The Growing Truth About Our Youth

The first two years of an individual’s life span, known as the infancy stage, as well as the early childhood years, often thought of as the time between two and six years of age, contain an amazing amount of change and development for the body and brain.

These developments range from biophysical characteristics, such as body size and motor skills, to the psychological and cognitive aspects, such as communication and language usage; even more so into the social features of how adults and children interact with one another through relationships and emotional connections.

Both the internal foundation, such as genetics and hereditary, as well as the external environment, including cultural influences and caregiver relationships, work together to formulate these developments and changes and help to create the personality traits, intellectual qualities, and physical attributes of each child.

From a Psychological Perspective

Back in the 1920s, a scientist from Switzerland, by the name of Jean Piaget, revolutionized the field of cognitive psychology. He introduced and maintained the ideals that cognitive development occurs in four age-related periods, or stages:

(1) sensorimotor, (2) preoperational, (3) concrete operational,

and (4) formal operational.

These stages are depicted in the chart below:

Piaget Chart

The Sensorimotor stage involves a heightened use of the senses and motor function in order to begin comprehending and learning the surrounding environment. The infant in this stage, however, may continue to be unable to grasp concepts or develop continuous analytical thoughts from their sensory intake information.

In the Preoperational stage children present with unique self-expression, as well as increased interaction and communication with others.

The Concrete Operational stage involves the application of logic in order to view situations objectively and rationally; thought process, however, is still limited to their senses and experience as they are still unable to think outside their own environment.

Lastly, the Formal Operational stage involves the application of abstract and hypothetical concepts with the ability to analyze a situation beyond emotional involvement. Furthermore, ethical, political, social, and moral issues become relevant and important in this stage.

While it is apparent that the workings of Jean Piaget helped lay the groundwork for cognitive science in the twentieth century, and became one of the best-known and most influential cognitive scientists of his time, the research he performed and the theories he has developed continue to promote current research and practices today.

For example, almost every developmental textbook devotes a chapter to Piaget's ideas and research. His studies regarding a child’s ability to perform cognitive tasks such as problem solving, reasoning, and understanding of complex concepts have greatly influenced current methods used for teaching and conditioning children, in both the home and school settings; thus, opening the door to concepts such as cognitive development, learning, psychology, philosophy, cognitive linguistics, and education.

From a Personal Perspective

While Childhood Development from a Psychological viewpoint is significant, relevant, and meaningful, so are the personal aspects of a child’s growth and progression. The development of a child can be fascinating and entertaining, if that’s the kind of thing that sparks your interest.

I happened to believe that one of the most important factors that can encourage and stimulate, as well as discourage and eliminate, a child’s development, is the impact of the people around them.

The Family Influence

One of the most important influences a child will receive comes from the family unit. A family unit may not always consist of the traditional mother-father-sibling unit. In some instances, the primary caregiver may be a grandparent or an aunt or uncle. While the technical relationship between a child and their caregiver may have legal merit, the socioemotional relationship between them is likely more important to the child’s development.

The relationship between a child and their caregiver can have a profound influence on the positive and negative aspects of the child’s development. For example, it is essential for a caregiver to administer a healthy, well-balanced diet for the growing child. A common method in determining whether a child, or anyone for that matter, is eating a balanced diet is often seen in body shape, size, and weight. Abnormalities in these areas, according to healthcare providers, may be signs of improper diet, and can lead to physical health complications, as well as inhibition of normal biophysical growth patterns.

In addition to biophysical influence, a child’s family plays an important role in the cognitive and/or psychological development of that child. Introduction and advancement in communication skills including language acquisition often begins with the family members and is then progressed through schooling. If communication skills are not initiated, as well as continued at home, the child may experience difficulty in school and social situations.

Furthermore, behavioral patterns presented by the child’s family are often mimicked by the child and become the child’s behavioral model. Therefore, psychologists encourage that the family unit have constructive, consistent, and positive behavior tactics for the child to learn from.

A positive and healthy relationship between a child and their family unit can help to amplify emotions such as happiness and diminish emotions of fear, sadness, and anger whereas a negative and unhealthy relationship may produce the opposite. Furthermore, these relationships create a foundation for the child’s future relationships, as well as their ability or inability to socialize with others in the community.

Parenting Styles

While it is evident that a parent(s) and/or caregiver is able to portray a great deal of influence over a child, the question of which parenting techniques are most appropriate, effective, and beneficial is often a topic of discussion. Parenting techniques may vary from sleeping and eating habits to learning methods and even further to forms of discipline and behavior correction.

Many of the variations in parenting techniques are often due to cultural differences; however, these variations may also be a result of generational traditions, as well as new innovative research in infancy and childhood development.

A frequently debated issue regarding newborn babies involves the preferred location of where the baby sleeps at night. It is considered a Western tradition that babies sleep in a crib in a separate room from their parents; however, in Eastern, African, and Latin cultures it is more common to find the baby in the same room as the parents, often referred to as co-sleeping.

Co-sleeping does not, however, specify whether the baby is in the same bed as the parents or in a crib in the parents’ room. A baby sleeping in the same bed as the parents may provide a comfort to both the child and the parent, but it may also pose a danger of falling out of the bed or being smothered by a stirring parent.

Also, theoretically speaking, if a baby sleeps alone it may promote independence and individuality which, dependent on the cultural, may be considered positive or negative personality traits. Therefore, many pediatricians recommend a possible compromise involving the baby sleeping in a separate crib in the parents’ room; this may provide a comfort for both the parent and the child having close proximity to one another, as well as offering a safe place for the baby and plenty of room for the parent in their own bed.

In addition to sleeping habits, another controversial subject depicts the proper form in which to discipline and/or correct behavioral patterns of a child. Aside from excessive disciplinary actions which can be deemed abusive, the question of finding a balance between appropriateness and effectiveness is often the issue.

A common method of addressing and regulating a child’s behavior is through the utilization of reinforcements and/or punishments via incentives; an incentive can be either an expected reward or an unwanted response which takes place secondary to a particular behavior or performance of a specific task.

A positive incentive becomes a reinforcer, and a negative incentive becomes a punisher.

Once again, finding the balance between the appropriateness of the incentive, both the negative and the positive, and the effectiveness to produce the desired result is the key to this method of discipline.

Final Thoughts:

In conclusion, infants and young children experience a wide range of changes and developments to both their body and brain during the first six years of their life. Furthermore, each development, although seemingly independent, often creates change and future growth, thus producing a domino effect with the entire body; thus, a kink in the chain or an absence of a vital piece of the line-up can cause adverse effects and a crooked developmental pattern. Therefore, it is crucial that proper education, suitable guidance, and the providence of necessities are presented when caring for these young ones.

References:

Berger, K. S. (2011). The developing person through the life span (8th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.

Deckers, L. (2010). Motivation: Biological, psychological, and environmental (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Fischer, K. & Kaplan, W. (2005). Piaget, Jean. In Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/entry/wileycs/piaget_jean

Siegler, R. S. & Ellis, S. (1996, July). Piaget on Childhood. Sage Publications, Inc. Psychological Science, 7(4), 211-215. Rerieved from URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40062947

Tedtalks (director). (2011, February 18). Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies. Retrieved April 18, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XBIkHW954

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