Early Childhood Short Answer Assessment
Overall Summary of the Importance of the Home Environment in Early Childhood
The surroundings of children have a profound impact on their development. The home environment influences their well-being. This environment hugely impacts the development of biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial skills. Thus, a safe and healthy home environment is important for a child to grow, explore and learn. Children see and then do what they see; hence a problematic home may have long term effects on the development of a child. This may lead to detrimental impacts on the child’s intellectual, emotional and social development. Therefore, a stimulating and enriching home environment nurtures healthy growth and brain development of a child. Children are provided with emotional support and love. Besides, a child is provided with opportunities for exploring and learning.
What Influences Physical Health in General, And How Does A Family’s SES Affect this Specifically?
The physical health of a child is hugely affected by various factors that may be inherited from the parents and others that may be due to the environment they live in. Alongside heredity, nutrition, family and peers influence, gender, physical activities and geographical influences influence physical health. Therefore, the surrounding environment where the children live in is the general factor that affects their physical health. An environment that is free from toxic substances fosters healthy physical growth. Physical activities help the body put on bone mass and develop muscles; hence children who exercise properly grow well. Geographical influences affect how a child is prone to allergies and the form of body rhythms.
A family’s SES has a profound effect on the physical health of a child. Obesity is one of the signs of poor health in children. Sedentary behaviours also foster poor physical health. Families with low levels of income and education have their children suffer from obesity and sedentary. This is because they do not have the resources to ensure proper nutrition for their children to prevent obesity. Their children do not exercise appropriately because the parents are not aware of the importance of physical activities. On the contrary, families with high income and education levels are very keen on their children’s nutrition and encourage physical activities. Thus, their children do not suffer from obesity.
How Do Parents Influence The Development Of Cognitive Skills Such As Memory And Identity?
Parents play a significant role in a child’s cognitive development. Through their parenting styles, they shape the cognitive development of their children. Each parent in modern society chooses their parenting style based on their beliefs and values. Children learn from what they see and the environment they are exposed to. All types of parenting styles affect the cognitive development of children. Parents who are always engaged in activities with their children foster the development of cognitive skills.
Children learn from their parents at an early age. They observe what the parent does and try it by themselves. When their parents get involved in actions like moving toys around, the child will copy how the mother pushes the toy and try running the toy the way the mother did. If the mother appreciates the child by saying thank you and telling the child to say thank you, the child may not pronounce it. Parents who engage their children in physical activities such as playing with toys and use gestures encourage the development of cognitive abilities such as memory and identity. From the video, the child imitates what the parent does. They copy what the parent is doing, whether it is wrong or right.
What Environmental Factors Can Influence a Child’s Intelligence Test Score, And How Does Culture Play a Role in Intelligence Testing?
A wide range of environmental factors affects a child’s intelligence adversely. Physical activities, nutrition, place of residence, the school the child attends, family’s level of income, parent’s education and occupation often influence the intelligence test score of a child. However, culture also plays a role in testing intelligence. Cultures are very varied; thus, when testing intelligence, behaviour that may be considered intelligent in one culture may be regarded as not intelligent in the other culture. People from different cultures also have different perceptions of intelligence. Moreover, race differences mainly play a considerable role in testing intelligence. Ways of living also influence intelligence testing, although it may be considered a minor aspect of culture.
How Do Discipline Forms Affect A Child’s Development and What Factors Influence How Effective Discipline May Be in Different Circumstances?
Discipline forms have a high impact on a child’s development. Emotional, intellectual and behavioural development is dependent on the kind of discipline the child gets. Many parents who practice the authoritative form of discipline raise children who are well behaved. The authoritative style of punishment also helps in children’s moral development. Other discipline forms may produce children who misbehave during their childhood and adolescence. This happens especially when the parent is permissive. Other parents do not set any rules and provide little emotional support to their children. Thus, these children are likely to grow up with antisocial behaviours.
The foundation of effective discipline is to foster appropriate and acceptable behaviour in children and raise emotionally mature adults. Therefore, a wide range of factors may influence the way effective discipline is carried out. They include the children’s characteristics, parental characteristics, life changes and stressors, and the consequences of discipline. Socioeconomic factors, family forms, occupation, and societal beliefs and values may also influence effective discipline. Some parents tend to teach their children the values they learn from their places of work.
Reference
15.5 Children and Parental Discipline. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/15-5-children-and-parental-discipline/
Soltani, L., Jafari, E., & Abedi, M. (2017). Improving Emotional Intelligence in Children: Early Childhood Emotional Curriculum. Journal of Education and Human Development, 6(3).
Yeung WJ, Linver MR, Brooks- Gunn J. How money matters for young children’s development: Parental Investment and Family Processes. Child Development. 2002; 73(6):1861–1879
Chapter 9: Social Emotional Development in Early Childhood. Retrieved July 2020 from file:///D:/Downloads/20200723143716chapter_9___social_and_emotional_development_in_early_childhood___child_growth_and_development%20(1).pdf