Introduction
Child development refers to the manner in which a child gains the ability to do more composite things as they get older. Child development is usually measured by the use of developmental milestones. These are a combination of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children are able to perform at a certain age range (Gestwicki, 2011). Consequently there are several developmental stages in a child’s life, ranging from infancy, early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence (Gestwicki, 2011). These stages are marked by dissimilar physical, social and cognitive changes. Most importantly, various scholars have proposed theories that are used to explain these developments in a child’s life. This paper explores on such changes experienced under the early childhood developmental stage and theories related to this stage.
Early childhood is the quickest stage of development in a child’s life. Different children develop at their own paces in this stage but still follow an exclusive pattern of physical, cognitive, and social changes. Physical development refers to a blend of various muscle developments and their coordination, as well as their coordination with the brain. Between three and six years of age, children tend to grow faster and begin to develop fine-motor skills and gross motor skills (Gestwicki, 2011). Notably, they become more confident in activities that require such skills. At this stage, children are conscious that their strength balance and harmonization are much advanced. Consequently, they excitedly participate in games to promote their kicking, grasping and throwing skills. Social development on the other hand, refers to how a child recognizes and responds to their own feelings, how they understand other's feelings and how they interact positively with others (Gestwicki, 2011). In the early childhood developmental stage, social changes in a child are marked by the creation of peer correlations, gender identification, and the development of a sense of right and wrong (Gestwicki, 2011). At this stage, a child makes use of vocal communication to effectively interact with other children. Additionally, play becomes more inventive and organized with a better understanding for other's feelings as well as a delight in responsibilities. Lastly, cognitive development refers to developments in the reasoning and understanding abilities in a child. In the early childhood stage, children acquire increased memory skills, inquisitiveness and are able to concentrate their attention with fewer distractions (Gestwicki, 2011).
Remarkably, Jean Piaget a renowned psychologist proposed a theory on the intellectual development of children, which can best explain the early childhood stage. Specifically, the components in the preoperational stage of his theory that studies children between two to seven years can be directly related to cognitive changes in the early childhood stage. Piaget asserts that children in this stage tend to be more considerate on other’s attention, make best use of their language skills and are conscious of the right and wrongs (Gestwicki, 2011). Similarly, these aspects are sound in the cognitive changes of children in the early childhood stage as aforementioned. For instance, children use their language skills by being more inquisitive on various aspects they want to learn.
However, Erik Erickson takes a different approach in explaining the early childhood stage in his theory on ‘stages of psychosocial development’. In this theory, Erikson articulates eight stages that humans pass through in their lifetime. According to these stages, the early childhood stage is characterized by initiative and guilt (Gestwicki, 2011). Erickson purports that children in this stage experience a yearning to emulate the adults and take efforts in developing play situations. They are keen on exploring the world, are very inquisitive and tend to emulate adult roles in most cases. Additionally, children are usually involved in what he terms as ‘Oedipal struggle” and resolve this struggle through “social role identification’ (Gestwicki, 2011). They however experience guilt whenever they feel irritated over natural aspirations and goals.
Lastly, culture plays a very vital role in early childhood development. According to Erickson’s theory, children in this stage establish their basic relationships with their family. This implies that they learn much from their families and are influenced by them. The family culture therefore influences certain aspects of a child in early childhood development stage. The morals of a child at this stage for instance are dependent on the culture upheld buy his or her family. Different families stress dissimilar ideas, goals and skills which come to be adopted by children in this learning stage. The way a family uses cultural characters tend to be internalized by the children in this stage. Moreover, their cultural scripts are internalized by the child and affect their insight, motivation, regulation, and social behavior (Gestwicki, 2011).
References
Gestwicki, C., Bertrand, J., & Gestwicki, C. (2011). Essentials of early childhood education.
Toronto: Nelson Education.
