The Extent to Which the Environment Impacts upon a Childs Holistic Development - Coursework Example

Introduction to child development Introduction to child development It is the joy of any parent, teacher and the community as a whole to see a child grow from its initial stages to a fully grown individual in all aspects of life. With this in mind, there is a need for any child to develop in a holistic manner from an early stage. There are several factors that play a vital role in ensuring that from the first day, the child is able to obtain and acquire the relevant skills that will enable him or her to be independent in the future. One of the most important factors is the element of the environment. This is considered the most essential as it encompasses the surrounding and in particular all of the elements that the child interacts with and is able to obtain a number of teachings from. Besides, the adults that the child interacts with are also expected to assist in this development by offering support through their care and concern. Holistic Child Development Holistic child development refers to the aspect of recognition that the physical, cognitive, emotional, linguistic and social aspects of a child’s life are interrelated and interdependent and that therefore they cannot be separated. All the aspects of a child’s development take place in a simultaneous manner and each of the areas of their development is affected by the others (Neaum, 2010, p. 33). As such, the element of holistic development makes an attempt to understand the lived reality of learning and development in children. In order for a child to develop holistic development it encompasses the personal, social and emotional elements of development. These are the three main building blocks that lead to the success in the future lives of the individual. As such, they are closely linked together and are usually bracketed together as one component of learning and development. Personal development refers to the aspect of the individual being themselves. It refers to the ability by children to understand who they are and why it is possible for them to do the things that they can. For instance, it may include how they look at themselves. Social development helps the children to be social. It is from this element that they come to understand themselves in the sense that they can understand themselves in relation to others. It involves how they make friends and understand the rules of the society and hence the way that they behave towards each other. On the other hand, the emotional development helps the children to have feelings. In this sense, children are able to understand their own feelings as well as that of others. Proper interaction with the environment helps the children to stand in each others’ shoes and associate with the feelings of others. This is through the ability to view things from the perspectives of others. As such, the initiation of early PSED in the life of a child is important as it has a large impact on the later well being in the life of a child. It includes the learning, achievements and the economic circumstances. Role of the environment in a child’s holistic development The environment plays a very vital role in bringing about the holistic development of a child from its very early stages of life to the time that it can be said to be fully developed. In addition, adults also have an important role to play in the sense that they are expected to offer support and nourishment towards this development. They include the parents, older siblings and especially the early years’ practitioners. In this sense, it is important for the early year practitioners to know how young children can learn and develop and the way that they can help them to grow by supporting them in an effective way. As indicated by Veale, the child’s environment can be distinguished into three varied aspects that can be considered to be significant in their development. They are the indoor environment, the outdoor environment and the emotive or the social environment. The indoor environment Gandini (2012) and Broadhead and Burt (2012) highlight flexibility as being an essential element of an effective environment. This plays an important role in the child’s thinking in relation to close associations. The outdoor environment MacMillan, Froebel and Steiner recognized the importance of the outdoors in holistic development. He supports the theory of socio-cultural interaction that is purported by Vygotsky. According to him, the child learns culturally from the environment through the elements of signs and symbols. In particular, the reasoning of the child is mediated through the practical activities that they interact with from the social environment. In this sense, family and friends, the social community and the providers of educational facilities must understand the need for practical items to enable the child to gain holistic development. Some of the main tasks will include outdoor learning such as in forests. It will also be important to ensure that these environments are safe for the health of the children (Bergman et al., 2000, pp. 57-145). The emotional or the social environment This includes peer interaction and education that is provided by the adult to the child. These are recognized to be the most important social relationship that supports the holistic development of a child. These environments have an impact on varied holistic approaches in different ways. For instance, the family is one of the key elements that encourage the holistic development of the child. This is because it acts as the first environment from which the child is able to obtain a number of lessons. The child observes what goes around him or her in the family and is able to relate to the outside world based on the activities that go about within the family setup. In this sense, the indoor environment plays a major role in determining the influence that the family has on the holistic development of the child. Although the family environment should be close knit, it is also expected to be as flexible as possible to provide the child with the right conditions towards exposure. According to some of the psychological theories, the child ultimately turns out to be the way that the family members guided him. They suppose that it is the way with which adult members as well as the other members of the family interact with the child that will enable him or her to acquire the right attitudes, moral and character (Shaffer & Kipp 2013, p. 37). In addition, the outdoor environment is also crucial in relation to the family as pertains the holistic development of the child. It is not only in the way that the members of the family interact with the child that the child can develop holistically but also in the other outside things that the child is able to interact with. This is in terms of exposure. The family unit provides some of the basic elements that are related to holistic development. However, there are those that are found outside that do not present themselves within the smaller family unit. They include some of the challenges and interactions which a child need to deal with. It provides the essential outdoor learning factors that provide the child with a wider scope to deal with a wide variety of issues (Clark & Moss 2003, pp. 43-9). The emotional and social care is an important factor in the family that makes efforts towards the realization of holistic development in a child. This is mainly in terms of the provision