Learning about ChildrenChapter 1 - Section 1.1

Key Concepts• Explain the best way to learn about children.• Identify three areas of childhood that researchers

have studied

Why Learn About Child Development?

Create a list of three reasons you want to learn about child development.

How do you hope what you learn in this class might make a difference in children’s lives?

The cure for crime is NOT in the electric chair, but in the high chair!

The future is determined by the outcome of parenting!

A few headlines:

▫Couple in trouble for letting dog harm kids…

▫Texas mom accused of leaving her kids in Nigeria…

▫Coroner says bleeding from trauma killed girl, 2; Mom claims innocence…

▫Foster Care judges swamped…

So…

•What are some solutions?

•How will YOU prevent this from happening in your family?

Your Impact on Children

•Have you ever really thought about the process by which children grow up and become independent adults?

•People and events shape who children become.

•Studying child development will help you learn how you can make a positive difference in a child’s life.

Benefits of Studying Children

•As you learn more about how children grow and develop, you will understand them better. ▫Learn why children feel, think, and act the

way they do.▫Discover caregivers’ importance.▫Enjoy children more.▫Learn about career opportunities.

Typical Behavior

•A way of acting or responding that is common at each stage of childhood

•Understanding these behaviors can help you respond to children more appropriately.

Caregivers provide children

•Affection needed for physical growth•Stimulation for learning•How to know right from wrong•How to get along with others

The word “Childhood” means many different things to different people.•Depends in part on what your own

childhood was like.▫A carefree time of security…▫A time of hardship…

•For everyone Childhood is a time of rapid development, dependence on caregivers, and preparation for adult life.

•“Children need people in order to become human…It is primarily through observing, playing and working with others older and younger than himself that a child discovers both what he can do and who he can become.”

◦ Urie Brofenbrenner, psychologist and family advocate

Childhood has not always been considered a separate, important stage of life.•Before the 20th century:

▫Nothing special or important about the early years

▫Children were meant to be “seen and not heard.”

▫Little was known about the emotional and intellectual needs of children.

•Changing attitudes, social changes, and advances in technology and medicine have changed views about childhood.

Children in the past/Children Today

Families in the past/Families Today

Education in the past/Education Today

Childhood Past and PresentPast Present

• Health: many childhood diseases lead to death in almost every family

• Education: single classrooms. School not required until 1918

• Love: unchanged• Work: children were

expected to work at an early age.

• Play: few toys and most handmade

• Dress: formal

• Health: many diseases controlled and better nutrition

• Education: Grouped by age/ability. Required to attend school.

• Love: unchanged• Work: laws ban children

from working adult jobs• Play: endless toys and it is

the how children learn• Dress: casual

Why is Childhood Crucial?

•Childhood is a time of preparation for adulthood.

•Recent research has shown that early childhood may be the most important life stage for brain development.

Why I Took Child Development?

•Write a paragraph, at least 10 sentences, explaining why you took child development.

•Then answer these questions:▫What do you hope to learn?▫Are there topics you’d like to discuss?