AS more daycare centres open their doors to children with disabilities and from various ethnic backgrounds, identifying how young children negotiate difference is becoming an increasingly pressing issue.

However, because many experts suspect children only tell adults what they think adults want to hear, child behaviour is very difficult to interpret with traditional psychology methods.

As part of her PhD project, Gaye Mackenzie from Murdoch University’s School of Sociology is taking a fresh look at child behaviour, physically placing herself in the sandpit with a daycare group for a year.

Ms Mackenzie, who has two children herself, believes that people generally underestimate the sophistication of children.

“Children aged three can differentiate between red and blue coloured blocks, and so of course they can notice differences like skin colour,” she said.

“However, when they notice that these differences are often ignored by adults, they learn to start censoring what they say about difference.”

Ms Mackenzie believes that this behaviour can suggest to children that difference is frightening.

“Many children are terrified of standing out from the crowd,” she said.

“However, it is possible that we can create a culture where differences are regarded as special characteristics instead.”

By spending an extended amount of time with the group of children, Ms Mackenzie hopes to “enter the world of small humans and see the world through their eyes.”

This case study, which is based on similar work in the United States, aims to record how the children interact with one another when out of earshot of adults.

Ms Mackenzie hopes that the results of her investigation will provide helpful insights for childcare workers.

“Rather than force children to adopt behaviours, perhaps we can work with what they are doing naturally,” she said.

“We might even be able to learn about a bit about tolerance and socialisation as lessons for ourselves.”