Beginning and Physical development in Infancy
Physical development of infants usually depends on their nutritional, hereditary and environmental factors. In some cases physical or psychological abnormalities after birth or during pregnancy also determines physical development of an infant. For a child to develop fully physically, he or she requires optimum nutritional requirements and healthy environment to grow in.
During birth of a child, the infant has no ability to control their body movements and in this case most of the movements noticed are reflexes since their nervous system by this time is partially developed (Promin, 1986).
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Infants do not recognize objects which are far from them but by 6 months their visual ability develops fully and they can see distance objects. At around the age of four, most of the children have their muscles fully developed and they can sit and support themselves for quite a short time. Therefore, most of the physical development in infants takes place between births up to the age of 6 months whereby the infant can be able to notice changes in the environment.
Debate of nature versus nurture rotates around biological and environmental factors. The nature of this debate is argumentative because it is understood in the world of science today. Some people view behavioral origin of most infants as issues contributed by the environmental factors which they are brought up in. These are the natural aspect of behavior. Some other scientists argue that behavior portrayed by infants and children are as a result of hereditary factors that they acquire from the genes of their parents.
Source of nurture can be understood by studying behavior of the way an infant grows physically in regard to the environment which he or she is being brought up in. Some people argue that physical and motor growth is usually controlled by an automatic natural process (UNEP, 2008). Both of these theories in regard to nurture and nature can be acknowledged through study of child psychology. Various studies and experiments have been carried out by psychologists and scientist so that they can establish the main cause of certain behaviors in children as they grow up.
According to various studies carried out, early years of child development can be influenced by environmental situation which usually cause personalities, beliefs, attitude sexual preference and other behaviors which occur in children. For example, the environment that a child is brought up basically determines the behavior of that child; those children who are brought up by single parents are quite different in their behavior development from those who are brought up by both parents from when the child is an infant to the time the child reach Adolescent stage.
The issue of step parenting also affects the development of a child greatly since there are those behavior that the child exhibits that the parent can not understand since they are hereditary and the step parent is not aware of them.. In most cases when children are brought up by step parents, the environment of the affected children can be altered. This brings about the issue of situational difference which can be traumatic to children’s life and therefore their lives have been hence influenced by upbringing.
This has not been overshadowed by hereditary source of behavior since they will bear some behavioral characteristic of their original parents (Lamb et al. 2002). Traumatic child’s event as a, result of their up bringing and the genetic characteristics that they acquire from their parents have raised a lot of concern on sexual orientation of a child. These behaviors in most cases are caused by erratic situational difference which can result to inner conflict between environmental and hereditary factors. The issue of sexual orientation is least influenced by genetic factors since it is not governed by chromosomes or genes.
Most of the sexual behaviors that children adopt are determined by their environmental upbringing. Some children can also develop varying behaviors even if they are brought up in the same environment. Many psychologists have tried to carry out various studies on relationship between parents and siblings, the way they grow and their behavior. For example, naughtiness in young children who are usually controlled on their naughty behavior by their mothers can be associated by the environmental cause of behavior as a result of poor methods of parenting.
According to studies, this can not be true since some children can inherit these behaviors from parents instead of being taken as poor parenting techniques. Parents should be given credit less for a good outcome of behavior of their children or else they should not be blamed since the behavior can be as a result of genetic factor or hereditary factor. Therefore, one cannot determine exactly what has caused that behavior change in child. According to various arguments, children are usually born the same way but due to the environment that they are brought up in, they continues to grow according to the demands of nature.
Some of the expressions such as temperaments can be associated with genetic factors. In disciplining the child, it is quite necessary for parent to determine which behavior is impacted by the environmental factor and the one which is as a result of upbringing of a child. Therefore nature versus nurture plays quite similar role in determining the behavior of a child during child’s development. Both environmental factors and hereditary factors contribute greatly to the behavior of a child and also physical growth of a child which encompasses even the general health of a child.
Environmental raising and intelligence origin are mainly contributed by nurture and nature in formation of behavior by the child. In today’s world, after extensive research and other theories which support child’s development have been evaluated, it is true that nurture and nature contributes to the origin of child’s behavior characteristic. The quality of environment that a child is brought up in determines the survival rate of a child in early days of life. This determines child’s physical and mental growth.
Children are always at risk of these environmental factors due to their immature organs, small physical size low metabolic rate, curiosity and behavior. Most of the global diseases are usually attributed by negative environmental factors such as air pollution, dirty water, poor sanitations and other aspect such as vector-transmitted diseases. Due to these aspects, there are a number of abnormalities which can be impacted by environmental factors. Environment influence can play a vital role in physical and mental development of a child.
For example, Down syndrome is one of the mental conditions which are impacted to a child at early age due to environmental influence. During early days of a child, environment that a child is brought up in determines his/her future life. Children who are suffering from Down syndrome have low motivation of performing tasks. These can be contributed by environmental experiences of a child. This has been investigated by gauging the motivation of an infant to perform various tasks. In most cases, mystery of motivation is usually a intrinsic factor which is usually manifested in behavior of a child as he or she grows up.
This shows the difference in mystery behavior of different individuals. All these behaviors are contributed by environmental factors. According to various studies, Down syndrome is reinforced and controlled by environmental factors since they greatly attribute to the behavior of an infant. Many researchers have tried to come up with any environmental factors which cause Down syndrome but they have not established any of them since it is believed that Down syndrome according to physiologist is a genetic disorder but it can rather be contributed by environmental set up.
