Child Development: Childhood

Characteristics of childhood: (From 2 weeks to 2 years)

i) Childhood is the true foundational age. Many patterns of behavior, attitudes, and emotional expressions are established at this time. It is a critical period in setting the pattern for personal and emotional adjustments.

ii) Childhood is an age of rapid growth and development. Babies grow rapidly both physically and psychologically. Changes are rapid in appearance (height and weight) and capabilities. The limbs develop in better proportion to the large head. Intellectual growth and change parallel physical growth and change.

iii) The ability to recognize and respond to people and objects in the environment grows. The baby is able to understand many things and communicate her needs and wishes.

iv) Childhood is an age of decreasing dependency. The baby begins to do things to himself. With decreased dependency, a rebellion against being treated like a baby. A protest takes protest comes in the form of outbursts of anger and crying when independence is denied.

v) It is a time of high individuality that can be realized in appearance and behavior patterns.

vi) Childhood is the beginning of creativity, sex role and socialization for adjustment in later life.

vii) Childhood is a dangerous period. Physical hazards include illness, accidents, disabilities, and death. The psychological dangers are disinterest and negative attitudes.

Emotional behavior in childhood:

i) At birth, emotions appear in simple and undifferentiated forms. In childhood, emotions are differentiated and are provoked by a series of stimuli. There are two different types of emotions.

ii) There is a lot of difference with the behavior of adolescents and adults and often with that of older children.

iii) Emotions are more easily conditioned during childhood than in later life. This is because babies’ intellectual abilities are limited. They respond easily and quickly to stimuli. Still there is hesitation to respond in some cases.

Development in socialization:

Early social experiences play a dominant role in determining the infant’s future social relationships and behavior patterns toward others. Since the baby’s life is centered in the home, it is here that the foundation for later behavior and attitudes is laid. There is no evidence that people are social or antisocial by heredity, but by their social experience acquired during childhood. Also, making a change in the pattern of behavior that has become habitual is never easy. There is also no guarantee that the change will be complete. This is why a good social foundation is so important during the childhood years.

At birth, infants are not gregarious in nature in the sense that it makes no difference to them that they attend to their physical needs. During the first year of infancy, babies are in a state of balance that makes them friendly, easy to handle, and enjoyable to be around. Around the middle of the second year, the balance tips, causing the baby to become fussy, uncooperative, and difficult to handle. However, the balance is restored so that the babies begin to exhibit pleasant and social behavior again.