Development of a Child - Assignment Example

Development of a child Introduction A child passes through various stages before he can be considered to have fully developed. It was concluded that the cognitive development of a normal child takes four different stages. The first stage is known as the sensory motor stage. This stage occurs in children from the birth period to the age of two years. The second stage is the pre operational stage that occurs at the age between two to seven years. The third stage that children undergo is the concrete stage. This stage takes place in children at the age between seven to eleven or twelve years of age. The last stage is formal operational stage. This is the stage that the adolescents pass through. The stage takes place from the age of eleven up to the age of sixteen and above (Berk 67). At every stage, many factors affect a child’s cognitive development. These factors are very essential for child’s development and if they lacked, that would present a danger towards the child’s cognitive development. However, not all factors that trigger child’s development positively. These factors are usually evident in the third and the last stage where the child’s mind is about to fully mature. At this stage, the child is prone to impact and hence guidance is necessary. Parents, relatives, teachers, as well as other members of the society, should take the responsibility of guiding the children at those steps (Gray 12). Discussion Every parent has a very vital role to play to ensure that her child develops in the right manner. Susie’s mom needed to consider several features before letting her daughter enroll in any given daycare. This is because some of the day care’s features may not be favorable to Suzie. This would take place if Suzie were forced to interact with kids that are not compatible with her age. Suzie’s mother had to put into considerations a number of factors. One of the factors that she was supposed to consider is the ratio of adult to child ratio. It was necessary for Suzie’s mother to enroll her in a day care where each adult is allocated to only a few children. This feature is very essential because, at that particular age of Suzie, the child requires plenty of attention if she is to take the right course of development (Salkind 32). The other factor that Susie’s mom needs to consider is the group size. She needs to find out the number of children in that particular group. It will be better if the group has a small number of children. This is because it is difficult for adults to look after many children. An example to this is a group of 25 children taken care of two adults compared to ten children with two adults. It would be the convenience of the parent for her child to be in a group of few children. This is because a small group is like a family (Berk 87). The mother should inquire the qualifications of the caretaker and also his or her training. The caretakers who are educated will be of great benefit in helping the child learn. She should also inquire whether the caretakers are furthering their education or attending workshops. This is the importance as it will help in the learning of the child. It is also value to check the turnover of the caretaker. He or she should be working permanently in the home. This is to avoid the child from using energy in catching up with new caretakers. The energy in return is used in the learning process (Gray 32). The mother should acquire the accreditation of the home. She should inquire if the national government registers the home. This is to make sure that they have met the standards of the state. If the state has registered them the parent will be sure that the child will be in good hands. The government bodies include the National Association for the Young Childrens Education and also the National Association for Family Child Care. The Piaget is the second stage in the development of the child. This was the pre operational stage in the growth of a child. This is the stage of two to seven years of age. At this stage, children thought processes are developing even though this is different from the logical thought. This is judged from the adult sense of the world. There is also the development of the vocabulary in the child. This happens when they change from babies and toddlers to little people (Salkind 43). The children who are pre- operational are also egocentric. This means that they can be able to consider things from their own perspective. They also imagine that it is this view that even the adults have. After some time in this stage, decentering occurs. This is when a child accepts that they are not at the attention of everyone. They accept the fact that something else can be in attention (Berk 143). Another characteristic of the pre- operational stage is the Animism. This happens when person beliefs that there is consciousness in everything that is in existence. The best example to this is when a child believes that a car cannot start because it has become sick or even tired.In this stage, the child in most of the times assumes that everything is like them. Everything else can feel pain if they too can feel it (Gray 28). The last aspect in the operational stage of a child is symbolism. This is when particular things are allowed to symbolize or stand for something else. Moral realism is this stage’s forth aspect. In this stage,the child’s mode of thinking about the difference that exists between wrong and right is shared by everybody else around the children. The only thing possible is one aspect of the situation at a time. That makes to them impossible to coordinate two things at a time. For this fact, the children are able to respect and became obedience (Salkind 54). There is also the concrete operational stage. This was the Piaget third stage in the development of the child. The commonly affected children are those in the age of seven and twelve years of age. At this stage of development, the thoughts of the child are more rational. They are also mature and they tend to think like adults and hence very operational. There is the tendency of this process to continue along the teenage process. This process is divided into two stages by the Piaget. These are the Concrete Operations and also the Formal Operations stage. The formal operation is undergone by adolescents (Gray 77). In concrete operational stage, a child gains the experience of developing a logical thought concerning a particular object if they are capable of manipulating it. However, when it comes to formal operational stage the physical presence of an object is not necessary for thought to take place. The concrete operational stage has an aspect of believing in animism while egocentric thinking in this stage tends to decline. However, remnants of this mode of thought are often revealed in adults. There are claims that before this stage