Introduction
Comprehending the child’s changing growth and development is an important part of parenting. The growth and development of a child do not include only the physical changes that occur from infancy to adolescence but also changes in emotions, personality, behavior, thinking, and speech that children develop as they begin to interpret and interact with the world around them. The factors affecting the overall development of the child depend upon various factors such as genetics, environment, race, and nutrition. Development can occur in a variety of forms such as cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. It is really important to learn and understand the child’s development so that the parents can focus on the factors that affect it.
The initial years of the child’s growth and development are very crucial not just physically but also emotionally. Healthy development is important for every child including children with special needs. Children with special needs should have loving, caring, and safe surroundings. Sleep along with proper nutrition plays a vital role in the overall development of children. The period from infancy to the beginning of adulthood is when almost complete development occurs. The Infants are dependent on their parents or guardians for necessities and while growing into an adult the dependency decreases gradually and slowly.
Why Is It Important to Understand the Stages of the Child Development?
Development in children is a combined procedure and sequence of physical, emotional, social, and cognitive factors. Understanding these gradual changes and developments occurring in the child’s life is very important to the parents and the guardians. The physical changes are visible to the eyes but the social and emotional development needs to be taken care of and has to be patiently and carefully monitored. The behavioral changes occur gradually as the child grows up. The parents and the guardians have to look after the behavior of the child and have to try to shape the child’s behavior into a fine one. It is important for a child to stay away from emotional or physical abuse to stay in a healthy mind and conduct. Emotional traumas should be avoided and managed with proper guidance. It may affect the child’s overall development.
Proper nutrition should be provided to the child to maintain healthy growth and development. The children move from the stage of dependency on their surrounding people to complete independence as they grow into adults. A child’s development gets influenced by the genes it inherits from the family line and the initial phase of the prenatal life. Environmental factors and the cognitive capacity of the child also affect it. Occupational and speech therapists can help with any developmental or speech-related problems. Observing and monitoring a child’s development are important tools to ensure that children meet their ‘developmental milestones’. There can be various problems occurring related to the development of the child. The problem may include medical, genetic, environmental, emotional, or nutritional factors. It gets really important for the parents and the guardians to thoroughly understand and learn about the stages of the child’s development.
What Are the Factors Included in the Development of Children?
There are a few factors that influence the development of children mentioned below:
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Cognitive abilities are where a child learns about many things and solves problems.
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Interacting with the people surrounding them and focusing on how to control self manage their social interactions and regulate their emotions.
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Learning, understanding, reading, and communicating teach them about speech and language.
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Skills like fine motor skills and gross motor skills help in the development of physical skills.
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Sensory awareness is the ability to sense and comprehend things.
What Are the Stages of the Development of a Child?
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Newborn: While the child is in its first month of life, the newborn exhibits external stimuli to automatic responses. For example, when the newborn baby turns its head towards the parent or guardian after stroking its cheek. A newborn can see nearby objects, identify a few smells, smile, or cry when needed, and can also move its head sideways. There is a need to monitor the growth and development of the newborns as they may show signs of developmental disabilities such as spina bifida or genetic disorders.
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Infants: Infants develop new abilities in the initial year of their life. In the first six months, an infant is able to control its head movements and bring hands together. From the sixth to ninth month, infants can sit without needing any support, babble, and respond to a call of the name. From the ninth to twelfth month, they learn to crawl and they even try to stand with little help.
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Toddler: A child between the ages of one and three years is known as a toddler. In this stage, the child learns to walk independently, climb staircases and jump. The child gets a grip on a crayon and may also try to draw, may place a stack of one block on top of another, talk in short sentences, and even listen to simple instructions.
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Preschool: From the age of three and five years, children are observed to refine their motor skills. They can throw a ball, skip, hop, and balance on one foot for a while, and may also dress up. Developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy may occur during this stage of development.
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School Age: From the age of five to the 12th year of age children are generally considered as pre-teenagers. They grow into confident, capable, and almost independent human beings. At the end of this age, sexual characteristics start to develop and lots of hormonal changes occur. Disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may occur during this stage. Children in this stage need to be monitored carefully to avoid any negative traits.
What Are the Developmental Milestones?
The physical and behavioral signs of the child are known as the developmental milestones. Activities such as rolling over, responding to name-calling, walking, or talking are some examples of developmental milestones. Developmental milestones are different for different age groups. They notify about the proper growth and development of the child. Reaching any developmental milestone signifies the ideal and healthy development of the child. The time of children’s growth and development may vary a little from each other and is not the same for everyone. Parents should monitor for any abnormal behavior and consult a physician about it.
Conclusion
Checking a child’s development and progress at a particular age marks proper synchronization, it also allows the parents to ensure that the child is roughly following the timeline of specific growth patterns for their age. If not, the checking of developmental milestones can be useful in the early detection of any problem related to development. This observation is usually carried out by parents and pediatricians when the children are infants and toddlers, and later they are monitored through school-term skills assessments. Understanding the stages of the overall development of the child is an important factor in being a responsible parent or guardian.
