External Categories and
Assets
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| Family Support |
Primary caregivers, at least one of whom is a member of
the child's immediate family, consistently and predictably provide high
levels of love, physical care, attention and nurturing in a way responsive
to the child's individuality. |
| Positive Family Communication |
Primary caregivers communicate positively, openly and respectfully,
expressing themselves in a language and style appropriate to children's
age, developmental level, and individuality. |
| Other Adult Relationships |
With the support of their family, children experience interactions
and relationships with non-familial adults, including caregivers, relatives,
older people, and community figures. These interactions are characterized
by investment, enrichment, consistency, and caring. |
| Caring Neighbors |
Young children know neighbors that extend both the child's
network of relationships and sense of safety and protection. |
| Caring Alternative Care and School
Climate |
Alternative caregivers and teachers, whether within or
outside of the home, are nurturing and accepting, and provide stability and
security. |
| Parent Involvement in Early Care
& Education |
Parents, teachers, and caregivers communicate with each
other in order to attain a consistent and understanding approach to young
children. Parents play various roles in the child care and educational
setting. |
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| Community Cherishes and Values
Young Children |
Communities are responsive to issues relevant to the wellbeing
of young children, offering an array of activities and quality resources,
including those that promote physical health, appropriate to their developmental
characteristics and needs. |
| Young Children Receive and Are
Seen as Resources |
Communities show their caring and investment in young children's
futures through community system building and by providing families what
they need to function as a "child rearing system" and alternative caregivers
and child care programs with adequate financial subsidy. |
| Young Children are Able to Make
a Contribution |
Young children are provided opportunities to offer assistance
and help with simple chores that bring pleasure and order to their environment,
and enable them to feel valued. |
| Young Children Feel and Are Safe |
Adults, including parents, caregivers, and neighbors are
able to reassure young children that their safety and well-being are
a high priority, and that they are protected. The community provides physical
safety, opportunity for physical development, and access to adequate health
care. |
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| Family Boundaries |
The family makes reasonable, developmentally appropriate
guidelines for acceptable behavior by young children in ways that are
understandable and attainable by young children. |
| Alternative Care or Out-of-
Home Boundaries |
Alternative care and early education programs use positive
ways of implicitly and explicitly teaching young children acceptable
behavior; they avoid inappropriate and punitive methods that confuse,
shame and isolate. |
| Neighborhood Boundaries |
Neighbors encourage positive and acceptable behavior in
young children in a supportive, non-threatening way. |
| Adult Role Models |
Adults serve as role models by showing the same kind of
self-regulation, empathy, acceptance of others and engagement with learning
that they would expect and value in young children. |
| Positive Peer Relationships |
Young children's peers offer inclusion and acceptance,
opportunity for having fun in constructive play, and opportunity for developing
and practicing prosocial skills. |
| Positive Expectations |
Adults expect young children to behave appropriately, undertake
challenging tasks with their assistance, and to do well at an activity
within the child's capacity to perform by giving encouragement; and avoid
negative labeling if the child does not succeed. |
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| Play and Creative Activities |
Young children have daily opportunities to play with a
variety of developmentally appropriate materials both structured and unstructured,
that allow self-expression, physical activity, and interaction with others. |
| Out of Home and Community Programs |
Young children are exposed to developmentally appropriate,
out of home programs staffed with competent adults that offer a variety
of well maintained, suitable materials. Children are periodically taken
to community settings such as parks, museums, and theatres that offer stimulating
experiences. |
Spiritual/Religious
Experiences
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Young
children participate in age appropriate spiritual activities that reflect
the family's faith and beliefs such as the role of faith in building feelings
of security, optimism, and caring for others; and that address their own
emerging interest in spiritual/religious issues. |
Time at Home
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Young children spend a major portion of their time at
home where they receive individual attention from primary caregivers,
participate in family activities, play with a variety of materials, interact
with non-family visitors of all ages, and view TV minimally. |
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| Internal Categories and
Assets |
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| Motivation to Mastery |
Young children respond to novelty and new experiences with
interest, curiosity and energy reflective of physical wellbeing, leading
to successful and pleasurable experiences. |
| Active Participation in Learning
Experiences |
Young children are engaged and invested in developmentally
appropriate materials and experiences. |
| Bonding to Alternative Care Programs |
Young children feel positive about their ongoing attendance
in and out-of-home care and educational programs, and after an initial
period of adjustment, attend willingly. |
| Home--School Connection |
Young children experience security, connection and consistency
between home and school or other out-of-home program as a result of mutual
concern by adults at each site, and through sharing information about
concerns, interests, and activities. |
| Early Literacy |
Young children increasingly show interest in print material
and representational symbols (pictures, letters, numbers) as a result
of being involved in language rich activities, particularly being read
to frequently and being exposed to print materials. |
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| Caring |
Young children begin showing empathy, understanding and
awareness of others' feelings, and make comforting and accepting gestures
to peers and others in distress. |
| Equality and Social Justice |
Young children show concern for people who are at a disadvantage
or who are excluded from activities because they are different. |
| Integrity |
Young children express their world views in various ways,
which include asking questions, making comments, and enacting play episodes.
They are also increasingly able to stand up for their own sense of justice. |
| Honesty |
Young children come to understand the pro-social value
of honesty and are truthful to the extent their construction of and perception
of reality permits it. |
| Responsibility |
Young children can carry out or follow through on simple
tasks that help or benefit others. |
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| Interpersonal Skills |
Young children have "friendship skills". They can play
harmoniously with their peers through cooperation, give and take of ideas,
increasing ability to share, and by showing interest in and awareness of
the feelings of others. |
| Self-Regulation |
Young children increasingly can identify the emotions they
are feeling, are able to regulate their emotions in conflictual and stressful
situations, and can focus their attention when needed on a matter at hand. |
| Planning & Problem Solving |
Young children can intentionally plan for the immediate
future, make a choice among several options, and attempt to solve problems
or surmount frustrations. |
| Cultural Awareness & Sensitivity |
Young children show positive and accepting attitudes toward
people who are racially, physically, culturally or ethnically different
from themselves. |
| Resistance Skills |
Young children have an increasingly accurate sense of danger
appropriate to their expanding sense of self and environmental knowledge,
seek protective help from trusted adults and resist pressure from peers
to participate in unacceptable behavior. |
| Conflict Resolution |
Young children are increasingly able to mediate harmonious
responses to conflicts by being helped to see the other person's perspective
and learning how to compromise in a mutually respectful way . |
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| Personal Power |
Young children have a sense of being able to make something
happen that matters to them and to others. |
| Positive Self-Esteem |
Young children have a growing sense that they are valued
and that their presence and activities gain positive responses from others. |
| Positive View of Personal Future |
Young children feel a sense of optimism--that life is exciting
and enjoyable, and that they have a positive place within it. |
| Sense of Purpose |
Young children look forward to appropriate milestones that
will energize and confirm their growth such as upcoming birthdays, holidays,
kindergarten and school entrance. |
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