The Most Critical Part of Human Development: the Early and Late Childhood Stages - Essay Example

 Introduction Childhood covers the period of time roughly eleven years for girls and 12 years for boys. It is quite a long period in the life span, a time when the “individual is relatively helpless and dependent on others.”(Hurlock, 114) According to Hurlock, childhood begins when the babyhood dependency is over at approximately the age of two years and extends to the time when child becomes sexually mature at approximately 13 years for the average girl and fourteen years for the average boys,”(ibid.) after which they are known as adolescent. During the childhood period, basic learning process and psychomotor developments as well as physical and psychological changes takes place on both the boys and girls. Psychologist divided this period into two stages which they call the early childhood and late childhood. Early childhood they said begins at two years and extends up to six years, while the late childhood starts at six up to the time child becomes sexually mature.”(114) According to Hurlock, the importance of this dividing line between early and late childhood is that there is a difference in treatment to children before they enter school and after they had enter the school. She said that, “American children before they reach the compulsory school-entrance age, are treated very differently than they are after they enter school.” She pointed out that it is the treatment and expectation they receive from the social group that “influence what this treatment will be that determine when the dividing line occur between the early and late childhood.”(114) Thus, the study of human development in early childhood is very important for us to understand our growing children and for us to be able to guide them towards the right path of their future lives. The importance of understanding the stages of human development in the classroom with early childhood Before one can understand fully the stages of human development in the classroom with early childhood, it is important that we point out what these stages are. In the introduction of this paper, the early childhood period extends from two up to six years of age. The early childhood according to Hurlock is considered by most parents as a problem age or a troublesome age, because it is the period where behavior problems become frequent and more troublesome than the physical care problems of babyhood. The reason for these behavior problems according to Hurlock is that, “young children are developing distinctive personalities and are demanding independence which, in most cases, they are incapable of handling successfully.”(p.114) She further noted that in addition to their instinctive personality development, young children are often “obstinate, stubborn, disobedient, negativistic and antagonistic.”(p.115) They also have frequent tantrums and are “often bothered by bad dreams at night and irrational fears during the day.”(p.115) It is these reasons that to many parents, childhood seems to be less appealing age than the babyhood. Early childhood is also considered as the toy age by most parent because young children spend much of their working time playing with toys. According to the studies on children’s play, “toy plays reaches its peak during the early childhood years and then, begins to decrease when children reach the school age.”(p.115) They noted that, with the child’s entrance into the grade school, children are encouraged to engage in games and modified forms of sports, of which none require the use of toys. But the study also emphasized that “interest in playing toys does not end abruptly the pre-school years, nursery schools, kindergartens, day care centers, and organized play groups all emphasize the use of toys, thus, playing alone or playing with peers, toys are important element of their play activities.”(p.115) Educators on the other hand, refer to the child years as preschool age. This is the time when children are considered old enough physically and mentally, “to cope with the work they will be expected to do when they begin their formal schooling.”(p.115) Preschoolers are labeled to children even they already attend nursery or kindergarten rather than school children. In handling early childhood education, the Association for Childhood Education International emphasized that teachers of early childhood education “should be well acquainted with the broad spectrum of child development, beginning with the prenatal period and including infant/toddler, preprimary and elementary school age children.”(ACEI) They said that early childhood “specialty should be developed within the broad scope of teacher preparation.” They further said that in order to help young children to learn, interpret and explore the world around them, “teachers must be broadly and liberally education persons.” He or she should be acquainted with music, art and literature, knowledge of health, safety and nutrition, an understanding of the physical and biological aspect of the world and the universe, knowledge of mathematical concept, and an ability to articulate one’s thought. They (ACEI) emphasize that teachers of young children should possess a “broad synthesis of knowledge of child development principles derived from studying research in the social and behavioral sciences that influence learning.” Problems that might result from a teacher’s lack of understanding focus on early childhood education Children come into the world eager to learn. The first five years of life are a time of enormous growth of linguistic, conceptual, social, emotional, and motor competence. Right from birth a healthy child is an active participant in that growth, exploring the environment, learning to communicate, and, in relatively short order, beginning to construct ideas and theories about how things work in the surrounding world. According to recent studies on brain development, most of a person’s neurons are formed from ages 0-6. This means that if the early child “does not receive sufficient nurturing, parental/caregiver interaction, and stimulus during this crucial period, the child may be left with a developmental deficit that hamper his or her success in pre-school, kindergarten and beyond.”