Down syndrome as a result of environmental factor can result to:- Input in material language and the general outcome of studies of language intervention. In studying these factors, one should identify various factors which facilitate language within the natural environment and then evaluate how the environment has manipulated language development of that individual. There are a number of risk factors which influences development of a child. Some of these factors in child’s development can be positively or negatively impacted by various aspects such as environmental factors.
Genetic factors in most of the environmental set up are quite dynamic and therefore they keep on changing constantly over time. Genetic factors which children inherit from their parents can be developed or lost depending on the environmental background that they grow in. environmental factors can promote optimum development in infant. Some genetic factors such as temperament, Disease and brightness of infants can be impacted either positively or negatively by environment (Health School Environment, 2005). Temperament or behavior that a child exhibits is usually associated with parent.
This should not always be true since environment that a child is brought up in. some behaviors that children exhibits such as abuse, bad eating habits and other petty behaviors can be attributed by the environmental upbringing of child, those children whom he/she relates with or the physical set up and behavior of most individuals in those areas. But some aspects such as temperament which a child can acquire from parent can be developed if the environment that he/she is brought up in is hostile and requires that form of behavior.
On the other hand, if the environment that a child grows in is calm, this behavior is not portrayed in child as he/she grows up since he/she has not been able to exercise temperament form of behavior as they grow. Another genetic factor is acquisition of diseases from parent which are known to be hereditary. Depending on the environmental background that a child is brought up in, the disease can either manifest itself or not. Some diseases such as Down syndrome which is usually hereditary can also be developed or controlled depending on the environmental set up that a child is brought up in.
If the environment is friendly and interactive the child’s IQ can develop well and therefore the risk of child manifesting the symptoms of Down syndrome is reduced. In other cases, if the environmental set up is not friendly and the people who are involved in bringing up the child are not interactive, then the IQ of an infant will remain low and therefore the brain of the child will not develop as its required which makes the infant to show the symptoms of down syndrome.
Therefore, the environmental setup which a child is brought up in can either help to positively or negatively in develop various hereditary characteristics that a child acquires from the parents. Pregnant women can give birth to physically, emotionally and intellectually healthy babies depending on the environment and emotional aspect they carry their pregnancy through. When one is pregnant, she should ensure that exercise and healthy eating habits are enhanced so that the outcome of the pregnancy is a healthy baby in all the aspects.
Emotional status of pregnant woman accounts a lot of the fitness of the baby in all the aspects of development such as physical, emotional or intellectual aspect. Good parenting begins the time one became pregnant. This is because the baby who is born, his mental, physical and intellectual capacity is determined by the status that the mother was in during the 9 months pregnancy period. Child’s growth can still develop after birth, whereby parents are held responsible for training their children during their development (Christian, 2006).
Physical growth is maintained by proper diet and living in environment which is free from infections such as dusty environment which can cause allergic infections. Parents should ensure that their children are physically fit by taking necessary care and precautions needed to live a healthy life. Little effort is employed especially when a child is taken care of at early age since the child can be able to emulate the behaviors of the parent and other older siblings. Emotional and intellectual well being of a child can be enhanced in child’s early life by training the child on good behavior.
As a good parent, one should initially understand the child well and find out the cause of behavior that the child portrays. To ensure that a child is emotionally fit, review of the behavior of that child is quite necessary since they will portray intellectual capability of a child in carrying out various tasks. Good parents usually discipline their children when they conduct themselves poorly. But before punishing a child parent should try and evaluate the cause of poor behavior whether is as a result of environmental influence or hereditary behavior from either parent.
Incase it is as a result of environmental influenced the child should be punished so that he or she cannot repeat it again. On the other hand, if the behavior is hereditary, child should be counseled accordingly by the parent on the ways to avoid such behavior in future. Therefore good parenting can be enhanced which finally result to raising up a family which is intellectually, physically and emotionally fit and therefore the growth of babies can be healthy. Motor skill development according to dynamic system theory.
Parents should be involved in various activities with their children so that they can help them to develop their fine and gross motor skills. These skills can affect the child adversely if they are not developed. These skills help a child to perform well in various tasks such as academic and physical growth. Fine motor skills according to dynamics theory enable a child to manipulate objects and to write (Lamb, 2002). They take activities in such things as painting.
This should be enhanced by exchanging brushes, carrying out puzzles which help to control finger movement, play dough, cutting and threading. Some of these activities are aimed at manipulating hands to help in developing their motor activities. Other motor skills such as gross motor skills helps in developing big motor skills, these activities involves activities such as jumping, running, climbing, hopping, skipping and other activities which helps the whole body movement. These activities develop the muscles of the body and legs.
These skills only require a lot of coordination and development of balance. When children develop these motor skills, they can be able to carry on with various movement needed for their survival. Therefore, parents need to work with their children during their early ages in developing so that they can understand them as they grow and also to help to develop their skills effectively. Children development, health and their safety should be enhanced by the environmental aspect that they bring up children in.
For parents to serve their children well, they must ensure that they work hand in hand with their families and in order to enhance this, they must understand their children before taking any action on them. Good development of the child depend entirely on nurturing the child the best way at early stages before they reach adolescent where they are uncontrollable. Reference: Lamb E. et al. (2002). Development in infancy: An introduction. United State: Lawrence Erlbaum Association. Christian L. , (2006).
Understanding Families. Journal of National Association for Education for Young Children, Retrieved from: http://www. journal. naeyc. org/about/permissions. asp Promin M. , (1986), Development, Genetics and Psychology. United State: Lawrence Erlbaum Association. Health School Environment. (2005). Environmental Impact in School Setting. Retrieved from http://www. nasn. org/Default. aspx? tabid=293 UNEP, (2008) Children Environmental Health. Retrieved from; http://www. nyo. unep. org/ceht. htm
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