What do you know.....child development

Effective Teaching in Christian Education

“What do you know…”
(Sept 2003)

 By David B.

            Every human being goes through a life series of changes and growth development. In each stage there are new discoveries of life and various personality marks that form. The basic four age groups include preschooler, elementary children, youth, and adult. Of these four there are wide ranges of characteristics that will show the steady increase of age and bring the person from child to adult.

            The first age group begins with the child as it is born and enters into a new world of discovery and preschool. It is in these early years of development that the child is just starting out with new sights, sounds, and smells. Every new sensation and touch is something to take in fully but the child’s attention span can only take in so much at a time. They express curiosity in everything as they explore the limited amount of space they can realize.

            Preschoolers are commonly reserved in social climates when it comes to strangers and new unidentified people. Most children of this age group feel insecure when their familiarity is taken away or something changes. They have a strong need for routine and do not find repetitious habits boring or tedious. To every child the world is only seen from their eyes and theirs is the only right perspective. They do not mentally look for several meanings but focus on whatever aspect appeals to them.

            In the mind of the preschooler there is a limit to what they can do and usually seek to attain far more then their skills allow. Their time frame is always now centered and logical answers to their endless questions are difficult to understand. What they think and feel about the world is in a literal perspective often best depicted in pictures. As they grow and discover new things their excitement continues to reach far beyond their capacity. Preschoolers will soon develop patterns, which slowly take them from their age into the age of elementary children.

            This second age group, elementary children, has a fading line from preschool but becomes clear as their character develops. As the child’s muscles coordination and height level begins to grow so does their ability in other development. The child’s elementary years are a series of growing and discovering new things as well as being able to mentally determine and make choices for themselves. Their attention span slowly increases but still requires the need for various activities. In the span of years learning is a growing desire for the child as they begin to think more and use more decision making in situations. It is a great age for memorization as they will acquire much and be able to display almost accurately what they learn.

            Emotions and feelings are slowly developing throughout the elementary years. A child will begin to make more friends and cling onto social relationships. Their feelings are held out to the world and most easily hurt. Because of their growing need for acceptance it is important to instill confidence and assurance into the child’s life. As the child watches and feels the love from parents and teachers they are able to understand the feeling better and experience the difference between emotions. A child’s enthusiastic behavior is often overpowering and they lack the ability to know how to control themselves.

            As the elementary years continue on the child will develop more and more patterns seeking adult hood maturity. They watch adults and mimic them hoping to soon be bigger. In the growing of a child comes the search for self-identity and worth in the world as each new day new things are discovered. The child develops the understanding of right and wrong and seeks to maintain positive behavior and emotional balance. There is a strong dependence on friends and seeking strong relationships with others. Interests grow and strengthen the child’s personality and character.

            With the growth of the child comes more evidence of intellectual development. It is the age when the child groups’ people and can distinguish between various types. There is still a struggle with abstracts as the mind tries out new forms of thinking. Creativity is high in the elementary child and they have the ability to come to logical conclusions with help. Often the child can be critical of adults as they struggle for the answers and rebellion spurs.  Their sense of right and wrong along with ability to seek God as a loving friend continues to strengthen. Knowledge of responsibility and personal conviction will grow more as the child continues to develop out of the elementary years. 

            As the child approaches the third age group, youth, the slow growth speeds up rapidly. These are the days of early adolescence when everything about their body, their social world, and their feelings begins to change. There is a great amount of development that occur during the years of this group which prepare it for adulthood while tearing it away from childhood.

            Energy levels are among the many things, which increase in the youth. They have a fast train of thought and experiment with adventurous risky behavior. As this takes place their bodies begin to change from children into adults and this causes them to feel new things and experience new desires which are often scary to them. The youth goes through changes, which affect their social and emotional style as well.

            Since there is an increase in change the youth becomes more aware of their body and outward appearance. Youths desire to blend into their group on part while seeking their own individuality. They develop attraction with one another and have higher interest in the opposite sex. The changes, which take place, cause many questions and searches for answers.

            There is a strain on the youth to find his or her personal identity and be able to make something out of their life. Each stage in their development through Jr High and High school years takes the youth from stage to stage in emotional growth. It is the age of youth where faith is taken personally and worth can come from what others and think. The growth of the youth reaches closer to adult maturity as they seek to fit in socially and become emotionally balanced.

            Adulthood comes as the last of the four stages of development. It is this stage where the child is now a man or woman and has a defined self-impression of their world and place. The adult has come along away from the years of preschool and continues to learn on the basis of personal experience and growth.

            The life of an adult starts in the mid 20’s after they have grown out of childhood and matured to an understanding of the world around them. Throughout their days there is much more stress and frustration as age progresses and responsibility increases. Their need for goals and to deal with life issues is stronger in adulthood. As age progresses so does the need for support from others who have experienced the same life issues.

            Adults never outgrow the need to learn nor the desire for knowledge and wisdom in any age. They continue to seek out understanding of things that have been kept with them for years and they seek to teach the younger generations. Every need varies on the adults individual social and economic status in the world. Their age, health, martial and other such things affect the adult in great ways throughout their age. They continue to seek close friends and will gather around support and encouragement groups as needed.

            Throughout the four age groups there is a great deal of development and learning taking place. Each new age slowly increases the persons overall character and personality in every physical, emotional, social, and spiritual way. What can be learned from seeing how the individual develops is the defining sense of change and the power of experience in all of lives stages.