Child development

Child development is an early stage of human development, a necessary process during which young humans grow physically, mentally, and emotionally. During this process, they gain the skills necessary to survive and succeed in life. The development of children is based on countless factors, most of which may be categorized as biological (relating to the form and functions of the body) or environmental (relating to outside influences). Over time, some theorists have favored one factor over another, but modern theorists mainly embrace the idea that both biology and environment are crucial contributors to the child development process.

Overview

Biological and Environmental Factors

Humans are biologically designed to grow, develop, and change through their lifespans. In the most basic sense, humans begin as a tiny collection of cells that develop into a human form during the approximately nine months of gestation. Upon birth, most humans weigh less than ten pounds and have extremely limited motion and cognition skills. Their inborn abilities, such as swallowing food and focusing their eyes on stimuli, are so basic that infants cannot survive without assistance. Through the long process of child development, children grow from this stage of near-helplessness into young people with comparatively many skills and ever-growing, increasingly advanced knowledge.

Many biological factors contribute to child development. A few of the major forces include brain chemistry, levels of hormones, and genetic influences. These factors all relate to prenatal settings in the functions of the body and mind that will greatly affect later growth and development. For example, the role of genetics may clearly be seen in cases where a child resembles their parents in terms of hair, eye, or skin color. Some genetic influences, although encoded at conception, may only fully manifest themselves much later in life, such as one’s final adult height or an inherited increased risk of getting a particular disease.

Biologically, one of the primary drivers of development is nutrition. The need for proper nutrition begins long before birth; the pregnant person's diet and health during pregnancy is crucial for giving the child the basic tools for development. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, and avoiding drugs, smoking, and alcohol, are good guidelines for pregnancy. Moreover, many parents-to-be follow special dietary rules designed to increase the health of their unborn child. For instance, many doctors advise that increasing intake of folic acid during pregnancy can greatly reduce the chances that the child will have certain birth defects of the spine or brain.

Another highly influential factor in developmental biology is the sex of the child. Biological sex is determined by microscopic substances within the cells called chromosomes. Most people have twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that help to determine sex. Twenty-two of these pairs are alike in male and female children, but a variation in the final pair is what creates the major differences between the sexes. Girls usually have double X chromosomes, while boys typically have one X and one Y chromosome. The presence or absence of the Y chromosome leads to a substantial number of changes to the developing child.

Obvious physical differences are present at birth and develop through time. Variations in mental and emotional development are also extensive between boys and girls. The chromosomal difference also leads to hormonal variations that may have a significant effect on the child’s behavior. Females have sex hormones called estrogen, while males have sex hormones called androgen. Some children may have extra chromosomes or respond to sex hormones differently, causing them to develop

Biology is extremely important, but it is only one determinant of a child’s developmental path. Countless environmental factors, or influences from outside sources, are also highly influential. These include proper care from parents or guardians and lessons learned directly or indirectly from others. Other people’s attitudes and actions, and how they react to and view the child, may all enhance or detract from the child’s development in some way.

Environmental factors also include the stability of a child’s home life and social sphere, and the safety of their environment. For example, harmful chemicals in a town or home could, over time, create a lasting impression on the development of a child. Children who grow up in smoking households may face, in the short- or long-term, the serious harmful effects of second-hand smoke. Nutrition also plays into the environmental factor since a child must have access to healthy food to reach their full potential.

After the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, the rapid spread of which resulted in drastic control measures such as lockdowns and social distancing restrictions worldwide, many experts monitored and reported on this period's effects on child development. Several reported that such environmental changes likely disrupted regular development for many children, especially as their public education and activities were limited to avoid contraction and further spread of the virus. According to ongoing studies, in the early 2020s there was an increase in the number of cases in which children experienced delays in learning skills such as boundary awareness and even talking; in general, greater behavioral problems were observed.

Areas of Child Development

The ongoing interplay of biology and environment that contributes to development affects a child in many ways. Physical growth and development through the early years can be plainly seen, as a newborn of perhaps nine pounds develops into a toddler, a child, an adolescent, and finally a teenager who may be five or more feet tall and bear little resemblance to the child in their earliest stages. Physical development is not always visible, however; many of the most important physical developments involve the growing abilities of the body to move and use its parts and muscles. Over time, through learning, experimentation, and practice, children develop both small and large motor skills. Small motor skills include using the hands to draw, write, and handle food. Large motor skills encompass full-body tasks such as standing, sitting, walking and running, and moving into various positions.

The other major area of child development occurs cognitively. Cognitive abilities may take nearly countless forms. The broadest and most common of these abilities include thinking, learning, and understanding new information. Over time, a child’s developing cognition allows them to remember increasing amounts of information and solve many kinds of problems. For an infant, a problem might constitute how to climb onto a chair; for an older child, a problem might involve fixing a broken toy or solving math questions for school.

The linguistic area of development is closely related to cognitive development. Linguistic, or language, development involves a child’s ability to communicate with other living things. Most children learn to make sounds and then to form words and sentences. They may also learn to communicate with body language, including sign language. The other half of communication, and another major facet of language development, is the ability to receive, listen to, understand, and react to others’ messages.

The development of the body and mind enables a much further range of growth for children. One major facet of child development is social and emotional, relating to the myriad ways children can interact with and develop relationships with people in their family, friends they make, and teachers and other authority figures. Emotional development is often a key to forming healthy relationships, as children learn ways to identify, understand, manage, and constructively express their feelings, as well as interpret and react properly to the feelings of others. For example, an infant might react to frustration by crying and screaming, whereas a more developed child is more likely to vent negative feelings in a more controlled manner and devote more thought and energy to trying to overcome the frustration.

