Child Development - Assignment Example

The environment is critical in shaping and determining the child’s development. In the transition to parenthood, Cochenour and Chrisman (61) explain this stage to be a critical stage where the young parents are redefining their career growth, while at the same time a child comes along to require more attention and care from the two. Thus according to Cochenour and Chrisman, a child can be a source of joy or conflict; the care of the child puts more strain on the parents, who are still required to utilize their strengths in defining their new career goals (Cochenour and Chrisman 64).

The extended family thus chips in to offer the child the required development; the child no longer belongs to the parents alone but has to identify her/ himself with the large family context as all the family members have a role to play in shaping the child’s development. In addition, this brings about a sense of belonging and inclusiveness, which is necessary for defining identity. To solve the problems of conflict between parents as the new child requires more attention and care from the two; both parents have to actively participate in rearing the child; the role should never be left as an obligation of a particular parent. This creates the required environment for child development. Parents should also choose an environment that would be constructive in the child’s development.

In understanding the structure of a family, the family systems theory would be of much importance to childhood educators. Cochenour and Chrisman (62) explain that the theory’s primary concept is that the family consists of interconnected members, with each member influencing the other in predictable and recurring ways. The theory would largely focus on the family behaviors and history to influence an individual’s behavior. Therefore, understanding this theory would help early childhood educators to have prior knowledge related to the several types of families, their strengths, and how the behavior of a child reflects the behaviors of the family. Understanding these concepts will enable the early childhood educators to handle each particular child accordingly, understanding their behaviors and how best they can teach such a child. To support this in my classroom, I would offer each child-specific attention, noting all the children are from different families and have to behave differently. Understating the child and their behaviors would thus make the child have a sense of inclusiveness, which will help in the learning process as they will be more open and ready to learn.

These statements will help in teacher-parent conferences in that teachers having deep knowledge regarding child development models and theories will advise and inform parents on the best way to ensure effective child development, what they have to avoid, and what they should expect to form their children. Discussions in the classroom will be enhanced as each child will have developed the feeling of inclusiveness and identify themselves with the new class family. Thus creating the right environment to ensure cohesiveness in the classroom, and advising parents to introduce the child to the diversity of people, which will enhance better child development; the child will be able to understand and appreciate self and others. Children up to eight, are in their active learning process. Therefore, the environment would be of critical importance at this stage. Understanding the development concepts and the theories above will help both teachers and parents to offer effective guidance to their children in the active learning period where the child is struggling to find their identity.