Intellectual, Emotional, and Social Changes in Childhood - Term Paper Example

All these factors display the maturity that a child attains, physical growth, development of the body, brain, and nervous system besides the competence a child bears (Development: Its Nature). This course of sequential changes brings maturity in the development. The psychological impact is seen if there occurs some genetic disorder or any cognitive problem or deprivation of natural developmental process (Development: Its Nature).

Early childhood (1 – 3 yrs), is the age of schema, cognition, sensorimotor development, a stage of awareness about object permanence, language development or preoperational stage, building words and conversation are of prime importance. This is the stage when gross and fine motor skills are developed. Growth in this stage is rapid (Development: Its Nature) and therefore nutritional requirement is more for the complete development and must include a rich protein diet. In this stage development of autonomous learning and regulated actions is the prime focuses as the child starts representing things with words and images but lacks logical reasoning (Exploring Child Development).

This can be understood with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The child is a keen observer at this stage; therefore the psychological impact of the environment is more during this stage of development. What child grasps from the environment impacts the personality of the child. For the complete development of the child, it is imperative that the child must be engaged in various activities that involve problem-solving skills, more conversation must be carried out for the development of language during early childhood (Exploring Child Development).

During this stage, the child develops self-awareness, the concept of gender, and emotions. Parenting behaviors at this stage directly influence the young child's development (Exploring Child Development). Any kind of parental dispute, divorce, or broken relationship directly affects a young child’s development. It is in this stage peer and sibling relationships develop. Congenial and healthy relationships directly influence the psychology of the child and fill the child with trust and faith in the relationship. Since grasping is very high in this stage, parents must understand the psychology of the child and should filter the programs on the television as they directly influence the young children's emotional and social development (Exploring Child Development). In middle childhood (3 – 5 yrs) the growth is somewhat rapid followed by a plateau stage in late childhood (5 – 12 yrs).

During this stage improvement in cognitive skills occur, thinking is more abstract, theoretical, and hypothetical (Development: Its Nature). During this stage, many progressive, coherent and orderly changes are observed in a definite direction. These changes are not of the same kind and are in the size, features, intellectual abilities, psychological behavior in the society, communication, logical skills, learning as a result of child’s interaction with the environment and maturation in terms of revealing steady opening-up of characters or potentials present in an individual due to genetics or inheritance (Development: Its Nature).

During late childhood development thinking and problem-solving skills develop, promotion of activities in the direction of intelligence and creativity development at this stage enhances their psychological behavior. This is the stage where social interactions are established, schools do influence children’s cognitive development. A congenial family atmosphere influences the self-confidence and intellectual development of the child. This is the stage where strong emotions are developed and any psychological and emotional disturbances at this stage affect child psychology. It is the stage where moral development occurs (Exploring Child Development).

At this stage, parents have to be very cautious not to disturb the developing psychology of the child and should motivate the psychological development in the positive direction, any negative or bad influence may put the worst psychological blow on the child and can change the track of thinking of the child. During these formative years, an emotional tie and social development play a crucial role. According to Erik Erikson, the social development at this stage inculcates a sense of trust towards others. It is imperative for the parents to adopt the authoritative way of parenting so that the child becomes socially competent and self-reliant, this is possible if the parents enjoy harmonious marriage and the family provides a congenial and progressive atmosphere. Every child is going to be a part of the society, as society is made up of people and therefore it is the prime responsibility of the parents to nurture their child with love and affection and should provide the child the best possible facilities so that the child turns out to be of positive temperament in terms of social, intellectual and emotional senses and be a better citizen to contribute the best to the nation.

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