Child Development Is a Complex Discipline - Essay Example

HOW CHILDRENS GROWING DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS THEIR SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Child development is a complex discipline whichis often influenced by a number of factors both directly or indirectly. The environment where a child is brought up with contribute immensely to the on how that particular child will grow up to be and at the same time will shape the character of the child (Meggitt, 2006). Thus, it is prudent that children be given utmost care in their tender age as the early foundation is important as it determines what the child will grow up to be (Barbarin & Wasik, 2009). For instance, if children are brought up in an environment that emphasizes on morals and religion there is a high probability that those children will be well disciplined (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). That notwithstanding the religious knowledge which was introduced to them at a tender age will enable them view the world from a religious perspective whereby everything has to be related to a supernatural god (Global Alliance for Advancing Hcd Programmes, 2010) In addition, child development does not entail only physical growth it is a multi-facet process that entails a lot of process ranging from cognitive development to the manner in which a child views things and reasons out (Fabian, & Mould, 2009). Human beings are social beings thus they will tend to imitate the behaviours of the people they interact with in their immediate environment (Derobertis, 1997). Children that are brought up in a surrounding whereby people are drunkard or possess any other undesirable trait will most likely grow up with the same trait (Taylor, & Woods, 2005). This basically because when the mind of a human being is young and developing the things that it was exposed to are prone to stick there forever unless that individual undergoes a total psychological dynamism in some point in life which may help to change the mind-set from previous habits (Meggitt, 2006). Physical Development Human beings just like any other creatures undergo the process of physical development this is occasioned by repetitive differentiation of body cells leading to cell multiplication which in turn results to a living organism growing (Meggitt, (2006). According to the maturationist theory which was advanced by Arnold Gessel physical development in children is a purely biological process that occurs automatically to all children as long as they are kept health in an enabling environment (Fabian, & Mould, 2009). It goes on to state that the physical development process is predictable in the sense that by carefully analysing the progress in a child one is able to predict the situation of that particular child in some time in the future however the theory assumes all factors remains constant during the period of development (Karpov, 2005). Thus, children who are healthy will tend to grow progressively from their tender age until they attain the age of six, the process does not stop there it goes on as it is a life time process which continues perpetually until death (Daniel, Wassell & Gilligan, 2010). However, the development in children is not vigorous from birth through the age of six since most of the characteristics of the child are still noticeable (Derobertis, 1997). Physical development in the puberty stage is very vigorous as in most case those involved develops physical properties which they did not have previously thus leading to an emergence of totally different people from their childhood (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). Therefore, unless a child is impaired biologically in terms of having stunted growth or any other disability that will inhibit uniform growth, a child is expected to grow progressively through his/her childhood. Factors related to the environment influence the manner in which a child grows (Meggitt, (2006). Children who are brought up in some environments tend to develop certain characteristics unlike other in ideal environments. For instance, children that are born in Japan tend to have physical disparities in terms of the manner in which their body organs are formed (Taylor, & Woods, 2005). They may have small sunken eyes and puffy faced unlike children born in the USA who will relatively tend to have all body organs perfectly formed. Despite the physical characteristics that may be varied among children born in different environments physical development progressive in all children irrespective of where they are born (Martin, Fabes, & Fabes, 2009). Social Development Social development one of the crucial aspects of a child that is growing as this is the area that will shape the child and enable him/her to know how to relate with other children and enhance learning of new things (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). The personalities that children grow up to possess were most likely bred in the manner in which they socially developed in their tender age. Social development is mainly influenced by the immediate surroundings in which children are exposed to in the course growing (Fabian, & Mould, 2009). Thus, most of the factors which they get to interact with will define the kind of social development that will occur to the children. Lev Vygotsky’s social, cultural theory states that the culture is transmitted to children through language and social interactions that the children are exposed to (Karpov, 2005). The moment young children are taught their first language already some aspects of culture are being instilled to those children as every language is at least founded on some cultural aspects (Derobertis, 1997). According to the social development theory