Physical Development
In infancy, from birth to one year old, we observe children rolling over, sitting unsupported, crawling, standing up, and beginning to take their first steps. I feel like at this time we are constantly celebrating and praising the babies in our lives. When my little brother was a baby, I remember us cheering on whenever he was able to do the things I’ve listed. When he started crawling, it was the most adorable moment, but also scary because suddenly we had to be assessing our house for dangers that he can reach. It became worse when he started walking…but speaking of walking, I happened to take a video of his first steps and it was euphoric.
In early childhood, from 2 to 5 years, we develop our running skills, climbing, increased coordination, and develop fine motor skills such as drawing, building blocks, etc. From this time in my childhood I remember spending a lot of time outside. I would run around in fields, and climb trees or playsets in the park. I don’t remember much in terms of coordination, but maybe skipping can be an example. I loved skipping, and I deemed it to be a better mode of transportation than old, boring walking. In terms of fine motor skills, I did a lot! I remember drawing with chalk, playing with legos, doing doll’s hair, and making creations with play-doh! It was a moment of great exploration using my body, and we as toddlers are comparable to little monkeys, because we are constantly jumping around and are full of energy.
Throughout childhood, from 6-12 years, we experience continued growth spurts, increased strength and agility, and development of sport skills. I’ve never played sports growing up, but my little brother is currently underway in this life-stage and I would say he holds true to these developmental patterns. He is our little soccer player. He plays with a team and he’s doing great! He’s growing strong and building all those athletic skills. If he continues the way he’s been, he might become a professional soccer player if he puts his mind to it. Many kids play sports in school, or on their own with clubs or organizations. Kids are movers, and sports are a great way to channel their energy and develop their physical capabilities.
Emotional Development
In infancy, our babies form attachments and begin to express basic emotions such as joy, sadness, and anger, they also develop trust. Babies are dependent on those around them, and those who are constantly providing for their emotional needs and providing them with the optimal care, the baby will know they are safe with that person. Babies may not talk, but they absolutely know and understand the “vibe”. They absorb the energy they are receiving and reciprocate that. Babies' only way of communication are through those emotional cues such as crying, giggling, etc.
In early childhood, we start to develop empathy, understand and express a wider range of emotions, and with those newfound emotions, learn how to regulate them with the guidance of caregivers. At this time, we might show compassion towards people, pets, and objects in our life. You might see your mother or father sad. Seeing their sadness you would approach them and ask what’s wrong, or might give them something they enjoy to lift their moods, such as chocolate, or a drawing. This is showing empathy, as you are recognising others emotions and reacting in ways that are appropriate. You might not fully understand why someone is sad or happy, but you know that if someone is sad they need consolement. If someone is happy, you begin to feel happy with them. At this time, more complex emotions are showcased, such as jealousy. Children are easily jealous of others, for example, you might want to play with your friend, but when others you don’t like join in, you wouldn’t want them to play with your friend. Your friend is yours only. Or during gym class, you will all start competing against each other, and if you lose in a race, you might get mad and feel jealous of your classmates. When it comes to jealousy, and other complicated emotions, we need to be told as children that what we feel is okay, but we need to know how to control them. We all get jealous sometimes, but we can’t hurt others because of it. It’s okay for your friends to have other friends, and it’s okay to lose sometimes. It might not make us happy, but we need to be able to handle uncomfortable emotions.
In childhood, we begin to assert our independence, develop a sense of self-worth, and we form friendships and navigate various social situations. We think we are big kids at this age, and don’t want the adults in our lives to help us out sometimes. For example, you might want to pour your own juice in the morning, or would want to pick out your own outfits for school. We know what we like and don’t like at this age, and really start to begin asserting our sense of self. It’s very common to compare yourself with others as well, with your friends and classmates, and from them sometimes you get an idea about the type of person you are or want to be. We need to make sure children at this age feel confident with the things they love and if others around them don’t like the things they like, that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy their passions. If your favourite animal is a hippo, but everyone else like lions, then that doesn’t mean you should pretend to like lions more than hippos too. Everybody is unique, and it should be celebrated. Children will get into disagreements at this age with others based on what they believe to be correct. We need to teach children how to navigate disagreements in a way where everyone involved is respected. That way no emotions are invalidated, and everybody's heard, but at the same time, children are learning valuable skills that they will continue to use till adulthood, which is cooperation. We love to be little independent children, but we also need to learn how to work with others.
