Development of Children

It would be nice to be able to think of children as robust, strong creatures, capable of taking what life throws at them and reacting in a constructive and positive fashion. Certainly, this is the case physically. From the earliest days, children have accidents as they learn to crawl, walk, run, ride bikes and accomplish other physical tasks. Through all the scrapes, bumps and bruises, they get up and, after perhaps a bit of comforting, start over again. Unfortunately, the mental and emotional development of children is a bit more fraught with peril. Children are born with wonderfully flexible minds. This allows them to acquire a great body of knowledge quickly, but also opens up the possibility that something might go wrong. Damage or an innate defect in part of the brain, for example, can affect the language development of children. Similarly, ear damage, an irregular palette, or other physical disabilities can stop children from learning language skills at the normal pace and cause them to fall behind the friends. Children are very perceptive and impressionable, and being aware that they are falling behind what is considered “normal” can lead to feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.

Like language development, the emotional development of children is also prone to being damaged or delayed early on. According to Erik Erickson, in the first few years of life children have to learn trusts, autonomy and initiative. Poor parenting or traumatic early childhood experiences can leave behind mistrustful, emotionally damaged children who are bound to have a more difficult life.

With all these perils, what is the responsible parent to do? In my opinion, all you can do is do your job as a parent and guardian. Love, protect and nurture your child, but also give him the opportunity to explore the world around him and make his own discoveries. If he does run into problems along the way, knowing that he has positive, supportive parents will make it much easier for him to overcome those difficulties. The fact is, the development of children always proceeds imperfectly – all of us have bad experiences early in life that lead to more difficult problems as we get older. The key is for us to learn that, whatever those problems are, we can overcome them. This sort of optimism and can do spirit is the best safeguard against developmental delays, emotional difficulties and other child psychology problems. A child who learns to have the confidence to believe in himself from his parents really can do almost anything.

< Prev		Next >