CHILDHOOD

TODDLERHOOD
• ages of one to two
• highlighted through : self-awareness, developing
maturity in language use, and presence of
memory and imagination.
• learning how to walk, talk, and make decisions for
themselves
• development of language:communicate and
express their emotions and desires through the
use of vocal sounds, babbling, and eventually
words
• Self-control also begins to develop
• begin to identify themselves in gender roles
• toddlerhood is commonly called the "terrible
twos"
 Early Childhood
• 2- 6 years
• a period of rapid - physical, mental, emotional,
social and language development
• labeled as: (by parents) ‘The Problem’ ; ‘The
Troubles some, or ‘The Toy’ age,
• by the Educators as ‘The Pre-school age’
• by the Psychologists - ‘The Pregang, ‘The
Exploratory’, or ‘The Questioning’ age,
 Characteristics of Early Childhood

• 1.A period of physical development

• gains height: about 3 inches per year
• generally have a height of 3 feet and 6 inches
• the “baby look” disappears.
• Difference in body build becomes apparent for the
first time –fat/mascular/thin
• the baby teeth begin to be replaced by permanent
teeth(last half year of early childhood)
• motor skills like - catching, throwing, running, jumping,
climbing, riding a tricycle, self-feeding, dressing,
balancing, colouring, drawing etc.
 2.A period of language development
• “the chatterbox age”,
• ‘learning to speak’ is an essential tool in socialization
and a tool in achieving independence.
• 3.A period of emotional development
• anger, fear, jealousy, curiosity, envy, joy, grief,
affection etc.
• express anger through temper tantrums, characterized
by crying, screaming, stamping, kicking, jumping up
and down, or striking.
4.A period of Social Development
• develops his social qualities in his
family/neighbourhood
• plays with his friends / also quarrels.
• He comes to know of teasing, imitating,
quarrelling, sympathy, sharing, co-operation
etc.
 5.A period of Development of
Understanding:
• Increase abilities :to reason and to see
relationships, of people, objects and situations
• Understands-the simple relationships, like -
parents, sibling, relatives etc
• know their sex, their full names, and names of
different parts of their bodies.
• develop the concepts of bodily functions, space,
size, numbers, colours, shapes, time, self, beauty
etc.
 6.A period of Development of
Interests
• i) Interest in play, ii) Interest in human body, iii)
Interest in self, iv) Interest in clothes, v) Interest in
Religion and vi) Interest in Sex.
• great interest in self: - looking at themselves in
mirrors, examining the different parts of their bodies
and their clothes, asking questions about themselves,
comparing their possessions with those of their
playmates etc.
• curious about where babies come from and ask many
questions about this.
• Normally in this stage male child is attached to the
mother and the female child to the father
 Problems During Childhood
• 1Eating problems
• i) Not eating,
ii) Vomiting,
iii) Dawdling, (doing something in a slow,
lingering way
iv) Weaning
• These eating problems affects in child’s
physical as well as mental development.
 2.Elimination Problem
• Toilet training has perhaps been given the
greatest attention.
Method of toilet training: long term consequences
for later personality
• 3.Sleeping Problem
• the discrepancy between his hour of retiring and
the bed time of the other family members. The
child does not want to be left out of any activities
by going to sleep early.
• fear to the darkened bedroom
• 4.Accidents:
can affect the head, feet, legs, hands, arms,
body and face of a child.
Accidents affect the child both physically and
psychologically, which may affect the child’s
personality development in his later life.
• 5.Social Adjustment Problems
 Late Childhood Stage
6 years to 12 years
• Entry into formal schooling and ending in the
advent of puberty
• Entrance into first grade is a milestone in every
child’s life/major change in the pattern of their
lives
• Parents’ name this period as – the troublesome
age and quarrelsome age;
• educators call it as - elementary school age and
critical period,
• and psychologists named the late childhood as -
gang age, creative age and play age.
 Characteristics of Late Childhood
Stage
• 1.A period of Physical Development
• period of slow and uniform growth
• The bones harden; the height and weight increase
• improvement in a child motor development, skills
• child develops skills like - self-help skills,
social-help skills, school skills and play skills.
• a child normally has twenty - eight of the thirty -
two permanent teeth.
 2.A period of Development of
Intellectual Ability
• Exercise his or her power of memory, attention,
thinking and imagination and can solve problems
intelligently
• I.Q. at this stage developed considerably
• 3.A period of Capacity to Learn
• develop interest in reading, writing and arithmetical
activities.
• Awareness and sense of subordination to the school
rules, laws and discipline.
• A sense of discipline and some sense of responsibility
4.A period of Social Development
• Widening social environment & interaction
• learns the spirit of sharing with others.
feel, think and act together with others
• share joy and sorrow with them.
• 5.It is a Play Age : Group play and group activity
make the child more social, loyal and disciplined.
• Acquire social virtues like friendship,
• co-operation and competition
• love to live in groups
 6.It is a Gang Age
• Learn to live an organised group life
• sense of loyalty to the gang
• Learns rules and code of conduct of the gang and
uphold them quite faithfully and obediently.
• 7.A period of Emotional Development
• Understands that expression of unpleasant
emotions, is socially unacceptable
• acquire a strong incentive to learn to control the
outward expressions of their emotions.
 8.A Period of Development of
Concepts
• broadening of interests and understanding of
people and things
• Conepts associated with- Life, Death, Bodily
functions, Space, Numbers, Money, Time, Self, Sex
Roles, Social Roles, Beauty, Discipline etc.
9.Development of Homo-sexuality
• feel the sense of their physical attachment to
their same sexes. Boys love playing with the boys
and the girls with the girls.
• Latency period
• 10.Development of Constructive Instincts
• 11.A period of Development of Creativity
• 12. A Period of Development in Sex - Role Typing
• ‘Sex Role Typing’ means learning to conform to the
approved roles for one’s sex.
• Children learn to play sex-roles by three common
methods, viz. imitation, identification and child -
training.
• Sex role typing has profound and far reaching effects
on children’s behaviour.
 Hazards of Late Childhood

• PhysicalHazards:
1. Illness: occasional colds and stomach upsets.
• 2.Obesity: Obesity in older children may be due to
a glandular condition but it is more often due to
overeating.
• Studies of fat children have revealed that they eat
faster, take bigger bites and are more likely to ask
for second or third helping than their age-mates.
• 3.Sex Inappropriate Body Build
• 4. Accidents:
 PsychologicalHazards:

• Speech Hazards –
• Emotional Hazards –
• Social Hazards - rejected or neglected by their
peer group
• Play Hazards: lack social acceptance are deprived
of opportunities to learn the games and sports
which are essential for them to belong to their
gang
• Such children may develop the habit of being rigid
conformist.
• Moral Hazards
• 1) The development of a moral code based on peer or mass - media
concepts of right and wrong which may not coincide with adult codes;
2) A failure to develop a conscience as an inner control over behaviour;
3) Inconsistent discipline which leaves children unsure of what they are
expected to do;
4) Physical punishment which serves as a model of aggressiveness in
children;
5) Finding peer approval of misbehavior so satisfying that such behaviour
becomes habitual; and
6) Intolerance of the wrong-doings of others.
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