Variations in physical growth among people are common and visible everywhere in everyday observations. People differ in height, body weight, body proportions, and fitness. People differ in abilities to move and perform physical skills and tasks. These differences provide valuable insights into our maturation, overall development, and health. The study of physical growth and development is important to the study of child development, medicine and education among may other things. It is also a subject of personal interest to all people in possession of a body.
I was most concerned with William’s physical development in infancy and early childhood. Physical development in infancy and early childhood can impact physical challenges that a person may have later in life. I worked as a parent to help him overcome challenges by being understanding and supporting him in any way I could to help him thrive. In this paper I will discuss the physical challenges William faced and how I responded as a parent and helped him to overcome them. Challenges he faced include, being born prematurely and developing hypothyroidism. There were also challenges in his walking and crawling development and potty training.
William was born about four weeks premature, and a little underweight (four and a half pounds), he was otherwise healthy. Babies born before the 37th week of gestation are considered premature. Having a baby prematurely can be scary for parents. A premature baby is at risk for many more complications than a baby born closer to his or her due date. Some of the most common challenges include, immature lungs, jaundice, sepsis and an inability to maintain body heat. Luckily, William did not have many complications. A few days of neonatal care were needed to deal with jaundice, and to make sure William was able to regulate his body temperature. After that I was able to bring William home.
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The doctors said William should be fine, but they scheduled follow up visits to check on his growth and responses to the environment. In infancy, I noticed that William got hungry more often than the prenatal pamphlets said (every one to two hours) he would. I assumed that some variation was normal and feed him when he was hungry. At first William had a particularly piercing and loud cry. My partner and I learned to cope with it well, but sometimes we suffered from lack of sleep, and it became difficult not to feel somewhat annoyed with William. Most of the time, though, we had a good time taking care of him.
At 12 months of age William learned to walk, it was very exciting that he started so soon. He was also an efficient crawler and explored his environment eagerly. When he does something potentially dangerous, such as walking out into the street or crawling up onto the back of the couch, I would say “No”, remove him from the situation, and encourage him to do something in a safe area. At 18 months William is able to walk, run and climb and could get into dangerous situations pretty fast. I responded to this by setting up a child safe environment at home, and I let William explore so that he can make his own mistakes within safe limits.
Potty training is one of the most important physical developments that occurs in early childhood. I knew that by age three William needed to be toilet trained for daycare and preschool. To help him be prepared, I purchased a potty chair, training pants, and a little storybook about a child learning to use the potty. I put him on the potty every half an hour or so at home and praised him if he happened to urinate or defecate
William was really ill for a portion of his sophomore year. He was very tired and had difficulty concentrating in class. He also had a tremor in his hands and difficulty sleeping. I became alarmed when he began to lose weight, despite being hungry all of the time. I took him to the doctors and he was finally diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. The treatment was to go on anti-thyroid medication, and to abstain from all exercise, other than just slow walking. William was really upset, because the condition made him feel completely weak and out of shape. I gave him the medication and tried my best to be a supportive parent for William.
Despite some physical challenges William faced, he developed well physically. I believe this is due to me as a parent dedicating time to helping him thrive and making sure he ate a balanced diet and exercised regularly.
Improving cognitive skills is a crucial part of child development. I was most concerned with William’s cognitive development from an early age. I believe it is important to give your child a strong learning foundation. From a very young age, I began to work on William’s cognitive development. I noticed that William could learn a thing or two so I started working on his baby IQ. From 3 months of age, I would walk around outside a lot carrying William or push him in a stroller, so he can hear and see things such as birds, trees, cars and dogs. I often would talk, sing and dance with William as well. Some of the biggest cognitive challenges William faced include William becoming more independent and wanting to run into the street and choosing a bad group of friends at school which has an impact on his grades. William’s independence and curiosity also began to have an impact on his relationship with me.
William’s cognitive growth began with an increase in his curiosity. William enjoyed throwing every toy out of his crib and watching what happened. William seemed to expect me to keep putting them back. I decided to use the opportunity to improve his language skills, by commenting on each toy, saying thing like, “Whoops there goes the toy kitty”. This curiosity about his toys and his crib is clearly an example of his increased cognitive abilities.
