Stages of the Childhood

STAGES OF THE CHILDHOOD

Childhood is the period of life that begins since the first year of life and ends before puberty, it is around eleven years of age. This period is divided into different stages. However, I am going to focus on three of these stages of the childhood which are: toddlerhood, early childhood, and middle childhood.

Also, before talking about those stages, it is important to mention that every stage has three different areas which children develop in order to have a good growing, these areas are: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial.

Physical Development:
It is the development that children show in their body. According to how they are growing, their body is changing and their physical abilities and skills are becoming stronger. During these changes, children develop fine and gross motor skills.

Thus, to encourage gross motor skill development, it is essential to give kids plenty of opportunities to practice their abilities by giving them the time, space and resources they need to roll balls, run, jump, balance, etc. Offer kids the chance to engage in play, but do not pressure them to be experts at every single thing. It is important to know that kids need to be able to explore their abilities and build confidence in their skills.

Parents and caregivers can help children develop fine-motor skills by giving children play experiences involving drawing, putting together puzzles or stringing beads to help them build better find-motor movements and improved hand-eye coordination.

Cognitive Development:

Childhood is not only a period of amazing physical growth, it is also a time of remarkable mental development. Cognitive abilities associated with memory, reasoning, problem-solving and thinking continue to emerge throughout childhood.

Piaget developed an interest in the intellectual development of children. Based upon his observations, he concluded that children are not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Piaget created a theory of cognitive development that described the basic stages that children go through as they mentally mature. He believed that children are like "little scientists," actively trying to make sense of the world rather than simply soaking up information passively.

Piaget’s stages of Cognitive Development

• The Sensorimotor Stage: A period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.

• The Preoperational Stage: A period between ages two and six during which a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information and are unable to take the point of view of other people.
• The Concrete Operational Stage: A period between ages seven and eleven during which children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
• The Formal Operational Stage: A period between age twelve to adulthood when people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning and systematic planning also emerge during this stage.

Psychosocial Development:

Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages.

Stage	Basic Conflict	Important Events	Outcome
Infancy (birth to 18 months)	Trust vs. Mistrust	Feeding	Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliabilty, care, and affection. A lack of this will lead to mistrust.
Early Childhood (2 to 3 years)	Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt	Toilet Training	Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence. Success leads to feelings of autonomy, failure results in feelings of shame and doubt.
Preschool (3 to 5 years)	Initiative vs. Guilt	Exploration	Children need to begin asserting control and power over the environment. Success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose. Children who try to exert too much power experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt.
School Age (6 to 11 years)	Industry vs. Inferiority	School	Children need to cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of inferiority.

In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson's view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure.

STAGES IN CHILDHOOD:

TODDLERHOOD 1-3

The toddlerhood is the stage that starts since the first year, and ends until the third year of age. Toddlers learn to walk, talk, use toilets, and do things for themselves. Their self-control and self-confidence begin to develop at this stage. 

I had the opportunity to study a toddler, his name is Axel. According to the tasks that I asked him to do, he is in a good stage because he was able to perform all the activities in the correct way as a two year old would do it. For example, in his physical development, I asked him to run, kick a ball through playing with some other children, and ride a tricycle; in fact, the boy was able to do all the activities very good as if he were a 3 year old child. In his cognitive development, I asked him to separated toys according to shape, and he was able to do it. And in his psychosocial development, I asked him to recognize family members, and choose between cars or dolls, although at the beginning of the second task, he was choosing wrongly, at the end he chose what a boy would choose. So I consider that this child has developed well the three areas because most of them do it as two year old boy would do it, and even though he wanted the dolls, he knew they were not for him.

Physical development

Now, talking about the physical development of a toddler, children at this stage should be able to use their gross and fine motor skills:

Gross motor skills:

·         Jump in place

·         Carry toys while walking

·         Begin to run

·         Stand on tiptoes

·         Kick a ball

·         Climb up and down from furniture

Fine motor skills:

·         Build tower with a few blocks

·         Show preference for one hand or another but handedness not completely established

·         Pour out contents of container

Cognitive development:

In this stage children should be able to:

·         Find hidden objects

·         Sort by shapes and colors

·         Play make-believe games

·         Recognize names of people and objects

·         Use phrases and two-word sentences

·         Follow instructions

·         Repeat words

·         Have vocabulary of fifty or more words

Psychosocial development:

At this stage, children are able to:

·         Imitate others to please them

·         Excited about being with other children

·         Want to be more independent

·         Recognize family members

·         Start having knowledge about gender identity, roles, and typing

EARLY CHILDHOOD 3-5

The early childhood stage is the period between 3 years and 5 years of age of a child.

Children have newfound power at this stage as they have developed motor skills and become more and more engaged in social interaction with people around them. They now must learn to achieve a balance between eagerness for more adventure and more responsibility, and learning to control impulses and childish fantasies. 

Physical development:

Physical abilities become more advanced as children develop better movement and balance skills. At this stage, most children begin to:

·         Ride a tricycle

·         Go down a slide without help

·         Throw and catch a ball

·         Pull and steer toys

·         Walk in a straight line

·         Build tall towers with toy blocks

·         Manipulate clay into shapes

·         Jump on one foot

·         Walk backwards

·         Cut paper with safety scissors

·         Copy shapes including squares and crosses

Also, in this stage, a child:

• Gains greater control over large and fine motor skills; movements are more precise and deliberate, though some clumsiness persists.
• Enjoys vigorous running, jumping, climbing, and throwing etc.
• Span of attention increases; works at tasks for longer periods of time, though
• Functioning which facilitates learning to ride a bicycle, swim, swing a bat, or kick a ball.
• Can Tie Laces, string (like shoes).

