Early childhood is an important stage for both parents and teachers as this is the time when kids achieve the most crucial milestones in their development. Parents must give the most care and love during the early five years of their child’s growth. According to various research, only 25% of parents know about these things, and so they give more importance to their child’s development.
Working parents believe that if they leave their child in a daycare, the daycare staff will take care of these developmental milestones, but this is not the case. Most of our teachers and care givers are not aware of such milestones, and the kids remain incomplete somewhere.
In this article we are going to discuss all the stages of development that take place during early childhood. Awareness of such a development milestone would help us all to grow our children properly.
5 stages of the development of a child
When we talk about development, we mean to understand all the learning and skills that a child should acquire during these growth years. This development milestone includes; cognitive skills, physical and social skills, linguistic skills, etc.
These five stages of development are
- Newborn (0-3 months)
- Infant (3-12 months)
- Toddler (1-3 years)
- Preschool age (3-4years)
- School age (4-5 years)
At each stage of their growth, kids achieve some developmental milestone.
Four areas of a child’s development
Generally, the 4 areas of development milestones consist of communication skills, physical development, emotional development, and cognitive development.
Communication skills
The moment a child takes birth, he or she starts catching the sounds coming from around them. These sounds are then formed into words when they grow a little. When they are toddlers, they can almost frame sentences, whether they are wrong or right, but they can convey the message anyhow. Preschoolers can frame correct sentences and can express their feelings and ideas. They can also differentiate between things. By the time they are school-aged, they learn how to communicate. They learn to listen and take turns while talking.
Physical development
Whether a child is growing normally or not can be tracked by checking their physical growth as well as their weight. Each stage of development has a different milestone to achieve. A new born child, by the time they are three months old, can make eye contact, smile, and also lift their hands and legs. As they grow a little more to be an infant, they learn to twist and turn and finally learn to crawl. Toddlers, on the other hand, can walk and run and also develop their gross motor skills. By the time they are preschoolers, they know how to use their muscles to do different activities. They can climb a chair to get something which is out of their reach and can also jump from a higher place to know how powerful they are.
Emotional Development
A new born child also has emotional development. This can be sensed when they are with their mother. The moment their mother is away from them, they start to cry. As they grow up, they identify their other family members, like their grandparents and siblings. As they grow a little more, they learn to do friendship and also keep others happy.
Cognitive Development
When children learn to know about the world, they also learn to think, imagine, create stories, ask questions, etc. These are all higher order thoughts and can take place only when there is proper growth of the brain. Children learn to differentiate between things as well as analyze them. Kids with very active brains can understand such things from an early stage of their development.
Conclusion
The Mother is said to be the creator and nurturer of this world. Parental care can keep a child happy and also give them a complete environment to grow.