CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 1

HOME ECONOMICS J. S. S THREE SECOND TERM

THEME: FAMILY LIVING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/FOOD AND NUTRITION/CLOTHING AND TEXTILE

CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 1

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Describe the meaning and different stages in child development
2. List factors that influence child development

CONTENT

Child development refers to the process through which human beings typically grow and mature from infancy through adulthood. The different aspects of growth and development that are measured include physical growth, cognitive growth, and social growth. Child development focuses on the changes that take place in humans as they mature from birth to about age 17.

There are three broad stages of development: early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. The definitions of these stages are organized around the primary tasks of development in each stage, though the boundaries of these stages are malleable. Society's ideas about childhood shift over time and research have led to new understandings of the development that takes place in each stage.

Early Childhood (Birth to Eight Years)

Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth across all areas of development. The dependent newborn grows into a young person who can take care of his or her own body and interact effectively with others. For these reasons, the primary developmental task of this stage is skill development.

Physically, between birth and age three a child typically doubles in height and quadruples in weight. Bodily proportions also shift, so that the infant, whose head accounts for almost one-fourth of total body length, becomes a toddler with a more balanced, adult-like appearance. Despite these rapid physical changes, the typical three-year-old has mastered many skills, including sitting, walking, toilet training, using a spoon, scribbling, and sufficient hand-eye coordination to catch and throw a ball.

Between three and five years of age, children continue to grow rapidly and begin to develop fine-motor skills. By age five most children demonstrate fairly good control of pencils, crayons, and scissors. Gross motor accomplishments may include the ability to skip and balance on one foot. Physical growth slows down between five and eight years of age, while body proportions and motor skills become more refined.

Physical changes in early childhood are accompanied by rapid changes in the child's cognitive and language development. From the moment they are born, children use all their senses to attend to their environment, and they begin to develop a sense of cause and effect from their actions and the responses of caregivers.

Over the first three years of life, children develop a spoken vocabulary of between 300 and 1,000 words, and they are able to use language to learn about and describe the world around them. By age five, a child's vocabulary will grow to approximately 1,500 words. Five-year-olds are also able to produce five-to seven-word sentences, learn to use the past tense, and tell familiar stories using pictures as cues.

Language is a powerful tool to enhance cognitive development. Using language allows the child to communicate with others and solve problems. By age eight, children are able to demonstrate some basic understanding of less concrete concepts, including time and money. However, the eight-year-old still reasons in concrete ways and has difficulty understanding abstract ideas.

A key moment in early childhood socioemotional development occurs around one year of age. This is the time when attachment formation becomes critical. Attachment theory suggests that individual differences in later life functioning and personality are shaped by a child's early experiences with their caregivers. The quality of emotional attachment, or lack of attachment, formed early in life may serve as a model for later relationships.

From ages three to five, growth in socioemotional skills includes the formation of peer relationships, gender identification, and the development of a sense of right and wrong. Taking the perspective of another individual is difficult for young children, and events are often interpreted in all-or-nothing terms, with the impact on the child being the foremost concern. For example, at age five a child may expect others to share their possessions freely but still be extremely possessive of a favourite toy. This creates no conflict of conscience because fairness is determined relative to the child's own interests. Between ages five and eight, children enter into a broader peer context and develop enduring friendships. Social comparison is heightened at this time, and taking other people's perspective begins to play a role in how children relate to people, including peers.

Middle Childhood (Eight to Twelve Years)

Historically, middle childhood has not been considered an important stage in human development. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory labelled this period of life the latency stage, a time when sexual and aggressive urges are repressed. Freud suggested that no significant contributions to personality development were made during this period. However, more recent theorists have recognized the importance of middle childhood for the development of cognitive skills, personality, motivation, and interpersonal relationships. During middle childhood, children learn the values of their societies. Thus, the primary developmental task of middle childhood could be called integration, both in terms of development within the individual and of the individual within the social context.

Perhaps supporting the image of middle childhood as a latency stage, physical development during middle childhood is less dramatic than in early childhood or adolescence. Growth is slow and steady until the onset of puberty when individuals begin to develop at a much quicker pace. The age at which individuals enter puberty varies, but there is evidence of a secular trend–the age at which puberty begins has been decreasing over time. In some individuals, puberty may start as early as age eight or nine. The onset of puberty differs across gender and begins earlier in females.

As with physical development, the cognitive development of middle childhood is slow and steady. Children in this stage are building upon skills gained in early childhood and preparing for the next phase of their cognitive development. Children's reasoning is very rule-based. Children are learning skills such as classification and forming hypotheses. While they are cognitively more mature now than a few years ago, children in this stage still require concrete, hands-on learning activities. Middle childhood is a time when children can gain enthusiasm for learning and work, for achievement can become a motivating factor as children work toward building competence and self-esteem.

