Task 1

(Example – 10-12 Marks)

This task will focus on the growth and development of both children and adults within
early childhood and then in early adulthood. There are significant differences in how
we grow and develop in these life stages, but early adults would not be able to
develop the skills they need for this life stage without these having been developed
in early childhood. This report will look at how the PIES grow and develop in each life
stage and what the differences are between the life stages.

During the life stage of early childhood between the ages of 3year to 8years, children
grow and develop in several ways.
Physically during this life stage children in early childhood increase significantly in
height and weight over a relatively short period of time. This is known as a ‘growth
spurt’ Children will develop their gross motor skills using the large muscles in their
body in a number of ways. At the age of 3, children will be able to catch a ball with
both hands and by the age of 7 will be able to catch a ball with one hand. They are
also able to take part in activities that help with social skills such as being able to
skip by the age of 5 with a skipping rope and climbing play equipment such as
climbing frames and ladders. Their fine motor skills also develop through this life
stage. At age 3, children will be able to zip and unzip their clothes but age 4 should
be able to use their fine muscles (fingers) to button and unbutton clothes. By the age
of 5, children using a tripod grasp which is where children can hold a pencil using
their index finger, middle finger and thumb, are able to colour in the lines having
developed this skill from the age of 2 where children would have used the palmer
grasp which would have involved using the whole palm to make marks on paper. By
the age of 7 children are starting to become more independent by being able to use
a knife and fork correctly and tie their shoelaces. By the end of this life stage,
children become much less dependent on their main care giver and develop
independent skills by being able to wash and dress themselves.
Intellectually children develop many ways in early childhood. Firstly, their language
skills develop hugely from the age of 3 through to the age of 8. At age 3 children can
have simple conversations and ask a lot of questions as they learn about the world
around them. At age 4 children start school and during this time they start school and
start to do simple maths such as counting to 10. Children also start to learn how to
read and start to hold a pencil, write their name and read out loud. By the age of 6,
children start to understand grammar in more detail and can say and write complex
sentences using the correct tenses. Children will also learn through observing other
children and adults within the home and school environment. They will take part in
activities that seek to answer the questions they have and explore the environment
so that they understand how things work. As they start to learn more, their memory
develops and children in early childhood are able to recall information to help them
solve problems or think about what things might happen in the future.
Emotional development within early childhood is quite complex. Children within early
childhood form attachments in infancy with caregivers. The caregivers provide
security for children at this age and ensure that all their needs are met. Children
during this age go from being quite dependent on their parents for emotional support
but then becoming more independent and making their own decisions by the end of
this life stage. Children in this life stage develop their own personality and they start
to develop self-concept which is how they see themselves and how they think about
themselves. This is developed through the relationships they build with their main
caregivers and friends. By forming strong attachments, children are able to feel
content and feel confident to explore new environments and make friends without
their main care givers being with them. Children learn how to deal with new feelings
they might experience such as feeling of jealousy (which may occur after the birth of
a sibling), feelings of worry, and feelings of love and hate. Children also start to
understand that they have different relationships with their main caregivers, friends
and teachers.
As children develop their language skills, their social skills start to develop as they
become more confident in communicating. Children will socialise with their family
and learn social skills in terms of how to take turns, talk to others and deal with
various situations such as small arguments or conflict. The opportunity to socialise
will widen as they are at nursery and then start school during this life stage. They
understand that formal relationships are with teachers and informal relationships are
with friends and family members. At the start of this life stage at the age of 3,
children engage in parallel play which is where children play independently and
separately but next to other children. Between the ages of 3-5, children engage in
cooperative play. Cooperative play is different from parallel play because although
children still might play separately, they will start to become much more interested in
what others are doing and may start to invite themselves to play in other children’s
games. Finally in this life stage, children engage in cooperative play which is where
play is organised in an activity and children have the opportunity to play games,
negotiate rules and develop friendships. Throughout this time, children start to
understand what acceptable behaviour is and what is not acceptable. Children will
also learn the skill at school of working together and working towards achieving
goals.
Early Adulthood is an interesting life stage. Spanning the ages between 19-45, this is
a time of life where people develop from finishing formal education to being at an
age where younger people look to you for advice an clarification and where generally
people should be settled in a career and may have made the choice to raise a family.
Physically during this life stage adults are at the peak of their physical fitness in the
early part of this life stage. This is why athletes who compete at professional levels
are normally within this age range. By this life stage as an adult people would have
reached their full height. This is in contrast to early childhood when children grow
throughout the life stage. You have also reached sexual maturity at this age. Women
will have started menstruation, gone through puberty and all their sexual
characteristics would have developed. Women are at their most fertile and is when
they are most likely to get pregnant. Towards the end of this life stage adults may
experience a change in their physical development. Physically this may mean that
adults develop fine lines and wrinkles, they may start to develop grey hair and they
may find that they are not as strong physically as they were at the start of this life
stage. Towards the end of this life stage, women may experience the perimenopause
which is where the menstruation cycle may be abnormal. Women may also start to
suffer from hot flushes and may experience a change in mood. Although in general
women do not experience the full menopause until middle adulthood they may start
to experience mild symptoms.

