Developmental Stages of Childhood

• Every child is a unique person with an individual temperament, learning style, family background, and pattern and timing of growth.

• There are, however, universal, predictable sequences of growth and change that occur during the first nine years of life.

• As children develop, they need different types of stimulation and interaction to exercise their evolving skills and to develop new ones.

• At every age, meeting basic health and nutritional needs is essential.

Approximate Age What children do What children need

Birth to 3 months Begin to smile

Track people and objects with eyes

Prefer faces and bright colors

Reach, discover hands and feet

Lift head and turn toward sound

Cry, but often soothed when held

Protection from physical dangerAdequate nutrition

Adequate health care (immunization, oral  rehydration therapy, hygiene)

Motor and sensory stimulation

Appropriate language stimulationResponsive, sensitive parenting

4 to 6 months Smile oftenPrefer parents and older siblings

Repeat actions with interesting results

Listen intently, respond when spoken to

Laugh, gurgle, imitate sounds

Explore hands and feet

Put objects in mouth

Sit when propped, roll over, scoot, bounce

Grasp objects without using thumb

All of the above

7 to 12 months

Remember simple events

Identify themselves, body parts, familiar voices

Understand own name, other common words

Say first meaningful words

Explore, bang, shake objects

Find hidden objects, put objects in containers

Sit alone

Creep, pull themselves up to stand, walk

May seem shy or upset with strangers

All of the above

1 to 2 years Imitate adult actions

Speak and understand words and idea

Enjoy stories and experimenting with objects

Walk steadily, climb stairs, run

Assert independence, but prefer familiar people

Recognize ownership of objects

Develop friendshipsSolve problems

Show pride in accomplishments

Like to help with tasksBegin pretend play

In addition to the above, support in:Acquiring motor, language, and thinking  skills

Developing independence

Learning self-controlOpportunities for play and exploration

Play with other childrenHealth care must also include deworming

Early Childhood

• The early childhood stage (2-6 years) of development is fun and exciting for both the child and the parent.

• During this time, a child goes through many physical, cognitive and social changes.

Physical Development• Growth rate slows: the average child in this stage grows

21/2 inches in height and 5-7 pounds per year. • Body fat declines during preschool years.

• Boys have more muscle while girls have more fat.

• Gross and fine motor skills progress rapidly. Gross motor skills include running, skipping and jumping. Fine motor skills include turning pages of a book and learning to write and draw.

• The most important physical development during early childhood is the brain and nervous system growth.

• The average preschool child requires 1700 calories per

day. Well balanced meals are important in this stage because their diet affects skeletal growth, body shape and susceptibility to disease.

Cognitive Development• From 2-7 years of age children form stable concepts and

mental reasoning begins to develop. • From 2-4 years children develop symbolic reasoning (the

ability to picture an object that is not present.). • Egocentrism starts out strong in early childhood, but

weakens. • Magical beliefs are constructed. • Between 4-7 years of age the child develops intuitive

thought (the use of primitive reasoning skills and wondering "why").

Social Development• As children seek greater autonomy, temper tantrums

sometimes appear, though often subside with age. Discipline and style of parenting is an important developmental influence.

• The child develops a sense of self around the end of the second year.

• Initiative appears: the child starts making things happen.

• One of the types of parenting styles is the authoritarian style of parenting. This style is characterized by high expectations of compliance and conformity to parental rules and directions. The problem with authoritarian parenting is that the parental rules and directions often change when the parent feels like changing them, so the child never truly knows what is expected. The situation could be described as unfair and threatening. Many children raised by authoritarian parents live in a constant state of fear. They tend to display less self-confidence and are withdrawn socially. Some children might also rebel by openly defying the parents by leaving home at a younger age, partaking in drugs, alcohol, and sexual behavior at a much younger age, dating or marrying a partner whom they know their parents would disapprove of, and often might be estranged from their parents during adulthood.

• The second of the four types of parenting styles is permissive parenting. This style is typically characterized by a warm, loving relationship between parent and child, but is flawed by low expectations of behavior. In other words, the permissive parent is usually afraid to make demands on the child much less hold them to any standard. This type of parent simply wants the child to like them at the end of the day and will do anything the child requests to do. Children raised by overly permissive parents tend to suffer from a lack of focus, immaturity and problems with emotional regulation. The children can not control their impulses and do not accept the responsibility for their own actions. When in trouble, the child will simply blame someone else even if it was their own fault. They tend to live and remain close to where they grew up, still dependent, in early adulthood.