Cognitive development:

 “The cognitive world of the preschool child is creative, free, and fanciful. Preschool children’s imaginations work overtime, and their mental grasp of the world improves” (Papalia, 2006, p.282).  Thus, children at this stage are able to:

• ·         Have fluent speech
• ·         Know right from left
• ·         Number fingers
• ·         Understand events that are taking place
• ·         Pay more attention to tasks

• Can concentrate effort but not always consistently.
• Understands time (today, tomorrow, yesterday) and simple motion (things go faster than others).
• Folds and cuts paper into simple shapes.
• Recognizes seasons and major activities done in the times.
• Has fun with problem solving and sorting activities like stacking, puzzles and mazes
• Enjoys the challenge of puzzles, counting and sorting activities, paper-and-pencil mazes, and games that involve matching letters and words with pictures.
• Recognizes some words by sight; attempts to sound out words
• In some cases the child may be reading well.
• Reverses or confuse certain letters: b/d, p/g, g/q, t/f.
• Able to trace objects.

Psychosocial development:

In early childhood, children’s emotional lives and personalities develop in significant ways and their small worlds widen. In addition to the continuing influence of family relationships, peers take on a more significant role in children’s development and play fills the days of many young children’s lives (Papalia, 2006, p.314). 

At this stage, children’s development increases in the development of their self, emotional maturity, moral understanding, and gender awareness. For example, children are able to:

• Outgoing; friendly; overly enthusiastic at times.
• Moods change rapidly and unpredictably; laughing one minute, crying the next; may throw tantrum over minor frustrations (a block structure that will not balance); sulk over being left out.
• Imaginary playmates or companions are common; holds conversations and shares strong emotions with this invisible friend.
• Boasts, exaggerates, and "bends" the truth with made-up stories or claims of boldness; tests the limits with "bathroom" talk.
• Cooperates with others; participates in group activities.
• Shows pride in accomplishments; seeks frequent adult approval.
• Enjoys role-playing and make-believe activities.
• Relies (most of the time) on verbal rather than Physical aggression; may yell angrily rather than hit to make a point; threatens: "You can't come to my birthday party"
• Name-calling and taunting are often used as ways of excluding other children.
• Establishes close relationships with playmates; beginning to have "best" friends.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD 6-9

School is the important event at this stage. Children learn to make things, use tools, and acquire the skills to be a worker and a potential provider. And they do all these while making the transition from the world of home into the world of peers.

Talking about my case of study, I had the opportunity to study a child of this stage, her name is Assly. I consider that this girl has had a good development in all areas due to all the tasks activities that I asked her to do were well done physically, cognitively, and psychosocially, she was able to perform them just as an 8 year old child would do it.

In her physical development, she was able to draw and paint the picture of her house, and she added some trees and the sky to it.

In her cognitive development, she was able to do Piaget’s conservation task by thinking operationally.

In her psychosocial development, she showed that she is more likely to show preference by same sex playmates.

Physical development:

In these years, many children place great emphasis on the development of their own physical ability. Activities such as hitting a ball, riding a bike fast and doing a handstand will often carry considerable status within a peer group, particularly for boys.

Generally speaking, energy levels will be high, and children will:

·         be able to draw a picture of a house, and will include the garden and sky 

·         be able to ride a two-wheeler bike 

·         like to climb and swim 

·         be able to throw and catch a ball.

Cognitive development:

At this age, children are often very excited by and genuinely interested in the outside world. Children will be able to absorb information with enthusiasm and frequently remember remarkable detail about subjects that interest her/him.

In these years, your child might:

·         begin to have some understanding of money (around six years)

·         understand that Santa isn’t real (at about 7-8 years)

·         be able to tell the time (by 7-8 years)

·         read to herself

·         start to plan ahead

·         know left from right

·         like to have collections (stamps, games, cards and so on).

Psychosocial development:

Over these middle years, you’ll see the gradual development of your child’s social skills, and an increasing ability to relate to others.

·         have some understanding of rules (around age six) and might want to add some rules of her own (around age seven)

·         be starting to like team games (at around eight years)

·         start to understand another person’s view of things (usually around eight or nine)

·         be more careful with his own belongings (at about nine years)

·         be beginning to show signs of being more responsible

·         like to win at games, but might not be able to lose cheerfully

·         tell lies or steal, and might not yet have fully developed a proper understanding of right and wrong

·         like going to school, unless he has a problem there

·         have problems with friends – this is normal for most children from time to time

·         Enjoy going to a sleepover at a friend’s house.

·         Make individual differences among them and other people

·         Judge rightness or goodness

·         Show preference by same sex playmates

·         Be influenced by peers

As children become increasingly mobile and more physically active, it is important to have some basic safety precautions in place. Parental observation is crucial to minimize risks while still giving kids the freedom they need to explore and play. In the same way, parents and caregivers help and caring is vital for children’s cognitive and psychosocial development due to depending on them children are going to have a good or bad development, so they must be alert in all areas and stages of childhood in order to prevent delays or illnesses that can affect their development.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget's_theory_of_cognitive_development

http://psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/ss/early-childhood-development_3.htm

Papalia, D., et al. A child's world. pp. 239-290. Mc Graw Hill. USA, 2006