Influences_That_Affect_Young_People_Develop

Unit 201 – Child and young person development Assessment criteria 2.1 Influences that affect children and young people development Background Different parenting styles can play a big part on influencing children’s development such as ‘Authoritarian’ parents who are often rigid and controlling and place high demands on their children without room for discussions or regards to their child’s feelings.  This can result in children who may be fearful, anxious, frustrated or withdrawn. ‘Authoritative’ parents expect good behaviour from their children and guide them rather than being forceful and typically children with authoritative parents are self confident and socially adept.  ‘Permissive’ parents allow their children to decide for themselves appropriate behaviour and are extremely lenient, resulting in their children having poor control over their emotions and they may have difficulty with relationships with others.  ‘Neglectful’ parents place the welfare of their children has a low priority, resulting in their children being emotionally immature and their children may engage in antisocial behaviour. Children with different cultural backgrounds will be influenced by several factors such as religion, beliefs and their families.   These children will be exposed to different attitudes and lifestyles and they may celebrate different festivals.  For example the children’s cultural beliefs or practice may cause the children emotional conflict when they want to participate in an activity such as physical development which goes against their families’ wishes or religious beliefs. Within the school our curriculum teaches and respects different cultural backgrounds by providing different experiences of festivals and celebrations from around the world. Health Proper nutrition allows for adequate growth throughout a child’s developmental years. The brain, in particular, relies on regular nourishment to reach its full potential. Healthy eating habits also reduce the risk of serious disease and vitamin deficiencies. Malnutrition leads to stunted growth and an increased risk of early death. If corrected early, malnourishment can be entirely overcome. A child also needs to exercise regularly to ensure normal physical development. Youngsters who spend their free time watching TV or similar pursuits rather than playing outdoors may have impaired bone growth. When physical activity is increased, bones are denser and stronger, hence the reduction in broken bones. A disability impacts a child's development. Social and emotional development includes the ability to regulate oneself internally; when a disability affects this area of development children may have problems with lying, stealing, destroying property, respecting authority, being involved in social interactions, or have severe anxiety. Environment There are many influences on children’s development by their family such as birth of siblings and the child’s interactions with the sibling such as learning how to win, lose, love and even fight and the influences that their sibling has over them.  Moving home, changing area or country, changes in family structure, for example parents who separate, divorce and re marry or a child experiencing a family member coping with long term illness, disability or death within their close family network and environment.  Changes in family circumstances such as change of employment, redundancy and unemployment can affect children’s development although sometimes this may only be temporary. All of these circumstances can affect the child’s development as they could get behind in school work through lack of concentration, become withdrawn and be less motivated, angry, tearful and upset. Assessment criteria 2.2 There is great importance in recognizing and responding to concerns about children and young peoples development as early intervention could the solve the problem so it doesn’t affect the child in the future, as well as adhering to the school policy to promote the wellbeing of a child. It is important to record dates and times and pass the information onto the child’s form tutor who in turn would speak to the parents. Two examples I have come across within my placement is a year 7 student was not completing his homework. After speaking to the student as to why he wasn’t completing homework he replied by saying when I get home from school both of my parents are at work and I have no one to help me with my homework. Firstly I didn’t feel it was right that a year 7 student went home to an empty house every night so I recorded the time and date of this conversation and passed the information on to his form tutor suggesting that he goes to the homework club straight after school where he would get support from teaching assistants to complete his homework, therefore not getting behind in his school work. His form tutor then contacted his parents to explain the importance of completing homework and the suggestion of going to the homework club which the parents agreed would be a good idea. Since going to homework club he has kept up to date with his school work. The other example is during a lesson and year 7 girl said she needed to go to the toilet as she felt sick. She left the lesson and returned. When she returned I asked her if she had been sick and she said no. As it was 1pm I asked if she had anything to eat on that day and she replied no because every time I try to eat I feel sick. I recorded this down and spoke to her form tutor who in turn spoke to her parents. Her parents explained that she had been to the doctors with her and her doctor said she had a virus which would have to run its cause. By highlighting this problem to her form tutor she is able to monitor the situation and keep in regular contact with parents.