Developmental Stages of Children

INTRODUCTION

Turner (1995, p511) states that Development is often divided into specific domains, such as gross motor, fine motor, language, cognition, normative, and social/emotional growth. These designations are useful, but substantial overlap exists. Studies have established average ages at which specific milestones are reached, as well as ranges of normality. In a normal child, progress within the different domains varies, as in the toddler who walks late but speaks in sentences early. The care givers are responsible for the pace of children development as they have to create activities and environment that stimulate the development. Infants are curious little humans who love to explore. From the time that they are born, infants are constantly learning about the world around them. To help infants develop all the five domains, child care providers create daily infant room and outdoor activities. De Witt (2009). This essay is going to focus on one stage of development that is the infancy and toddlerhood and the five developmental domains that are social, emotional, cognitive, physical and normative. In this essay, the care givers should make sure that the baby's day includes activities that stimulate all the development domains and these activities should be done on daily basis because learning that repeating an action can reproduce a desired reward .The care giver is going to engage in one of activities under each domain below as the program for infants. A program can be defined as an outline of activities that are supposed to be done by a certain group of people at a given time. In this case the activities are engaged every day.

Emotional development for infants and toddlerhood

Emotional development relates to how children cope with and express different feelings. This includes how children feel towards others, both positive and negative feelings, and the feelings they experience from others towards themselves. Children's emotional development includes bonding and attachment, the establishment of trust in others, developing a concept of self and becoming self-confident and independent. Babies express their feelings by crying, vocalising and smiling. Babies will observe their carers' faces closely while being fed, changed, bathed and talked to. Infants and toddlers simply cannot create bright futures without the care giver. In order for them children to be able to develop these, the care giver should engage in all the activities that follow in order to stimulate socio-emotional development of infants. Gently hold and cuddle children often, enrich children's daily routines such as meal, bath, and nap times, by sharing looks, smiles, conversations, and stories. Attentively respond to children's attempts to communicate with them through facial expressions, gestures, cooing, babbling, and words. Gently mirror their sounds and expressions, Join them in floor-time play, and talk with them about their activities whenever possible, Help children learn a variety of words to fully express their feelings, Comment on the positive things that children do. Smetana (2009) states that infants learn to interact with adults and other infants as teachers read, sing and finger play with them in groups or individually. These activities allow infants to become familiar with language and respond to different voices and sounds and help children learn a variety of words to fully express their feeling. As a result, infants express their emotions and build social skills as they participate in such activities.

Some of pictures that illustrate what can be done by the care giver in daily basis to stimulate cognitive the development of infants

Cognitive development for infants and toddler hood

"Cognitive development refers to the way your baby figures out the world, it is the way in which your child manages her thinking, and talent to create sense of the world and what is occurring around her." Mussen (2011, p45). The child care givers should provide toys that can be stacked, opened and touched. Infants feel different textures with their hands and listen to sounds that these items create, which helps build sensory skills. Small boxes can be stacked or opened to reveal a surprise inside. Opening or closing toys and stacking blocks allow children to develop cognitive motor skills, which in turn help them solve simple problems. Also according..... Blowing bubbles or playing in the bathtub introduces her to different textures and the concept of change in consistency of objects. Peek-a-boo is a fun game for an infant as she learns to look for mom or dad. Playing games captures a baby's interest in the environment and makes her laugh and enjoy time with her parents; spending time cuddling with a baby is an affirming source of cognitive development. A baby learns the importance of touch and closeness with a parent. Talking softly with a baby while cuddling provides stimulation, and she learns the sound of her parent's voice. Cuddling with a baby may also be an opportunity for other activities, such as tickling or playing with fingers or toes. A baby learns about her body parts, and the tickling feeling can make her laugh. Turner (1995, p507)

Nucci and Turiel (2002, p4) states that, singing to a baby, especially a pleasant song with repetitive words gives him something