(Wikipedia) This damage could hardly be connected if it still can be regained. But as we have seen, every stages in child’s life brings new learning and experience to him, and if he looses this because of the lack of focus on understanding early childhood development, it may not be recovered anymore. Another area where problem usually occur is in the implementation of discipline. The common result of this is misdemeanor which is very common during the pre-school years. Hurlock explained that “regardless of the discipline used, almost all young children are punished at some time… punishment in use today include corporal punishment in the form of slaps, spanking and beatings; isolating children in their rooms… making them sit in a chair in the corner so everyone can see them in disgrace…”(p.115) The point here is that, children are usually expected to abide to establish rules but no “no attempt is made to explain why they must conform nor are children given opportunities to express their opinions about the fairness of the rules.”(Hurlock, p.115) She added that although the child may have been told of what a rule is but they may not have understand all the different situation the rule applies to. She also pointed out that children willfully disobey rules because they learn that it brings them more attention than a good behavior. Teacher’s behavior that would help students achieve greater success and behavior that would promote the social and emotional well being of the individual student The Division of Professional Standard encourages the early childhood education professional to “understand the influence of the family, community and culture on the learning and development of the young child.”(DPS) Their performances in the classroom require them to integrate experience that “reflects diverse cultural characteristic, tradition and viewpoints represented in the community beyond the school and the everyday early child environment.”(DPS) Teacher should also model respect for all individual and should communicate in ways that demonstrated sensitivity to differences in family structure, culture and gender. The teacher must develop effective communication to parents and other professionals with related concern with young children’s well-being and overall healthy growth and development as well as to develop and implement an integrated curriculum that focuses on young children’s need and interests and takes into account culturally valued content and young children’s home experiences and be able to involve families in family education experiences.(DPS) Classroom Practices that promote diversity and equity with an educational experience The nature of classroom must offer a unique educational experience by utilizing a process called "motivational education" where students will be enriched academically in areas that interest them most: natural, physical and social sciences, mathematics, and humanities. The early childhood education teachers should be able to understand “developmentally appropriate practices, develop curriculum, and implement instruction for young children,”(DPS) He or she must also be able to “demonstrate current knowledge of how to implement meaningful, integrated learning and play experiences into curricula which promote the development of the whole child.”(DPS) Other activities that are rich source of knowledge such as making basic experiments and field trips to children’s museum and at zoo where they can learn through their own discoveries and curiosity. The use of appropriate visual-aid materials can also help facilitate learning that are likely to promote motivation; helps young children to become self-motivated and uses individual as well as cooperative activities that help them develop the motivation to achieve.(DPS) The teacher should also develop critical thinking skills and encourage methods of inquiry by linking new ideas to familiar ones and to prior experiences; provides opportunities for active engagement, manipulation, and testing of ideas and materials; engages young children on research and hypotheses testing and develop curricula that encourage young children to see questions and interpret ideas from diverse perspectives.(DPS) Conclusion Psychologist agreed that the most critical part of human development is the early and late childhood stages because it is where everything takes place in the child’s moral, social, and intellectual life. Everything is formed in this period. Thus, this period is also called the formative years. While it is true that the child first learns in the home but he or she spends more time in school. Everyone who is responsible for the child’s learning process therefore, from the parents to preschool teachers, should really try to understand childhood development process and be careful to consider the given principles towards their implementation of school curriculum and discipline, and in dealing with each child. As what have been said, it is the child’s formative years, whatever a child learns and experience, become the foundation of his attitude towards himself, towards others, and towards society. It is of prime importance that the early childhood education teachers should be able to demonstrate all the values and experience of thoroughly and fittingly educated teacher of the preschoolers. Work Cited Division of Professional Standard (DPS) http://doe.state.in.us/dps/standards/Early ChildDevStds.html. Hurlock, Elizabeth (1980) Developmental Psychology: A Life-Span Approach. New York: Mc Graw Hill, Inc. “Preparation of Early Childhood Education Teachers.” ACEI Position Paper. (Association for Childhood Education International) http://www.acei.org/prepec/htm “Early Childhood Education.” Wikipedia. http://en.widipedia.org.wiki/Early_childhood_education Read More