Introduction
Every child’s development process is unique and complex. Even though children normally develop through predictable levels and milestones, they may at times not proceed through these steps at the same pace. Usually, a child’s development process is largely influenced by his or her environmental factors and the experiences that they gather from it. Understanding the child development is vital because it allows us to appreciate the emotional, social, physical, cognitive and educational progress of the child at a particular level of their growth into adulthood. Various theories attempt to describe every aspect of child development and largely focuses on the limited factors of development such as social growth and cognitive. In this paper, I seek to expound on the developmental level of a school child of 8 years of age. With the help of the theories set forth by scholars such as Erik Erickson and Jean Piaget, I will further explain the special issues affecting this level of development of a child with regard to their cognitive, emotional and physical aspects.
According to the article Jean Piaget: Number and class in children authored by Geldolph Kohnstamm, eight-year olds are nowadays becoming more confident about themselves and whatever they do. At this age, it is likely that they might have developed various interests and hobbies. They are also able to learn more about the world at large and further their social relationships with other children with less guidance. This article reports that, in most households, the eight year old child can tackle more complicated household chores, and also are more responsible in regard to taking care of themselves. Nonetheless the general transition into the school age level is accompanied by an egocentric way of thinking, that is normally confused with selfishness, into a more mature, imaginative and improved way of thinking (Kohnstamm, 2011, p.325). In this level of development, the child will demonstrate a lot of enthusiasm for learning new ideas, concepts and developing the skills required for them to understand people around them and the world at large. To further expound on the normal characteristics that are portrayed by an eight years old in their developmental level, it is imperative to consider categorizing them into physical, emotional and cognitive development.
- PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
- Growth
The major physical characteristics that denote the school child of age 8 is arguably the weight gain that signifies an increase in muscle mass (Kyle, 2008, p.54). It is for this reason that a child of this developmental age enjoys physical activities such as vigorous jumping, running, climbing and throwing things. In fact, it is usually almost impossible to keep children of this level still without doing anything. Their heartbeat rates are normally almost equal to that of the adults; this also includes their respiratory rates which mostly are less developed as compared to an adult. There is a general growth in a wide range of physical skills in these children. For instance, one can expect to see 8 year old children demonstrating a high level of natural athletic ability while others, especially young girls, start to become more aware of their body images and change in self confidence, in accordance with their appearance.
- Teeth and Personal Care
Although the 8 year old child is not yet an adolescent, it becomes apparent that they have started to become concerned with their appearance. For instance, a girl may start declaring that she wants to wear her hair long or her skirt in a certain style. During this developmental level, the child’s milk teeth become replaced by more teeth. They become developmentally capable of taking care of their personal hygiene such as taking a shower and brushing their teeth. Nonetheless, close supervision is still required so as to ensure that they brushes and flosses well.
- Coordination and Motor Skills
With regard to coordination and motor skills, this level of development becomes enhanced and finely tuned. The child would in many occasions try to show off this skills at the playground or other fields that are competitive in nature. Little muscle control that are required in activities such as playing musical instruments such as the piano also becomes finely tuned for better coordination.
- EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL (Erik Erickson theory)
For an eight year old, the rate of emotional development may be observed to evolve faster than for the other previous ages. They always like to be independent, self-confident and to some extent, they too requires privacy. According to Erickson’s stages of emotional and psychological development, the children between the age brackets 5-12 years become more aware of themselves not as children but as young adults (Kyle, 2008, p.122). Erickson’s further explains that this is the developmental level whereby a child becomes emotionally responsible by trying to do good and avoiding doing bad. Emotional development for this set of age can grow and reach deeper levels as they seek to navigate various relationships between their parents, schoolmates and other people. Erickson argued that the elementary school years are generally the most critical development periods for a child’s self-confidence and emotional growth (Tassoni, 2007, p.41). Additionally, the 8 year child developmental level will portray an increased level of personal privacy. For instance, they may want to shower or get dressed when the door is closed. Their emotional behavior is however not constant, they may at times be cheerful and cooperative at certain instances while during other times they become rude, selfish and bossy to others.
- Cognitive Developmental Level (Jean Piaget approach)
Jean Piaget sort to explain the theory behind the development or nature of human intelligence in different developmental levels. They development level for a school child of age eight years falls under the third out of the four stages in Piaget’s theorem. According to Piaget, children of age 7-11 years are characterized by an increased level and appropriate use of logic. In this level, a child’s thoughts and processes appears to be more mature and adult like mostly by being able to solve little problems in a more logical manner. Most of them start developing a strong interest in money and might become obsessed in saving and being given money (Kohnstamm, 2011, p.122). Generally, the child at this developmental age can give very insightful observations and display a high level of thinking.
Observing and Individual
This observation is for an eight year old child during his lunch break at an elementary school near the South Bay area. This observation takes a total of 45 minutes and due to confidentiality purposes, the child’s name will not be made known. This child attends a day treatment program which is still located inside the school. In general, most of the children referred to this type of a program are the ones who experience some form of social or emotional deficit. Together with him, there are eleven more boys enrolled for this program. This observation began after the children were let out for recess after lunch break. Immediately the children left the classroom, this particular child ran straight to the designated area for playing with a friend. Inside the playing area, this child seems not to have developed many friendship relationship with other children because he goes to the field and start watching the other children playing instead of joining them. However, there exist playing structures in this section where children who have been enrolled for the program are prohibited to use. Some of these structure include the “monkey bars” which consists of tall vertical poles attached at each end for sliding down, and there is also the tether ball with a certain balancing beam. The staff restricts these children from using these structures due to their inadequate abilities to demonstrate social skills.
Nursing Interventions for the Observed Individual
It is worth noting that nursing interventions that are focused on emotional support and parenting skills or education will greatly lead to reduction in child’s behavioral problems (Stevens, 2008, p.322). For children with special need such as the one under observation, the nurse should involve both the parents and their teacher in formulating the most appropriate intervention programs. The nurse should test the child’s past medical history for any type of chronic disease or disability. Additionally, as part of the intervention procedure, the nurse should assess the child’s cause for emotional imbalance and individual response to various social factors and intervene appropriately.
Factors that influence development
There exist numerous factors that may impact the development of a given individual. One of the most obvious factors is the environment where the child is brought up in. The other factors that influences developmental level ranges from the health of a child to mode of parenting. These factors can either hasten developmental progress while others may derail it. For instance, the environment that surrounds a child such as friends and the learning environment will influence the child by making them competitive and the cognitive level to either increase or decrease in its rate of progress. Additionally, the child’s development can be greatly influenced by ill health. When a child becomes seriously sick at some point in their lifetime, the rate at which they develop may be slowed down because sickness greatly affects a child’s ability to interact with other children thus causing a slow growth in both the physical and cognitive growth.
Conclusion
It is evident that a child’s development level may vary due to the factors influencing them. Therefore, it would be important for both the parent, teachers and all the involved parties to be gentle on a child who may appear to have a slow developmental progress. The child at this level should be encouraged to read more, and to participate in creative activities such as arts and music. It is also important for the parents to make sure that they indulge their eight year old children in activities that would end up improving their cognitive level such as burgeoning their math skills through various activities.
References
Kohnstamm, G. A. (2011). Jean Piaget: Number and class in children. New Brunswick, NJ:
AldineTransaction.
Kyle, T. (2008). Essentials of pediatric nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer
Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Stevens, R. (2008). Erik H. Erikson: Explorer of identity and the life cycle. Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tassoni, P. (2007). Child care and education: Cache level 3. Oxford: Heinemann.
