Childhood_Development_and_Nutrition

Childhood Development and Nutrition A child’s development begins in the mother’s womb so an expecting mother diet must consist of healthy nutritious meals. Likewise, children must receive appropriate nourishment following birth. Furthermore, children should get the proper health-care, education and live in a safe environment. This is crucial because it helps to assist in the development of children’s cognitive, physical and emotional wellbeing. There are several developmental theories that focus on children’s development, such as, the cognitive theory. Piaget’s cognitive theory focuses on the development of the mental processes. Piaget believed that cognitive development began with the natural capability to adapt to the environment. According to Piaget, children adapt to their environment through assimilation which takes place when children incorporate new information into knowledge that is already available, and accommodation which is the process of how children adjust to the new information. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Behaviorism a developmental theory began with Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov believed that behavior could be conditioned. Also, he realized that he can condition a dog by the ringing of a bell. Consequently, when he rang a bell the dogs will expect food, and when they became conditioned to hearing the bell they would begin to salivate in expectation for food even if the food were not present. Pavlov referred to this behavior as classical conditioning. In classical conditioning, children automatically respond to a certain stimuli. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) American psychologist B.F. Skinner who worked largely with rats and pigeons put together the principles of operant conditioning. In operant conditioning a behavior will increase if it is followed by positive reinforcement and it will decrease if it is followed by punishment. For example, I go everyday to a job I don’t like because I am aware that if I do not go to work I will not get paid. The difference between Piaget theories in comparison to Skinners theory is that in classical conditioning a child learns to relate to a stimulus with something that doesn't result in an overt behavioral response, while operant conditioning is where children learns by the reinforcement of consequences concerning a behavior. I was classically conditioned as a child, I remember that just before a spanking I would be yelled at so all the way through to my young adult years whenever I heard someone yelling or if someone will raise their voice at me, I will experience the same fear I felt as a child. I will believe that after the yelling that some type of physical punishment will follow. I got slapped in the face once, after my boyfriend at the time yelled at me this reinforced my fear. Children can be positively and negatively conditioned. Language development is a child’s ability to understand and use language and the most challenging period of speech and language development for children is during their first three years of life. For example, the average three year old understands and can use nine hundred to one thousand words, plurals, possessives, and past tense. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Language is very important to the development in children. From birth infants can communicate with various cries. Such cries may indicate hunger, pain, or needs for attention. At about twelve months children speak their first words. After this stage, the sounds that they produce come closer to standard speech. American linguist Noam Chomsky proposed that all humans have a language acquisition device (LAD). Chomsky believed that children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD) in their brains that allows them to learn speech and the grammatical rules of language. Whether children speak early or late, or are learning to speak along average lines; the language acquisition of all children occurs gradually through interaction with people and the environment. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Language development in children is often related to inherited disabilities, neurological, or physiological consequences of childhood disease. As a result, these unrelated problems can have a great impact on speech and language development in children. In addition, autistic children usually have difficulty communicating and expressing their emotions or desires. Generally, it is due to certain problems with verbalization, but sometimes it is a matter of neurological development which is related to autism. (Child Development Guide, 2011) Social development or socialization is how children interact with others and the world around them. Also, socialization helps children to relate to others and become independent. Plus, it is always influenced by the child's emotional maturity. Socialization begins in infancy and when children reach the toddler years they are inclined to be very self-centered. Furthermore, they develop a sense of self, habits, skills, values and motives that make them responsible productive members of society. Furthermore, children develop the ability to respect the rights of others and to feel empathy for them. They learn to work cooperatively with others and to solve disputes in a diplomatic manner. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Children grow rapidly within the first three years of their life. For example, at birth a most baby’s vision is 20/600 and will not reach 20/20 until age two. Also, infants can usually focus on objects or people that are about nine inches away and can follow moving objects. Infants grow at a very rapid rate during the first three years of life. As the brain of infants develops, they respond more and more to sight and sound. For instance, babies develop motor skills and can hold up their heads up first before they can grab an object with their hand. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) If a very young infant sees an abject and then looks away, the infant thinks the object is no longer there. Also, infants begin to recognize their image in a mirror and begin to become more and more independent. These reactions are very important to a baby’s physical development. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Children physical development signifies the way in which children's body increases in skill which involves movement. Psychical development also provides children with the abilities they need to explore and relate with the world around them. What's more, between the ages of three to six children motor skills are advanced. Motor skills are children’s ability to control movements. There are two basic types of motor skills, gross motor skills, and fine motor skills. The gross motor skills deal with all the large muscles and are developed during early childhood. Plus, it is the basis for sports dancing, and other actives that begin during middle childhood and may continue for a lifetime. Fine motor skills deals with smaller muscles in the body that enables such functions as writing, gasping small objects and fastening clothing. Properly developed fine motor skills are very important to everyday living. Poor fine motor skills can lead to difficulty learning basic self-care such as eating and toilet training. I transport special needs children, and some of the children fine motor skills are very poor. For example, they have trouble putting on their jackets or buckling their seat belts on the bus and some of them cannot tie their shoe lace. Fine motor skills require a high degree of control and precision which these children do not possess. Emotional development is very important to children’s development and it’s the growth of a child's ability to feel and express a growing variety of emotions correctly. (Child Development Guide, 2011) Plus, it is “an orderly process; complex emotions unfold from simpler ones”. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) The first sign of a newborn’s unhappy emotion are their piercing cries, flailing arms and legs, and stiffen bodies. In contrast, when infants are happy they coo, smile, or laugh. Crying is the only way infants can communicate their needs. For example, researcher’s has distinguished four patterns of carrying, the basic hunger cry, the angry cry, the pain cry, and the frustration cry. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) The basic hunger cry according to Wolff is “a rhythmic cry, which is not always associated with hunger”. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Also, the hunger cry is often preceded by hunger cues, such as, lip smacking, rooting, or finger sucking if these clues are observed parents can avoid most of the tears. When a baby need or want something they cry, so it is very import that a parents pay attention to their babies cues. (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008) Childhood is an important period in human life, and early childhood development helps lay the groundwork for a successful future in cognitive, physical, and emotional achievement. It will assist children in their academic performances in school. Plus, it will help children socially and physically when they participate in recreational activity. The study of child development from conception and subsequent to birth is if great significance. It helps us to gain insight of children, ourselves, and the people around us Plus, it equip us to help young lives to grow and develop in a positive and healthy manner. Reference Child Development Guide [Problems in Child Language Development]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.child-development-guide.com/problems-in-child- language-development.html Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., and Feldman, R. D. (2008). A child's world, Infancy through Adolescence (11 ed). Boston: McGraw Hill.