Category: Health

Development is a life long process that starts right at birth. Soon after birth, a baby begins to communicate by crying. We respond by caressing, cuddling, kissing and making facial gestures. The process of a child’s development therefore starts right after birth.

A child cries to communicate his needs. He may cry due to hunger or pain, or his cry may be a primal response to the environment. Somebody may have suddenly made an unpleasant noise that may have disturbed the baby. Again the parental response comes in the form of feeding, hugs, cuddles or some soothing sounds to reassure a feeling of safety. The child learns to respond to these gestures by calming down. These reactions and responses are strengthened with the passage of time.

The child gradually learns to differentiate between the sounds of his parents and that of others, and understands which sounds are reassuring. Soon a sense of who is family and who is not develops. Human voices are also defined and distinguished from other sounds such as animals. Association between certain voices and food, milk, solace, love in security also begins to develop. When a baby cries because of hunger or insecurity, certain familiar voices have a calming effect.

As a child develops, there are certain activity and achievement stages that meter how levels of maturity, growth, etc. Child development information can help parents know where their child should be and whether or not they are expecting too much from a child. This information also helps parents know if there is something wrong. There are hundreds of books on the subject, as well as informative websites available.

Just two or three months following birth, the new born baby gets accustomed to your voice pattern and gestures, and the way you show your love to him, touch him or cuddle him. This is the stage when he starts identifying you through these gestures. His sense of touch and hearing starts developing. Your every tender touch, your every affectionate kiss fills him with reassurance and infuses confidence in him. He also develops a sense of self-importance and worthiness of attention when his small cry fetches you running with showers of kisses and hugs.

Sometimes it so happens that in spite of all your affectionate and careful responses to meet his needs, the child continues to cry and you are at a loss to understand the problem. Be assured his cries are not cause for worry. Quite possibly the child has acquired a new energy and his cries are a mere communication or an effort to release that energy – an occasion to be happy rather than sad. You rock or move the baby around giving him a sense of movement or motion.

With the passage of another three months he learns to identify vocal sounds and their intonation. You gave him his name soon after his birth and have been addressing him by that name. By the time he is six months old, he identifies himself with that name and responds accordingly.

Formerly, at the age of two or three months his responses to your affectionate calls would not attract his visual attention. In fact they would have been in the form of movements of his limbs, while he kept looking in a different direction. Now he responds to the call of his name by looking in your direction. He also visibly reacts to your show of anger or love by making appropriate movements.

By the time he is nine months old, he starts uttering human sounds, incomplete syllables, and fragmented but meaningful words. He starts acquiring linguistic awareness and skills of speech. He cannot only understand some words and sentences, but his vocal organs can make out some understandable word sounds.

Child development education is a continuous process of evolving different sensory and motor skills. Infants and young children learn through the movement of their limbs and the use of their senses. Without understanding the definition of gravity etc. they learn its meaning and implication in their daily activities. They also learn to move their body and maintain their balance. The parents at home and teachers at school must pay careful attention and monitor the physical development and education. At the primary stage, the child should be made to move in various ways and directions. Movement in fact is the key. It should include simple yet different activities like running, jumping and games. Care however should be taken to regulate these activities according to the medical reports of the child.

Once outside the school, there is community learning. Various games and sports are organized at community centers where competitions are also held. Here the parents of the child and the organizers should note that the child in not pushed into competitive sports against his natural aptitude and inclination. A pressure on the child, against his will, to participate in games and sports or in competitions may have harmful effects on his mental development. If he does not come to the expectations of his parents and peers, he may develop an inferiority complex, which will detract from his future quality of life and stunt his growth.

It must be noted that some children enjoy watching others play. In such situations you should let them seek their enjoyment simply being spectators. The basic idea is to keep them happy. The child may not like to participate in competitive group activities. There are good alternatives available. He should be encouraged to learn aerobics, fitness exercises and swimming designed to develop his muscles and body without any emphasis on competition.

There are certain other steps which can be helpful in making your child conscious of the need to grow physically and intellectually. You can encourage him to participate in simple, inexpensive and yet enjoyable individual, group and family activities of uncompetitive nature.

The problems of earning a livelihood often do not leave parents with sufficient time to devote to their children for their proper upbringing and development. This can prove very harmful because at this first stage, parents are the best teachers. The lack of time forces the parents to send their loved ones to the care of child development centers, which have proliferated to cater to the needs of such children. Although some of them are professionally managed, yet much that is desired is left out.

So before selecting a child development center, you should thoroughly check its working. It is always good to contact some of your friends and relatives who have admitted their wards to the care of the center you have selected. Is their child happy? Does he like going to the center on his own or is he forced or cajoled to go there?

Ideal child development centers are ones that pay individual attention to the children. These centers achieve this by devising activities in such a manner that the children learn while they play. They also provide for activities and curricula according to the age group of the children rather than just huddling all the children of different age groups together into one activity. These centers also devise such co-curricular activities that promote the educational, social, physical and emotional growth of the children.

Also, keep in mind that good child development centers organize the play activities in such a manner that children learn to work with team spirit, cooperate with each other and also learn to handle their differences. A good child development center should provide chances for the children to learn through art and craft programs as art promotes creativity and skills such as eye-hand coordination and muscular control. They can learn to express their feelings and their responses to their surroundings.