What I think About Child Development

This has been such a great journey this semester in Early Childhood Development. I have learned so much this semester about children and how to measure their development at each stage of life from birth through adolescense. It is amazing how we can assume we understand a concept until we actually take the time to research it and look for the data to support these amazing developments in children. There is a quote that is important to me that pertains to the development of children.

“Playing should be fun! In our great eagerness to teach our children we studiously look for ‘educational’ toys, games with built-in lessons, books with a ‘message.’ Often these ‘tools’ are less interesting and stimulating than the child’s natural curiosity and playfulness. Play is by its very nature educational. And it should be pleasurable. When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning.”

 ~ Joanne E. Oppenheim. Child development expert and author.~

There is another quote that drew my eye because it discussed observations of children, and we did several observations this semester. I have observed children many times, but only this semester, I learned how to observe children objectively to get the best results of their development.

 “Close observation of children at play suggests that they find out about the world in the same way as scientists find out about new phenonoma and test new ideas…during this exploration, all the senses are used to observe and draw conclusions about objects and events through simple, if crude, scientific investigations.” 

~ Judith Roden. Lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University College~

I hope to stay objective and to continue to practice all of the techniques learned this semester through this course, and the insight and wisdom from my fellow colleagues.