CHILD DEVELOPMENT Essay Example

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

Nelson John is a 10 years old kid living with his parents, Mark Alves and Jennifer Rodney in a small estate within the Manchester city. Nelson’s father works as a human resource director in one of the manufacturing companies in the town. His mother, is a plain housewife. He has a younger sister, Ashley Janes who is three and a half year old. Nelson is in his grade 9 of schooling. Nelson is in good health condition. He also has extended family that cares for him. Every weekend he would make a point to visit his grandfather who was living three miles away from their home.

Since he joined school, Nelson is showing an outstanding passion in forming friendships. He shows as an overwhelming care for his friends. After school, Nelson would stay away just to have more time with his friends. During weekends and non-school days, Nelson would either be with his friends or with the grandfather just like in Social Child Development Theory which purports that parents, caregivers and peers have exceptional impact on child development (Reckwitz, 2002).

Spending time watching football on TV with his father is one of the things Nelson likes most. Nelson’s father had bought him a ball as a present on his 10^th birthday. Since then, Nelson and his male friends would spend most of the time in the family compound playing football. He seems to be dreadfully zealous when it comes to football. This proves Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory which claims that children would learn new behavior from what they see around them (Pratt et al., 2010).

Since he joined grade 9 of schooling, Nelson is demonstrating a new psychosexual approach in his development system. He likes spending a significant time with his friend Sarah. Freud in his psychosexual stages theory explains that at age 8-10, children are at phallic stage where they recognize and differentiate themselves in line with their sexual orientation (Russell, Seif &Truong, 2001). For about two years, Nelson have been sharing his bed with his sister. Currently, he has become repellant.

Nelson has a greatly loved by the father and the mother who always endeavor to care for him all times. Nelson as well shows an outstanding affection for his parents and dear sister at all instances. When parents are away, he sits alone, kind of disturbed. This proves Object Relations Theory which emphasizes on the critical role of the parent during child development (Whitty, & Carr, 2006).

At age 7 Nelson is able to think about things symbolically. At the preoperational stage, children like Nelson are able to differentiate between the present and past, however their thinking is not logically complete thus they have an inability to grasp most technical concepts (Tu, 2000).

Nelson finds much fun in breaking household devises especially electronics despite warnings from the parents. Most of the time when left in the house alone, he would be found trying to connect cables he had initially disconnected especially television cables. Consequentially, the father bought him electronic toys. Most of the time the toys are broken and the father would quarrel him on his “mindblindliness”. Just like Behavioral Child Development theory states, a child learns much from response to stimuli and punishment and hence when his father caned him on the same, he apparently stopped (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Nelson has shown his outstanding creativity especially in the last one year. Since his father bought him toy building blocks, Nelson has been trying various house designs that practically looks outstanding. Children play a firsthand role in gaining the knowledge of the world as Jean Piaget attempts to explain in his Cognitive Child Development Theory (Mikulincer, Shaver & Pereg, 2003).

Nelson usually demonstrates high curiosity especially when he sees the father using his laptop. He asks many questions on how the computer works and why it works the way it does. The father bought him a mini-laptop and henceforth, Nelson is showing a great ability in typing, surfing and gaming amongst other computer related undertakings the same way Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory supposes that children learn more actively through hand-on experiences (Ryan, & Deci, 2000).

Attachment Theory as developed by John Bowlby purports that the mother is the first friend to a child and between ages 1-10 years, the mother would be the point of consolation in case of conflict. Nelson is indeed a culprit of this theory. When irritated by the father or any other person, Nelson would seek his mother’s consoling.

Erik Erikson, a theorist, believes that every stage of the development process is ideal in determination of a sense of self-identity
(Reckwitz, 2002). Nelson is exhibiting this ideology in distinct ways. He is coming up with his own ways of resolving conflict apart from reporting to the parent. In a scenario of incitement from a fellow peer, Nelson would resolve to a fight.

Over the last five months, Nelson’s mother has been complaining that he plays too much and forgets other chores. However, Urie Bronfenbrenner in his Ecological Systems Theory states that playing plays a fundamental role in child development and parents should seek on finding ways to balance nature and nurture rather than leaning on one side (Russell, Seif & Truong, 2001).

