The Effect of Environmental Conditions on Child Development - Essay Example

d THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE Introduction: A child’s mind isat its most vulnerable and fragile state throughout childhood. It is this point in time when they tend to adopt behaviors and habits that the surrounding prompts them to, and these behaviors ultimately consolidate to form their personality. Child development refers to the cognitive behavioral physical and social progress of an individual in his/her peak years as a child. New to this world and its ways, children are more conscious about their surroundings and are quick to pick up norms, language and attitudes during this time. For a healthy development of a child, it is important that he is given a healthy environment to grow; the presence of positivity has a positive impact on his personality and plays a great role in shaping him as a person. Being subjected to mental stress from arguments like bullying, parents fighting, and harsh teacher-student relationships etc. impacts child development as well and many instances suggest negative implications on their adult life as a result. This paper will shed light on the impact of three key exposures of a child on his/her life. Since children look up to and spend the most time with their parents, we consider family. Secondly, children are sent to schools where they are socially interacting with children and adults’ alike and gaining education which helps shapes their mindset and perceptions. Lastly, the impact of neighborhood on children where they play and are subjected to environmental factors as well as social ones. Effect of family on Child development The first people that a child gets to know in this world are his family. Being a child, he tends to look up to the elders, learn from them, imitate them and be influenced by their behavior. The fragility of their minds makes the impact of a slightly odd incident a highly magnified one. Thus, it is important to ensure that the child has a positive and healthy family environment to grow up in for his psychological well-being and development. The impact of divorced parents or single parent upbringing has been highlighted by many studies. Growing up without a one of the parents or being exposed to heated parent arguments has a highly negative impact on a child’s mind. Many studies show that such children tend to grow up to be aggressive, non-committal, hesitant for romance, timid etc. many other factors like parent-child relationship, family conflicts, family variables like income, background etc. and individual attributes like the mental and physical health of either parents or siblings, also play a great role in shaping one’s personality. Children belonging to intact families tend to have the highest level of psychological well-being (Falci). Apart from parents, siblings within a family have an equal amount of impact. Parent favoritism, sibling rivalry, violent conflicts and level of intimacy are some of the sibling variables that affect a child’s mind. During their time as a child, siblings tend to develop understanding for other’s perceptions, behaviors and attitudes and use them to shape their own. Aggressive sibling conflicts have been known to make the children into aggressive adults later in life (HOWE and RECCHIA). Positive sibling relationships tend to make them into better adults with a knack for understanding their peers, friends and collogue, making them socially desirable. Effect of schooling on child’s future Education is an essential part of shaping a child’s cognitive abilities as well as social ones. At schools, children are subjected to knowledge that helps them think and understand their surroundings, people and individual capacities. Interacting with children their own age, children tend to develop friendships that are their first relationships after family. There are four major impacts on a child’s development at school: emotional, cognitive, physical and social (Lucas). At the preschool level the children are communicated positive messages in a fun manner to interest them and build a healthy mindset regarding school and other children. This helps in developing their emotions, making them happy and excited upon being exposed to positive messages. By giving them education and explaining concepts relevant to their age, the cognitive abilities to think and reason are developed making them good decision makers and in a better position to understand their surroundings and people. By physical activities like games and exercise children develop their physical strength and put their energy and muscles to use. Lastly, by interacting with teachers and other children they become more socially experienced and understand other people, developing attributes like sharing, empathy etc. Since schools enable children to develop several aspects of their personalities, being subjected to negativity here plays a great role in shaping the person they become as adults. A healthy school life leads to positive mental development whereas being subjected to bullying, teacher abuse, and ridicule for not being good at studies etc. negatively impact one’s personality. Studies reveal that being a subject of bullying in school leads to hampered psychological development making them either timid or socially awkward adults or turn them into bullies when they grow up. Effect of neighborhood and surroundings on child development The effect of residence in a particular area plays a major role in the psychological development of a child and this impacts his adult life as well. Neighborhood structural factors like the ethno homogeneity, security, standards of living help in shaping one’s perception and providing him with a variety of different behaviors and people to develop. If one neighborhood is known as an affluent one with all the amenities of life provided with ease and has a certain racial uniformity amongst the residents, the child that grows up there is likely to look down upon people belonging to other neighborhoods and different ethnic background. The families that constitute the neighborhood also hone a child’s mind to make him accustomed to a particular set of beliefs through the surroundings, people and structural construct. The extent to which people interact with each other in a particular neighborhood, the presence of societal agencies like police and law enforcement, neighborhood communities and groups and a healthy blend of a variety of people belonging to diverse background play a positive role in impacting child’s life positively and vice versa (Leventhal and Brooks-Gunn). Thus, it is important for parents to ensure that the children are exposed to the positive neighborhood elements and protected from negative ones so that their young minds do not absorb practices and norms that could be a negative influence on their personalities as adults. Conclusion The impact of families, schooling and neighborhood on a child’s development is certainly a strong one. The parents hold the most power to ensure that their children are protected from the negativities that could sabotage the healthy development of their minds. By making the family environment open, friendly and unified parents can make sure that the same attributes are instilled in their child’s personality as a result of their upbringing and the surrounding. By interacting with them and paying close attention to their stories from school they can detect problems if any. Staying in touch with the school administration and teachers can also help follow the progress of their child and complement the education being imparted in school, at home. Lastly, neighborhood elements are rather unpredictable so a detailed survey into non-tangible elements like the attitudes of the neighbors, neighborhood unity, ethnic construct etc., can help select an ideal healthy neighborhood for a child to grow up in. the implications of these three aspects on a child’s adult life determine the importance of filtering the surrounding of a child to encourage his healthy psychological growth into a teenager and adult. REFERENCES: Lucas, Audrey. How Education Affects Early Child Development. Everyday Life - Global Post. N. p., 2014. Web. 6 May. 2014. Leventhal, Tama, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. The Neighborhoods They Live In: The Effects Of Neighborhood Residence On Child And Adolescent Outcomes.. Psychological bulletin 126.2 (2000): 309. Print. HOWE, NINA, and HOLLY RECCHIA. Sibling Relations And Thei R Impact On Children’S Development. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development 2006 : n. pag. Print. Falci, Christina D. The Effects Of Family Structure And Family Process On The Psychological Well-Being Of Children: From The Children’S Point Of View. (1997): n. pag. Print. Read More