Similarly, through their ongoing personal and social development, children will likely develop their own unique approaches to the learning process. Some children discover an aptitude for hands-on learning, while others may seek information by watching others or asking questions. They may develop and incorporate their learning abilities at home, at school, and even at play. Children playing at a park may seem to only be having fun, but they are likely learning and developing physical motion skills, the rules of games, and ways to interact with other children, at the same time.

Although the facets of child development may be categorized in many ways, experts have shown that they are all interconnected. In fact, they are so closely related that the most effective approach to child development is generally to consider the child as a whole. For example, the physical ability to walk will almost certainly open new opportunities for learning, and the linguistic ability to speak will help to hone skills for expressing emotions. Development in one way will almost undoubtedly affect development in other areas.

Milestones and Evaluating Progress

Although children are not all the same and grow and learn in unique ways, experts have identified accomplishments that typify children’s development during certain stages of life. These accomplishments, known as developmental milestones, help parents and experts evaluate the approximate progress of a child’s development. Slight variations in reaching milestones are perfectly normal, depending on the child’s individual situation. However, if parents or guardians notice a serious delay in a child in meeting a particular milestone, they should consult a doctor. A missed milestone may be a sign of a developmental disorder or other concern that, if identified early, may be treated or corrected before it impacts the child’s ongoing development.

For example, in the first year of life, a child may reasonably be expected to learn skills such as smiling, rolling over, recognizing and reacting appropriately to the word “no,” and standing. During the toddler years, from around one to three years of age, a child should begin feeding and dressing themself mostly independently, walk up and down stairs, use more words, and understand basic commands. Social skills such as sharing and taking turns should manifest during the toddler period as well. Similarly increasing accomplishments should mark the preschool years (three to six), the early school years (six to twelve), and the adolescent and teenage years (twelve to eighteen). At eighteen, a normally developing child may be considered a healthy, fully functioning young adult—although a person’s development will likely continue through life.

Viewpoints

The basic process of child development has been part of the human experience since its inception, and in many ways mirrors the process by which animals grow and change throughout their lifespans. In that way, child development has existed in some form for hundreds of millions of years. However, few people specifically studied child development, or even acknowledged it as a potentially worthwhile field of study, until relatively modern times.

Few records from ancient or medieval times show very extensive interest in studying children’s development. Events such as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment brought some increased focus on the idea that humans were unique, special, and worth investigating. During the rise of psychology, the scientific study of the mind, scholars began to ask difficult questions about humans, such as why they behave as they do. Some thinkers began to search for answers to such questions in contemplations of how humans grow, learn, and change throughout their lives.

One highly influential philosopher, John Locke, posited that newborn children embody a tabula rasa, or “blank slate”—in other words, they know nothing upon birth and are entirely formed and informed by life experiences and the teachings of others. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau took a broader approach to the question of development. In writings such as his 1762 novel Émile, Rousseau detailed a proposed model of childhood development from infancy through childhood and finally to adolescence, with a particular focus on the seeding and growth of good citizenship skills. Later, the discoveries and writings of British biologist Charles Darwin added multiple new dimensions to the study. Darwin’s findings about the evolution of living things helped to contextualize human development as a natural process by which generations pass on useful traits to subsequent generations to perpetuate their species.

Great minds such as these provided philosophical and scientific foundations for the study of child development. However, the modern field of study did not truly begin to take shape until the late 1800s and early 1900s. At that time, growing interest in human behavior and increasing knowledge of the depth and complexity of the human experience allowed the field to bloom.

One of the first modern researchers of child development was G. Stanley Hall, who applied the findings of Darwin to the human life cycle. Basically, he suggested that humans develop through their lives much as species develop through thousands or millions of years of evolution. Hall was among the first serious researchers to recognize the vast importance of the childhood years in the development of adults, and his teachings inspired generations of new researchers. Another writer and teacher who stressed the importance of child development was James Mark Baldwin. He conducted some breakthrough studies of infants and how they grow and learn, applying his findings to various theories of evolution, psychology, and other fields. Like Hall, Baldwin motivated many young scientists to pay greater attention to this burgeoning area of investigation.

Founder of the psychological study of behaviorism, John Watson made an indelible mark on the study of child development. Watson supported the idea that environmental factors played a tremendous role in the development of young people. He believed that babies are born knowing very little, and all later knowledge, attitudes, and even fears are gained through conditioning, or experience and learning. Watson believed that children deserved to be treated with respect but suggested that excessive affection and coddling by parents could stunt development by making children incapable of handling the strains and stresses of adult life.

Another researcher, Sigmund Freud, took a different approach to Watson’s by focusing not on external stimuli but on the deepest recesses of the mind. Although many of Freud’s theories have been criticized and questioned over time, he helped to popularize the idea of children progressing through stages during which they seek to gain essential new abilities and understandings of the world around them.

Beginning in the 1920s, Arnold Gesell expanded on the idea that humans develop along relatively predictable paths. Gesell focused on the role of biology in driving changes from within, with reduced influence from outside forces. His experiments, observations, and writings helped to introduce the idea of “norms,” or developmental accomplishments common to children of various ages. By studying an individual child against these norms, parents and others could estimate the child’s rate of development or identify possible strong or weak points.

Another leading figure in modern child development study was Jean Piaget, who studied the cognitive development of humans and supported the idea that children’s mental capacity developed through predicable stages. Piaget proposed that biological foundations are critically important to development, but so too are experience and learning that occur through life. The actual development of a child’s mind occurred, he believed, as the child interpreted their experiences and constructed their own knowledge based on these unique interpretations. Piaget’s focus on childhood thinking and learning in stages, as well as his belief in a balance between biology and experience, proved very popular and influential, and inspired many further studies, both theoretical and practical.

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