How Extracurricular Activities Might Reduce the Behavioral Inhibition of Children 

In the realm of child development, a child’s temperament, or biological differences in behavior when exposed to new people or objects, paves the way for his or her future relationships and personal success. Although temperament is an inborn mechanism and not a choice, parents do not recognize how vital it is and its enormous impact on social and emotional growth. Behavioral inhibition is a type of temperament that is linked with social anxiety. As a matter of fact, it is highly associated with one of the five factor traits, neuroticism, which is characterized by tenseness, mood swings, and anxiousness (Srivastava, 2017). With this knowledge, behavioral inhibition should be taken into great consideration by parents who observe particular signs in their children. These signs may include: passive avoidance, hypervigilance (direction towards possible threats), and more distress. Behavioral inhibition observed in infants and toddlers may lead to social anxiety disorders in later childhood and for the rest of their lives. Since temperament gradually transforms into a personality, behavior in a child’s early life sets the stage for all of the social skills and mannerisms he or she will form in the future.

What many parents do not realize is that there are several factors that influence a child’s temperament. One of the most notable ones is the caregiving style of the parents or guardians of the child (Fox et al., 2005). Studies have shown that when parents are sensitive to their child’s needs, their child’s negative emotionality is minimized. However, if parents are overprotective and are too attentive to their children even when they do not require help, their children will become more impressionable and less independent in terms of their emotional and social modulation. This type of caregiving style is called “helicopter parenting,” which is indicated with derisiveness and insecurity. It is linked with higher continuity of behavioral inhibition in children because their parents restrict them to an extreme extent where they have no capacity to mentally grow and evolve with their own individual traits. In addition, the anxiety and fear experienced by helicopter parents can greatly influence their communication with their children and cause them to develop similar personalities as a result of their interactions. Respective of these caregiving styles and other factors, behaviorally inhibited children are at a higher risk for developing psychological disorders.

Another crucial component that must be taken into consideration is non-caregiving styles (Fox et al., 2005). For example, a researcher can examine two children who had high levels of behavioral inhibition as infants. Now as four-year-olds, one remains as a high behavioral inhibition child, and the other transitioned into a non-behavioral inhibition child. Nonetheless, there may be multiple different reasons for these cases, but the primary one is the type of caregiving style they are receiving. The high behavioral inhibition child has been taken care of by his stay-at-home mother for nearly his entire life, and the latter is placed in daycare after school. The first child may be given too much attention and apprehension by his overbearing mother who caters to his every want and need. This is a major source of stunted growth because his mother will not allow him to learn and explore his surroundings on his own. If these actions continue, this child will expect his mother to come to his aid every time he needs help and cannot rely on himself to survive.

Furthermore, if his mother keeps him at home frequently, his time and opportunity to interact and socialize with same-age peers is very limited. If parents are too controlling or too overbearing, children will be afraid to express themselves and their personality, which would most likely reflect that of their parent based on the interactions and everyday situations they are accustomed to. On the other hand, the second child may have overcome his early behavioral inhibition since he is constantly exposed to novel caregivers, peers, toys, and social encounters. Since he is not being supervised every second, he is able to understand how to maintain composure and harmonious relations with the other children in the program. From an early age, he also learns how to adjust to a new environment and multiple caregivers. These daycare teachers, babysitters, and other caregivers are typically not as attached to children as their parents. These non-parental caregivers must divide their time evenly between every child in the program, so they are not able to devote all of their energy to a single individual. Therefore, children must learn how to fend for themselves and effectively occupy themselves while their babysitters tend to other children.

A rising issue in child development is differentiating high behavioral inhibition who can adapt and those that cannot. According to renowned psychologist Nathan Fox, some high behavioral inhibition kids differ from other high BI kids in that they learn to adapt by either maintaining quality friendships with their fellow peers or by finding a passion that they enjoy pursuing on a regular basis (Henig, 2009). These two options are very effective means of overcoming the anxiety induced by the condition of behavioral inhibition. The most common causes of it are helicopter parenting, limited social networks, and inadequate exploration of special interests. My proposal is that involvement in after-school programs or expressive activities should be established as a requirement for students, starting at the age of four years old. These programs should receive funding from the government in order to not place an additional financial burden on students’ families. This way, working parents will not have to worry about finding babysitters, and stay-at-home parents will also have a well-deserved break and time to destress. Parents’ stress will be alleviated, and consequently, they will have a greater chance to form an authoritative parenting style, which is characterized by a near-perfect balance between parental control and child independence, paired with a more positive attitude.

One other benefit of this afterschool or extracurricular program idea is that children have the chance to explore a variety of hobbies and interests while socializing with other children their age. Many afterschool programs offer several options for kids to choose from: painting, solving puzzles, playing sports, and many more. Children with high behavioral inhibition may remain shy throughout their stay at the program, but they will gradually adjust to their new environment and stimulate different areas of the brain when engaging in educational or physical activities. In addition, they will be able to interact with other kids and develop stronger social abilities. Eventually, they will also forge close bonds with caregivers other than their parents and potential friendships with their peers. This way, they will not be constricted under the continuous supervision of their parents, and they can actually build non-familial connections, which will give them the opportunity to expand their interpersonal networks. These children will also have increased self-esteem and become much more confident in their own capabilities of completing tasks and accomplishing goals for their activities.

Overall, this proposal will be the most advantageous for the children, who will ultimately have the chance to select any age-appropriate hobby to immerse themselves in. Furthermore, kids will comprehend the importance of cooperation, patience, and teamwork along with the freedom to find their social niche. Moreover, these venues of extracurriculars serve as breeding grounds for cultivating collective skill sets that will be useful later in life. Extracurriculars can resolve many issues of behavioral inhibition by introducing new concepts to children, providing systems of connections, allowing children to step out of their comfort zone.