Child Development: Psychologist Perspective

Children develop at different rates and ideally no two children must be compared.  Children today are bought up in different settings than we were, be it technology, media, economic status, etc. It is so different that if we had to compare our growing years to theirs we wouldn’t be able to relate personally too. That is because of the growing age and times, trends and our society change but what remains constant is human development and its stages.

The development of a child occurs from childhood to adulthood and focuses on the child’s cognitive, emotional and social growth. Psychologists and theorists in the field of child development have attempted to explain the milestones as children develop. Theories on child development are important influences in understanding child development. Contemporary psychologists of today’s time and age are able to understand how children grow, behave, and think as a result of their dynamic approach of all aspects of development.

Cognitive milestones, where the initial years of a child are centred on exploration of their senses and their environment based on which are able to develop perception that helps them to develop;  i.e. recognizing the faces of their parents, differentiating objects, understanding and responding to words, etc. Slowly they begin to get increasingly independent allowing them to better explore their world hence causing a great deal of learning. They begin to question and ask a lot of ‘Whys’, which further facilitates them to use language better, imitate adults and function well at schools.

Social and emotional milestones, children in their initial years of growth are able to actively learn about themselves and others around them, they are socially quite competent due to this learning. From responding to imitation, their social skills grow over time hence helping them to understand and respond to emotions. They are able to express a number of emotions from happiness, fear, sadness as well as anger. As they grow they slowly learn to self regulate i.e. feed or dress themselves. As they grow they begin to interact with a wide range of people as well as gain a better sense of self-awareness hence helping them to be more confident and creative. This helps them become more independent and greater awareness of their own individuality, i.e. understand good and bad behaviour, become more aware of people’s feelings, develop friendships, etc.

An important aspect that a psychologist considers is nature and nurture. A child’s development is mostly an amalgamation of both these factors.  Nature would include their genetic dispositions whereas nurture would include their environmental factors. A child’s development largely is the product of their interaction with their environmental factors i.e. their home and school it is crucial for parents to keep them safe and is provided with a sense of security as their sensitive minds are quick to pick information up. Nature is the behaviours, the attitudes that are inherently present in the child due to their genetic predisposition. But a lot of nature does get cancelled out if the nurture doesn’t provide for it to grow.

It is important to understand how your child develops as this will help you become an effective parent. Observe your child, communicate with them this will help you understand your child. Your child has a unique personality and understanding this personality will help you, help them flourish and be their unique and authentic self.  For appointment with our child psychologists, call us now on +919741476476.