begin that the ideas of children concerning different objects are dominated and formed by the object’s appearance (Crowe 12). In the Concrete Operational Stage, children gain a gradual development in the ability to learn or conserve that objects are not necessarily the way they appear. This takes place when children gain the capability of taking an object in several different features. This is achieved through looking at that particular object. Children gain the aspect of beginning to make imaginations concerning different aspects of any given object through having a look at it. Children also increase the perspective of imagining different scenarios of the probability of something else that could happen. Children for their initial time are capable of conserving the ideas concerning objects that they are most conversant and comfortable. The mode of young childrens thinking tends to be closely tied to the children’s personal point of view. Children at their pre operational stage do not revise their thoughts. Centration aspect is the children’s tendency of focusing on only one aspect and neglecting others. This can be tested with the use of several items and interchanging them to understand the child’s focus. Conservation is the aspect of children’s idea that that characteristics of an object remains even when the physical appearance change. The use of commodities of different colors can be used to test it (Gray 76). Sense of identity of young children develops as they interact with other people. They pay all their attention to the people around them. When the children notice the people around them they start comparing themselves with these people. This self concept grows gradually at the childhood years. During these periods, the children are in a better position to improve understanding of how they fit in the environment. The interactions of the child with groups of persons can make a child confident and comfortable. It is by these factors that a child learns the dos and the don’ts in the society (Gray 89). At the age of two to five years, children learn about themselves and also construct their identity with the context of the communities and families. This includes the relationships they experience from people, things, places and also the responses and actions they get from the people around him or her. They tend to formulate their identity in accordance to the experiences they undergo. These relationships form the foundation for the children’s construction of their own identities. In this early childhood setting a child develop a sense of identity when they attain the feeling of acceptance, trust those who care for them and develop attachments. In this process of developing their sense of identity, they explore different aspects of the identity through their relationships and play (Salkind 95). Since children reveal their identity through social relations, the children end up developing social identities. These social identities present many positive results. However, it is necessary to note that negative effects are also experienced as a result of these social identities. Since the social identities are not learnt under isolation, children will thereby acquire the things that they share with the common people,and also the differences they have with those who are outside their life (Crowe 19). In relation to the gender identities, this is also evident. Male children will try to define the differences they have with the female children. The features such as masculinity are shown by the factors of being stronger, dominant and also independent. Femininity is also characterized by the features that are weak, submissive and also dependent. Friends have a very vital role in the development of a child in the early childhood. Children run to make new friends. Different children have different capabilities in the number of friends one can make. The level of intimacy between the friends also varies from one child to another. The importance of friendship in the western countries becomes progressive when the child s exposed to the wider family and also the community. This happens in a group care unit and eventually the school environment. The interaction with the family members is significant as well as that of friends and also peers. The friends of a child are the ones who influence the self-identification of the child. They also influence the categorization of the child (Berk 132). Each one of the young children has the urge to create an interpersonal relation with the friends and also the family members. The level of trust in the friendship dimensions are the same in children as that of the adults. The levels may include intimacy, trust, support and also maturity. Friendships are complex issues, they are hard to build and also require effort to maintain. As there is participation of the children in their roles they build a sense of where they belong. They also understand the roles they will play in the future as adults (Gray 112). The "No child left behind," was a law that was formulated in the United States. This was the efforts of the secretary of education. This system tries encourage the teachers in the schools to not just teach what the child will be examined. This is because this may leave behind the disadvantaged children. As a result of this system, the United States does not have to track the result of the children who are poor, disabled or the children of color. There were consequences for the schools that did not consider the education of disadvantaged children. The schools that did not meet the performance targets interventions were made and the entire school turned around (Salkind 93). The system of the no child left behind was a disaster. However, the conditions that were required to access the performance of the disadvantaged groups and compare it with the performance of the other students were a recipe for deteriorating the efforts that supported students who already had huge challenges. The requirements to report had tremendously fallen as a result of the waivers and the intervention was not triggered automatically (Crowe 24). Conclusion For a society to remain, children must be born. However, the process in which the children will use in their development will determine the society that will be available in the future. Children have high affinity of absorbing many behaviors that do happen in the society either good or evil. It is, therefore, possible to raise a good and responsible society if necessary measures are taken when children are in the children’s development stage. Works cited Berk, Laura E. Child Development. Boston: Pearson, 2006. Print. Crowe, Christina. Psychology – Developmental Psychology. New York: Wiley Gray, Peter. Psychology. New York: Worth, 2006. Print. Salkind, Neil J. Child Development. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. Print. Read More