Personal Philosophy: Child Development and Teaching Essay

Children’s development can be grouped into four different aspects: physical, social and emotional, intellectual and language.

Physical development in children is an important area and is usually expected to happen automatically as they grow. The important areas are gross motor skills,

Whilst playing the children will begin to learn skills such as balance and coordination, throwing, catching, running skipping and jumping however none of these skills can be learnt if the child does not learn the movement skills. They need to learn hand-eye coordination this is when the brain will learn to make the hands and eyes work together resulting in the children being able to play catch, foot-eye coordination this starts when babies begin to learn to walk up the stairs but can then be extended when the child learns to kick a ball, balance this is learnt over time depending on the age of the child, when the child begins to learn these skills through physical activity their central nervous system will also begin to develop which will in turn help their muscles, glands and organs. This is applied into my practice by taking the children in to thee garden. When in the garden I make obstacle courses for the children with crates that range it heights and sizes, tyres and the slide. It can very day to day to teach the children different things. But by using the different height crates it allows the children to learn to balance by themselves, the slide allows the children to climb. We also have balls that the children play with but depending on the age of the child would depend on how it is used. If the child is 18 months or younger then I would

At seven years old a child should be able to brush their teeth and wash with no supervision or help, they may be able to help in the kitchen and begin to learn to cook simple meals/cakes. Flexibility, balance, agility, and force will all improve during mid-childhood as this is when gross motor skills continue to develop. Between seven and eight years many children start to explore weight bearing activities that require the transfer of weight from feet to hands and back to feet such as cartwheels and handstands.

In this domain Piaget stated that the child who is still in the preoperational stage can’t conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations. They can’t mentally manipulate information. The child is able to form stable concepts as well as magical beliefs and their thinking is still egocentric, which means that the child has difficulty seeing the viewpoint of others. Piaget split this stage into the symbolic and intuitive thought substage. In the symbolic function stage children are able to understand, represent, remember, and picture objects in their mind without having the object in front of them. Vygotsky stated that children learn cognitive tasks through their interactions with older peers and adults. Not only do younger children watch and imitate older people or peers as they complete tasks, but these older guides also help younger children accomplish tasks they couldn’t accomplish on their own. He calls this the zone of proximal development which he describes what children can do alone and what they can do with assistance. Another theorist named Bandura coined the term observational learning which means people learn appropriate social behaviors by observing and modeling others. This type of learning is most effective during childhood. Vygotsky believed that the important part of the cognitive development is language. He observed that very young

Early social development is the study of the development of persons from infancy to adulthood. Research is conducted into how childhood experiences affect people’s development in later life. Attachment theories are studied and the effect of no attachment or disrupted attachment is studied and aimed to be resolved. John Bowlby defined attachment as the emotional and physical connection that makes two people stay close to one another. It is between children and their primary caregivers (Psychologistworld.com, 2016).

Fine motor skills refer to the ‘small muscles’ in the hands. Proper development of these muscles is crucial for children to succeed academically in writing and self help skills. According to the National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC), “Fine motor skills form an important foundation for the acquisition of many other skills, including literacy, numeracy, self-help and the ability to perform many everyday tasks” (2008). Children start to develop motor skills from birth, and the ways in which children’s muscles develop will later affect their motor function. Caretakers often look for the typical milestones that infants develop; however, infants acquire development at different rates benefiting child growth. From birth through the early grades (preschool to second grade) children are constantly using their fine motor skills to eat, dress themselves, and in social settings such as school. These skills link to infancy development and are factors in knowing how well children will succeed. The following sub-topics address fine motor development and the importance of occupational therapy interventions:

So many children this day in age, are sat in front of a television or a tablet and expected to keep quiet. Children are built to explore, move, and learn from their experiences, and this cannot happen when a child is inside, being distracted by technology. No matter how busy parents are, they should find at least thirty minutes a day to go outside and play with their children. If the weather does not permit outside play, then playing games inside is always a great alternative. Parents should be encouraging their children to develop the motor skills that they are going to need in order to succeed in school and later in life. Many parents encourage the development of their children’s gross motor skills by involving them in sports, dance, or gymnastics. These programs are great for not only teaching children how to be good at something they love, but they also encourage children to develop their motor skills. If parents find that they cannot afford programs such as these, they can focus on providing multiple opportunities for play. For example, one day they could go to the park or they could go over the neighbor’s house to play. Ultimately, the best thing that parents can do to encourage the development of their children’s motor skills is to allow them to play as much as possible and to allow them to try new activities, even if they are

In my Philosophy of Children’s Paper I will first begin to explain what the nature for Children is. In my philosophy, the place of children in the modern church is largely determined by what is understood to be there nature and needs. Most church leaders sincerely desire to meet the needs of children with Methods and programs that were Paris with their God-given characteristics. Denominational curriculum and programs or develop with this primary directive. This is a worthy sounding all but one that we may not have thought through clearly. How do we know what the nature needs of children are? What are their God-given characteristics? Where should we turn to find answers to these questions what are our sources of authority for understanding children?

As children progress through the early stages of their lives they will continually reach milestones that are somewhat of a tracker as to where they stand in their development, but at the same time it’s important to remember that even though there are suggested milestones as to a maturing task for a specific age and month, each child may mature differently than the next. One part of this progress that children will continually develop through in the early stages of their lives is motor skill development, which is the use of their larger and smaller muscles to perform adult like tasks. More specifically this development can be categorized into fine and

When you hear Child Development you think of Children and the way they’re raised. When in reality Child Development is way more than that. Child Development is the biological, physical, and emotional changes that occur between birth and the end of adolescence. Child development is a continuous movement with the child. Early Childhood programs promote child development in their curriculums which is based off of the child care center’s education philosophy.

Motor skills involve movement of muscle in the body (John, 2009). These are larger movements such as crawling, running, and jumping (John, 2009). Most of the gross motor development occurs during childhood (John, 2009). Gross motor skills have two principals that determent how a child will regularly develop (Center of diseases Control and Prevention, 2016). Head to toe development this means the upper parts of the body will develop before the lower parts of the body (John, 2009). Children develop these skills throughout play (John, 2009). A tree year old Toddler can be very active therefore participating in activity that require movement, coordination, and balance can be beneficial to help a toddler to develop their motor skills (Jan, Beth & Melissa, 2012). A 3 year old child can throw a ball but catching it is more difficult. They start walking with good posture similar to an adult; they can also walk backwards (Jan, Beth & Melissa, 2012). A 3 year old can run which required strength and balance, during running they should be able to rotate their trunk and swing their arms (John, 2009). By the age of 3 a child walks up and down stairs alternating their feet without support which is possible because their balance has increase (John, 2009). A 3 year old child also learns to jump from a step and learn to jump forward (Center of diseases Control and Prevention, 2016). They start hopping at the age of 3 ½ and also can stand on one foot (Center of diseases Control and Prevention, 2016). Skipping requires sequencing and rhythm which makes it more difficult this include step and hop patterns.

There are multiple factors in a child’s development. Parents have a responsibility, as well as a privilege, to contribute to every milestone. Most parents stress over physical and mental stages so much so that play-time is ignored. By making decisions that sacrifice play parents hinder their social development. Parents must take action and encourage their youth to play more, before childhood is lost forever.

This semester in Child Development has helped me a great deal. I came into this class wanting to be a Child Development teacher at the high school level. I am leaving this class with the same ambition to become a Child Development teacher. I have learned so much by taking this class and I know it will all be helpful in the future once I am standing at the front of a classroom. Also, just by watching the way Mary teaches the class, I have learned things that I want to take into my own style of teaching.

As a young child (preschooler) I had been curious about everything. I begin to show my independence and capabilities. I wanted to build blocks on my own; I wanted to cook in my play kitchen, be a mother to my dolls and I rode my bike. Piaget speaks of motor skills development in the preschool years. “At the same time that the gross motor skills are developing, children are progressing in their ability to