Middle childhood is also a time when children develop competence in interpersonal and social relationships. Children have a growing peer orientation, yet they are strongly influenced by their family. The social skills learned through peer and family relationships, and children's increasing ability to participate in meaningful interpersonal communication, provide a necessary foundation for the challenges of adolescence. Best friends are important at this age, and the skills gained in these relationships may provide the building blocks for healthy adult relationships.

Adolescence (Twelve to Eighteen Years)

Adolescence can be defined in a variety of ways: physiologically, culturally, cognitively; each way suggests a slightly different definition. For the purpose of this discussion, adolescence is defined as a culturally constructed period that generally begins as individuals reach sexual maturity and end when the individual has established an identity as an adult within his or her social context. In many cultures, adolescence may not exist or may be very short, because the attainment of sexual maturity coincides with entry into the adult world. In the current culture of the United States, however, adolescence may last well into the early twenties. The primary developmental task of adolescence is identity formation.

The adolescent years are another period of accelerated growth. Individuals can grow up to four inches and gain eight to ten pounds per year. This growth spurt is most often characterized by two years of fast growth, followed by three or more years of slow, steady growth. By the end of adolescence, individuals may gain a total of seven to nine inches in height and as much as forty or fifty pounds in weight. The timing of this growth spurt is not highly predictable; it varies across both individuals and gender. In general, females begin to develop earlier than do males.

Sexual maturation is one of the most significant developments during this time. Like physical development, there is significant variability in the age at which individuals attain sexual maturity. Females tend to mature at about age thirteen, and males at about fifteen. Development during this period is governed by the pituitary gland through the release of the hormones testosterone (males) and estrogen (females). There has been increasing evidence of a trend toward earlier sexual development in developed countries–the average age at which females reach menarche dropped three to four months every ten years between 1900 and 2000.

Adolescence is an important period for cognitive development as well, as it marks a transition in the way in which individuals think and reason about problems and ideas. In early adolescence, individuals can classify and order objects, reverse processes, think logically about concrete objects, and consider more than one perspective at a time. However, at this level of development, adolescents benefit more from direct experiences than from abstract ideas and principles. As adolescents develop more complex cognitive skills, they gain the ability to solve more abstract and hypothetical problems. Elements of this type of thinking may include an increased ability to think in hypothetical ways about abstract ideas, the ability to generate and test hypotheses systematically, the ability to think and plan about the future, and meta-cognition (the ability to reflect on one's thoughts).

As individuals enter adolescence, they are confronted by a diverse number of changes all at one time. Not only are they undergoing significant physical and cognitive growth, but they are also encountering new situations, responsibilities, and people.

Entry into middle school and high school thrusts students into environments with many new people, responsibilities, and expectations. While this transition can be frightening, it also represents an exciting step toward independence. Adolescents are trying on new roles, new ways of thinking and behaving, and they are exploring different ideas and values. Erikson addresses the search for identity and independence in his framework of life-span development. Adolescence is characterized by a conflict between identity and role confusion. During this period, individuals evolve their own self-concepts within the peer context. In their attempts to become more independent adolescents often rely on their peer group for direction regarding what is normal and accepted. They begin to pull away from reliance on their family as a source of identity and may encounter conflicts between their family and their growing peer-group affiliation.

With so many intense experiences, adolescence is also an important time in emotional development. Mood swings are a characteristic of adolescence. While often attributed to hormones, mood swings can also be understood as a logical reaction to the social, physical, and cognitive changes facing adolescents, and there is often a struggle with issues of self-esteem. As individuals search for identity, they confront the challenge of matching who they want to become with what is socially desirable. In this context, adolescents often exhibit bizarre and/or contradictory behaviours. The search for identity, the concern adolescents have about whether they are normal, and variable moods and low self-esteem all work together to produce wildly fluctuating behaviour.

The impact of the media and societal expectations on adolescent development has been far-reaching. Young people are bombarded by images of violence, sex, and unattainable standards of beauty. This exposure, combined with the social, emotional, and physical changes facing adolescents, has contributed to an increase in school violence, teen sexuality, and eating disorders. The onset of many psychological disorders, such as depression, other mood disorders, and schizophrenia, is also common at this time of life.

Factors that influence child development

1. Heredity

Heredity is the transmission of physical characteristics from parents to children through their genes. It influences all aspects of physical appearance such as height, weight, body structure, the colour of the eye, the texture of the hair, and even intelligence and aptitudes. Diseases and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, etc., can also be passed through genes, thereby affecting the growth and development of the child adversely. However, environmental factors and nurturing can bring the best out of the already present qualities in the genes.

