Child and Adolescent Nursing: Hazard Warnings and Child Development

This report delves into the critical aspects of child and adolescent nursing, specifically focusing on kitchen safety and hazard warnings for children aged 3-5 years old. It emphasizes the importance of educating children about potential dangers within the kitchen environment, highlighting the use of books as an effective tool for conveying these messages. The report integrates the cognitive development theory, particularly the pre-operational stage, to explain how children learn and process information. It also examines the physical development of children during this age range, including their increasing mobility and tendency to explore their surroundings, which can lead to potential hazards in the kitchen. The report stresses the importance of teaching children about kitchen safety to minimize accidents and promote responsible behavior, referencing authoritative parenting approaches to instill discipline and appropriate conduct. The report uses the references of the development of the children and the importance of the safety in kitchen.

Running head: CHILD AND ADOLOSCENT NURSING
Child and adolescent nursing
Name of the student:
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Author’s note

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Reason for book as the best option for hazard warning
A book is best option for teaching 3-5 years old about hazard warnings in kitchens
because books for children are very illustrative with colorful pictures which attract the attention
of children. This is also congruent with the cognitive development theory as it shows that during
preoperational stage child begin to develop and learn to represent objects with images and words
(Goswami, 2014). Hence, when parents interact with children during reading the book, children
can easily relate to hazard warning.
Physical development in 3-5 year old children and impact on kitchen safety
According to Piaget, cognitive development in children occurs through four stages of
sensorimotor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage and formal operational
stage. 3-5 year old children come under the pre-operational stage and they are conditioned to
learning by using their imagery and memory skills (Galotti, 2015). By this age, children start
developing social interaction skills by playing and interaction with other children of their age and
family members. In the context of physical development, children starts to climb, swing and hop
at this age. They also tend to do certain things physically and inability to do so leads to falls and
mishaps. It is evident that due to such physical development and tendency to complete curious
task, it is likely that children entering the kitchen may harm themselves (Joseph, 2017). Hence, it
is very important that children be taught about kitchen safety at this stage to minimize harmful
incidences.
At the age of three, gross motor skill is developed in children. Children at this stage are
mainly found to climb, swing their arm, maintain their balance and hop on their feet. They also
develop find motor skills such as washing hands, feeding themselves with spoons and grasping

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things in hand. This behavior may affect the kitchen safety when children enter the kitchen. If
they are not aware about basic kitchen hazards, they are likely to get injured (Joseph,
2017). Hence, teaching children kitchen safety at this stage is important to promote self-
discipline in children and address and make them changes inappropriate behavior or practice in
kitchen. According to Larzelere, Morris & Harrist, (2013), inculcating effective discipline in
children at all stage of life is important to foster appropriate behavior in the child and develop
them into a mature and responsible adult.

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Reference
Galotti, K. M. (2015). Cognitive development: Infancy through adolescence. Sage Publications.
Goswami, U. (2014). Cognition in children. Psychology Press.
Joseph, A. (2017). The Physical Development of 3 to 5-Year-Old Children. [online] Available at:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/112492-physical-development-5yearold-children/
[Accessed 10 Oct. 2017].
Larzelere, R. E., Morris, A. S. E., & Harrist, A. W. (2013). Authoritative parenting: Synthesizing
nurturance and discipline for optimal child development. American Psychological
Association..