Discuss the roles of parents, families, and early childhood educators, in relation to children’s development
Children are an integral component of any society. They are the hope of the future and a country’s next generation. A childless society literally means a lack of generation and a short lineage. Throughout their development, children pass through the hands of their parents, the family and the early childhood developers. Both have a great responsibility in ensuring children develop into meaningful adult beings.
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The transition from childhood to adulthood is dependent on the values and tenets instilled by the parents, family and early childhood developers. A child lives with the values learnt during their early days of development (Kok et al., 2015). Throughout this stage, children pass through the hands of parents, family and the early childhood developers who help them develop in different dimensions
Children go through key developmental stages. Therefore, parents play an important role in child development in different ways. For instance , parents help children identify and label the world since they are the very first teachers they ever encounter in life. Furthermore, parental and family affection is a key component in instilling love and affection into children. Showing love, affection, and care to a child contributes immensely to their mental health and development (Kok et al., 2015). Children growing in environments where parents are not in good terms encounter difficulty in terms of their mental health. Through such, they go through psychological and mental torture. Parents and family also play a big role in enhancing the education and health of a child by paying attention to their academic progress, paying school fees and ensuring they live in a healthy environment.
Another important category of people in the development of a child are the early childhood developers. In most cases, they are the initial parties outside the family that child interacts with. Therefore, it takes effort to mold, give guidance and teach a child to be a responsible person in future. One of the roles they conduct is provide guidance to the child. Through listening to both actions and words, early childhood developers are able to determine the needs of a child and offer necessary guidance. Hence, they can offer social, emotional and cognitive guidance to the child as well as meet those needs at the same time.
Early childhood developers shape the thinking and reasoning of a child by engaging children in many gaming activities, some which require thinking and decision-making. Through these activities, children are able to learn systematically how to think critically as well as respond to issues, something which enhances their intellectual ability. Children are also enabled to realize themselves through different engagements by the early childhood developers.
The mental, cognitive and emotional development of any child is an important aspect that any society has to pay close attention to. Since children are a heritage, it follows that without concerted efforts by the parents, family and the early childhood developers to nurture the child into a better person, then this great heritage will be completely lost.
How does a child’s development and social interactions between the ages of 0 to 5 years relate to the child’s later academic performance, social relationships or personal well-being?
Child development is a term used to describe the physical growth of a child as well as their ability to learn the emotional, social, thinking and communication skills they require in life. According to Britto et al. (2017), all these are interrelated and work together for the common goal. Studies have shown that at the age of 0-5 years, a child’s brain grows faster than at any stage of life. At this stage, children grasp a lot of information into their brains. These include the things they see, touch, smell and play around with, create millions of connections in their brains thereby laying a solid foundation for learning, health and behavior throughout their life.
Exposure to many things and activities during those early years is important in the development of a child. Such things are refreshing, they make them learn to think independently. Exposure presents the child with a wider perspective about life and relationships. Children learn to interact and work hard. With the many things children get involved with during their development, some of the activities are refreshing; making them to think. Activities that challenge a child to think during their early stages are able to sharpen their thinking abilities and make them excellent when it comes to critical thinking. This is vital in the academic development since children will be much more Sharp and willing to learning. Most often, children who spend much time watching TV shows are found to have a reduced academic competency compared to children that have engaged in many tasks and activities that conjure their thinking.
As a key component of development, play is essential in much way. It enhances not only learning through experience but also activates their mind. This enables the child to learn their mistakes and find corrective measures (Britto et al., 2017). Through playing, children make discoveries, learn new things, master concepts and interpret actions and emotions. These enhance their future learning experiences by building a mindset that is able to observe, think and interpret situations. Play also activates their mind, encourage socialization and inhibit dormancy.
According to Britto et al. (2017), social relationships are the foundations of child development. Relationships are experiences, and learning mostly takes place through experience. Negative social relationships are detrimental to a child’s mental health, and social and academic development. Children whose parents constantly fight and disagree have higher chances of suffering from depression, loneliness and a dip in their academics since they don't have peace. On the other hand, positive social relationships enhance the academic and well-being of the child. When children are shown love, care and affection, they are able to translate those emotions and want to live with them.
Social relationships are important in child development. They enhance learning and stimulate a positive attitude on relationships and learning which thereafter stimulate their mind to be active and hence be academically good as well as influence their social life thereafter. Their value cannot be overlooked. All stakeholders should therefore play their part in ensuring effective child development.
References
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389 (10064): 91-102.
Kok, R., Thijssen, S., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Jaddoe, V. W., Verhulst, F. C., White, T., ... & Tiemeier, H. (2015). Normal variation in early parental sensitivity predicts child structural brain development . Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54 (10): 824-831.
