About the Child’s Socialization and the Role of the Family in the Child’s Integration into Society

Child socialization - the term refers to the process by which the fundamental, primary knowledge about the child's world is transmitted and assimilated, the main perspectives, attitudes, and values. The child is formed as a unique person and integrated into society through this psycho-social process that is achieved primarily through the parent-child interaction.

The child develops cognitively, mentally, socially through the prism of his first connections with the world around him - the parent-child connection being the most significant, the one that offers him a first and essential knowledge of the world.

The external world ends up being internalized by the child, perceived, explained, and understood under the influences of the significant ones - parents, siblings - which are the first and main instances in the child's socialization.

Man lives in a social world and is a social being - his individuality, his personality is formed within and through social interactions, relationships with others - others representing the people in his life, but also others representing society as a whole.

From birth, the child develops, knows the world, and forms his personality through relationships with the significant ones - through these relationships he receives both the protection and closeness necessary for harmonious development as a person and the knowledge, perspectives, attitudes, behaviors, fundamental values ​​that will form as a person. Therefore, the socialization of the child is primarily a process that makes a man what he is.

About the child's primary socialization - family:

The child's primary socialization is ensured by the family and those who are significant in the child's world - parents and other close relatives (siblings, grandparents). The family is the primary group that offers the most important, strong, and emotional relationships to the child - it is a unique, intimate, united group that offers the child protection, safety, protection, affection, but also basic knowledge about the world in which he is born.

The child will gradually discover the world around him, and the way he perceives it and understands it depends on the family in which he grows up, from the simplest way of perception: "the world is a safe place" or "the world is a dangerous place" to the more complex ways of perceiving the external reality: through the prism of the attitudes and values ​​that the child assimilates.

The child's primary socialization refers to early childhood: the relationships and experiences of these first years of life will mark the child's psycho-social, emotional and cognitive development and his formation as a unique person.

Primary socialization starts at birth - the first significant relationships are those between the child and his parents. Parents are the people who send everything to him for the time being and who offer him everything.

The outside world revolves around parents and the way this world will be perceived and understood by the child depends on the relationships and experiences of the first years. Through socialization, the child learns, is formed, and becomes a member of the family - it is his first "social role", that of a child of his parents.

Parents are, therefore, the first and most important in the child's socialization, and the quality of the child-parent effective relationship, the quality of communication, and the practical experiences of the first years are what say an essential word in the child's formation.

From this perspective, we can talk about positive socialization - an emotional, balanced, protective relationship, an open and empathic communication, an increased interest in the child's learning with the surrounding reality; and about negative socialization - an unbalanced, indifferent, extremely severe relationship that does not give the child security and protection, poor, deficient, limited communication, low interest in the child's need to explore and learn about the reality around him.

An environment in which his basic needs are met (food, hygiene, comfort, safety), a stable environment in which there are no sudden changes and in which there is a family routine, and emotional environment in which both parents pay attention and affection, a gentle environment in which he always feels safe, a balanced environment in which there is no tension and aggression ensures the child a positive early childhood experience, he perceives the world around him as a world with positive potential, a good world in which he can develop without fear.

One more thing about early childhood and the formation of the child: the closeness and physical contact between the child and the parent is what gives him affection, security, comfort - to hold him in his arms, to make eye contact, and to talk to him. Instead, a child who grows up in an unstable environment, in which there is no routine and in which there are many changes, a cold environment in which he does not receive the attention he requires, an environment in which he feels in danger (when he is left alone or with strangers), a tense or aggressive environment gives the child a negative experience, he perceives the outside world as a dangerous, foreign, cold and potentially risky world.

One more thing about the negative experiences of early childhood: the child is not negatively influenced only by the lack of affection and closeness to the parents; an atmosphere full of negative tension, conflict, a state of negativity and frustration of the parents (especially the mother) is perceived by the child from the beginning, the atmosphere, and state that affects him.

Socialization, however, is a constant process that takes place throughout a person's life: man always learns and is subject to social influences. Man builds various types of relationships and enters different groups throughout his life.

During this time, he continues his training, assimilating new perspectives, attitudes, values, learning, adapting, and perfecting himself. But those first emotional relationships, those first life experiences, and assimilated knowledge will be part of what his whole life is.

The person can assimilate and internalize other attitudes, behaviors, values ​​once he enters other groups, once he adapts to social life (school, groups of friends, workgroups, religious groups), but he is who he is due and through family socialization.

Remember: the child does not choose his parents, but the parents are the only ones he has from the beginning and on which he is based in his formation as a human being.