A Reflective Account Of The Impact On Children's Development

There are 2 kinds that I’m going to talk about and they are Home and School environments of development.

A child’s mother who provides consistent responsive care and nurturing is most often the first adult whom a child becomes attached to. This adult may also include the child’s father, grandparents, siblings or others who have regular contact with the child (Kostelnik et al. 2015, p.30). The relationship established between the child and their primary caregiver is one of the child's very first child-adult relationships. This relationship provides the child with a safe and secure context for their learning and development. Children need consistent, secure emotional relationships with their primary caregivers and other adults to feel safe, protected, and nurtured, as they grow and develop. When establishing a positive adult-child relationship caregivers must keep five essential elements in mind: warmth, acceptance, genuineness, empathy and respect (Kostelnik et al. 2015, p.28). It is through these and other practices, that adults are able to aid children in developing positive social relationships. By forming such early relationships and strong connections with others, children build a sense of self-competence in knowing where they fit into the

After graduating from Ashford University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development; , I am hoping to obtain a job working in the Public school system alongside the Pre-k teachers in implementing programs for Pre-k or become an owner of a childcare center. The nature of families and children in relation to society is important for my profession because in order to help improve the childcare center. I also hope to develop programs for Pre-k that children and their families will benefit from. I first need to know how the child’s family has a big impact on the child’s life and their ability to function in society. Not knowing anything

I believe that the most important needs of young children that must be met in a quality early childhood development are social and emotional skills. Children need to develop self-image and genuine concern for others. As for an adult, it is their role to make the children aware that they are creating a cooperative community in which they have personal responsibilities and responsibilities toward their peers. Children need to learn to share, play cooperatively, take turns, solve problems, communicate their thoughts and feelings appropriately, make their own decisions, and problem

In order to promote healthy development, children need to feel the stability of a family. Family stability is the structure component, but it is also the bond they create with a child, the consistency and the love they demonstrate to a child that is not biologically theirs. Attachments at infancy, gives children the comfort and security to explore their own environment and grow developmentally in all domains. Other positive outcomes, having family stability in foster care are in health, academic, and social emotional. According to Harden( ) “consistent and positive relationships with their parents are more likely to have positive health behavior and lower levels of illness…perform better academically… and less likely to drop out of school... reared in stable relationships are more likely to have positive relationships with peers and more prosocial skills”. Families play an important role in their education and their upbringing, children who are taken out of the system at a younger age have a higher possibility of developing warm relationships, and surviving all odds. Unfortunately, many foster children are affected by their past experiences and grow up with more negative outcomes than positive.

“Our central premise is that “family” is the most fundamental factor influencing the lives of children. Aside from children’s educational needs, they also need a

Mary Bowen developed the Family Systems Theory, which is based on the premise that inter-and intra-relational patterns are transmitted from one generation to the next (Martin, 2014). Bowen believes that the goal of achieving positive well-being is to find the balance between achieving personal autonomy and individuation while maintaining appropriate closeness with one’s family system (Martin, 2014, p. 69). An active and effective family system in a child’s life is an essential foundation for healthy development throughout the life span. Nevertheless, when children do not have access to a healthy family support or no support system at all that can have an extremely adverse effect on the child development that will transmit throughout his/her lifespan. For that reason, it is imperative to contemplate the positive impact of a family system during development and also the negative effects of not having a family system during development.

From the article “ The Relation of Child Care to Cognitive and Language Development” by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, research suggest child development links children’s cognitive and language development directly to cognitive experiences in child care settings (p. 961). Furthermore , these researchers state, “center-based infant and toddler care have more advances language development and perform better on measures of intelligence and achievement than do children in child care homes”(p. 962). In addition, child care centers are better postured to offer education to young children to reach cognitive gains. Cognitive development is the foundation of the pillars for information processing language, reasoning, and memory retention. Child care center caregivers cultivate the young minds of children by introducing them to age specific activities like problem-solving, speech interactions, numeracy, and word and color recognition. As stated in the 2013 article “Center-based Child Care and Cognitive skills Development: Importance of Timing and Household Resources, “A host of recent studies have found support for the argument that center-based care seems to enhance early reading and numeracy skills in comparison parent care or more informal home-based care settings” (as cites in Votruba-Drzal, E., Coley, R. L., Koury, A.S., &Miller, P, 2013, P. 822). Early education and care is essential to

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model (1986) postulates the connections between the individual, family, and the surrounding community can have a large impact on child development. It is these connections between the different systems that strengthens the child and protects against certain risk factors. These risk factors may be alleviated to a certain extent with enough social and community support (Kotch et al 1995). Highlighting these connections and strengthening the bond between families and the community could build on parents’ strengths and provide support for their weaknesses.

First of all, I hold a Ph.D. in Human Development from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, and I have been a professor of Early Childhood Education for the last nine ten years. My research in the area of children’s development began in graduate school in 2000. Since then, it has been presented at national and international conferences. Moreover, at this time, I have published twelve research articles in peer-reviewed journals, and in the last year I have presented five more articles for publication that are now in the process of being reviewed.

Children when they become aware of diverse families they can begin to ask questions and some children are looking for a yes or no answer. Children are just looking for their place in the world and we need to be short and not have a long drawn out answer for them. Children are just trying to make sense of the concept of a family no matter if traditional or not. I intend on getting more materials in the classroom for the different types of families that are in our classroom. The books I will put out are The Great Big Book of Families, The White Swan Express, The Family Book, and Whoever You Are. Children’s books can often start a conversation that you may feel uneasy starting on your own and make sure you think ahead about some tough questions the children may ask you. The early childhood program is a base of support for the families we can connect the family with even more support in the community (Edwards, 2010). I intend on getting advocacy groups, both regional and national conferences, and publications that will provide information and activities not just for the children and families but also for the professionals who work with them (Edwards,

Family is an important structure within society. The word family may be defined in various ways: you may define it as a group of close friends who you genuinely care for and trust, or as a group of people who are related by the blood which runs through their veins. In this country, we see all types of families. The traditional nuclear family consists of – a father, mother, and children. However, currently this is not always the case. Divorce rates have risen over the years, breaking the nuclear family; unfortunately, this event can affect children’s development. Gary Peterson and Kevin Bush mention the conclusion of – children benefiting from two-parent families rather than single-parent families (499). This can be proven when we notice

One of the greatest needs for a child’s cognitive, physical, and emotional/social development is family structure; or as Kathleen Berger states in Invitation to the Life Span (2012), “Harmony and stability… is especially crucial in middle childhood: Children cherish safety and stability....” Therefore, the functionality of a family plays a major role in the future of a child’s well being. This is especially true in the dynamics between the mother and father, because as Berger goes on to state,

Families and communities are the foundation for a sound and successful society. Fabrizio Bernardi explains in his study titled “Effects of Family Forms and Dynamics on Children 's Well-Being and Life Chances: Literature Review” that there is a direct correlation between family types and the “demographic, cognitive, educational and behavioral outcomes

Parents: maybe the single biggest impact on a child’s development. The influence parents have on their children is tremendous. They can quite easily help or hinder their child’s development by their parenting style and opportunities they afford for their children. The nuclear family has a mom and a dad, which is the societal norm. With the passing of gay marriage this year, the questions and prejudice of same-sex parents have been brought to light and revived. Concerns about whether or not same-sex couples are fit to be parents are ramped.