of health and safety elements to the child. In this sense, as indicated in the Maslow’s hierarchy of need the element of health and safety can be attained at this point before the child can desire other forms of needs towards self fulfillment. It can also be used by friends and family as well as the social care providers and the entire society to determine the needs of the children at their different stages of development. They will be in a position to apply the model developed by Piaget to determine intellectual development. This is highly important in the educational set up where the teachers can make use of this to determine the kind and the amount of content that they give to children in different classes. Parents also use this to choose the kinds of activities that they make their children perform. For a holistic approach towards development, each of the stakeholders must ensure that the children are not over burdened at any particular stage (French 2003, p. 49). Biological and environmental factors that affect development There are a number of biological and environmental factors that have been found to affect the holistic development of a particular child. They are factors that touch on the varied holistic approaches. For instance, there are the heath of the mother and the home environment within which the child lives and grow up. These factors are related to certain indexes that include post partum depression and the perception of the mother towards social support. It is largely based on the theory that a child will be affected mostly by those conditions that affect the adult members around him in an indirect way. The challenges and stresses that affect the mother will also be passed to the child in one way or the other. It is because most of these factors are highly important to the early development of the child (Krough & Slentz 2002, p. 59). The other vital factors include the developmental care and the education services that are provided to the child. These include healthcare services such as checkups and ante natal services that act to ensure that there is proper physical development in the child. It is also related to the emotional and social care that is provided by the parents who seek the necessary services for the child. In addition, it includes the training that is provided during the early stages of life. One of the theories that can well be related to this aspect is the Piaget theory of psychology that talks about a child the ability of the child to observe and learn from the environment (Maxwell 2007, p. 230). Some of the other factors include the child development outcomes through which the physical health measures of the child can be said to be more common that the socio-cultural and the socio-emotive factors. This, as indicated by Brofenbrenner in his ecological systems theory shows that the child is a product of the ecological systems with which he interacts. Moreover, the biological and environmental factors such as wars and the availability of adequate and safe facilities such as water are also important players in ensuring holistic development in a child (MacWhinney & Bornstein 2003, p. 331). Role of the adult in supporting child development and creating a positive learning environment Apart from the role that a child needs to play in the effort to ensure that he undergoes holistic development, there are also those factors and individuals that are considered important towards this development. They are said to be the main stakeholders who form part of the holistic approaches that are present in the life of any child. They include health, education, government, social care, parents, family and friends, the entire society as well as the voluntary organizations (WHO 2002, par. 1-8). Although all the roles of the adults are likely to lead to the same result in a child’s development in relation to their holistic development, there are different viewpoints on the most appropriate roles of the adults in the play and learning of the child. They include the perspective that is offered by Steiner. It supposes that it is through imaginative teaching that a child can attain self actualization and achieve holistic development. These forms of teaching are more practical and interactive and involve a lot of participation by the children (Curtis & O’Hagan 2003, p. 59). On the contrary, there is the sustained shared thinking that suggests that as indicated by Vygosky, two or more people can work together through communication and collaboration to enhance the interactions and extend the learning activities of the child (French & Murphy 2005, pp. 110-25). Theories of child development Various theories of psychology have been developed to help in the explanation of child development. The various theories can be categorized into different forms. While some of them encourage the holistic development in children, there are those that provide reasons against it. In this sense, some of the theories do this in a more direct manner than the others. Some of the major theories include Piaget that discusses the exploration by the child, Marlow’s that highlights the needs of the child, Vygosky that shows the cultural element in child learning and Brofenbrenner’s theory, which reveals the ecological relationship to development. Ways with which the theories have influenced current practices These theories help to understand several factors about the need of practitioners to learn about the relevant components of holistic development in children (Neaum, 2010, p 9). This is because they are able to understand the unique ways with which children develop. For instance, with the Marlow’s hierarchy model, practitioners are provided with the knowledge of the most urgent and important needs. Before they can progress and provide some of the needs that include affection, they will ensure that the lower needs are satisfied first. Therefore, they ensure that the physiological needs such as food and shelter are provided first. In addition, Piaget’s theory of psychology helps the practitioners to act as role models to the children. It makes them realize that the children are like little scientists. They like to explore and make sense of the world around them. In this sense, they provide all the necessary and relevant materials that the children can learn from (Neaum, 2010, p15). Conclusion One of the most important elements of a child’s development in the society is its ability to do so in a full and complete manner. This is what entails holistic development since it involves all the areas of life. For this kind of development to take place, there are several factors such as the biological components and environment that play a major role. It is necessary for the adults around the child to understand these factors for them to provide the necessary activities and facilities for the development. In particular, the education practitioners should be aware of these factors so that they know the kind of learning activities to provide. Bibliography Bergman, R. Lars, Cairns, B. Robert, Nilsson, Lars-Goran, Nystedt, Lars, 2000. Developmental Science and the Holistic Approach. New York: Psychology Press. Curtis, A and O’Hagan. M., 2003. Care and education in early childhood: A student’s guide to theory and practice. London: Routledge Falmer. French, G., 2003. Supporting quality: Guidelines for best practice in early childhood services (2nd ed.). Dublin: Barnardos. French, G. and Murphy, P., 2005. 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