Children

1
Children
Santrock
2
CHAPTER 1

• INTRODUCTION

3
Child Development Yesterday and Today
Historical Accounts of Children once treated as
miniature adults many views on how they should
be reared.

• Tabula rasa Locke Children are born as blank
  slates childhood experiences are therefore
  important.
• Original sin Children are basically bad
  rearing must provide salvation.
• Innate goodness Rousseau Children are
  inherently good should grow naturally.

4

• Improving the Lives of Todays Children Many
  factors converge to improve the lives of
  children Health and Well-Being Lifestyles and
  psychological states promote health and
  well-being and the impetus of caring for the
  child is not in the hands of physician, but those
  of the caregivers. Families and Parenting
  Changing family patterns, more working parents,
  increased use of day care facilities all
  contribute to impacting the development of the
  child. Education Parents are taking a greater
  role in the formal education of their children,
  asking questions about curriculum, testing,
  safety in schools, and qualifications of teachers.

5

• Culture and Ethnicity The Tapestry of our
  society has become more diverse, but minorities
  are still more likely to live in poverty, and
  their children are more likely to be dropouts.
  The diversity of ethnic groups within themselves
  has also increased. Context the setting
  influenced by historical, economic, social, and
  cultural factors. Culture behavior patterns
  and beliefs passed on to succeeding generations.
  Cross-cultural studies comparing one culture
  with another to determine the degree of
  development in all children. Ethnicity
  cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion,
  and language ethnic identity is a sense of
  membership in that cultural heritage. Gender
  The sociocultural dimension that surrounds gender
  stimulates interesting questions of what is or is
  not appropriate.

6
Social Policy and Childrens Development

• The ideology, background, values, and political
  needs of legislators often shapes the social
  policy related to child development. Interest
  groups such as Childrens Defense Fund constantly
  strive to push for a social policy that benefits
  children.

7
THE NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT

• Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional
  Processes
• These processes focus on the nature of physical,
  intellectual, linguistic, social, and emotional
  development in the child.

8
Periods of Development

• Prenatal conception to birth
• Infancy birth to 18/24 months
• Early childhood end of infancy to 5/6 years
• Middle and late childhood 6 to 11 years
• Adolescence 10/12 years to 18/22 years

9
Developmental Issues

• Nature vs. nurture from biological to
  environmental influence
• Continuity and discontinuity the degree of
  gradual, cumulative change to distinct change in
  development
• Early and late experience the degree that
  early and later experiences influence the childs
  development. Culture plays an important role in
  these determinants.