Archive for the ‘Childhood Education’ Category

The study of the emotional development of infants and children although relatively new questions the idea as to whether emotional development is learned, predetermined or a combination of both. Emotional development can be defined as the process of building self-esteem, self-awareness and self-confidence as well as recognizing and understanding various feelings and emotions. It is the expressing of pleasure, surprise, interest and forms of distress which is an active continuous process.

Helping children discover, develop and work through the various stages of emotional development in a positive fashion will enable them to persist in reaching goals and facing difficulties with confidence. Emotional development unlike other developmental skills is not always as noticeable because a child’s feelings and emotional experiences are generally private. However, as parents learn to recognize and read attitudes, facial expressions, body language, etc. that their child expresses, it can give them a better understanding of what is going on in their child’s world.

Parents who show warmth, compassion, understanding, and a genuine concern to help others will produce children who will learn to show empathy and positive behavior during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. But on the other side of the coin, parents who model cold, selfish, angry, punitive, emotional responses will produce children that will struggle with being empathetic and lack positive social behavior.

A study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics reveals that a child’s imagination also plays a vital part in the area of emotional development. The article states, “Imagination is an adaptive psychological function of emotional significance”. Imaginative play provides a world where children can express various emotions which actually aids in building future positive realities.

Playing is the most natural and productive way that children grow and learn. Educational toys can be a great asset to the emotional development of children. Many have a unique design specifically targeted at early childhood education and development. The benefits that parents should look for when searching for toys that will aid in the emotional developments of their children are toys that will promote relationship building (children interacting in a positive way with other children) provide challenges for their child to work through, create an environment of problem solving or stimulate imaginative play. These areas of play can help build self-confidence and self-esteem in children.

Parents are the key to their child’s emotional development. No matter if you have one child, or many children, all children need a sense of comfort, safety, love, confidence and encouragement. Teach your children how to build strong positive relationships, help them to develop empathy, compassion as well as a sense of right and wrong. Show them how to solve problems and deal with challenges in a positive manner and most important, encourage, encourage, encourage.

According to developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, he suggests that the logic of children is completely different from that of adults. He believed that children move through four stages of development between infancy and adolescence. The four stages incorporated in his theory are sensorimotor stage, perioperational stage, concrete operation stage and formal operation stage. The domains associated with these stages are the child’s physical, social, intellectual, creative and emotions which influence the way the child thinks and talks.

Early childhood care and education was introduced to help parents better understand their children’s developmental skills; by this we mean their motor and cognitive skills coherently. The programme aims at exploring the child’s learning and developmental capabilities, as well as it builds a stronger foundation of the skills that they possess.

This programme is vital as it allows the child to build and form new relationships with their peers and family members rather than be quiet and shy. Secondly, exposing the child to various stimulants encourages them to ask more questions for a better understanding of how the world works.

Apart from that, it is important for the child to be able to differentiate what is right and wrong, as these days there are increasing events of children being abused and neglected by adults. In most of these cases, the child is unable to speak up because of fear of their parents and their lack of education. Hence, this will help curb and reduce the incidence of child abuse in the country because the child will have moral and ethical values inculcated.

This level of education has been emphasised by the education authorities in many countries around the globe. Parents should be responsible to enroll the child for early childhood education, so that the transition into primary school will be much easier for the child. The child will be able to cope better in school and they will be able to do well in their exams. This in turn will improve the socioeconomic development of the country.

In a nutshell, early childhood education and care is necessary for the improvement of the child in every way. Apart from the preschool teachers, parents should be involved in their child’s development in order to create a conducive environment for the child and improve the understanding between the parent and child.

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic that can threaten the health and life span of the world. Obesity is on the rise due to the lack of activity children have since schools are decreasing physical education classes.

Diagnosing obesity in children is different than in adults they use your body mass index (BMI). In children there are several factors in determining obesity. In children they measure your skin fold thickness, height and weight and their BMI. In children if there BMI is above the 95th percentile they are considered obese. Type 2 diabetes is rising…scientist…call this a major public health crisis. Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in children has increased from less than 5% before 1994 to 30% and 50% in more recent years.

Childhood obesity is not only predisposing kids for health risks but mental and social complications as well. Obese children are at risk for diseases such as hypertension, type II diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Once considered rare conditions in children, these diseases are seen with increasing frequency by pediatricians. With this rise of adult diseases in children it is decreasing the life expectancy of the next generation. With the rise of these diseases heath care costs will increase as well. This is an alarming rate because it can cause financial restraints on families who do not have access to health care. Families with limited access to health care will delay seeking treatment and will in turn have greater complications.

Children and adolescents aged 10-17 from families with an income below the poverty line were 74% more likely to be overweight or obese than those from families with a household income at 400% above the poverty line. Simply put, teachers need to address these issues within health education lessons [http://www.physical-education-lessons.com/category/health-education-lessons]. Other concerns with the rise in child hood obesity are children from families where the parents are always working and they are left home alone and depending on the neighborhood they live in it is not safe for them to play outside.

Another contributor to the rise in obesity is the food choices offered to school aged children. School lunches today are not filled with the essential vitamins and minerals children need to consume everyday and lunches contain almost two thousand calories in one serving. Vending machines are all around school buildings and they are filled with soft drinks other unhealthy foods. In our society children are consuming fewer amounts of fruits and vegetables and reaching for chips and soda. Vending machines are mainly filled with unhealthy foods so it makes it easier for kids to keep on getting bigger in size.

School lunch periods are decreasing in time due to academic requirements which makes it convenient for the child to consume food from the vending machine then eating a real lunch meal. Some schools have banned vending machines from schools or have set certain times for when students can use the vending machine. Preventive measures put in place by physical education teachers and health education teachers are helping students and parents fight the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Are you one of those who enjoy spending time with little kids? Or do you always loved to take up babysitting as a part time or full-time job? If your answer is “YES”, then choosing your career in early education would be an ideal selection.

It is a very popular and important in present scenario. Early childhood is the time to know children, make them comprehend their own selves and the early education certainly serves this very purpose. Early childhood education can be fundamentally termed as “Learning through play”. In present situation, where parents are incapable to give proper time to their children, “learning through play” concept is proving to be more successful than conventional learning. Besides this, obtaining affordable and quality child education especially for children under age 8, is a major worry for many parents. Particularly in recent years with the rise in families with two working parents, the need for early child education has increased in the last decade.

The early teaching programs offered by the kid’s schools are flowering at tremendous pace. As a result most of these kid’s schools are now looking for experts with an early childhood teaching degree. In comparison to other career options available today, the career prospect in early childhood education is gaining world-wide acceptance. An individual who are well trained or have earned an early teaching degree can enjoy great and stress-free career. An individual with early childhood degree can search for great careers as faculty for different children schools. The biggest advantage of this career is that, it also offers a pleasant working environment which in turn can make working place a next home.

A careful observation shows that these days there are only few trained professionals in early childhood education and so the requirement for well trained early education tutors will increase in coming years. In addition to this, the best thing about the field of early childhood education program is – it provides the option to shape and mold the personalities of young children. It helps individuals study more about key communication and interaction skills, as well as in-depth information of child psychology and social behavior.

The career prospects for an Early Education Degree holder are not restricted to kid’s schools or nursery schools. These trained professionals can get aspiring careers in public and private schools, day care centers and child oriented Head Start programs as well. Moreover, early childhood education degree holders may also choose to open up their own independent business like independent daycare center or teaching facility.

Today the greater focus on quality and accountability has emerged as vital factors on child education which is likely to lead further increase in demand for early education degree holder or tutor. Certainly a career opportunity for early childhood education tutors seems brilliant and expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations.