Chapter 1, Section 1:
Children & You
Chapter 1, Section 1…
• Essential Question …
– What are the benefits of studying
children?
• I can statements (targets)…
– Evaluate my attitude toward children
– Identify benefits of studying children
Terms To Know…
• Child Development – the study of how
children grow in different ways –
physically, mentally, emotionally, and
socially.
• Behavior – a way of acting or
responding;
• Understanding how children fit into your life –
both now and in the future – can help you
understand yourself. You can begin by exploring
your attitudes towards children. By doing so,
you will discover that parenting skills are needed
by almost everyone who comes in contact with
children, whether they are parents or not. This
understanding can also help you make meaningful
plans for your future.
• How would you describe your relationship with the
children in your life today? Do you like children? Do
you talk with and enjoy children of all ages? Do you
know what to do when you are caring for children of
different ages? Just as important – do children like
you?
• Think about these questions seriously. Your honest
answers will tell a great deal about you – the person
you are today, the child you once were, and the adult
you will become. After you have studied child
development, you will have a better understanding of
these questions and the meaning of your answers.
• Perhaps children seem just naturally to enjoy being
with you. In that case, you probably enjoy children
and feel comfortable with them. On the other hand,
perhaps children seem a little uncomfortable around
you – and you feel uncomfortable with them. People
vary a great deal in the way they feel and act toward
children.
• Your relationship with young children – brothers,
sisters, friends, or babysitting charges – depends on
your interest in children. It also depends on your
knowledge of their changing stages and needs, and on
your skill in applying that knowledge.
Why Study Children?
• Learning about children is important in more
ways than you may realize. Learning about
children and their development can improve your
understanding both of children and of yourself.
It can also help you think about your future in
relation to parenthood and career choices.
Understanding Children…
• As you study children, you will read about them,
observe them, talk with them, play with them, and
help them. In the process, your understanding of
children will grow in many ways:
– You will more fully appreciate all characteristics of human
development.
– Your powers of observation will improve.
– You will begin to see why children act, feel, and think as
they do.
– You will be able to apply your learning to everyday life.
– You will learn practical techniques of caring for children.
– You will discover tht children are fun.
Understanding Yourself…
• As you learn to understand children better, you will
also come to know yourself better. You will learn
more about what makes you the person you are.
• You may think of yourself as a different person from
the child you were a decade ago. It’s true that you
have grown and changed in many ways. However, no
one changes entirely. The young man or woman you
are right now has developed from the child you once
were and will continue to develop into your adult self.
Experience, education, and life’s situations help you
mature. Still, the self you have already developed
will always be a part of you.
Understanding Yourself…
• You may want to ask family members or older friends
what you were like as a young child. Maybe they will
recall that you were a “typical kid”-close to average
development. Perhaps, though, they will describe you
as a “quiet child” or “amazingly independent” or
“constantly active.” How closely do those descriptions
of your young self correspond to the personality you
have today? The similarities may surprise you!
• As you study child development, you will discover that
all children are similar in some ways. You will also
find that every child has characteristics that are
unique. In addition, you will see that development
continues throughout life. All these insights can help
you understand yourself.
Thinking About Your Future…
• Your increased understanding of children will be valuable not
only now, but throughout your lifetime. Today, it may simply
help you understand your family or the children in your
neighborhood. You may also want to use your knowledge and
skills, working as a babysitter, a teacher’s aide, or a
playground supervisor. In the future your understanding of
children may help you become successful as a parent or as a
worker in a career related to child care.
• Studying children at this point in your life can help you make
decisions about your future career. For example, a high
school student was planning to be a nurse at the beginning of
a child study course, but by the end of the course had
decided to go into teaching. The reason? “Now that I
understand them better, I like kids more than I used to. I
want to work with a group of children.”
Thinking About Your Future…
• A classmate expressed a different reaction: “I thought I
wanted to be a teacher, but now I’m not so sure. I didn’t
have any idea how much responsibility was involved.”
• Learning about child development can also help you think
about parenthood and prepare for its responsibilities.
