Child and Adolescent Psychology - Essay Example

Developmental changes during childhood can be seen in a large degree or scale, and often occurring with surprising suddenness. It is at this period that a newborn advances in height and weight, learns to interact and socialize with his or her environment and with people who are proximate respectively, and form thoughts and logical ideas with sophistication. In short, these abilities that last for a lifetime surface as early as the formative years of childhood, influences children into becoming the people they are today and thus they are of crucial importance to a human being’s life.

The infancy period is of no exception to this rule.First of all, it is important to dispel any claim that the infancy period or the first year of child development is insignificant and it won’t make any difference at such a young age just because a baby, such as in the case of Tyree, will be sleeping most of the time anyway. In Erikson’s theory of psychosocial analysis, the first stage of development focuses on the experiences of an infant in the culmination of what Erikson would term as Trust versus Mistrust.

According to Santrock, this stage is characterized by a sense of trust that requires “a feeling of physical comfort and a minimal amount of fear and apprehension about the future” and thus “trust in infancy sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be a good and pleasant place to live in” (2004).In relation to the physical needs of an infant, it is widely recognized that proximodistal principle growth and development follow from the center of the body outward. “During infancy and early childhood, the limbs continue to grow faster than the hands and feet” and thus “children first develop the ability to use their upper arms and legs” (Papalia et al., 2007). With this kept in mind, it is best to choose Child Care A which have a lot of tunnels for crawling and resting.

More tunnels mean more opportunities for exercise and as such this environment will be more conducive for Tyree’s gross and fine motor coordination and skills. In relation to the cognitive needs of an infant, the cognitive ability to perceive and handle information is being influenced by the surroundings of an infant and this largely relates to their future intelligence. “Much information-processing research with infants is based on habituation, a type of learning in which repeated or continuous exposure to a stimulus reduces attention to that stimulus” and “As infants habituate, they transform the novel into the familiar, the unknown to the known” (Papalia et al., 2007). Because Child Care A has more colorful objects and pictures than Child Care B, it only seems to follow that a baby raised in Child Care A will know more colors, objects and pictures compared to a baby raised in Child Care B.

Aside from the absorbent mind of an infant, a reasonable amount of toys also help stimulate imagination and creativity.Finally, in relation to the social needs of an infant, Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development becomes more pertinent than ever. With this psychoanalytic theory, one will understand that personality is better understood if examined under the focal lens of development. Because teachers always talks to infants in Child Care A, an infant will develop an interest in interacting with others as time passes by.

Also, because babies are held often and there are a lot of teachers available to cuddle babies in Child Care A, expect a more affectionate, warm and loving personality from the babies that are reared in Child Care A than in Child Care B. Lastly, the most critical advantage of Child Care A is the fulfillment of the need of infants of a role model that is concerned, friendly and most especially, trusting.The question of financial expense is of course left entirely on Tyree’s parents but it is clear that Child Care A is a better choice within the assessment of human development and child psychology.

References:Santrock, J. (2004). Life-Span Development. 9th Edition. Boston: McGraw-HillPapalia, D., Olds, S., Feldman, R. (2007). Human Development. 10th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill