What is Child Development?
Child development is a very broad term, encompassing psychological theories and techniques for helping a child to grow and learn during the developmental stages of life. These stages are typically broken into a series of sections, from infancy to adolescence, and child development theories abound about how best to care for and encourage a child in each one of these stages of development. Biological as well as psychological changes occur during these years that are thought to effect a person for the rest of their lives, so ensuring that a child develops healthily is a priority of parents, educators, and social workers around the world.
Learning to
Become Autonomous
Human beings are incredibly fragile and dependent at birth. A baby can hardly see more than light and dark, is entirely dependent on it's mother for nourishment, and is unable to transport itself from one place to another. As we mature, we learn all kinds of physical and psychological techniques that help us toward becoming independent from our parents.
The physical aspects of child development include everything from learning to crawl and then walk and run, to developing fine motor skills that allow us to eat, write, play, and work. As we learn to use our bodies and our bodies grow, there are many ways that we can encourage physical child development, ensuring that our children grow into adults who are capable of handling physical labor, enjoy sports and recreation, and can do the everyday things that we all take for granted, like walking, typing on a keyboard, or cooking.
The psychological process of becoming autonomous is a bit more complex and a bit harder to understand. In fact, many psychologists believe that we are still only working with theories when it comes to psychological child development. Of course, we know that some things really help a child to learn and grow, such as a good relationship with parents, encouragement, support, and discipline.
Children learn what is right and wrong from the examples around us, and then they test the things they learn. Child development during the toddler and preschool ages can be trying, because it is when the child is figuring out what happens when they are a contrarian.
Adolescents deal with a whole set of different psychological development stages that are partly physical. The introduction of puberty and the hormones that accompany puberty are intense and confusing.
Adolescence is considered the final stage of child development, and the range of ages is from age 13 to age 20. By the time our children reach age 18, we expect them to be able to go out into the world on their own, at least in the sense that they can form new relationships, take care of themselves, and make decisions without the constant eye of their parents on them.
How
Parents Can
Help Their Children
Develop Healthily
There are a number of theories that say that parents play a huge role in the development of children. In fact, it is hardly contested that the role a parent plays is a key role. There are some physical and genetic aspects that will change the rate of child development, and nature plays a role as well. But there have been countless studies that have shown that the relationship a child has with his or her parents teaches the child almost everything about how they form relationships for the rest of their lives.
For people who want to play an active role in their own child's development, there are an infinite number of books that explore many, many theories. Significant data exists to suggest that children who go to preschool and learn to work with other children starting very early are better adapted throughout their lives. Treating your child with respect, listening to his or her ideas, and having conversations about the questions your child ask will help your child to respect their parents as well as themselves.
Child Development for Healthy Societies
Child Development Child development can tell us a lot about how a society functions and grows. After all, today's children are tomorrow's adults. The psychological, emotional, and educational development of children is taken seriously by child psychologists because without a healthy childhood, people are not as equipped to live a healthy life. The continuous study of child development has lead us to many fascinating discoveries about the way human beings grow and change throughout life, and as we continue to update our actions based on new information, we are furthering the benefits to society of healthy child development.
All children should be given the opportunity to play and learn in healthy ways, to enjoy strong and happy relationships with their parents, and have access to modern health care. As we learn to help our children and focus on child development, we learn to help the world to be a better place.
Source http://www.geniuschilddevelopment.com
- published: 02 Nov 2012
- views: 62150