Easy Childhood Development

Every child is unique to its parent and none of the parents would agree that the development stages are common to all children and occurs at almost the same time and frequency.

These development stages could be roughly classified into five stages: new born, infant, toddler, preschool and school age. We can now go through the various stages for our newer parents to learn more of child development and what a child can do or should be doing in the various child development stages.

New born:

The average length of the child is about 50-70cms and weighs 4-8kgs. The child spends most of its time sleeping but manages to cry with tears and also begins to move both the eyeballs in unison towards the third month. He turns his head from side to side, raises head and upper body, clasps hands and waves arms about.

Infant:

Doubles in birth weight. Grows to about 70cms to75cms.Teeth begin to appear, gums may get swollen but begins to chew and bite objects. Reflexive actions increase. Infant makes protective gestures. Child also learns to chew and swallow food.

He reaches for objects with thumb and forefinger, sits alone without support starts crawling and rocking back and forth, rolls over from back or stomach position, plays hide and seek games.

Child begins to see even distant objects and learns to pick up and stack objects, tries to stand up, leaning on furniture for support, responds to hearing tests, follows simple instructions and imitates adult activities.

Toddler:

There is a rapid eruption of teeth. The child now crawls expertly, stands alone, takes to pushing toys around while walking, starts to throw things around, attempts to run, scribbles with crayons, tries even to feed himself, enjoys looking at picture books.

The learning process has already begun. The child tries to be more independent and begins to decipher functional relationships. He even tries his hand in making mechanical toys work by watching others and also using his own understanding.

By this time he also learns to put sounds and words together and makes the other person understand what he wants to convey. He also learns to socialize and needs friends to play with.

Preschool:

Child starts to grow rapidly and even begins to lose baby teeth. He has now reached pre school age and is eager to learn more about things logically. He counts reads recognizes and identifies almost anything, can even tell the time, has even an almost adult vocabulary, and enjoys participating in group activities.

School going age:

The child has now reached an age of discovery and there is no stopping him. He is able to talk fluently and can carry on adult like conversations. He is able to distinguish right from wrong, feel disappointed and frustrated, loves being praised and has reached the last of the child development stages.