At this stage the child learns the basic skills of her/his culture. The child needs to feel self-satisfaction through accomplishments and mastery. If this fails to happen, the result is a sense of inferiority.
Activities
A bridging activity between Initiative and Guilt and Industry and Inferiority is to brainstorm with the group a list of games they played as kids. Cover the blackboard and then classify the games into sub-headings: Power, Skills, Sex, Aggression, Relationship. Have students interview kids from 5 to 12 years old and see if skill games become more important as they get older.
Readings
Through the Tunnel
. Doris Lessing.
A young English boy on vacation discovers that the native kids have a secret tunnel under water that they disappear through when he swims with them. The story reveals his personal struggle to go through the tunnel.
