Ages 0-2 Years Old

Alexandra Flores

Case study

Child growth and development

Research over the past few decades has clearly shown that the quality of care for infants and toddlers affect who they become. When parents know how children develop, they are more responsive and better understand their children, which in turn, affect their development both in the short and long term (Lauricella, A. R., Wartella, E., & Rideout, V. J. (2015).

The child's name is Andrew Meltzof. He is 2 years old baby. His mother is a housewife and his father is a businessman. At this age, your child is caught between his need to assert his autonomy by trying different things and his need to feel protected by you and the people caring for him. Learning to fend for yourself takes up a good part of the day. He can suddenly move from one emotion to the other, from the "I do ..." to tantrums when he is frustrated. He wants help and he does not want it: all this contributes to the construction of his personality. It is through his initiatives and successes "alone" that he takes confidence in himself. To foster this confidence in him, you can offer him some help while allowing him to do some of the things alone (eg: put on one sleeve of his coat and let him put the other on himself). Do not hesitate to encourage and congratulate him. Although routines are important to him, he must also be flexible and let him make simple choices. For example, ask him to choose between two books for the evening story or to get himself the pajamas he wants to wear for the dodo. Through these small gestures, you will already begin to perceive his character and personality.

Factors

1. A better knowledge of himself

Your toddler also shows that he understands who he is. For example, his name is called, he identifies the parts of his body, he recognizes his family in photographs, he begins to assert a preference for certain clothes, he understands that certain objects belong to him, etc.

Your child is also becoming more aware of his needs. Show him how to express them by communicating yours. For example, say, "I need a handkerchief". Teach him to help you satisfy them: "Can you go get me one in the bathroom please?" He will be happy to be able to do something for you and he will learn that a person can express his needs.

2. Greater control of your body

As better control his body, your child likes to run, to kick a ball, jump, climb, climb on chairs and down, back and walk sideways, up and down, pushing and pulling small toys, etc. However, he still needs the supervision and the presence of an adult to ensure his safety, because he is not yet fully aware of the risks that may arise from his initiatives. As the movements of your small muscles become more refined, your child becomes able to assemble small puzzles , remove the lid of a jar, nest objects into each other, draw vertical lines to turn the pages of a book one by one, to build taller towers than before and to hold a fork. It is at this age that he begins to sort and classify objects, to count, to recognize the difference between "one" and "many" as well as to distinguish colors and shapes.

It is also around this age that he usually learns about cleanliness. If you use the potty, you can ask him to empty it himself in the big toilet. This will reinforce the feeling of being "tall" and "capable".

3. A more developed language

At age 2, your child can already communicate some of his feelings and desires as well as his interest in certain things using words and gestures (Barnes et al., 1983). He begins to say small sentences composed of simple words to make requests (eg "Wanna Milk"), to ask simple questions (eg "Where does mother?") Or to assert oneself (eg: "No, not sleepy!"). He still hardly uses interrogative words (who, why, when, etc.), but he changes his intonation when he asks a question. For example, if he says "Dad left", it is because he notices that Dad left while he says "Dad, gone? He wants to know if his dad has left the house.

Now that he has a vocabulary varying, according to the children, between 50 and 200 words, your toddler very often uses the language in his games. " No! It is one of the words he likes to use. He can also name familiar objects, use two-word sentences, and communicate ideas in one word, saying "milk" to say "I want milk," for example. It is normal that you sometimes find it difficult to understand your child. Your child also begins to gain some notion of time. He understands ideas like "soon", "not now" and "after your sleep", but he still does not understand the past, like "yesterday". Some concepts of space, such as "up" and "down" are well understood too.

4. Social skills in construction

On the social level, your toddler is more able to separate from you and become attached to new people. He plays next to other children, but without mingling with them. He does not yet know the concept of sharing, but you can help him understand the concept of "each in turn” when he and another child want the same toy. Sometimes he feels very frustrated, especially when he cannot make himself understood, bites the others, kicks them or pulls his hair. It is still difficult for him to name his emotions and this can be expressed by blows and screams. It is important that you intervene to teach him that these behaviors are unacceptable. At age 2, your child can play alone and focus on an activity they like for 5 to 10 minutes. He plays more and more to pretend using props, he looks at books and he sings simple songs. Even if he does not pronounce all the words of the songs well, he likes music and keeping pace (Knauer et al, 2019).

5. Family and Home factors

It would seem obvious that family and social education directly affects the formation and development of the child. He has only one son and his mother is a housewife. But often we do not pay much attention to this, making a big mistake. In the life of every person, the family has a special place. In it, the child grows, and from the first years of his life he learns the norms of human relations, absorbing from the family both good and evil, all that is characteristic of his family. Having matured, children repeat in their family everything that was in the family of his parents.

Summary

The family acts as the basis of a sense of security. Attachment relationships are important not only for the future development of relationships - they're direct influence helps to reduce the feeling of anxiety that occurs in a child in new or in stressful situations. Thus, the family provides a basic sense of security, guaranteeing the child’s safety when interacting with the outside world, developing new ways of researching and responding to it. In addition, loved ones are a source of comfort for a child in moments of despair and excitement

Several studies have indeed demonstrated the benefits of educational childcare services on children's learning and development, especially for toddlers from disadvantaged backgrounds and for those with a difficult temperament .Other studies have shown that child care services that offer a play-based educational program prepare children well for kindergarten learning because it helps them develop different skills. In addition, toddlers attending a quality educational child care service would later have better mathematical skills and less frequent use of special education services. Learning to live in a group and following routines and rules at the daycare is also an asset for the school.

References

Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., ... & Devercelli, A. E. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. The Lancet, 389(10064), 77-90.

Lauricella, A. R., Wartella, E., & Rideout, V. J. (2015). Young children's screen time: The complex role of parent and child factors. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 36, 11-17.

Barnes, S., Gutfreund, M., Satterly, D., & Wells, G. (1983). Characteristics of adult speech which predict children's language development. Journal of child language, 10(1), 65-84.

Knauer, H. A., Ozer, E. J., Dow, W. H., & Fernald, L. C. (2019). Parenting quality at two developmental periods in early childhood and their association with child development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 47, 396-404.