Response to Jenai's Blog on May 12th, 10:37 pm

Children absolutely absorb and internalize the feedback they get in response to their behaviors. Negative and positive reinforcement is soooo effective on a small child. For instance, at a very young age (around 18 months) my daughter started imitating everything she saw the Disney Princesses do on the videos she watched. Interestingly enough, she didn't imitate the male characters or actors except for Dick Van Dyke ("Burt") in Mary Poppins-- I think she loved his dancing. She learned to curtsy, dance, "dip", bow, shake hands, and perform all sorts of mannerisms and body actions that any of her "favorite" characters displayed. But then, I have to consider, did they quickly become her favorites because we cheered and clapped and told her how beautiful she looked and what a great dancer she was? Our reinforcement of her imitating the beautiful princesses was all that was needed to send her on her way. Next came the dresses, shoes and other accessories (thank you Disney store) and a trip to Disney World to seal our fate. She carried a magic wand for about 6 months and wouldn't leave the house in anything that didn't have a crinolin skirt fluffing around her (we put the flouncy dresses right over her clothes all winter). Since she's had the opportunity to interact with more kids lately (park, play group, etc.) she's learning to play rough with the boys and stopped curtsying-- guess she hadn't seen that one in use in public anywhere. But for the first two years of her life, she mostly had us- all adults and a 16 yr old sister with a houseful of teenage friends. There weren't any other little ones around, so Disney princesses were her reference to what girls should be. Scary to consider, but she is a really good dancer and singer for 2 1/2 yrs old! But she's still a mimic, and when my father-in-law puts a curled fist up to his mouth and clears his throat in a very manly geture, Kai does the same thing after she coughs or chokes on something. It's hysterical to watch, but certainly eye-opening to the ways in which they learn.