advanced by John Bowlby the relationships between children and their care givers or parents greatly influence the social relationships of the children later in life (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). The manner in which the parents or caretakers of the children interact with the children will form some social foundation which will influence the manner in which those children are going to interact with other people later in life (Meggitt, (2006). Thus if the parents have inappropriate social habits and subjects the children to the same when the children grow up they will depict the same behaviours as they will have emulated whatever their parents were doing whenever they interacted with them (Underdown, 2007). The social learning theory indicates that the social attributes and behaviours that children will develop will be greatly influenced by what they learn from other people (Karpov, 2005). Although children have an intrinsic reinforcement that enables them to learn things without external influence mostly the behaviours that children grow up to possess are as a result of learning them from people around them (Taylor, & Woods, 2005). Hence if a child is to possess desirable social traits he/she needs to be brought up in a surrounding that is made up of people with high moral standing to ensure whatever the children imitates from those people is morally upright (Underdown, 2007). Cognitive Development Cognition is the process by which human beings can perceive knowledge in their environment and get to understand of the same. Cognition varies from one individual to the next as different people got different psychological capabilities which in turn influence their cognitive processes (Karpov, 2005). Cognitive processes develop immediately a child is mentally capable of discerning what is in his/her surrounding thus he/she will be able to strive to gain knowledge and understanding of his/her immediate environment (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). For instance a child will touch a hot pan in the kitchen and get burned he/she may tend to forget and touch it for the second time but after this he/she will develop a cognition that pans in the kitchen burns and thus in the future he/she will not touch pans in the kitchen since his/her mind had developed an understanding that pans in the kitchen burns (Thomas, 2005). Jean Piaget advanced a stage theory of cognition that states that children think differently from the adults. The manner in which adults view things and situation are totally different from the children’s perspective (Fabian, & Mould, 2009). In the tender age children are actively involved in gaining knowledge from theirs surrounding these aids in boosting their cognitive processes their knowledge and understanding of their surroundings (Derobertis, 1997). However the entire process of thinking and reasoning in children changes over time in a qualitative manner (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). This implies that thinking and reasoning improves over time as the children get exposed to new knowledge. The cognitive process in children enables them to develop their independent understanding of the environment away from the common perspective that is in place. This explains why children act differently from what is expected (Taylor, & Woods, 2005). Behavioural Development Behavioural development in children is based on the observable behaviours only which can be noticed by people (Meggitt, 2006). A number of theories have been advanced explaining on how the development process of behaviour occurs in children. Contrary to all other development theories the theories in this category argue that the behavioural development is not initiated by internal factors but rather by how the child reacts to external factors (Karpov, 2005). Behaviour is how a human being reacts to stimuli, rewards, punishments or reinforcements (Derobertis, 1997). Thus in the process of child development he/she may encounter different factors which may prompt the child to behave differently in response to the factors that triggered the action (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). For instance, is a caregiver brings a gift for example candy to a child the child will be overwhelmed and will be more welcoming to that particular person (Salkind, 2002). On the other hand if a parent punishes his/her child for wrongdoing the child will tend to be moody to his/her parent because he/she has been punished. The manner in which behaviour is developed in a child is purely influenced by the external factors that the child encounters in the course growth (Fabian, & Mould, 2009). Psychological and Emotional Development The mind of children undergoes a series of development stages until it reaches the point of full maturation. That is why the quality of thinking and reasoning in children improves over time as growth progresses (Meggitt, 2006). According to Sigmund Freund’s theory of psychological development, the childhood events and experiences are very vital since they shape up the thinking and reasoning of children later in life. It is from the experiences that the personality of children is developed, for example, is a child was despised while as a child he/she will grow up with no personal confidence (Karpov, 2005). This will negatively impact on his/her personality as self-esteem will be lacking. The theory argues that children under a series of psychosexual growth stages which stretch from birth until they reach puberty (Fabian, & Mould, 2009). Each stage is vital and thus the children are supposed to complete all the stages successfully to ensure they are not prone to disorders later in life (Meggitt, 2006). Stages that are not successfully completed will