The Development of Children - Book Report/Review Example

The Development of Children Introduction The development of children is a field that explores the psychological, biological and in-depth emotional developmental changes that take place in human beings covering the age between birth all the way to the end of their adolescence period. This process involves the actual changes in the individual as he or she progresses towards increasing autonomy from the stage of dependency. This process is known to be continuous since it follows a specific structured predictable sequence. Similarly, it contains a distinctively unique course of experience for every individual or child to be specific. It is a process that doesn’t progress at a constant rate for all children. This implies that each and every stage might be adversely affected by the involved type or stage of development. Relying to the fact that these child developmental changes may be strongly affected by the prevalent genetic and characteristics due to the occurring of new events in their prenatal life, development and genetics are mainly included as important basements of the children development study. Developmental psychology is one of the related terms used in development of children that refers to the changes throughout the individual’s pediatrics, lifespan, and the prevailing branch of medicine that is related to the child’s care. Developmental changes may surprisingly occur to the child as a result of earlier or delayed processes which are controlled genetically. These processes are known as maturation. On the other hand, the same result may occur as a result of different environmental and on the other hand learning. Similarly, most common factors will revolve around these two aspects. The development may generate from the ability of human being capability to relate and adapt to new environments. Every child is unique and has his or her own rate of developing. The development rates are measured in terms of developmental milestone. Developmental milestones can be defined as the set of personal skills or in other terms as the set age-specific tasks and challenges that most children can do in a given age bracket. These are the factors that pediatrician use to check on the developing rate of a child. Factors affecting child development Parent-child relationship is a factor that largely affects the child’s development either in a negative or positive way. Parents who spend most of their time interacting with their children through playing and teaching them games that involves physical participation of the child are said to add a very positive impact in the child’s development. According to the Royal Children’s Hospital of Melbourne in Australia, parents on the flip side who neglect participating in their children’s games are said to be hindering their development which might be unhealthy for the child. The child’s surrounding environment is one of the most influential factors that play a great role in a child’s development. It is the duty of the parent to understand and create a health and safe environment that is suitable for the health, growth and development of the child. A conducive and healthy environment facilitates an optimal growth of the child through availability of essential materials and factors that builds the child’s environment (Salkind, 2002). In accordance to the annual review of psychology, the socioeconomic status of a child’s parents is another factor that might causes a negative or positive impact on the child’s growth and development. Logically, children who are raised in families with well-established financial backgrounds are advantaged to have more growth and development ability owing to the facts that their parents have funds to buy them enough, healthy and dieted food, buy them books for studying, pay for their education and even buy them toys. On the other hand, those that come from the less advantaged economic strata lack good nutrition and at time miss the chance for proper educations which is of great importance and impact to the child’s development. As part of the biological factors, the nutritional intake into a child’s system plays a very huge role in his or her growth and development in relation to the report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). Inadequate nutrition may interfere with brain growth of a child by making it slower and also can cause stunted development of the body. Proper nutrition boosts the build-up of stronger muscular tissues and muscles which increase the child development rate. A good nutrition cycle should start long before the child is born and should not stop throughout his or her life. A proper nutritious supply entails a combination of different types of food to ensure sufficient supply of nutrients. The types of nutrients involves magnesium, carbohydrates, calcium, proteins and vitamins A, C, D and E. Lack of these nutrients leads to malnutrition which leads to less supply of nutrients in the body and the brain (Salkind, 2002). This largely affects the child’s growth and development since the brain doesn’t get the correct amount nutrients needed for maturity and constant development. The physical health of a baby doesn’t only revolve around hitting the right height chart percentiles. It is true that the baby will grow but different babies will grow in their own different growth rates. One factor that the parents need to master is the fact that the physical environment provides the child with the exact needed abilities for their exploration and interaction with the world that surrounds them. This growth usually occurs when a child’s muscle gain strength which leads to the child’s advancement in developing coordination. This is usually the initial step in the physical development process. The physical development process encompasses many different abilities and tasks that the child has to master little by little according to his or her rate of adapting. Activities boosting a child’s physical development All individuals from infancy to the young adults should be participative in daily physical activities of a minimal period of an hour. This practice should moderate moving towards vigorous intensity to help harden and make the child’s muscle firm. On the same note, both the young people and children shouldn’t spend more than two hours in a day on usage of electronic media for entertainment especially under the daylight. This precautionary practice helps the child in developing and maintenance of flexibility both in their minds and in their physical body. Similarly, they will gain stronger bones and muscles and most of all, improve their balance and gain a stable cardiovascular fitness (Salkind, 2002). During