Preschool children experiencing and fighting fears

Diplomsko delo predstavlja temo Premagovanje strahu pri predšolskih otrocih. Predstavili smo čustveni razvoj otroka, razvoj osnovnih čustev in opredelili pomen čustev za celostni razvoj otroka. Raziskovali smo tudi posebnosti, ki se nanašajo na otrokovo čustvovanje in izražanje čustev v predšolskem obdobju. Posebno poglavje pa je namenjeno primarnemu čustvu, ki nas poleg ljubezni spremlja skozi vso človeško zgodovino, to je strah. Čustvo, ki je pogosto prisotno v naših življenjih. Otrok ga v prvem starostnem obdobju kaže z jokom, nemirnim vedenjem, mimiko obraza. V drugem starostnem obdobju pa se to izražanje stopnjuje, pojavlja se tudi agresivno vedenje otrok. Dostikrat je tak otrok individualist, se izolira od okolice, ni pripravljen sodelovati v usmerjenih dejavnostih, njegova stiska se kaže tudi v govoru in takšen otrok potrebuje posebno pomoč. Zatorej smo preučili strahove otrok, ki so vsakodnevno prisotni in pripravili posebno strategijo, kako se na te strahove odzivati in jih čim prej omiliti ali odpraviti. V empiričnem delu naloge so predstavljeni rezultati raziskave, ki je bila narejena v vseh oddelkih vrtca Rogaška Slatina. Namen raziskave je bil raziskati pojavnost strahu pri predšolskem otroku, kako ga prepoznati in kakšna je razlika v pogostosti doživljanja strahu glede na spol. Ugotoviti smo želeli tudi, kako vzgojitelji pristopijo k otroku, ki se sooča s strahovi. Na podlagi rezultatov raziskave smo želeli priti do ugotovitve, kako naj bi potekalo kvalitetnejše delo z otroki, ki se spopadajo z določenimi strahovi, s katerimi metodami si lahko pomagamo in na kaj moramo biti pozorni. Rezultati so pokazali, da deklice v predšolskem obdobju najbolj pogosto doživljajo strah pred tujci, medtem ko je dečke najbolj strah zapustitve. Svojo stisko in strahove najbolj pogosto izkazujejo z jokom in vznemirjenostjo. Zaskrbljujoč je rezultat o tem, da v več kot polovici situacij, kjer otrok kaže stisko, vzgojitelj ne poišče strokovne pomoči.This thesis deals with the subject of preschool children fighting fear, introducing emotional development of a child, the development of basic emotions and defining the importance of emotions in overall child’s development. We also researched into particularities in reference to child\u27s feeling and expressing emotions in the preschool period. A separate chapter has been dedicated to that primary emotion which – next to love – has been present throughout the entire human history, namely fear. This is an emotion that is frequently present in our lives. Children in the first age bracket display fear through crying, restlessness and facial expressions. In the second age bracket, the display of fear enhances and frequently aggressive behaviour of children appears. Often, such a child is an individualist who isolates himself or herself from others and is not ready to partake in directed activities. Furthermore, his or her distress is evident in the speech as well, so this child needs special help. It is for this reason that we have analysed fears present in children and prepared a special strategy for responding to these fears and alleviating or eliminating them the soonest possible. The empirical part of the thesis introduces results of a research done in all sections of the Rogaška Slatina kindergarten. The objective of the research was to analyse the occurrence of fear in preschool children as well as ways of recognising fear and establish the frequency of experiencing fear with regard to gender. Moreover, one of the goals was also to establish how preschool teachers approached a child that was experiencing fear. Based on research results we wanted to define ways to better handle situations when children face certain fears, methods to refer to and what to pay attention to. The results have shown that preschool girls most regularly experienced fear of strangers, while young boys were afraid the most of being abandoned. The most frequent way of displaying their distress and fears was through crying and excitement. What was alarming is the fact that in over a half of situations analysed in which a child expressed distress the teacher did not seek professional help