How Do Children Grow?

Infant Reflexes

Infancy is the time from birth up to 1 to 2 years of age. At birth, all infants possess and demonstrate reflexes that are critical for their survival and for meeting their physical needs. Some reflexes disappear by 6-7 months, such as grasping, suckling, stepping and startle (or the Moro reflex); while other reflexes persist throughout life, such as holding one's breath and contracting the throat when submerged in water, coughing, blinking and yawning. Newborns demonstrate the grasping reflex when anything touches their palms; the suckling reflex when anything touches their lips or their mouth; the stepping reflex when their feet touch any hard surface; and the startle reflex, wherein the newborn quickly opens his/her arms as if wanting to embrace, in response to loud sounds and sudden movements.

Motor Development in Infancy

Infancy is also a time of rapid motor development. According to Arnold Gesell (1934), infants demonstrate motor milestones at about the same time as all infants do because childhood motor development follows a genetic plan. Recent psychologists, however, recognize the role of motivation in how infants try to coordinate both their motor and perceptual skills; i.e., whenever infants try to reach for a toy, he/she is motivated to use both his/her muscles and visual perception accordingly.

Brain Development in Childhood

Brain development, also, is not yet complete upon birth. Myelination, the process of encasing axons with fat cells, starts prenatally. Myelination of the visual cortex is complete during the first 6 months, while that of the auditory cortex finishes at around 4-5 years old. Other parts of the cerebral cortex develop even up to adolescence. Synaptic connection, or the process whereby dendrites branch out or spread, peaks in the visual cortex at 0.5-1 year old, in the frontal lobe at 3-6 years old, and in the auditory and prefrontal cortices at 4 years old. Stimulation is also essential, as Pruning, or the process whereby weak synaptic connections are removed, occurs as we grow older.

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

Erik Erikson believes that humans are continually faced with different tasks and crises unique at each stage. How the individual solves or responds to each task can either lead to social and emotional competence or incompetence. These tasks are said to be cumulative, which means that an individual cannot successfully solve another task when the previous task was not properly dealt with. The stages are:

1. Trust versus Mistrust (birth - 1 � year old). The infant learns to trust the world, and feel secured with responsive and sensitive care-giving. Without trust, the child develops fear and lack of confidence.
2. Autonomy versus Shame/Doubt (1 � - 3 years old). The child develops free-will, and asserts independence with less-restraining and more-encouraging care-giving.
3. Initiative versus Guilt (3 - 5 years old). The child learns to become responsible as he accomplishes his set goals. Without accomplishment, the child develops fear and anxiety when dealing with future problems.
4. Industry versus Inferiority (6 - 10 years old). The child learns to become productive as he masters his intellectual abilities during the elementary school years.

Just like any other theories in Psychology, Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages have met critics. The problem with Erik Erikson's theory is that the data that served as its foundation rely solely on case studies. Furthermore, the theory neglects other developmental tasks in order to capture only a single task. No matter the criticism, Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages are still being used by many developmental psychologists as a guide to assess the socioemotional development of children, with limitations and careful scrutiny, of course.

Critical Factors related to Childhood Socioemotional Development

Aside from Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages, developmental psychologists are underscoring the importance of other critical factors in childhood socioemotional development. These factors include attachment, temperament, parenting styles, divorce, the wider social world, morality and gender.

Attachment is the emotional bond between the infant and the caregiver. Although Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of feeding and oral satisfaction, Harry Harlow (1958) found that monkeys tend to spend more time with a "clothed mother" even if they were fed with a "wired mother". This means that warmth facilitates attachment more than feeding. Konrad Lorenz (1965), a European zoologist, and one of the founders of ethology (the study of the function and evolution of behavior), found that there is a critical period for attachment. Goslings are imprinted to attach to whatever or whoever they interpret as their mother during the first 36 hours. Human infants, however, have longer and more flexible imprinting period than other animals. Once attached, human infants, according to developmental psychologist John Bowlby (1969), develop various tactics to keep the caregiver near, such as crying, clinging, smiling, cooing, crawling and walking/following the caregiver. These tactics intensify at around 6-7 months. Attachment can also either be secure or insecure. According to Mary Ainsworth (1979), secure attachment is characterized with trust, autonomy and initiative; while insecure attachment, demonstrated by avoiding, fearful and aggressive children, develops from insensitive care-giving. It is quite easy to categorize children as having either secure or insecure attachment with their caregivers, but it is important to note that children are resilient, and that other factors are also critical for their socioemotional development.