Mental Development (Cognitive)
In infancy, we observe sensory exploration, object permanence, and early language development. Sensory exploration is all about learning how to use the senses. The world is full of sensory stimuli for our little babies. There is constant noise, and you might see a baby stop crying and begin to listen to some soft music. Babies know the smell of their mothers, but also navigate other people through smell as well. For sight, babies are born with limited vision. They can’t quite see well till about 6 months where they begin to see well, and make out various colours. Babies rely in that way heavily on sound and smell, when the world is a blur. Now in terms of taste, babies are drinking milk till they reach 6 months where soft foods are gradually introduced. At this time babies can develop a liking for certain foods. I remember my brother hating peas and carrots, but he loved applesauce. Though, it’s more so because of the sugar content in the apple sauce. You have to be smart in what you feed your baby, because if all you give them is sugar, then you could run a risk of them developing a slight addiction to the substance. Too much sugar isn’t good, and children are highly susceptible to cavities when they develop their teeth. Object permanence is the idea that babies will know if you had a ball in your hand, and put it behind your back, that the ball didn’t magically disappear forever. They know it’s just somewhere else. In terms of language development, we witness babies coo and form their first words. It’s always an exciting moment when the little babies begin to speak, and their babbles turn into words!
In early childhood, language development continues, rapidly. Also, children engage in what we call imaginative play, more commonly known as pretend play. Children also engage in early problem-solving skills in various domains such as play, at home, and outside of the home. I remember at this age having such a wild imagination. For example, when I was outside during the summertime, we would make up the wildest stories about escaping acid when playing under sprinklers. Or being the magical princess of happiness who teaches a village that is cursed with eternal sadness how to be happy. That game was my favourite, and the lore went deep with that one. There were deaths, kidnappings, heroic savings, and filler episodes. The route our imagination takes us was extraordinary! Imagination allows us to think on deeper levels, and it’s something that should be encouraged to all children. It allows us to look at ourselves, and what we want for ourselves to become. Imaginative play is in my opinion the best type of play, because not only is it super fun, but cognitively enriching.
Throughout the rest of our childhood, we begin to develop abstract thinking, improve our memory and attention span, learn to read and write, and continue to develop critical thinking skills. At this moment, we begin to go to school. We engage in various subjects such as mathematics, reading and writing, second languages, physical and wellness education, and the arts. We develop a sense of learning, and feed our growing minds. We begin to form an identity around school and the subjects we love. Depending on the learning environment, we are pushed to certain subjects. I believe children can excel in all subjects, but sometimes people push children to develop their skills in subjects they like or are good at. I think children can be STEM minded, and Arts minded. We can be artists and engineers. So children at this age should be encouraged to love and explore all educational domains. When I was in school I was told I couldn’t be good at english or social studies, because I was an ELL student. I was good at math, and good at science. I was told to focus on those, and pass by in the other subjects. This was wrong. I challenged myself to become better at english and social studies, and today I would argue that I can do good in every subject, because I told myself I will. I am an avid bookworm, but I do love to read science research as well. You can be anything, and children need to believe they can do anything.
Understanding the developmental changes that children go through from infancy to late childhood is important in understanding the way they behave and interact with others. We can also all reflect in all the various ways we’ve changed throughout the years intellectually, physically, and emotionally. It’s really fascinating thinking about it. Compare a 2 month old little boy, to a boy who’s just turning 11. Look at how different they are. We are constantly growing as humans, changing and learning each day. Our growth is to be celebrated and learned. We are amazing beings as humans.
