Child Development

Childhood development stages are important periods during a child’s formative years wherein the child develops physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually.http://childparenting.about.com/od/childdevelopment/Child_Development.htm Childhood development stages play a crucial role in developing and shaping a child’s behavior, character and personality.

Children are generally curious with their environment that is why it is very important that parents guide their children throughout these early years of child development by supporting them and encouraging their curiosity. http://www.howkidsdevelop.com/developKindergarten.html Children who are ignored or abused by their parents have a much greater tendency to commit crimes later in life. http://law.jrank.org/pages/12004/Causes-Crime.html

The infancy and early childhood stages of development run from birth up to three years of age. According to renowned psychologists Erik Erikson, the infancy and early childhood stages of development is centered upon the conflicts between trust and mistrust and autonomy and shame.http://www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Erikson.htm

It is also during these stages of development when children learn to sit, crawl and walk straight. Needless to say, from 9-12 months of age, it is expected that children are more developed with their vocals and be able to utter their first words.http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ages-stages-child-development.html Children start to display a greater sense of curiosity and will often use their hands and mouth in order to satisfy such genuine curiosity.http://www.psychoanalysisarena.com/common/sample-chapters/9780415876407.pdf

Play age runs from 3-5 years old while school age runs from 6-12 years old. Nevertheless, both childhood development stages serve as basic foundations in building relationships. Children under the play and school age start to explore the world outside of their homes.

They start to communicate and establish connections with other children particularly their playmates and classmates. School age is also crucial in developing one’s gender personality.http://social.jrank.org/pages/272/Gender-Role-Development.html

During the play and school age, children develop their creativity and they try to rationalize things and events based on their understanding and perception of their environment. A child’s world starts to expand beyond the confines of the family thus, parental guidance is needed.

The stage of adolescence is characterized mainly by a child’s heightened physiological, cultural and cognitive development.http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1826/Child-Development-Stages-Growth.html Children under the adolescence stage starts to increase their sexual awareness and curiosity. They will begin to ask questions regarding sexuality and will take various steps to set up relationships with the opposite sex, either friendly or romantically.http://social.jrank.org/pages/272/Gender-Role-Development.html

The main highlight of the adolescence stage is the obvious sexual development of the child/teen both physically and emotionally.http://social.jrank.org/pages/272/Gender-Role-Development.html Adolescence is the major transition period from childhood to adulthood hence, close supervision and support from parents are needed in this stage.

Moreover, adolescence is personality-shaping, and experiences from this stage will play strong influences come adulthood.