Thursday, May 12, 2011

Childhood Development Introduction

Today we reviewed what we talked about earlier in the week related to Childhood development. You had been given six questions and were asked to respond to them first - in groups and second individually. The questions discussed were the following:


  1. How do sports influence children?

  2. How do learning disabilities influence childhood development?

  3. What effect does ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have on children?

  4. What is the role and nature of aggression in children?

  5. Who are bullies and what effect do they have on other people?

  6. What effect does divorce have on children?

It was interesting to read how your responses differed from when you answered the question in group to individually. The issues that were most often included were related to the effect that Sports, Bullies and Divorce have on children.


Some other topics that were suggested to be covered as important issues in childhood development included: Physical, Emotional and Sexual Abuse, Substance abuse of a parent or caregiver, Parenting Methods, Low income families, Traumatic events that happen in childhood.


We also read "A Typical Day with My Preschooler" by Jessica Mills from her book My Mother Wears Combat Boots. This chapter illustrated the unique moments that a parent can experience with a child. Mills also provides some suggestions related to age appropriate expectations for behaviours where she talks about how "most toddler and preschooler behaviours are more directly linked to a developmental stage than they are to the child making a conscious choice to behave a certain way." Mills explains that she could tell her daughter millions of times why it is wrong to squish snails but her daughter would not fully understand until she had developed empathy.


For this article you should complete a reading response that includes three things worth remembering (quote and explanation) as well as one question.