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Infancy and Early Childhood Development Essay

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Infancy and Early Childhood Development Samantha Trudeau PSY/375 June 27, 2011 Heather Harrison Infancy and Early Childhood Development An infant’s brain is something quite similar to a blank video tape. During infancy the child records everything he or she sees and hears. The things that are recorded are stored for later use in life. The way that people behave with the infant as an individual and a family greatly impacts the development of the infant. It is for this reason that it is extremely important to raise children properly the first time around and to provide a safe and caring environment. After an infant is born the brain begins to go through developmental changes right away. The development that the brain …show more content…

A few of the most important things are care, affection, attention, and intellectual stimulation. The parent’s role in the infant’s life not only guides the psychological development, but it can also affect the child’s biological development (Belsky, 2008). If an infant does not get enough stimulation for a long period of time, the infant may have trouble developing correct sensations, motor skills, and perceptions. There are four main styles of parenting; authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved, and authoritative. Each of these styles of parenting has their own characteristics which apply to how the parent raises the child. The authoritarian style of parenting generally means that the parent is overbearing and does not feel the need to explain anything to the child. In this type of environment the child does not receive much freedom at all and is not able to make decisions on his or her own. This approach to parenting can generally do more harm than good because eventually the child will find it necessary to rebel against anyone who is an authority figure (Livestrong, 2010). The permissive style of parenting gives the child too much freedom in all areas of his or her life. The parents that use this style of parenting do not generally set any rules or boundaries for him or her. Children raised in this environment grow up with very little idea of what responsibility is. The uninvolved parenting still pretty much explains itself. This

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