later on result to deficiencies in personality once the child grows up to be an adult (Derobertis, 1997). Erik Erikson on the other hand advanced a stage theory of development which states that the stages that are undergone by children in the course of their development are mainly meant to overcome conflicts that they encounter (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). Toddlers are found of doing their things independently as they seek to be autonomous is whatever they are doing. For instance, if a child was playing with his/her toy in the dirt and is barred from doing the same the child will break into a cry (Goldstein, 1995). This is because children always want to be autonomous thus they do not require to be corrected even when they are doing it the wrong way. Children who are about to join a school often develop a certain attitude of wanting to assert power over the world. They develop supernatural attitudes whereby they feel like they are capable of doing anything in their surroundings (Karpov, 2005). Thus, this stage is very adventurous, and many children injure themselves at this stage due to assertiveness and curiosity. Self-confidence begins to develop at the age of five through age eleven. This is where the sense of personal being sets in, and the child can identify him/herself in the sense that he/she can do something outstanding before people. Emotions are inborn feelings that are in the DNA of human beings (Meggitt, 2006). They are not learned, or assimilated people are born with them. However over time the emotions develop to accommodate more and more experiences in a person’s life (Derobertis, 1997). For example at a tender age a child is prone to having delicate emotions whereby he/she is aggrieved with lesser things but as he/she develops emotionally the things that used to make him/her cry will no longer matter as his/her psychological system has developed and devised a mechanism to deal with that situation more appropriately (Jones, Holmes & Powell, 2007). Linguistic Development Language is learnt cognitively by children; they do not need any prior knowledge for them to learn and understand it. Before a child learns anything else language is the initial element that he/she has to learn to enable him/her acquire knowledge (Jeyaraj et al., 2013). The process of learning language is complicated and the caregivers need to be careful as if wrong techniques are employed the child will go on to develop sloppy speech which may impact on his/her communication (Meggitt, (2006). Children are expected to have learnt their first language as of age three from here now they can join a school and acquire formal education (Van Evra, 2004). Unlike formal education, language is informally learnt as the child not taught how to speak formally but through exposure and daily experience (Karpov, 2005). Once a child has developed he/she can be able to acquire knowledge and develop understanding of things since his/her conscious can reason out situations and come up with solutions linguistically. It is possible for a child to be bilingual, but the second and subsequent languages must be taught formally in class (Derobertis, 1997). Personal Development Personal development entails the development of the personality of an individual and all attributes that define somebody. In the early ages of child development, personality does not come in as the children are too young, and their self-confidence has not yet developed to enable them understand and know them (Berk, 2008; Santrock, 2007). On reaching five years they develop self-confidence, and it is from this point that they will start recognizing themselves, and also they begin associating themselves with certain things. Their personality begins to develop from this stage (Jeyaraj et al., 2013). The surrounding where children grow up influences greatly the kind of personality that the children will grow up to have (Meggitt, (2006). If they live in a surrounding that is non-supportive their self-esteem will diminish and thus they will tend to have a weak personality in the sense that they are not confident enough to do things freely and as they wish. Alternatively if they are brought up in a supportive environment whereby they’re encouraged in whatever they are doing, their self-esteem will raise and thus give them self-confidence to do whatever they wish (Karpov, 2005). Conclusion Child development is a complex process that takes place in various dimensions. One can not only judge development from a single dimension for instance physical or psychological development only the whole process is multi facet and all the dimensions of development must be considered to ensure the whole process is judged as required (Jeyaraj et al, 2013). For children to develop in a holistic manner they is need to ensure equal development in all the dimensions in the sense that a child should not be nurtured to develop physically only while his/her morals are wanting. It is ideal to provide an enabling environment for children who are growing to ensure all aspects of life are natured in them so as to actualize holistic development in them. Bibliography BARBARIN, O. A., & WASIK, B. H., 2009. Handbook of child development and early education: research to practice. New York, Guilford Press. BERK, L. E., 2008. Child development. Boston, Mass, Allyn and Bacon. DANIEL, B., WASSELL, S., & GILLIGAN, R., 2010. Child Development for Child Care and Protection Workers. London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=17033. DEROBERTIS, E. M., 1997. Humanizing child developmental theory: a holistic approach. New York, iUniverse, Inc. DEROBERTIS, E. M., 1997. Humanizing child developmental theory: a holistic approach. 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