Child Development Essay: Global Issues, Theories, and Factors

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of child development, examining various stages, influencing factors, and global issues. It delves into the biological, psychological, and emotional changes from birth through adolescence, highlighting the importance of appropriate care at each stage. The essay discusses factors such as parental training, social well-being, and childcare programs, as well as the impact of pre-natal and post-natal environments. It also explores the influence of cultural, economic, and political factors on child development, including poverty, lack of education, and child labor. The essay further examines different theories of child development, such as those of Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing these issues through government policies and practices to promote healthy child development.

To produce a written piece
where you will explore an issue
or/and controversy
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ESSAY.............................................................................................................................................3
REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
Development of a child by concentrating on emotional social and physical aspect can have
direct impact on overall development. It helps in contributing towards his / her future wellbeing.
Every stage of life deserves certain kind of attention from the side of parent and society as well
(Uccelli and et.al., 2018). The essay makes comprehensive discussion on critically evaluating the
process of child development and various factors influencing it. Further, the essay will make a
discussion on global issues of child development. In the end, the focus will shift to different
theories of child development in context to personal, economical, cultural changes which has
strong impact on construction of childhood.
REFLECTION
From this entire study about the children development, there are various things has been
considered my me which assist in giving understanding about the children development and its
related issue. I have learnt that there are various factors which can affect children development in
global context that is social, economical, political, environmental , education etc. I have noticed
that due to these mentioned factors, some time children development can negatively and some
time positively affected. I have also analysed that Pre-natal environment such as, sufferings of
the mother with nutritional deficiency, anaemia, diabetes, radiation exposure etc. This is a
natural factor that can influence the birth of children. If these factor affect children by birth then
they can influence by mentally as well as physically in large manner. On the other hand there are
also Post-natal factors such as, nutrition intake of child, social and economic status of the family,
structure of the family etc. This is a family related factor which can influence to children in
growth and development context. If family do not have enough money and their financial
condition is not that much strong then they will unable to educate their children. Thus, from this
discussion I have learnt that die to the economic and financial factor , some children can lack of
their growth and development. Thus, from this discussion in the report I have learnt that in order
to develop the children, poverty is one of the major issue which can restrict the growth and
development of children. I have also leant that there are various stages of children development
such as ( between 0 – 4 weeks), infant (4 weeks – 1 year), toddler ( age between 1 – 3 years ), pre
schooler (between age 4 – 6 years), school going children ( age between 6 – 12 years) and
adolescent ( age between 13 – 18 years).In these different stage of the life, children required
different support and resource for their development. I have also analysed from this study, the
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lack of educational resource is another major issue in the child development. As many of the
children belong from the cities and states in the UK where have no any kind of educational
institutes and academy for the children education. Due to this reason, many of the parents can not
able to develop and grow their children in education sector. I have also learnt about this study
that many of the children incurred in the children labour market under which they have to work
before than maturity age. This is major restriction and issue in the children development because
those children who are included in the child labour have no time to growth their self and
mentality. Thus, at last I can mention that I have learnt overall issue about the children
development. From this study, my secondary data collection skill, analytical and observation
skill has been improved. As I have taken lots of content from the internet due to which my
research skill has been also improved.
ESSAY
Child development is various changes that takes place in the human body between birth and
adolescent age. Changes can be in the form of biological, psychological and emotional ways.
The development has heavy dependence on anatomy of the body and hence can be unique in
every child (Watts and et.al., 2015). Another influential factor for child development is genes
and events that has occurred in prenatal life. The most related term to the factor is psychology.
The development has been characterised in different periods, such as, new born ( between 0 – 4
weeks), infant (4 weeks – 1 year),toddler ( age between 1 – 3 years ), pre schooler (between age
4 – 6 years), school going children ( age between 6 – 12 years) and adolescent ( age between 13
– 18 years) (Hamre and et.al., 2014). Appropriate quality of care is required at every stage of
development so that it can promote better health. There are various factors through which child
development can be promoted, these are, parental training, social wellbeing, child care programs
(Greenfield, 2014). It helps in promoting healthy development in child. Adoption of appropriate
steps can help in quality care of the child where it is important to understand critical
opportunities of promotion as well.
Child development not only includes single aspect but is considered to be a combination of
various other aspects. It is inclusive of various mental and physical characteristics of the child.
Emotional development is one of the most important aspect. If the child is not taught regarding
the vocabulary of emotions he / she may not be able to understand the methods of showing or
expressing his / her own emotions (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2016). In terms
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of physical aspects, the weight and height of the child are the major indicators of development.
The pattern of growth in the child from head to toe helps in making an assessment of physical
growth of the child. Constant supervision from the doctor can help in achieving proper
nourishment level and promote healthy well being. The alternative perspective to the same
delivers that child development must be as per the speed and a unified pattern (Tseng and et.al.,
2016). Otherwise, it can lead the child to barricading of various physical and mental
development. It also leads the child to get attracted towards various diseases such as low birth
weight, malnutrition body, stagnant physical growth etc (Blair and Raver, 2012).
There are various risks factors that can negatively influence the development of a child. Pre-
natal environment such as, sufferings of the mother with nutritional deficiency, anaemia,
diabetes, radiation exposure etc. Post-natal factors such as, nutrition intake of child, social and
economical status of the family, structure of the family etc. There is a significant impact of
intelligence of the child, influence of hormones and emotions that can barricade the development
of child (Evans and Whipple, 2013). Comparatively, another research on child development
states that apart from inherent factors good parenting approach also plays an important role in
order to stimulate development factors in the child. There are various intervention programmes
such as, family or individual counselling, training for behavioural skills, varied social support
services etc. A child requires multi-level parenting where resources and support is extended to
the child as per his / her age. It plays vital role in physical and mental well-being of a child
(Maguire‐Jack, Gromoske and Berger, 2012).