Later William began to show some interesting new behavior. He would act shy when looking in the mirror and would use the word ‘me’ a lot. This was the start of him beginning to want to do things himself. I believe that new behavior was a sign of self-awareness, and I had to decide what the balance would be between allowing William to be independent and teaching him to follow your rules. Shortly after William became more resistant to my requests for cooperation. For example, he would say ‘no,’ or refuses things that he accepted before such as food or bath time. I recognized he needed to have limits. To solve this problem, I would explain that I needed his “help,” and let him decide between two choices (both of which I wanted him to do).
Independence is a clear sign of cognitive development. As a toddler and during early childhood, William had a tremendous drive to use his motor skills. I had to keep an extremely close eye on William because he would quickly toddle off into the crowd at public places or even run into the street. This was extremely scary, and I had to be very stern with William and tell him that is was not acceptable behavior. I did not yell or scream at him, but firmly explained what could happen if he didn’t listen to be in a way he could understand.
Teenage years are when the parent and child relationships suffer the most. William was never got in a lot of trouble, he was a good kid, but there was a point where he began to hang out with some questionable friends. William began hanging out at school and after school with a different group, and I was not sure why. The kids seemed to be less academically engaged, and it began to have an impact on William’s attitudes toward schoolwork and learning. I was worried how this would affect his cognitive development and his future. It was a frustrating situation because I could not do much to change William’s friends. I also did not want to interfere in his life too much and wanted him to learn things for himself. All I did was emphasize the value of schoolwork and provide alternative activities to keep William busy after school, but this was difficult because William wasn’t interested in some of the activities I suggested and just shrugged when I asked him what he would like to try. Luckily this somewhat rebellious phase did not last long, and William never let his grades slip.
Importance of engaging kids cognitively from an early age and throughout childhood is crucial for them to thrive. I believe it is important to give your child a strong learning foundation. From a very young age, I began working on William’s cognitive skills. When he was an infant it would be small things like, going for walks, singing and dancing. As he got older, I continued to engage him in learning by taking him to museums, libraries and parks.
Social development from an early age determines how a person will live their entire lives and can help shape personality. Childhood and adolescence are most often characterized as the period where most social and emotional skills are gained. Healthy social development creates positive relationships with people in our lives. As we mature, we learn to better manage our own needs and feelings and how to respond appropriately to the feelings and needs of others.
Some of the biggest social challenges William faced include, being overly attached to me and having a close friend move away. Some challenges he faced as a teenager include, negative peer influence leading to inappropriate behavior online and some bullying. I was most concerned with William’s social development as a teenager. I was most concerned at this age because teenagers can be easily influenced by their peers and make choices that could negatively or positively impact their future. I worked as a parent to help him overcome his challenges by being supportive and letting him know he can talk to me about anything.
As a toddler, William was often a little reluctant to part from me at daycare and would start crying. He usually got over it quickly after I left. He would frequently become quite upset and cling to me while sobbing. This usually occurred whenever he was in a new situation or meeting new people. I typically wanted him to become more outgoing with people, so I would concentrate on a few new situations or people, and repeatedly expose him to new things as often as he would tolerate it.
In early childhood William’s best friend from kindergarten was also in his first-grade class. Unfortunately, the family moved away two months into the school year. William was very upset by this and complained of having ‘no friends’. I knew this was not the case based on what the teacher reports, but I realized that this was a significant change for William and it took some time for him to get over. William was very cooperative with me at home, but also seemed to be less independent than other kids his age. He was nervous about a lot of new things, such as getting started with swimming lessons at the recreation center or going to another child’s house for the first time. To help with this I provided emotional support in new situations, but also put some mild pressure on him to become more independent, by providing a reward for “going it alone” such as an ice cream cone or candy.
When William was a teenager, I overheard him and his friends talking about their personal web pages. They seemed to be in a competition over the number of ‘friends’ they had listed. When I viewed William’s web page, as well as some of his friends’ web pages, I discovered some overly mature content as well as personal information displayed on the pages. Most of them appeared to be lying about their age, including William. I decided to talk to William about acceptable and safe internet usage and have him remove any unsuitable content and any personal identifying information from his page.
As a teenager William put comments on an internet application where other students could respond with their own comments but not reveal their identities. One day he burst out with ‘what a jerk!!’ when someone made some negative comments about his clothing. He was upset about it for a while but called a friend and soon they were deep in conversation about how to get revenge. I understood peer approval was important at that age.