• Neglectful parenting is another one of the types of parenting styles. This style is best described as a step beyond permissive parenting. The neglectful parent may provide food and shelter, but is generally emotionally uninvolved in the child's life. A good example of this would be parents who never ask their child questions about their day, their friends, or their education. A neglected child may have serious issues going on outside the home, but the neglectful parent is never aware of them until something potentially tragic occurs. Many times children will grow up feeling resentment against their parents for being neglectful and often might be estranged from them into adulthood.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1332200

• The last of the types of parenting styles, and definitely the one that is considered ideal, is authoritative parenting. This type of parent holds high expectations of the child's behavior while allowing the child to talk about those expectations. Parental rules and directions imposed on the child are fair and expressed clearly. The authoritative parent teaches the child about cause and effect, decision-making and self-sufficiency. Authoritative parents raise children who are successful, articulate, happy with themselves, and generous with others. This results in them being liked and respected by their peers and allows them to be generally well-rounded adults.

• Parents should strive to raise their children with the authoritative style of parenting.

•Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1332200

• Conscience appears: the child knows right from wrong and is often afraid of being caught doing something wrong.

• Gender identity develops through biological and social influences. Social influences include parents, peers and media sources.

• Morality develops, influenced by role models. Peer relations develop, children often want to dress, talk and act like their friends.

• Social development of a child in the early childhood stage is influenced by type of parenting, economic status of the family and family structure.

• Play is important.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Ages ranging from 7-12 years old

• Growth during middle childhood, children grow at a slow consistent rate before reaching a large growth spurt during adolescence.

Skeletal and Muscular• The average weight increase during middle childhood is

5 to 7 pounds a year. The average height increase is 2 to 3 inches a year. By the age of 11 years, the average girl is 4 feet, 10 inches tall, and the average boy 4 feet, 9 1/2 inches tall.

• while the legs become longer, and the body trunk becomes slimmer. Strength gradually increases due to heredity and exercise, doubling their strength, during these years. Because of a greater number of muscle cells boys are usually stronger than girls.

Motor Skills• Children’s motor skills become smoother and more

coordinated than in early childhood.

Example, they are able to master running, skipping, bicycle riding, and skating.

• Gross motor skills involve mastery of large muscle movements. Fine motor skills are those dealing with dexterity. (agility/ handiness).

• Boys will usually out perform girls in gross motor skills, whereas girls typically perform better than boys in fine motor skills.

• Example: Gross : running, jump, hump,throw a ball, and slide.

Fine : paste objects, zip a zipper,control pencil and crayons well, cut simple shapes, and copy simple shapes

• As children get older they become more aware of their bodies, and more able to control their physical movements.

• Children are able to keep their attention longer, and have less distracting body movement.

School

Childhood Stress

• Children experience many different types of stress in many shapes and forms

• From gender, physical abilities, family life, economic and social class, education, and ethnicity.

• Stress is defined as the response of individuals to the events that threaten them and affect their coping abilities.

• One of the major stressors children have to cope with is the separation from parents or guardian.

• Children have to adjust to the beginning of school. Middle age children begin to attend school for 5 to 7 hours, five days a week.

• Parents of middle age children usually begin to work part and full time jobs when children start elementary school.

• Thus, causing the children to attend an after school program, daycare facility, or arrive home to a babysitter or caregiver.

Social Devlopment

Children And Parental Roles

• Parents are dealing with adjusting to children finding themselves, attending school, and becoming more independent.

• Bringing up role issues and identity. Parents deal with discipline and how to go about praising and disciplining their children.

• Where children become more rebellious, and try to stand for what they feel is right.

• Therefore they are more likely to go against the authority of the parents, causing control to be joint, accepting input from both children and parents.

PEERS

• School age children are challenged with the issue of being accepted in their school environment.

Example, being part of the popular crowd, having friends, wearing the "cool" clothes, being noticed, and how everyone perceives them.

School age children start to look at their friends as advisors, instead of their adult figures.

• School age children spend a great amount of time with peers, about 40% of their day.

• They interact with peers in classroom settings, sport activities, and afterschool programs.

• Children are labeled by their peers as popular, those that are thought of as the "best friend" and accepted.

• Neglected children are those who are not considered "best friends", but are also accepted.

• Rejected children are usually not considered the "best friend", and are usually disliked by peers.

• Controversial children are placed in between being the "best friend", and being the disliked friend.

Becoming Individual

• School age children grow through many changes, and are developing greatly.

• During the school age years, children are developing their individual selves, and finding their place and belonging.

• Self-esteem is a key factor in development throughout life. During the school age years, children are dealing with many different challenges, environments and problems everyday.

• This is when self-esteem issues really begin to emerge and children are often sent on an emotional roller coaster.

• Schoolage children are trying to find themselves and their place, in terms of gender, social status, and ethnic background.

• Morals have a great effect on a child becoming an individual.

• They are being taught morals from their families, school, and religious backgrounds.

• Children are trying to make sense of all the beliefs and make them their own.