Discussion
The early childhood is a phase in the lives of children which is associated with a variety of changes, involving physical, cognitive and social development (Britto et al., 2017). There are various theories that underpin the stages of development across the early years of childhood and the corresponding physical and behavioural changes in the children. Hence, for the early childhood educators and care providers must have a sound knowledge regarding the different developmental trajectories across the childhood (Richter et al., 2017). This essay will analyse the context of physical, social and cognitive development of three children, on the basis of their account of a family event they encountered, taking the assistance of episode one of the kids history shared in Youtube by the Bored shorts (Youtube.com, 2018).
The Youtube video represents three children, two boys in the primary education phase and one girl is in the preschool age. All three of the children were narrating an event involving their family members, Uncle John and Uncle Randy, who had an interesting encounter with a stranger who wanted to punch their car. It had been very entertaining and fun-filled activity for the children and it was apparent that the children enjoyed the activity very much. The account involved Uncle John and Uncle Randy sitting in their car and ignoring a green signal in the road (Youtube.com, 2018). This angered the stranger in the video who had been waiting in the car behind the car of Uncle John and Uncle Randy, who started screaming and threatening them to punch their car. Although, in the perception of the children the entire scenario resolved in a funny way rather than a violent manner. Although, the description of the each of the three children differed with respect to the age difference and corresponding developmental progress.
With respect to the physical development of the children, each child appeared to be different age, whereas the girl appeared to be the youngest out of the three who were the main narrator of the video. As per the best understanding of the girl, her appearance, behaviour and speech, it can be assumed that the girl had been aged 5 years or younger. Considering the physical development of a 5 year old, it can be stated that the limb movement skills develop considerably by age five and the range of motion of the children at this age is also significantly higher. As discussed by Efevbera et al. (2017), by this age, the children have significantly developed gross and fine motor skills, they develop ability to hop, skip, run and jump and are able to dress themselves, handle buttons and zippers, and learn how to tie their shoes. In this stage, the children are very twitchy and hyper-active, and difficult to contain. In this case, John’s daughter had also been very active, jolly and a happy child who kept goggling and laughing throughout the video.
The second child in the video, had been a rather quiet, composed and calm child. As per the best understanding of his appearance, he appeared to be 7 years old. As mentioned by Daelmans et al. (2017), the physical developmental changes of a 7 year old is associated with refinement of the already developed abilities. Considering fine and gross motor skills, the child at this age is more refined and is able to carry out more refined activities. Along with that twisting, turning, and spinning are the activities that a child this age can easily perform. In case of the child in the video, he was very calm and was speaking slowly and articulately. Although, during the video he was observed to stand up and start spinning and dancing which indicates at refined motor skills. Additionally it is very common for the children this age to perform simple chores which was also apparent in the child in the video. Hence, his physical developmental milestones appeared to be progressing successfully.
Physical development
The third child in the video who had been half-sitting on the sofa, appeared to be around 8 years old. In this case as well, the children do not go through any drastic changes with respect to their physical development, although large scale refinement of the abilities is seen. Elaborating more, the physical developmental milestone for an 8 year old in this stage is associated with more fluid combination of locomotor and motor skills. Hence, in this stage, the children are expected to be able to turn and twist very easily and spontaneous movement is developed which helps them partake actively in sports oriented activities (Carson et al., 2015). Along with that, in this stage the children are expected to perform smoother brain-muscle co-ordination hence their movements are smooth and more complex. The child in this case had been very active and had been mischievous which is very normal for a child in this age. He was also seen to perform well refined to and fro hand swinging movements as well while describing the event. Hence, he also had been achieving his physical developmental milestones actively.
The cognitive abilities for the five year old is significantly developed, and the language skills and logical reasoning is substantial in this stage (Black et al., 2017). For instance, the language development and speech is expected to be easily understandable for the adults. In this stage, the children are in pre-operational stage and are expected to express their feelings quiet easily with coherent words and simple sentences, which adults that are not familiar with them can easily understand (Demetriou, Shayer & Efklides, 2016). In this case, the girl had not exhibit signs of good language and speech development. Although she was speaking complete English words, her sentences were jumbled in certain cases and her speech lacked clarity between different words. Considering moral reasoning and black and white thinking, the children are capable of developing the idea regarding right or wrong. In this case, the perception of the girl had been very innocent and simple and she described the event in a more positive and entertaining way not associated any signs of violence which her brothers mentioned even if slightly. Hence, it can be considered that her black and white thinking was still to develop completely.
