CHILD CARE

Child Development Basics
The child development section of our site provides parents with information on and development in children and teenagers. The information on the pages in this section helps parents know what to expect from their children as they mature. Child development information can help parents know when they are expecting too much from a child as well as become aware of lags in development that may benefit from professional help. The pages in this section not only provide information on the activities and achievements usually displayed at a given stage of development but also direct readers to information on how to help children and adolescents reach their full potential as they grow and develop.
Temperament and Your Child's Personality
Personality is determined by the interaction of temperament traits with the environment. Each person (including your child) comes with a factory installed wiring. How your child is wired can determine whether they will be easy or difficult to raise. How well their temperament fits with the environment and how well they are received by the people in the environment will determine how a child sees himself and others.
What is temperament?
Temperament is a set of in-born traits that organize the child's approach to the world. They are instrumental in the development of the child's distinct personality. These traits also determine how the child goes about learning about the world around him.
These traits appear to be relatively stable from birth. They are enduring characteristics that are actually never "good" or "bad." How they are received determines whether they are perceived by the child as being a bad or good thing. When parents understand the temperament of their children, they can avoid blaming themselves for issues that are normal for their child's temperament. Some children are noisier than other. Some are more cuddly than others. Some have more regular sleep patterns that others.
When parents understand how their child responds to certain situations, they an learn to anticipate issues that might present difficulties for their child. They can prepare the child for the situation or in other cases they may avoid a potentially difficult situation all together.
Parents can tailor their parenting strategies to the particular temperamental characteristics of the child. They can also avoid thinking that a behavior that reflects a temperament trait represents a pathological condition that requires treatment.
Parents feel more effective as they more fully understand and appreciate their child's unique personality.
When the demands and expectations of people and the environment are compatible with the child's temperament there is said to be a "goodness-of-fit." When incompatibility exists, you have what is known as a "personality conflict." Early on parents can work with the child's temperamental traits rather than in opposition to them. Later as the child matures the parents can help the child to adapt to their world by accommodating to their temperamental traits.
"Play Is The Work of the Child"
Maria Montessori
Play activities are essential to healthy development for children and adolescents. Research shows that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. The activities engaged in by children both stimulate and influence the pattern of the connections made between the nerve cells. This process influences the development of fine and gross motor skills, language, socialization, personal awareness, emotional well-being, creativity, problem solving and learning ability.
The most important role that play can have is to help children to be active, make choices and practice actions to mastery. They should have experience with a wide variety of content (art, music, language, science, math, social relations) because each is important for the development of a complex and integrated brain. Play that links sensori-motor, cognitive, and social-emotional experiences provides an ideal setting from brain development.
According to Montessori, the essential dimensions of play are:
• Voluntary, enjoyable, purposeful and spontaneous
• Creativity expanded using problem solving skills, social skills, language skills and physical skills
• Helps expand on new ideas
• Helps the child to adapt socially
• Helps to thwart emotional problems
If play is the work of the child, toys are the tools. Through toys, children learn about their world, themselves, and others. Toys teach children to:
• Figure out how things work
• Pick up new ideas
• Build muscle control and strength
• Use their imagination
• Solve problems
• Learn to cooperate with others
Play content should come from the child’s own imagination and experiences.
Unfortunately, the play experience for today’s child is often quite different from that of their parents.
With the ever expanding influence of electronic media including TV, videos, video games and the internet, child are spending much of their time being passively entertained by or minimally interacting by way of a keyboard or control pad with an electronic device.
Even today’s toys are more often structured by onboard computers that dictate the play experience.
This robs children of unstructured play with other kids as well as individual playtime spent in creative play. Parents need to understand the play needs of their child and provide an environment to meet those needs.



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Study Links Early Friendships With High-quality Sibling Relationships
ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2006) — Children who experience a rewarding friendship before the birth of a sibling are likely to have a better relationship with that brother or sister that endures throughout their childhood, said Laurie Kramer in a University of Illinois study published in December's Journal of Family Psychology.

"There's something about early friendships -- when they work well, they help children learn how to behave constructively in relationships," said Kramer, co-editor with Lew Bank on a special issue of the journal, "Sibling Relationship Contributions to Individual and Family Well-being."
"When early friendships are successful, young children get the chance to master sophisticated social and emotional skills, even more than they do with a parent. When parents relate to a child, they do a lot of the work, figuring out how what the child needs and then accommodating those needs. With another child, that doesn't usually happen," said Kramer, a U. of I. professor of applied family studies.
The research showed the benefits of early friends are long-lasting. Children who had a positive relationship with a best friend before the birth of a sibling ultimately had a good relationship with their sibling that lasted throughout adolescence, Kramer said.
And children who as preschoolers were able to coordinate play with a friend, manage conflicts, and keep an interaction positive in tone were most likely as teenagers to avoid the negative sibling interaction that can sometimes launch children on a path of antisocial behaviors, she added.
Early friendships also predicted future competence in other sorts of relationships and in certain forms of personal well-being -- for example, fewer behavior problems or less depression or anxiety later in life, Kramer said.
"Even in early childhood, close friendships have been shown to provide unique benefits for children encountering stress," she said.
The 13-year study followed 28 pairs of siblings, beginning when the oldest child was between three and five years old and the parents were expecting the second child. Researchers assessed the quality of the firstborn's relationship with his mother during the last trimester of the mother's pregnancy as well as the quality of the child's relationship with a best friend.
And, although the mother-child bond was important for the future sibling relationship, the child's relationship with a best friend was a stronger predictor of future sibling harmony, she said.
After the younger child was born, researchers visited the family frequently and videotaped the siblings, coding them for conflictual, competitive, cooperative, and prosocial behaviors, with the last observation occurring when the elder siblings were 17 years old and the younger siblings were 13.
There was a very strong link between children who had positive interactions with a friend before the sibling's birth and a later positive relationship with the sibling, Kramer said. "This study shows that it's very important to help children develop good friends, particularly in the preschool years."
"From birth, parents can nurture and help develop these social competencies by making eye contact with their babies, offering toys and playing with them, and encouraging them to interact with other children as soon as they are developmentally able to do so," she said.
Preschools, child-care centers and providers, and schools should also learn more about children's socioemotional development so they can provide educational experiences that will help children learn to get along with each other better, she said.
"The trickiest part is helping kids manage some of the negative emotions they experience," Kramer said. "Children can learn a lot about handling frustration as a part of the sibling relationship. Brothers and sisters can be awfully frustrating."
And firstborn children who have had a good friend are a step ahead of the game, Kramer said. "For children, just knowing that someone likes them is validating. That confidence, and the experience they've gained from participating in a friendship, can really pay off later in life in terms of beneficial relationships with brothers and sisters, friends, and other personal relationships."