“It’s made me more aware that having a child is really a
lifetime commitment,” one student commented. Another
said, I have the feeling I could handle anything now. I’m
going to adopt about six children.”
• One instructor of a child study class statement
“Parenthood is the most important occupation most of us
are ever engaged in. Whatever this course may or may
not accomplish in helping these students make a choice of
occupation, I know it will help them be better parents.”
Check Your Understanding…
• List the three main benefits of
studying children…
Check Your Understanding…
• List the three main benefits of
studying children…
– Improve your understanding of children.
Check Your Understanding…
• List the three main benefits of
studying children…
– Improve your understanding of children.
– Improve your understanding of yourself.
Check Your Understanding…
• List the three main benefits of
studying children…
– Improve your understanding of children.
– Improve your understanding of yourself.
– Helps you think about your future in
relation to parenthood and career choices.
Check Your Understanding…
• What is child development?
Check Your Understanding…
• What is child development?
– The study of how children grow in
different ways…
• Physically
• Mentally
• Emotionally
• Socially
Check Your Understanding…
• What is behavior?
Check Your Understanding…
• What is behavior?
– A way of acting or responding – for
every stage of life.
Check Your Understanding…
• List two benefits of learning
practical techniques of caring for
children.
Check Your Understanding…
• List two benefits of learning
practical techniques of caring for
children.
– You will understand a child’s behavior
– You will be able to get along with
them better
Check Your Understanding…
• During which stages of life does
development continue?
Check Your Understanding…
• During which stages of life does
development continue?
– Development continues throughout
one’s lifetime.
Check Your Understanding…
• How can studying child development
help students plan their future?
Check Your Understanding…
• How can studying child development
help students plan their future?
– It may help students make decisions
about parenthood as well as about
careers that involve working with
children.
• End of Chapter 1, Section 1: Children and You
Chapter 1, Section 2:
Childhood:
A Time for Development
Objectives…
• Compare childhood in the past and in
the present
• Give examples of progress in
understanding how and why children
develop as they do.
• Describe five characteristics of
development.
• Explain influences on development.
Terms to Learn…
• Environment
• Formula
• Heredity
• Nutrition
• Sequence
Childhood A Time For Development
• What does childhood mean to you?
• Do you picture a baby taking a few
stumbling steps?
• A four-year old playing on a swing?
• A classroom of fifth-graders?
• What
makes children different
from adults?
Childhood A Time For Development
• What is childhood…
• However you respond to the question above,
you probably think of childhood as a period of
life separate from adulthood. During this
separate period, development occurs very
rapidly. Human beings begin childhood almost
completely dependent on adults for every
need. By the time childhood ends, most
people have become mature and ready for
independence.
Childhood A Time For Development
• You probably also agree that children have
special needs as they grow and learn.
Imagine you were preparing to spend a day
with a five-year-old. You would not plan the
same activities you would plan for spending
the day with someone your own age, and you
wouldn’t expect to talk about the same things
you discuss with people your own age. You
wouldn’t expect the five-year-old to think,
feel, or behave exactly as you do.
Childhood A Time For Development
• We now consider childhood a distinct period of
life, and many people have made a special study
of this period. They have devoted time and
effort to find out more about how children
develop, what their special needs are, and how
those needs can best be met. Many important
concepts have emerged from this kind of study;
perhaps the most important is that childhood has
a significant influence on later life. Those who
study children and human development believe
that every child has a right to a happy, healthy,
loving childhood.
Childhood A Time For Development
• However…
• Childhood has not always been
considered a separate,
important stage of life.
• In fact, childhood
• – as we know it –
• is a fairly recent “discovery.”
Childhood: Past & Present
• Before beginning the twentieth century, few
people in Western civilization believed that
there was anything unusual or important about
the early years of life. During the Middle
Ages and the centuries that followed,
European adults were almost totally unaware
of the special needs of children. They did
not recognize the importance of providing
children with sunshine wholesome food,
protection, loving care, and a variety of
learning experiences.
Childhood: Past & Present
• Artworks created in these earlier centuries
reflect society’s attitude toward children. In
paintings and statues, children appeared as
miniature adults. They had the proportions,
expressions, and clothing of grown-ups.