What the parents do and their reactions on occasions are certainly crucial during child development process (Socio-cultural Theory)
(Tu, 2000). Children tend to imitate and pick up the behavioral characteristics of the parent. Nelson’s father cannot join a meal without a prayer neither can he sleep without praying. As such, Nelson has turned out to be prayerful almost in every moment.

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory maintains that intrinsic reinforcements such as self-satisfaction and pride assist much in learning (Cole, Martin & Dennis, 2004). Nelson believes that he is always right and rarely do his peers challenge him in every aspect of life. He likes picking up arguments and strives to win them.

Language is indeed central in ensuring effective communication and as such, Nelson has learnt much from his, parents, relatives and peers. His accent is like his father’s and other non-verbal languages he uses are perfect copies from the parents and the grandfather. The cognitive approach to child development states that language learning is a continuous process which starts from the parents as it widens out (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2003).

Children usually exhibit a point of confusion when they reach age 10. The children develop a mixed reaction as to whether act like a teenager or just like a child since this is the stage where they begin the adolescence stage (Russell, Seif &Truong, 2001). When Nelson’s parents tells him to go and play with the sister, sometimes he resists saying that I have no time to play with a child though sometimes he does.

Social development is instrumental in child growth and development. At 12 years Nelson interacts well with other during school time and church activities. Social development help a child appreciate the values, skills and knowledge that are essential in relating with others effectively. This helps children develop a sense of who they are and help them develop socially (Bakermans-Kranenburg, et al., 2003).

Children develop through role playing as it helps them grow through play. At age 7, Nelson was actively involved in role playing. This was instrumental in developing his communication skills, allowed him to explore and experiment as well as sparking creativity and imagination. Role playing helps children develop awareness about themselves and others (Cole, Martin,& Dennis, T2004).

At age 11, Nelson develops logical and concrete reasoning. His thinking becomes less self-centered and he is very much aware of the external events. He begins to understand that his feelings are unique and won’t be felt by others leave alone being real (Piaget, 2000).

Piaget in his stages of cognitive development, insists that the last formal operational stage. At 13, Nelson is able to think systematically. He can handle sciences, formulate hypothesis while considering possibilities. At this stage a child is able to ponder about concepts like justice and richness (Piaget, 2000).

References

Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Juffer, F. (2003). Less is more: meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood. Psychological bulletin, 129(2), 195. http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2003-01977-004

Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., & Dennis, T. A. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child development, 75(2), 317-333. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00673.x/full

Mikulincer, M., Shaver, P. R., & Pereg, D. (2003). Attachment theory and affect regulation: The dynamics, development, and cognitive consequences of attachment-related strategies. Motivation and emotion, 27(2), 77-102. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1024515519160?LI=true

Piaget, J. (2000). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Childhood cognitive development: The essential readings, 33-47. http://s3.amazonaws.com/prealliance_oneclass_sample/0x9kObR43J.pdf

Pratt, T. C., Cullen, F. T., Sellers, C. S., Thomas Winfree Jr, L., Madensen, T. D., Daigle, L. E., … & Gau, J. M. (2010). The empirical status of social learning theory: A meta‐analysis. Justice Quarterly, 27(6), 765-802. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418820903379610

Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing. European journal of social theory, 5(2), 243-263. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/13684310222225432

Russell, S. T., Seif, H., & Truong, N. L. (2001). School outcomes of sexual minority youth in the United States: Evidence from a national study. Journal of adolescence, 24(1), 111-127. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197100903658

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68. http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/amp/55/1/68/

Tu, C. H. (2000). On-line learning migration: from social learning theory to social presence theory in a CMC environment. Journal of network and computer applications, 23(1), 27-37. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1084804599900991

Whitty, M. T., & Carr, A. N. (2006). New rules in the workplace: Applying object-relations theory to explain problem Internet and email behaviour in the workplace. Computers in Human Behavior, 22(2), 235-250. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563204001165