Current Issue in Life-Span Development Paper Danielle Watson University of Phoenix Dr. Terry Portis PSYCH500 June 28, 2010 From the time a person is born until the time a person passes away, they are changing constantly over the years. Most of the changes throughout life’s various stages are because of the common biological and psychological structure. Lifespan development is the physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of individuals through all life stages in which consist of birth through childhood, adolescence and early to late adulthood.
Children happen to go through many changes throughout their life that develops over time such as the physical growth, cognitive and psychosocial development including emotional and social development. The journey between infancy to adulthood is an amazing time when children absorb everything in the world and around them, mix it with the qualities they are born with and the children mature little by little in every way. It is essential to understand that children grow and mature in several distinctive ways.
There are four major parts in which children grow: the first is physical, which is the most noticeable. A child’s body grows in their height and weight as they get older and change appearance over the years. Children may also develop accurate physical abilities during their progress towards adulthood. The second is psychologically and cognitively, which is the brain absorbing information and the child will learn to use the information absorbed.
Children must be taught how to think on purpose and to handle or arrange the information that is being immersed from the surroundings. Children have to learn how to solve tribulations, learn to speak and learn to finish mental tasks such as remembering specific things that they will need to as they develop. The third is socially and emotionally, which is that the children need to learn how to interact, play and live with others such as their family, friends, teacher’s etc. As the children grow they will learn how to understand their feelings and other people’s emotions.
In order to act as independent adults, children must increase a sense of self esteem as they move through the extensive route of shaping their identity and who they are, will take. Children learn a sense of honesty as they learn the distinction among right and what is wrong. Lastly, children develop sexually and from gender individuality. This particular developmental stage is distinctive due to the length of development across the other physical, psychological and social stages.
Initially, children learn how their bodies work and appear and the difference between a boy and a girl. As the children grow, they and enter the adolescence stage they discover puberty and continue to learn how their bodies are working sexually. The children continue deciding for themselves what it signifies to be womanly or manly during their natural life Children are usually willing and beginning to develop specific effects during particular periods, although it does not just come about. Children require suitable environmental impulse to develop the abilities.
It is imperative for the parents or guardians to be aware of how the kids are developing in each way and the stages and understand the incentive they need to give their child in order to succeed. Occasionally, children with no cognitive or physical issues from the time they are born are not able to progress clear objectives throughout the stages they are most amenable. Infancy is the most important because this is the time that the child will first learn to count on a grown person to take care of them and what they need.
If an infant is placed in an orphanage for whatever reason they are jostled from home to home and there are too many other babies that the attention cannot be focused solely on them. These types of kids go through the opening years with little to no love that could educate them to rely on or to even show positive attention to the caregiver. If these children happen to become adopted by a household who gives them what they need and the attention they are lacking, their childhood may often be jeopardized and have trouble adjusting to the affectionate and loving family.
There are many times that an infant who has started in an orphanage atmosphere in no way gains the capability to show love and feeling with regard to their caregivers or have the capacity to reveal repentance or concern with regard to other people, no matter how loving and fostering the family is. The child’s ability then stays on the infancy stage even though the remainder of their body keeps on growing. The child’s mind is stuck in the infancy stage and may take a lengthily period of time to regain at the level the child should be at.
The child may have to seek counseling of some sort just to try and learn the aspect of loving and caring for other people. In this case, this may not even be enough for the child as the child already feels neglected and the child going to counseling may not help the situation. The child may have to learn how to feel on their own and of course with the help of the adoptive family. Furthermore, it is also necessary to keep in mind that crucial or delicate periods affect children in other ways than negligence and deprivation.
Children start to learn how to comprehend and generate verbal communication from the beginning of life. Children will learn and repeat the dialect they pick up everywhere during the crucial and delicate time early on in life. For several diverse purposes, children and adults could perhaps depart from their initial surroundings and relocate to a different country or vicinity where a new language is addressed. The children will have to study and comprehend another dialect even though they are not open to the elements during the young ages, the important period.
This can be difficult for the children or even adults, but with much tutoring and help later in life they will become proficient in this new language. In conclusion, children are very sensitive and absorb everything they see or hear. The parents are the prime role models and should teach their children love and affection. The children need to understand how the way of life goes. If the parent neglects or deprives the children especially in the early stages of a child’s life, this could affect them as they grow and ecome adults. Birth is the most important part of a child’s life as they need the attention of the parent’s or caregivers. A child without the affection or attention can have difficulties as the year’s progress. The child’s development as an infant is extremely important and the attention they need will help them as they get older and get into the early and adolescence stages. Reference: MentalHelp. Net retrieved from http://www. mentalhelp. net/poc/view_doc. php? type=doc&id=7923&cn=28 on May 23, 2010.