Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Abstract

During early childhood, a child experiences various cognitive and physical changes. Children from two to seven years old develop quickly within the blink of an eye. Their developmental stage at this age mostly focus on physical and cognitive growth. A child motor skill increases during this stage due to their fast growing of the brain, especially the frontal lobe. They become stronger and leaner throughout the years. Though not every child develops at the same level, but children this age knows their alphabets, numbers, and colors. According to Piaget, children from two to seven years olds begins to characterize the world around them with images. They begin to have some reasoning and asks lots of questions. Their vocabularies have tremendously increased from when they were smaller. Children at this age knows first and last names and can identify the opposites of things like close/open or day/night.

Keyword: motor skills, early-childhood, physical development, cognitive development.

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Child-Hood 2-7

Why is a child early life so important? Which year is considered the most important year in child's life? The first few years of a child life can help predict how the rest of his or her life will be. It was proven that children adapt more quickly during their early years (the importance of early years, Nelson, 2006). According Dr. Dippesh Masuria in 2015, by the age of five years-old a child brain has already developed by 90%. Parents needs to provide an exciting environment for their kids. Their brain at this stage is like a sponge, they take in information very quickly. Their main way of learning is through playing. Being physically active will help improve their gross motor skills.

All children grow differently, they grow and develop at their own pace. At the age of two to three years old, an average child will gain about 6 pound every year and grow at least two to three inches taller. Growing up, my mom used to always tell me stories about when I was little. She mentioned that by seven months old I had already taken my first steps. When I had my daughter, it was a different outcome. My daughter didn't walk till she was about sixteen-month old. I thought something was wrong with her. I took her to the doctor's office and he confirmed that everything was fine, and that she would start walking on her own time. But being the worry wart that I am, I was still devastated. Fifteen percent of children under the age of seven may have some difficulties in some areas of development (Sally-Anne McCormick, (2016). I had to learn the hard way that parents or guardians needs to let their child reach their milestones on their own. And now my daughter hardly sits in one place, she's always on the go.

Children grow dramatically between the ages of three to seven years old. Around this stage they start to develop eye-hand coordination. Their body coordination increases but they can still fall easily, and they love and enjoy playing around with other kids. They're very eager to learn and experience new things, therefore they tend to ask lots of questions. According to Gild Band Center, by the age of three to five years old, children vocabularies can increase from 900 words to about 10,000 words or more. By 6 to seven years old they have a receptive language of about 20,000 vocabulary words and they tend to understand some terms like end, beginning, same.

A child primary developmental group is family. Families plays an important role on a child cognitive and physical growth. They provide an environment in which the child gain knowledge from. As Vygotsky said, a child cognition growth is based on his or her support system. Parents or guardian are the main ones that needs to build up the child and gives them structure. Promote their overall developments.

The first few years of a child life can help predict how the rest of their lives will be. A parent and child relationships are very important at any age, but it is extremely important for a 2-7-year-old child to have a close relationship with his or her parents. Their brain at this age develop faster than at any other time. Whatever a child learns throughout the first few years he/she will take that experience with them for the rest of their lives, whether it was something negative or positive. They gain knowledge by what they've experienced throughout their early childhood.

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