• During the colonial period in America, people
believed that children differed from adults
only in size, experience, and abilities.
Children were dressed, fed and doctored just
as adults were.
Childhood: Past & Present
• These ideas persisted into the nineteenth
century. An example is Louisa May Alcott’s
famous novel, Little Women. The book’s
central character, Jo, is constantly in trouble
because she acts like the exuberant child she
is rather than the little lady that girls of her
time were expected to be.
• Some of the differences between childhood in
the past and childhood in the present are the
result of changing attitudes toward children.
Others are the result of advances in
technology.
Childhood: Past & Present
• Work:
• In the past, children were expected to work hard at
an early age. In American pioneer families, children
were expected to take care of many farming and
household tasks. During the Industrial Revolution,
many children worked as laborers in factories.
• Today, most children in our society are not thrown
into the world of adult work so abruptly. The “job”
of young children is simply to grow, learn, and play.
Children assume responsibility gradually by helping
with household tasks and, later, by taking part-time
jobs.
Childhood: Past & Present
• Health & Nutrition:
• Before beginning the twentieth century,
parents could not hope to raise every child
born to them. Diseases such as diphtheria,
typhoid fever, and smallpox caused the death
of children in almost every family.
• Today, in the United States and other
developed countries, these and many other
diseases have been controlled by medical
advances, personal cleanliness, and strict
public health regulations.
Childhood: Past & Present
• In the past, babies either thrived on breast-feeding,
or they died. Today, of course, breast-feeding still
provides an infant with complete nutrition – a balance
of all the food substances needed for health and
growth. Parents also have the option of bottlefeeding a baby with commercially prepared formula,
which is a mixture of milk or milk substitutes and
added nutrients. Infant formulas are safe and
scientifically balanced for nutrients. Special formulas
are available for infants with digestive problems or
other special health needs. Older babies now usually
eat strained, unseasoned foods, made either
commercially or at home, rather than the adult table
food served to babies in the past.
Childhood: Past & Present
• Dress:
• Until the seventeenth century, children were dressed
as small adults. Around that time, special clothing
styles began to develop for children, though these
styles did not encourage activity and play. Even early
in the twentieth century, all children wore dresses
for the first years of life.
• Preschool boys and girls were dressed alike until the
early part of the twentieth century. Then styles
began to change, and sex differences were reinforced
by the style and color of clothes worn from infancy
and on.
Childhood: Past & Present
• Today, young children now usually wear
clothing that is suitable in both style and
color for either boys or girls. Modern
children wear practical, washable, lightweight
garments designed to provide freedom of
movement and maximum comfort.
Childhood: Past & Present
• Parental Love:
• Although childhood in the past was different in many
ways from what we know today, one thing that has
not changed – the love of parents for their children.
History is filled with stories that include striking
examples of parental love.
• Despite their genuine affection, parents in the past
had little awareness of the special needs of children.
They did not know how to encourage the best
physical, emotional, social, or intellectual
development. This kind of knowledge is fairly recent.
The Growth of Child Study
• Attitudes toward children have changed. Our society
now attaches great importance to understanding and
guiding children. The fact that you are studying and
learning about children is one indication of this change
in attitude.
• Over the past several generations, interest in
studying children and their behavior has grown
remarkably. For the first time, researchers and
scholars have been able to study child growth and
development scientifically. Several pioneering
scholars have made basic contributions to our
understanding and appreciation of children and
childhood.
The Growth of Child Study
• Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, developed
a series of test to measure intellectual
processes.
• Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, theorized
that intelligence develops in stages that are
related to age. According to Piaget’s
theories, the new mental abilities at each
stage determine the limits of what a child can
learn during that period. He used his own
children as study subjects.
The Growth of Child Study
• Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician,
developed the theory that the emotional
experience of childhood have a lasting effect
on the personality of an adult.
• In the United States, theorists including
Arnold Gesell and Erik Erikson have explored
child development in terms of social and
emotional growth.