Intellectually adults will develop the way they think and how they deal with a variety
of situations. Because this life stage will involve them being independent and
supporting themselves and often a family, this creates issues and problems that
adult is this life stage need to think through and solve. At the start of this life stage
many early adults will be finishing their formal education at university and will then be
entering into a career having gained the qualifications they need. In addition to this,
adults in the middle or towards the end of this life stage may return to education to
allow them to progress in a role or change their career. This allows adults to gain
knowledge in certain subjects which develops their cognitive ability by introducing
them to new ideas, information and concepts that they may not have known about
before. With regards to those early adults who do not return to education but who
have already entered a career, they develop intellectually by continuing to learn
within their role or by moving jobs to a new company or to a new company and job
role. Whilst in employment, it is likely the adults will be required to take part in
training courses which develops their knowledge in certain areas of the job they do.
It may also mean that adults improve their skills and this in turn build their confidence
to go for promotions which again will increase their intellectual knowledge as they
once again learn about their new role. In addition to work, this is a time where adults
have to learn how to budget money to ensure their bills are paid. They will also have
to learn how to manage a household, how to prioritise tasks and organise
themselves.
Emotionally adults in this life stage are independent. Most adults will have moved
away from the family home and whilst they still have attachments to family, they are
likely to form new intimate relationships with partners. In contrast to early childhood
where their security and contentment comes from the main caregiver, adults get this
security and contentment from their own partner and from their job. This means that
in this life stage adults feel that they are in control of their life in this life stage. Within
this life stage adult choose to enter into an intimate relationship which could result in
marriage and having children. Being in a positive relationship results in the adult
have good self-esteem and good self-concept. The sense of feeling that you are in
partnership can mean that adults feel they are not on their own and this can lead to
increased confidence and happiness. Parenthood can cause a mix of emotions. On
one hand parenthood can mean that people feel they are fulfilled, they are important,
and they are really happy to have a child. On the other hand, parenthood can be
really hard without the right support and can mean that adults experience fatigue,
sleeplessness, weight gain and this could lead to low self-esteem and stress. Within
this life stage having a job means that adults are able to earn their own money and
afford to live comfortably and support their family. In contrast, should adults become
unemployed, this can lead to stress and concern about not being able to pay the bills
and not be able to support their family.
Within this life stage, adults can experience a lot of social changes. Whilst they will
still socialise with family, their friendship group may have changed from when they
were in early childhood. By this life stage adults have developed a sense of identity
and know what is important to them. Sometimes this means that adults may change
the friends they socialise with because others do not share the same values or
morals. Adults also learn how to trust others and again this may mean that
friendships change. Adults also have a lot of opportunities to make friends in
different areas of their life including friends made from socialising with others who
might have children the same age, friends that have stayed with them since
childhood, friends made whilst working and friends made having entered into a new
relationship. During this life stage friendships may suffer for a few reasons. Having
children may mean that socialising is not a top priority for adults because they have
less time and they focus on their family rather than going out. In addition to this
should someone not be in employment this may mean they will not have enough
money to socialise with others.

There are a number of key changes in growth and development between early
childhood and early adulthood.
In early childhood, physically children are still growing, they have not reached their
full height and their gross and fine motor skills are also still developing. Children in
this life stage have not developed all of their sexual characteristics and they have
lots of energy and take part in lots of physical activities. In early childhood, children
rely on the main care giver to do physical tasks for them such as washing and
dressing them and doing up buttons at the beginning of this life stage. In early
adulthood, adults are fully independent and can do these tasks by themselves. Early
adults have also reached their full height. They have well developed gross and fine
motor skills and are at the peak of their physical fitness. Adult’s sexual
characteristics are developed and women are physically developed enough to have
children.
Intellectually, children in early childhood have learnt a number of words but their
vocabulary is not fully developed. They have to learn how to problem solve but this
often takes a long time because they cannot fully articulate what they want to do.
Children also have to learn how to read and do basic maths. Children are reliant on
being taught these skills as they are not able to access information themselves.
Early adults have developed their full vocabulary and can articulate themselves to
enable them to have a full conversation. Adults can access information that will allow
them to solve problems themselves and whilst adults may still be taught, this
information is given to adults in a way that allows them to go away and do additional
learning independently. This is something children would struggle to do. Children do
not have to worry about learning how to manage household bills whereas an adult
will have to learn how to do this.
Emotionally children develop bonds with main care givers whereas adults are likely
to be the main care giver and so the roles are reversed. Children make relationships
at nursery or school whereas adults have lots more opportunities to make friends
such as through their own children, at work and through their partner. Children find it
difficult to express their emotions because they do not have the vocabulary to
explain what they mean whereas adults are able to discuss how they feel with
emotional intelligence and understanding how to speak to people whilst being able to
gauge the emotions of others around them. Children can find this difficult as empathy
is a skill that needs to be developed. Children rely on adults to help them with their
emotions and are learning how to deal with new situations. By early adulthood,
adults will have experienced lots of situations which mean that adults have learnt
those skills and are able to deal with a lot of situations with confidence.
Finally, socially children develop social skills mainly through play. Adults on the other
hand develop social skills through the workplace, through entering new relationships
and through experiencing certain situations. Children form relationships with the
main care giver but do not form intimate relationships. However, both children and
adults understand that informal relationships are different from formal relationships.
Children have lots of opportunities to socialise whereas adults may find it difficult to
socialise because they have more commitments or are constrained by having a
family or lack of finances.

This report has discussed how children and adults grow and develop in early
childhood and early adulthood. The report has discussed how the PIES change from
early childhood to early adulthood becoming more complex. What is clear is that
children need adults to help them develop and by the time those children are adults,
they then help their own children develop those skills. Every area of growth and
development is vital to ensure that both children and adults can develop holistically
and gain the skills they need to develop through the whole of their human lifespan.