2. Environment

The environment plays a critical role in the development of children and it represents the sum total of physical and psychological stimulation the child receives. Some of the environmental factors influencing early childhood development involve the physical surroundings and geographical conditions of the place the child lives in, as well his social environment and relationships with family and peers. It is easy to understand that a well-nurtured child does better than a deprived one; the environment children are constantly immersed in contributes to this. A good school and a loving family builds in children strong social and interpersonal skills, which will enable them to excel in other areas such as academics and extracurricular activities. This will, of course, be different for children who are raised in stressful environments.

3. Sex

The sex of the child is another major factor affecting the physical growth and development of a child. Boys and girls grow in different ways, especially nearing puberty. Boys tend to be taller and physically stronger than girls. However, girls tend to mature faster during adolescence, while boys mature over a longer period of time. The physical structure of their bodies also has differences which make boys more athletic and suited for activities that require physical rigour. Their temperaments also vary, making them show interest in different things.

4. Exercise and Health

The word exercise here does not mean physical exercise as a discipline or children deliberately engaging in physical activities knowing it would help them grow. The exercise here refers to the normal playtime and sports activities which help the body gain an increase in muscular strength and put on bone mass. Proper exercise helps children grow well and reach milestones on time or sooner. Exercise also keeps them healthy and fights off diseases by strengthening the immune system, especially if they play outside. This is because outdoor play exposes them to microbes that help them build resistance and prevent allergies.

5. Hormones

Hormones belong to the endocrine system and influence the various functions of our bodies. They are produced by different glands that are situated in specific parts of the body to secrete hormones that control body functions. Their timely functioning is critical for normal physical growth and development in children. Imbalances in the functioning of hormone-secreting glands can result in growth defects, obesity, behavioural problems and other diseases. During puberty, the gonads produce sex hormones which control the development of the sex organs and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics in boys and girls.

6. Nutrition

Nutrition is a critical factor in growth as everything the body needs to build and repair itself comes from the food we eat. Malnutrition can cause deficiency diseases that adversely affect the growth and development of children. On the other hand, overeating can lead to obesity and health problems in the long run, such as diabetes and heart disease. A balanced diet that is rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats is essential for the development of the brain and body.

7. Familial Influence

Families have the most profound impact on nurturing a child and determining the ways in which they develop psychologically and socially. Whether they are raised by their parents, grandparents or foster care, they need basic love, care and courtesy to develop as healthy functional individuals. The most positive growth is seen when families invest time, energy and love in the development of the child through activities, such as reading to them, playing with them and having deep meaningful conversations. Families that abuse or neglect children would affect their positive development. These children may end up as individuals who have poor social skills and difficulty bonding with other people as adults. Helicopter parenting also has negative effects as they render children dependent on the parents even as young adults and unable to deal with difficulties in life on their own.

8. Geographical Influences

Where you live also has a great influence on how your children turn out to be. The schools they attend, the neighbourhood they live in, the opportunities offered by the community and their peer circles are some of the social factors affecting a child’s development. Living in an enriching community that has parks, libraries and community centres for group activities and sports all play a role in developing the child’s skills, talents, and behaviour. Uninteresting communities can push some children to not go outside often but play video games at home instead. Even the weather of a place influences children in the form of bodily rhythms, allergies and other health conditions.

9. Socio-Economic Status

The socio-economic status of a family determines the quality of the opportunity a child gets. Studying in better schools that are more expensive definitely has benefits in the long run. Well-off families can also offer better learning resources for their children and they afford special aid if the kids need it. Children from poorer families may not have access to educational resources and good nutrition to reach their full potential. They may also have working parents who work too many hours and cannot invest enough quality time in their development.

10. Learning and Reinforcement

Learning involves much more than schooling. It is also concerned with building the child up mentally, intellectually, emotionally, and socially so they operate as healthy functional individuals in the society. This is where the development of the mind takes place and the child can gain some maturity. Reinforcement is a component of learning where an activity or exercise is repeated and refined to solidify the lessons learned. An example is playing a musical instrument; they get better at playing it as they practise playing the instrument. Therefore, any lesson that is taught has to be repeated until the right results are obtained.

Although nature contributes much to the growth and development of children, nurture contributes much more. As mentioned earlier, some of these factors may not be controllable, and you’ll have to make do with what you have. But there are certain things you can definitely ensure for your child. This includes ensuring that your child gets enough rest every day because his development is heavily dependent on the amount of sleep he gets. Pay close attention to your child’s nutritional and exercise levels, as these too play an important role in promoting your child’s timely and healthy growth and development.