Every country has its own beliefs and set of rules with respect to child development
activities. The things which are taught to a child tends to reflect in his personality. Further,
nutritional intake is considered as an important aspect of child development. The countries which
are fighting poverty at a great extent are not able to give nutritional and balanced diet to a child.
There are around 1.1 billion people present in the developing countries who have inadequate
basic sanitation (Moore, 2017). Further, the studies say that 2 out of 3 people dies of water borne
diseases because of unavailability of clean drinking water. In contrast to this, another report
suggested that, housing and living facility also plays an important role in child development.
Neglecting behaviour towards the child can deteriorate the living condition (Global issues
overview, 2016). Some of the neglectful condition includes, not providing adequate amount of
clothes to wear, not helping them in daily course of actions etc. The cases of child neglect are
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higher these days which creates hinderance in overall development of the child. In contrast to
this, as per the views of other researcher, it has been studied that child labour, lack of educational
facilities, child prostitution, military use of children has been noticed prevalence in different
countries. It is important for the countries to opt for varied areas which can help in promoting
physical and mental development of the child (Kail, 2015).
There is a requirement to have nutritional knowledge that is required to be given to the child
at his / her growing years. The quality of diet taken by the child declines when he / she move
towards adolescence. There are various school based programme that are ran by government so
as to give adequate amount of knowledge and understanding regarding importance of intake of
nutritional ad healthy diet (Crnic and et.al., 2017). Parents must be aware regarding diet intake so
that it can promote development. The weight and height of a child also have heavy dependence
on the type of diet one is involved in. It has been assessed that the main causes of various types
of outbreaks in different parts of the world is causing deteriorated living of the child. It increases
the exposure of infants towards various chronic diseases. Another, important aspect that has been
noticed in other research is that a bond with the family plays an important role in development of
the child (Greenfield, 2014). Stress at early age of childhood can lead to several changes in the
pathological aspects of body. It can come out in the form of anxiety, mood disorder, recurrent
panic attacks etc. In a simple word it can be said that child development is a process through
which human beings typical grow and mature from infancy through adulthood. There are various
theories of child development such as sigmund freud, erik erikson, lev vygotsky etc. As per the
theory of sigmund freud, children move through specific stage of development due to innate
unconscious sexual drives. On the other hand on the basis of Erik Erikson theory erikson focused
more on social relationship as a driving force in development (Greenfield and Cocking, 2014).
Children development can also affected by the factor such as social, political,
economical, educational etc. Personal and cultural factor influence the growth, mentality, choice,
preferences, living standard, thought, etc of the children (McCarthy and Boster, 2017). On the
other hand in the context of economic factor, financial crisis can occurred the issue within the
country related to the finance. Due to the lack of fund and poverty condition, children
development can occurred within the country. Furthermore, some political forces such as
legislation, rules, regulation, code of conduct and standard can also affect the growth and
development of the children in the country (Masten, 2014). Thus, from this entire discussion it
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can be said that personal culture, social, political and economic factor can largely influence to
the growth and development in the country. In this, government should focus on the practices
and policies by which these mentioned issue related to children development can overcome
within the country.
CONCLUSION
From this report it has been concluded that there are different age level among the
children while they develops that are ( between 0 – 4 weeks), infant (4 weeks – 1 year), toddler
( age between 1 – 3 years ), pre schooler (between age 4 – 6 years), school going children ( age
between 6 – 12 years) and adolescent ( age between 13 – 18 years).It has been also concluded
that there are various issue which can restrict the children development in the country such as
lack of access to education, poverty, child labour, child prostitution, internet child photography,
military use of children etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Blair, C. and Raver, C. C., 2012. Child development in the context of adversity: experiential
canalization of brain and behavior. American Psychologist. 67(4). p.309.
Crnic, K. A. and et.al., 2017. Intellectual Disability and Developmental Risk: Promoting
Intervention to Improve Child and Family Well‐Being. Child development. 88(2). pp.436-
445.
Evans, G. W., Li, D. and Whipple, S. S., 2013. Cumulative risk and child
development. Psychological Bulletin. 139(6). p.1342.
Greenfield, P. M. and Cocking, R. R. eds., 2014. Cross-cultural roots of minority child
development. Psychology Press.
Greenfield, P. M., 2014. Cross-cultural roots of minority child development. Psychology Press.
Hamre, B. and et.al., 2014. Evidence for general and domain‐specific elements of teacher–child
interactions: Associations with preschool children's development. Child
development. 85(3). pp.1257-1274.
Kail, R. V., 2015. Children and their development. Pearson Higher Ed.
Maguire‐Jack, K., Gromoske, A. N. and Berger, L. M., 2012. Spanking and child development
during the first 5 years of life. Child development. 83(6). pp.1960-1977.
Masten, A. S., 2014. Global perspectives on resilience in children and youth. Child
development. 85(1). pp.6-20.
McCarthy, J. W. and Boster, J. B., 2017. A comparison of the performance of 2.5 to 3.5-year-old
children without disabilities using animated and cursor-based scanning in a contextual
scene. Assistive Technology. pp.1-8.
Moore, R. C., 2017. Childhood's domain: Play and place in child development (Vol. 6).
Routledge.
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2016. Child-care structure→ process→ outcome:
Direct and indirect effects of child-care quality on young children's
development. Psychological Science.
Tseng, V. and et.al., 2016. Taking stock and moving forward: Research on Asian American child
development. Child development. 87(4). pp.989-994.
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Uccelli, P. and et.al., 2018. Children's Early Decontextualized Talk Predicts Academic Language
Proficiency in Midadolescence. Child development.
Watts, T. W. and et.al., 2015. The role of mediators in the development of longitudinal
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