The Growth of Child Study
• Much remains to be learned about children. However,
with the help of scientific research, the superstitions
and misunderstandings of the past are being replaced
by sound knowledge.
• Information about children and their needs has
become not only more complete but also more readily
available. In the past, older family members were
almost the only source of information and advice
about child care and development. Today, people
without the help of nearby relatives can find books,
articles and radio and television programs on the
subject of child development.
The Growth of Child Study
• All these resources can give you valuable
knowledge about children. Still, the best way
to understand human development is to study
and observe it for yourself.
Characteristics of Development…
• The study of childhood has led to an
understanding of some basic facts about
human development. You may be able to
recognize examples of these characteristics
of development in your own life and in the
lives of other people you know.
–
–
–
–
–
Development is similar for everyone.
Development builds on early learning.
Development proceeds at an individual rate.
Development is continuous throughout life.
The different areas of development are
interrelated.
The Growth of Child Study
• Development is similar for everyone…
• Children all over the world go through the
same stages of development in approximately
the same order. For example, all babies life
their head before they can lift their body,
and all stand before they can walk.
The Growth of Child Study
• Development builds on early learning…
• The skills a child learns at age two build
directly on those he or she mastered at age
one. After learning to walk, a child will soon
be able to run. Before learning to speak in
sentences, a child must learn to say single
words. Thus development follows an orderly
sequence, a step-by-step pattern.
The Growth of Child Study
• Development proceeds at an individual rate…
• Although all children follow a similar pattern
of development, each child is an individual.
The style and rate of growth differ from one
child to another.
The Growth of Child Study
• Development is continuous throughout life…
• It does not stop at a certain age. Sometimes
development is rapid; at other times it is
much slower. We all continue to develop in
many ways throughout our lives.
The Growth of Child Study
• The different areas of development are
interrelated…
• In studying children it is convenient to focus on one
area of development at a time. However, it is
important to remember that, as a child grows, many
kinds of changes are taking place at once. A child
does not, for example, development at a time.
However, it is important to remember that, as a child
grows, many kinds of changes are taking place at
once. A child does not, for example, develop
physically one week and emotionally the next week.
All areas of development – physically, intellectual,
social, and emotional – interact continually.
The Importance of Play…
• One of the most important ways to learn
about children and their development is to
observe them and interact with them in their
most natural setting – the world of play. Play
makes an essential contribution to a child’s
development. Consider all the ways that play
benefits children:
–
–
–
–
Physically
Intellectually
Emotionally
Socially
The Importance of Play…
• Physically…
• Activities such as running, climbing, jumping
rope, and riding a tricycle help the large
muscles of the back, arms, and legs develop.
Strength and balance improve as a result.
Activities such a putting puzzles together,
finger painting, and stringing beads help
develop control of the small muscles.
The Importance of Play…
• Intellectually…
• A toy or game does not have to be
“educational” to promote intellectual
development. Simple play activities, such as
singing nursery rhymes, stacking blocks, and
sorting through a box of buttons, provide
experiences in gathering, organizing, and using
information about the world.
The Importance of Play…
• Emotionally…
• Play can help children work through life’s
challenges and problems. For example, acting
out the role of a parent, a fire fighter, or a
jungle explorer can diminish the frustrations
of being a small person in a big world.
The Importance of Play…
• Socially…
• As children grow, they progress from playing
alone to playing beside one another.
Gradually, the learn to play together and to
get along with others – sharing and taking
turns. Leadership, friendly competition, and
cooperation are some of the valuable social
skills that children learn through play.
The Importance of Play…
The Importance of Play…
The Importance of Play…
The Importance of Play…
The Importance of Play…
Chapter 1 Activity…
• Review the influences of both heredity and
environment on a child’s development.
• ACTIVITY…
– Working in groups of two, create a poster with a
picture or a drawing of a child in the center.
– Around the child, draw or place pictures of
environmental influences on the child’S GROWTH
AND DEVELOPMENT.
Victorian Clothing for Children…
• http://www.ehow.com/info_7921598_5-victorian-childrens-clothing.html
All Dressed Up …
Dressed Up and Heading to Town…
Children At Play…