Children's Literature - Essay Example

13th September, Child’s cognitive development: Introduction: Despite the immense research that has been done to understand the child’s cognitive development process, a child’s brain still remains to much extent, an unexplored planet. Researchers have tried to identify various developmental stages of a child, yet there is a world of knowledge they are still trying to explore. The cognitive development of a child significantly matures even when he/she is not born. Development of the senses commences when the baby is in the mother’s womb.

It is a complex neurological phenomenon. “… brain development is genetically programmed, with the brain stem coming online first to control basic bodily functions like respiration. The cerebellum and basal ganglia follow, to control movement.” (Begley, 2000). Once the system for movement has been established, the child’s limbic system comes into play that enhances the child’s memory as well as feelings. Finally, the child’s cerebral cortex develops to facilitate the process of thinking.

New born babies cry when they hear other babies in their surrounding crying. This is fundamentally because of the sympathetic trait of human nature and the intrinsic urge to help others. A 3 months old baby is smart enough to identify his/her mother in the scrambled picture and a 13 to 15 months old child starts to take decisions on his/her level about who to be with and where to be. (Brant and Wingert, 2005).Despite the already developed brain a baby is born with, he/she requires external influence to mature as a child.

Intimate relatives, specially the parents play a special role in shaping the children’s approach towards understanding and reacting to the world around them. How a child is treated in his/her early years of childhood has an impact on how the child will treat others when he/she becomes an adult. What he/she is appreciated for and what he/she is taunted for lays the standards for the child to judge the future matters with. If a child is not nurtured properly in the critical initial childhood years, he/she can not be expected to attain leadership qualities in the future.

“Nature and nurture thus appear to act together seamlessly, in a developmental duet.” (Brazelton and Greenspan, 2000). Researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine have discovered that brain of kids who have not been into games or else have not been touched by their parents much are generally 20% to 30% smaller than their counterparts. (Nash, 1997).One of the biggest challenges in front of parents in the modern age is to decide in what hands to give their children in while they are away from them at work.

The ever-increasing cost of living does not leave either of the parents with an option to babysit the child while the other is at work. These circumstances can particularly be detrimental to a child’s cognitive development. Experts suggest that working parents should ensure that they provide their children with preschool training programs in order to boost their children’s mental power so that they can be able to perform equally well as their classmates. (Nash, 1997).References:Begley, S. (2000). Wired For Thought. Newsweek. pp. 25 -30. Retrieved from http://www.uic.edu/classes/psych/psych270/wired.

htmBrant, M. and Wingert, P. (2005, Aug. 15). Reading Your Babys Mind. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/2005/08/14/reading-your-baby-s-mind.htmlBrazelton, T. B. and Greenspan, S. (2000). Our Window to The Future. Newsweek. pp. 34-36. Retrieved from http://www.uic.edu/classes/psych/psych270/future.htmNash, J. M. (1997, Feb. 3). Fertile Minds. TIME. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985854-2,00.html