For the 7 year old instead is associated rapid language and speech development, their vocabulary and speaking ability both grows considerably in this age and the children are very capable of communicating actively. In this case, the child also had high language and speech skills, he was also very calm and composed while speaking and was communicating with simple, well-articulated and coherent sentences (Berk, 2017). The children in this age is in transition from preoperational stage to concert operational stage, where their thinking is more logical and organized, but still very concrete. Considering moral reasoning and logical reasoning, his recalling of the events appeared closer to the actual event remembering about John putting the stranger in a headlock, and the aspect of his uncles saying about remembering the license plate, which indicates better memory, logical reasoning and black and white thinking (Lind, 2017). His recalling the story included less imaginative diversions than the younger girl. Hence, both language and reasoning had been properly developed for him.
Cognitive development
For the 8 year old as well, the cognitive ability of the child is well developed and refined. The speech and language development is improved and the sentence forming ability is also greater comparatively, which was reflected in the child as well. The child also exhibited better signs of remembering the entire event in an order that the event actually happened. He had been the child who remembered the stranger following his uncles’ car back home and starting a brawl. Hence, his memory is also developed adequately, although he also missed out a few details which his brother mentioned in his account. A child in this age is in concert operational stage, having inductive logic and reasoning (Bjorklund & Causey, 2017). Hence, it can be considered that although he had high memorizing skills and better language developed he lacked concentration on details of an event.
The aspects of social development is the least understandable from the video as the children had been interviewed mostly in a one to one setting where they had to interact only with the interviewer. Hence, it is difficult to understand whether or not they had properly developed social skills as applicable in a group setting involving more kids and adults. For the five year old girl, she appeared to be enjoying the interview and had been very frank and confident while interacting with the interviewer. Children belonging to this stage are more comfortable making friends and comfortable in confident interactions, which has been seen in case of the girl (Piaget & Inhelder, 2015).
In case of the 7 year old, his social skills seemed to be better developed as apparent from the calm and composed behavioural skills and communication. He was capable of carrying out conversation logically and answered to questions with attention. In this case, children in this stage are transitioning from preoperational stage to concrete operational stage, which tends to make them more civil, reasonable and composed, which was reflected in his behaviour (Barrouillet, 2015).
Lastly, for the 8 year old, the social development is very similar to his brother and is slightly more refined. In this early childhood stage, the children are confident and active in interactions which was observed in the child although he had not been very calm or well-mannered judging from his sitting posture and communication style with the interviewer (Carson et al., 2015). Hence, it can be considered although he had been confident, he lacked proper social developmental skills lacking reserve, composure and organization.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be mentioned that the children in the growing years of early childhood, the development is dynamic and rapid. This report had been an excellent opportunity for me to apply my theoretical knowledge and expertise onto understanding and exploring the developmental traits of different children belonging to different age groups. This had been a very fun-filled and entertaining learning activity which expanded my practice and applicative knowledge on early childhood development and I hope I will be able to apply these skills onto my future practice effectively.
References:
Barrouillet, P. (2015). Theories of cognitive development: From Piaget to today., 2-7.
Berk, L. (2017). Development through the lifespan. Pearson Education India., 202-232
Bjorklund, D. F., & Causey, K. B. (2017). Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences. Sage Publications., 9-21.
Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., … & Devercelli, A. E. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. The Lancet, 389(10064), 77-90.
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., … & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102.
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Efevbera, Y., McCoy, D. C., Wuermli, A. J., & Betancourt, T. S. (2017). Early childhood development plus violence prevention in low?and middle?income countries: A qualitative study. Children & society, 31(2), 98-109.
Lind, G. (2017). The Theory of Moral-Cognitive Development A Socio-Psychological Assessment. In Moral Judgments and Social Education (pp. 25-48). Routledge.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (2015). Memory and intelligence (psychology revivals). Psychology Press., 103-120.
Richter, L. M., Daelmans, B., Lombardi, J., Heymann, J., Boo, F. L., Behrman, J. R., … & Bhutta, Z. A. (2017). Investing in the foundation of sustainable development: pathways to scale up for early childhood development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 103-118.
Youtube.com (2018). Kid History: “Punching Cars” Episode 1 (True Stories). [Online]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80entLldZOg. [Accessed on 25th Nov]
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