The Importance of Early Childhood Development
The early childhood development is considered to be one of the most important matters that is observed to have an impact on the overall development of the concerned child. The numerous comprehensive approaches that might be applied to the various programs and the policies that are related to the children who belong to the group that ranges from infancy to the age of eight might be referred to as the early childhood development (Hasan et al. 2015). The multitude of the policies and the programs might also take in to account the parents and the various caregivers of the child in discussion. The experts on the early childhood development of the concerned child might account for the developments of the child pertaining to the physical, emotional, and social aspects that affect the concerned child in discussion (Lewis and Mitchell 2014). The physical, emotional and the social developments of the child might affect the complete development of the child and might affect their personality that they might possess during their years of growth and the person that they might transform into in the future years.
The stress of the child as well as that of the concerned parent and caregiver is known to lower down due to the involvement of the concerned child in the various playful activities. These playful activities assist the dexterity of the child as well as the development of the imagination and creative self of the child in question. The child might benefit from these playful activities in the matters that pertain to the physical, cognitive and the emotional strengths that are displayed by the concerned child (Qvortrup 2017). The games that the child is observed to be participating in helps in the development of the creativity of the child. The expansion of the creative mind of the child would assist the concerned child in the improvement in the matters that pertain to the imaginative and creative capabilities of the concerned child as well as the brain capacity of the child (Elango et al. 2015). The composition that follows deals with an imaginary discussion with a museum exhibit on a wide range of issues that relate to the loss of the childhood of the children, the changes that are observed in the childhood practices that are followed in the various cultures, the role played by the children in their own development. The composition aims to shed light on the issues that pertain to the changes in the games and other playful activities in the different eras and the cultures. The conversation aims to shed further light on the impact of the practices of single parenthood on the mentality of the child in the matters that pertain to the early childhood development. The conversation also attempts to look at the obesity issues that perturb the children, the caregivers as well as the parents of the concerned children who have been dealing with the problem of obesity.
The Impact of Playful Activities on Child Development
The museum exhibit that has been taken into consideration in this case is the Armand Marseille baby doll. This exhibited item is found at the V&A Museum of Childhood located in Bethnal Green, London (Vam.ac.uk 2018). The Armand Marseille baby doll is one of the finest creations of Armand Marseille. Armand Marseille was known to be one of the most famous manufacturers and the biggest doll manufacturers of Germany in the early twentieth century. The doll in discussion is found to be dressed as a Japanese baby. It might also be pointed out that the dolls were generally manufactured and distributed particularly in the various parts of the United States of America and Europe due to the huge amount of the popularity of the same in the concerned areas of the country. The mould that was used in the manufacture of the doll bore similarity to the mould that was used for the manufacture of the Caucasian dolls and had very minute differences to the latter in the matters that pointed out the southeast Asian features that were to be presented in the concerned dolls. The company in discussion issued their first product in the market in the 1920s (Vam.ac.uk 2018.). The first product represented the first version of the true baby doll and was better known by the name of the “My Dream Baby”. The dolls that were manufactured prior to the afore-mentioned model by the famous doll manufacturer Armand Marseille were generally based on the young children of the society rather than on the infants who have been residing in the society. The doll in discussion was made available to the concerned customers in a variety of the size ranges and included four different dolls that represented the infants of the Southeast races, the mixed races and the infants who belonged to the Caucasian and the Black races (Vam.ac.uk 2018.). The reputed German doll manufacturer, Armand Marseille is known to have sold the design of the doll manufacture to the other manufacturers that were present all over the world and had been active in the concerned time. The assignment that follows aims to present an imaginary conversation between the museum exhibit, the Armand Marseille baby doll and the student who had been visiting the museum on the issues that pertain to the loss of the childhood of the children, the changes that are observed in the childhood practices that are followed in the various cultures, the role played by the children in their own development, the changes in the games and other playful activities in the different eras and the cultures, the impact of single parenthood on the mentality of the child in the matters of early childhood development and the obesity issues that perturb the children, the caregivers as well as the parents of the concerned children.