this practice, children will have a chance to interact with others and thus building their social and emotional development. It also reduces the chance of a child developing obesity and diabetes. Social and emotional development is the process that induces a child’s behaviour, how he or she transition into adulthood and give him or her deeper understanding of life. It helps in defining what or who the children will become in future by training and teaching them on how to react on different emotional matters at different situations. These social skills revolve around the ability of a child to interact and relate, cooperate and play with others. They also give the child an ability to know how to communicate respectfully with the teacher and parents through developing of the ability to make reasonably transitioning from one activity to the other. A child that undergoes a properly guided social and emotional development process has a higher chance of developing good relationships with different kinds of people. This relies to the fact that the child has been in contact with many types of people and can differentiate what one likes and what the other dislikes thus influencing his or her decision making process(Salkind, 2002). Such children are most probably able to master the best of the ability to adapt and initiate, discover new fields due to urge of adventure and participate in effective learning and play. The child gains the ability develops sharp attention and persistence and is able to regulate self-behavior by his own. Stages in social and emotional development These are also referred to as the early childhood development stages. The first stage is that of hope. Here, the baby develops either trust or its inverse which is basic mistrust. In the situation when the baby toddler is carefully and specially nurtured and given enough love, he automatically develops both trust and security and might also gain some basic optimism. On the other hand, if he is badly brought up through mishandling and torture, he or she becomes insecure of the surrounding environment. This mostly relies on the learning autonomy or shame. Neil believed that children who are raised in a trusting environment may turn out to be accurate and proud of their doings rather than those mistrusting back ground that may not be sure of their potentials or abilities. This aspect also explains the concept of the ‘initiative’ versus that of ‘guilt’. Salkind believed that the stage of early childhood development is experienced in the play age of a child (Salkind, 2002). It is a stage that helps broaden the child’s skills through different active plays and teaches him to cooperate with others. It installs the ability of leading in the child as well as that to follow. On the other hand, if the child is full of guilt, fear overrule his courage and this leaves him or her with the habit of hanging on groups fringes that make him feel to be of meaning and importance. The industry and inferiority stages teach the child on how to relate with other and set given rules of adherence. Here, the student masters the way of creating self-oriented approaches towards learning. Learning identity and the identity diffusion is the stage at which the child in an adolescent age can easily, proudly and satisfactorily acquire self identity and actualization. Unfortunately, even the most adjusted teenagers experience some difficulties in some challenges which leave them in doubt of who they believe they really are. Enough sleep for the younger kids is quite essential since the child is mostly able to restore more energy that helps in brain connection. Recent science tests have proved that sleep for the younger ones leads generation of more hormones that fuel the child’s growth. Unlike for adults whose growth hormones are released during the day, the growth hormones for children are released just shortly after the child begins a deep sleep. Body and cognitive rest are essential in a child’s development process (Salkind, 2002). among the common programs used to help a child develop a restful, good and serene rest during his or her sleep are establishing a consistence bed time for the child like being in bed and asleep by 8 to 9 p.m. and most probably earlier for the younger children. Parents or guards should seriously take account of the child’s comfort during the sleeping period. For example, T.Vs or computers shouldn’t be kept in a child’s bedroom. Speech and language development for a child at early age is very important and should be treated with so much care by the parent or guardian. A parent should encourage the child of 2 years to do exercises of vowel pronunciations like “da” and “ma” to ensure he masters the exact mode of pronunciation and intonating them. To facilitate courage and strong speech by the child, a direct eye contact is essential from the parent to the child. Imitation of the child’s laugher and her facial expressions enhance the baby’s reaction to the same which keeps her smiley and healthy. The parent should engage in talks with the child as he bath, feed or play with the baby. This effect helps the child to learn how to multitask and coordinate different activities help in sharpening the kid’s senses and modes of response (Salkind, 2002). The importance of art and craft in a child’s development process is that it helps in the sharpening of the child’s imaginative part of the brain. Through drawing, a child gets the chance grow his thinking skills as well as those of view and tangibility. Many young individuals who have poor learning skills are able to build their own self esteem through drawing since they get to express what they feel through drawing because they gain a positive emotional response towards studies. Craft is much better form of entertainment for children than the normal media entertainment which leads to slow thinking of the child’s brain and less participation. Art entail activities like music which shapes the child’s listening skills, creative writing which improves the child knowledge and use of correct phrase during activities like storytelling and debating. Conclusion Child development process is essential in growth as it determines the actual behaviuors and attitudes of a person in the adulthood stage. Many people experiencing rough adulthood stages are believed to have had a tough childhood thus the adulthood behaviour is directly linked to the childhood behaviuors. It is important for a child to develop in a health and supportive environment in order to adapt good behaviuor and sterilize the mental as well as physical growth systems. References Salkind, N. J. (2002). Child development. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Read More