The Stages of Child Development
Each child, from the time they are born, has the potential to develop through childhood and adolescence to become a healthy and productive adult. Each child is an individual person and is unique in the way that he or she develops throughout each stage of their lives. Studies have shown that general changes in child development usually occur at about the same time, or age, in each child.
Factors That Influence Child Development
There are many factors that can influence a child’s development. These factors can further develop or they can hinder this process.
One major factor in the development of a child is genetics. Traits are passed to an unborn child by each parent. These traits determine the hair color, eye color, body size and build of the child. These traits also contribute to the personality and the temperament of the child.
The other major factor in the development of a child is the environment in which the child grows. An environment can be helpful or harmful to a child’s development. The environment in which a child develops can include living conditions and location as well as the people and things that the child comes into contact with. Family members, strangers, community, and country all play a part in a child’s environment.
The community environment includes neighbors, day care, school, friends, and teachers. The country in which a child grows up can influence the way in which the child develops. Each country has its own group of people, languages, cultures, and customs. Children born in different countries learn different ways in which to grow and survive. Children that are born in poverty stricken countries learn lessons that teach how to obtain food and survive. In countries that are not poverty stricken children learn how to survive through safety such as buckling their seat belts or how not to talk to strangers.
The first environment a child ever knows is in it’s mother’s womb. The child develops in the mother’s uterus and is protected for nine months. A mother’s responsibility is to keep her body healthy to provide a safe place for the baby to grow. Smoking, drinking, and bad diet can all cause smaller or unhealthy babies to be born. These babies will usually have a harder time in developing both physically and mentally.
Types of Development
There are five major types of development: physical, motor, language, thoughts and ideas, and social.
Physical changes occur at different stages and ages of a child’s life from muscle and skeletal development to the development of sex characteristics in adolescents.
Motor skills such as eye-hand co-ordination are improved upon in a child’s daily life.
Language is learned from hearing tones and sounds originally coming from parents and other family members. Children learn to associate these tones and sounds with objects or actions.
Thought processes turn from concrete to include abstract as a child grows and develops. Concrete thoughts are based on things that can be touched, seen, or heard. Abstract thoughts allow a child to think about themselves and their place in their environment.
Stages of Development
Infancy
An average baby weighs between 7 and 8 pounds and is approximately 20 inches long. Male babies can be slightly larger than female babies.
The first year of a child’s life is a time of rapid, physical growth. In infancy and childhood a child’s head is bigger in proportion to its body. This is because humans are born with a large brain and our heads grow more slowly than our bodies. Babies are not born with teeth exposed but will have a few by the time they are a year old.
The first thing a newborn does when it comes into the world is to utter a sharp cry that expands the lungs and enables the baby to breathe and adapt to its new outside world.
Healthy babies have a strong tendency to suck for the first few months of life enabling them to obtain nourishment, from a mother’s breast, necessary for growth. Babies that are not breast-fed are given formula that usually consists of cow’s milk mixed with a form of sugar and water. Sometimes vitamins and minerals are added to the formula.
During a newborn’s first month or so it will breathe, cry, sleep, suckle and swallow food, eliminate waste products, and move it’s arms and legs. Because a newborn has little control over these processes it is dependent on others for its care. Infants are susceptible to illness at this time and must be kept away from people with colds or infections. Newborns, especially premature newborns, have a limited capacity to regulate their own body temperature so precautions should be taken to keep the baby warm.
Infants will usually sleep approximately sixteen hours a day and awake to cry or eat. Their hearing is very good and they will react to loud noises. Infants can see but have trouble focusing on an object. They tend to see best at about seven to nine inches. At about two weeks old an infant’s eyes will follow lights and fix on an object. At two months old babies can begin to see colors and will begin to smile.
At two to three months of age an infant can usually hold up it’s own head and at six to seven months of age can sit up on it’s own. At 9 months a child learns to stand by holding onto something. At this point a child is usually already crawling around and exploring its world. By a child’s first birthday it should be attempting to take it’s first steps.
During the first few months of life a baby should be taken to a pediatrician for a health and development check up. The doctor may give the child shots or oral vaccines to prevent diseases such as measles, whooping cough, and polio. Law usually requires routine vaccinations during the life of a child.
Childhood
During this stage of a child’s development physical growth is slow but steady. Strength, intellectual ability, and co-ordination increase during this time.
As co-ordination increases a child will go from walking, to doing up their own buttons at around age 3, to tying their own shoelaces at about age 5. Hand-eye co-ordination increases and school age children learn to write, participate in complicated hobbies, or do artwork.
With the development of stronger muscles the child learns to play sports and play with other children.
Children understand language before they can actually express themselves. At a year old a child might understand a request but might not be able to respond in words. A child learns to speak by listening to people around it and copying what it hears. The actual process of using and understanding language is dependent on the individual development of the child. Different children learn at different times. As a child grows his or her vocabulary will increase and by its third birthday it will have several hundred words in its vocabulary. A two year old may be heard saying “No” quite clearly. This stage of language development is known as autonomy and it is the child’s way of exploring it’s own individuality. In this way it also learns about the rules of the world. By four or five years of age a child can speak very well without any type of schooling.
During childhood a child may attend daycare or preschool in which the child learns to share and play with other children in its community. At age five or six a child enters a public or private school system and learns to adjust to external rules and regulations. Here they also learn how to make friends which is very important in the development of a child.
Adolescence
Adolescence is the bridge between childhood and adulthood. This is a time of physical growth as well as maturing of the mind and behavior. The age at which adolescence takes place is difficult to determine. Some children begin the adolescence stage at the age of nine and some at the age of twelve or fourteen. Some children begin adolescence in one area but are still childish in another. A twelve year old may be adolescent in the area of physical growth but mental growth may still be in a childish stage.
Adolescence for girls usually begins between nine and twelve years of age. At this time girls grow more rapidly than boys and start to develop sex characteristics such as breasts, menstruation, larger waistlines, and pubic or underarm hair. This time in a child’s life is also known as puberty.
Adolescence for boys usually begins later than girls and usually occurs around fourteen years of age. At the end of this growth period, boys are usually bigger than girls. Boys at this age are beginning to develop sex characteristics such as deep voices and body hair.
Because there is so much change going on within the adolescent body and mind many changes can occur both physically and emotionally. Physically, glandular and hormonal changes can cause the adolescent to get acne and oily skin. Adolescents might feel tired a lot of the time and require more sleep. They can also be happy one minute and depressed the next. When physical changes become more stable the adolescent will have more control over their feelings.
During adolescence, coordination and strength increase greatly and by age 19 or 20 the adolescent has full adult motor capacities.
Adolescence is a time of intense emotions and meaningful friendship and relationships. An adolescent’s most important thoughts and values are usually those of a peer group rather than from a family environment.
Adolescents are now starting to think ahead to future occupations, marrying, and having children of their own. This is a time of maturing of the mind and behaviors. An adolescent is beginning to accept more responsibility for his or her own actions. Adolescents gain self-confidence through all their experiences of growing and learning and are able to accept themselves for who they are.
Adolescents are on their way to becoming full-fledged adults and want to be free and independent but they still occasionally need the strength and support of their parents.