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Loss of childhood and other issues |
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Student: |
Hello there, do you not feel that the children of the present times have been facing a loss in their childhood? |
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Armand Marseille baby doll: |
I do find the point that you just made to be highly agreeable. The children who have been visiting the museum these days seem to be under a lot of pressure to perform better than their peer group. They even depict symptoms of high stress and the loss of the play time of the children. I even feel that the play times and the activities of the children have gone through a huge amount of changes as compared to their early twentieth century counterparts (Winn 2018). Would you like to agree on that? |
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Student: |
Yes, I would totally agree to you on this point. I feel that the concerned children of the modern times are highly affected by the shortage of the play areas as well as the increase in the amount of the stress that they have been facing due to the increase in the stress in the matters that pertain to the educational and the other activities that the concerned children of the modern era might have to deal with which curbs down their play time (Scienceleadership.org 2018). What is your opinion on this? |
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Armand Marseille baby doll: |
Yes, that also provides further confirmation on the issues that are perturbing the children of the age. I would like to opine that the childhood concepts have gone through a huge number of changes as compared to the children who had been living in our ages (Nps.gov 2018). The early twentieth century children tended to be more innocent and childlike in their attitudes and dealings as compared to the children whom I regularly meet at this museum. I would like to state that the children of this age are more concentrated on the matters that pertain to the dealings of the outer world and are exposed to a huge number of the activities that were considered to be the matters requiring adult intervention in the early twentieth century (Paton 2018). What would be your take on this matter? |
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Student: |
The comment that you just did make in the matter is very apt in the present scenario. The children of the modern era demonstrate the attitude that was considered to be the matters that involved the adult intervention (Kuzmic 2018). This had led to the matters that deal with the untimely maturity of the concerned children and therefore robbing them of the childhood that they were supposed to enjoy according to the experts who had been studying the changes that have been occurring in the development of the children since the early twentieth century. I do feel that there has been a huge change in the language and the diction that the children of the modern times have been using. Do you not feel the same? |
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Armand Marseille baby doll: |
Yes, I was about to point that issue too. The language that is being used by the children visiting the museum seem to be too mature and advanced as according to the age group that they belong to (Flam 2018). Do you have anything in particular that you would like to know of the children who existed in our ages? |
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Student: |
You just spoke my mind. Yes, I am very inquisitive of the trends and the practices that were prevalent in the early twentieth century. I do often wonder as to the degrees to which the childhood practices have been affected by the various changes in the childhood patterns that have been experienced due to the changes in the cultural backgrounds of the children in questions. I would also like to know about your opinions on the roles that are played by the children in the matters that pertain to their own development. I often wonder whether they do play a positive or a negative role in the matter. The other matter that seems to get me thinking is the changes that might be faced by the concerned children in the matters that deal with the playtime and the play activities of the concerned children. The impact of the single parenthood and the obesity issues that were faced by the children of the early twentieth century also tend to get me thinking on the matter. However, of all the matters, the changes in the playtime and the play activities of the children tend to get me thinking the most. Could you please help me quench the inquisitiveness that I have been facing in the concerned matters? |
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Armand Marseille baby doll: |
Now that is a long list of questions that seem to be worrying you. However, I would like to shed some light on the changed in the play activities and the play timings of the concerned children. I would like to inform you on the fact that the early twentieth century children enjoyed their childhood and took part in the various playful activities and games that are still present in the current scenarios (Cunningham 2014). I can assure you with the fact that there have been a multitude of queries that had been arising in your mind while you had been touring the museum until you finally reached me (de Zordo and Shanks 2017). Would you please co-operate with me in solving the queries that have been arising in your mind? |
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Student: |
