Growth and development in children depends on many factors internal and external to their environment. Quite often, guardians or parents may have total control or lack control over some of the factors in a child’s environment. The environment factors impact a child’s behaviour and social skills later in life. Parents and guardians need to understand factors in the environment and the needs of children to raise them better. Even though they may lack total control over some factors in a child’s immediate environment, involved parenting role has an overwhelming impact on a child’s individuality, familial ties, and educational needs.
Internal Environment Factors
Individuality
Individuality refers to the ability of a person to be self-reliant and independent. Parents need to inculcate individuality in children early enough to facilitate smooth transition from parental dependency to independence. Nonetheless, allowing children to be independent, parents can reinforce values such as responsibility and accountability. As a Health Service Worker, I encouraged accountability among parents and the learners by paying regular visits to homes of absentee learners and encouraged them to maintain regular attendance.
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Family Influence
Even though the family units vary, children need attention and love to develop psychologically and socially. Positive growth in children occurs when the parents and guardians invest time, energy, and filial love by engaging children in activities such as reading, providing basic necessities, and having deeper and meaningful communication with them (Arora, 2019). Strong family bonds between children and their parents or guardians inculcate a sense of belonging translating into good cognitive and social skills for better relations in the society. In my tenure as a Family Service Worker, I was tasked with ensuring that children maintained ties with their parents and guardians by arranging regular monthly visits and assisting parents to schedule appointments for Head Start children as necessary.
Education
The socioeconomic status of a child’s family determines the nature and quality of education he or she gets. Quality of education for a child guarantees a future with unlimited possibilities. Even though some parents may lack the financial resources to take their children to the best schools, they must make the necessary sacrifices to ensure that their children attend the best schools (Aurora, 2019). My duties as a Health Service Manager was to educate parents to be actively involved in their children’s education by conducting training for staff and parents to provide skills to meet the special learning needs of children.
References
Aurora, M. (2019, July 17). Factors affecting growth and development in children. Firstcry Parenting. https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/factors-that-affect-growth-and-development-in-children/