Temperament is the behavioral style and the characteristic way in which children respond. Most of the time, parents tend to think that all babies are the same, until their second child comes, and strategies that used to work are not as effective as before. Psychiatrists Alexander Chess and Stella Thomas (1977) categorized children under 3 types or clusters of temperaments, according to 3 different dimensions - emotionality (or the tendency to be distressed), sociability (preference for company over solitude), and activity level (or the tempo or rigor of movement). The easy child is generally in a positive mood, can quickly establish routines, and is adaptive to new experiences. He is less emotional, more sociable and very active. The difficult child is generally in a negative mood, follows irregular routines, and is slow to accept new experiences. He is highly emotional, less sociable and only slightly active. The slow-to-warm-up child displays low intensity mood, although somewhat negative, and is slow to adapting to new experiences. He is less emotional, less sociable and less active than his peers.

Diana Baumrind (1971, 1991) identified Four Styles of Parenting. Authoritarian Parenting is restrictive, punitive, limiting and controlling. Parents of this style value hard work, and they allow little verbal exchange with their children. Consequently, children of authoritarian parents have low initiative and are socially incompetent. They have poor communication skills, and they often compare themselves negatively with their peers. Authoritative Parenting is warm, nurturant and only partially controlling. Parents of this style encourage independence, and allow extensive verbal give-and-take with their children. Consequently, children of authoritative parents are self-reliant, socially competent and socially responsible. Neglectful Parenting is characterized with lack of involvement on the activities of the children. Parents of this style rarely talk to their children and they spend more time doing things other than taking care of them. Children brought in this style perceive themselves as less important than their parents' other priorities. They are unable to handle their independence well, have poor self-control, and are socially incompetent. Indulgent Parenting is characterized with lack of limitation. Children brought under this style have poor self-control, lack respect for other people, and are socially incompetent. Although parenting styles imply a kind of child indoctrination, it is important to note that parenting styles also result from reciprocal socialization - Children's temperament also affect the way parents respond to them.

Divorce is a common stressor for most children. 25% of children from divorced families have adjustment problems (characterized with aggression and/or depression), compared to 10% of those in non-divorced families. Diminishing factors include harmony between the divorced parents, authoritative parenting, good schools and easy temperament. (Side information: Compared to other industrialized nations, the USA has the highest divorce rate, followed by Sweden, Canada, Germany, UK, Australia, France and Japan.)

Perhaps the family is the primary social world of children. However, as they are exposed more and more outside the home, they become aware of the wider social world. They begin to learn that some ethnic minorities experience bias, prejudice and discrimination; that many people are stroked with poverty, while few are astonishingly rich and live in luxury; and that different cultures practice different styles of child-rearing. For example, grandmothers and siblings have important care-giving roles in the African Hausea culture; agricultural societies encourage older siblings to be responsible to their younger siblings while their parents are out in the field to work; and in the Israeli Kibbutzim culture, groups are tasked to take care of their youth. Learning about other people's cultures and practices widens their view of the social world beyond the limits of their homes.

Morality is the totality of our thoughts and feelings on the principles and values that we hold or believe in. Morality becomes important when children start to experience life outside the home. Famous developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg formed the Theory of Moral Development after investigating how people of various ages respond to his 11 samples of moral dilemmas. He believes that morality occurs in various levels and stages, and that these levels and stages are sequential and age-related. He also said that children belong to the pre-conventional level, wherein rewards and punishments are the primary concerns.

As children grow older, they become aware of the differences between males and females, and they begin to learn to adopt male- and female-"appropriate" behaviors.