ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that genuine moral concerns develop through children's active contributions to the unfolding of everyday interactions and to their own development. It outlines a constructivist-interactionist approach to early moral development aimed at explaining how children develop genuine moral concerns others' well-being over the course of the first three to four years of life. The chapter describes children's construction of their own moral evaluations. These evaluations may sometimes lead children to agree with and accept parental messages, but other times lead children to disagree with and challenge parental messages. The chapter also outlines alternative, constructivist and interactionist approach to early moral development. This approach provides a framework for studying the transitions and transformations of early moral development, while avoiding some of the limitations of the nativist and socialization approaches. The chapter discusses some major transformations in young children's orientations toward harmful and helpful behaviours.