The play and games issues that are faced by the children in this era is one of the major issues that I would like you to shed light on. I am curious about the various ways and matters that deal with the games that were played by the children in the early twentieth century. I often wonder whether the children of that era sat down at their own houses and played all the game on their computers or went out to play with their friends as well (Gordon and Browne 2013). I do wonder whether they did have time to play games after their daily engagement with the studies and other engagements that they might have had in their daily lives. The experts on the matters do opine that the children should be given enough time and scope to play and take part in the games that have been in practice in the concerned era. Would you like to agree to the viewpoint that I presented or put forth an argument against the same? |
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Armand Marseille baby doll: |
Yes, I would agree to the point that you just made. The caregivers, the parents and the concerned teachers of the children were known to have allowed the concerned kids to involve themselves and actively participate in the various games that might be classified as the outdoor games (Nowak 2013). The children were encouraged to take part in the games that require the application of the mental skills of the concerned children. The games that were played the most were the game of Graces, the game of Ninepins and other such games that require the application of the understanding and the development of the coordination of the eyes and the hands of the concerned child (Smith et al. 2013). Would you also like to know of the various indoor games? |
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Student: |
Yes, please let me know of the indoor games that were enjoyed by the concerned children of the early twentieth century. |
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Armand Marseille baby doll: |
The indoor games of the early twentieth century involved the dolls some of which you might find in this museum. The other various activities that the concerned children might be involved in are those that involve singing and dancing and other such activities (Taylor 2015). This helped the children to put forth the creative aspect of their character. Do you find it relative enough? |
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Student: |
Yes, the discussion with you helped me to clear my doubts on the issue. The discussion on the early childhood matters that were present in the early twentieth century helped me to gain an insight into the various practices that were prevalent during the times. The conversation with you was very valuable and has helped me clear my doubts on the matters that dealt with the early childhood development during the early twentieth century. |
References
Cunningham, H., 2014. Children and childhood in western society since 1500. Routledge.
de Zordo, S.P. and Shanks, S., InPlay Products, Inc., 2017. Projectile launching device. U.S. Patent 9,545,553.
Elango, S., García, J.L., Heckman, J.J. and Hojman, A., 2015. Early childhood education (No. w21766). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Flam, F. 2018. Obese kids: How did we get here?. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/postlive/how-childhood-obesity-became-a-crisis/2013/09/26/b2f87652-1708-11e3-804b-d3a1a3a18f2c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f1249e20ac76 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
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Kuzmic, R., 2018. Beer and Skittles as (Divinely Initiated) Protest?. Faith, Hope, Love, and Justice: The Theological Virtues Today, p.47.
Lewis, C. and Mitchell, P., 2014. Children’s early understanding of mind: Origins and development. Psychology Press.
Nowak, M.A. ed., 2013. Evolution, games, and god. Harvard University Press.
Nps.gov 2018. Children’s Activities – Games – Fort Scott National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service). [online] Nps.gov. Available at: https://www.nps.gov/fosc/learn/education/childrengame.htm [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
Paton, M. 2018. Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/sin-and-the-single-mother-the-history-of-lone-parenthood-7782370.html [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
Qvortrup, J., 2017. Macro-analysis of childhood. In Research with children (pp. 43-65). Routledge.
Scienceleadership.org 2018. The Loss of Childhood Innocence — Science Leadership Academy @ Center City. [online] Scienceleadership.org. Available at: https://scienceleadership.org/blog/the_loss_of_childhood_innocence [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
Smith, P.B., Fischer, R., Vignoles, V.L. and Bond, M.H., 2013. Understanding social psychology across cultures: Engaging with others in a changing world. Sage.
Taylor, R., 2015. Outdoor Recreation at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century.
Vam.ac.uk 2018. Dolls Archives – V&A Museum of Childhood. [online] V&A Museum of Childhood. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/?collection_type=dolls [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
Vam.ac.uk 2018. Armand Marseille baby doll – V&A Museum of Childhood. [online] V&A Museum of Childhood. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/armand-marseille-baby-doll/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].
Winn, M. 2018. THE LOSS OF CHILDHOOD. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/08/magazine/the-loss-of-childhood.html [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
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