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Child Development

The early years of a child's life are important for healthy development. Children need safe and loving homes where their social, emotional, and educational needs are met. Positive parenting practices like responding predictably, showing warmth, sharing books, and using appropriate discipline help children stay healthy and successful. Developmental milestones indicate skills in areas like behavior and movement that children generally reach as they grow. Parents should monitor development and talk to a doctor if milestones are missed, as delays require early intervention.

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Sherry Singh
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15 views

Child Development

The early years of a child's life are important for healthy development. Children need safe and loving homes where their social, emotional, and educational needs are met. Positive parenting practices like responding predictably, showing warmth, sharing books, and using appropriate discipline help children stay healthy and successful. Developmental milestones indicate skills in areas like behavior and movement that children generally reach as they grow. Parents should monitor development and talk to a doctor if milestones are missed, as delays require early intervention.

Uploaded by

Sherry Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Healthy Development

The early years of a child’s life are very important for their health and development. Healthy
development means that children of all abilities, including those with special health care needs, are able
to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met. Having a safe and loving home
and spending time with family―playing, singing, reading, and talking―are very important. Proper
nutrition, exercise, and sleep also can make a big difference.

Effective Parenting Practices

Parenting takes many different forms. However, some positive parenting practices work well across
diverse families and in diverse settings when providing the care that children need to be happy and
healthy, and to grow and develop well. A comprehensive report looked at the evidence in scientific
publications for what works, and found these key ways that parents can support their child’s healthy
development:

Responding to children in a predictable way

Showing warmth and sensitivity

Having routines and household rules

Sharing books and talking with children

Supporting health and safety

Using appropriate discipline without harshness

Parents who use these practices can help their child stay healthy, be safe, and be successful in many
areas—emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social. Read more about the report here.

Positive Parenting Tips

Get parenting, health, and safety tips for children from birth through 17 years of age

Helping children cope with stress and worries

School aged children on a playground

Easy-to-use, interactive web tools for children and teens to deal with thoughts and feelings in a healthy
way.

Developmental Milestones

Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving “bye-bye” are called developmental
milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, behave, and move (for example,
crawling and walking).

Children develop at their own pace, so it’s impossible to tell exactly when a child will learn a given skill.
However, the developmental milestones give a general idea of the changes to expect as a child gets
older.

As a parent, you know your child best. If your child is not meeting the milestones for their age, or if you
think there could be a problem with your child’s development, talk with your child’s doctor and share
your concerns. Don’t wait.

Developmental Monitoring and Screening

Parents, grandparents, early childhood providers, and other caregivers can participate in developmental
monitoring, which observes how your child grows and changes over time and whether your child meets
the typical developmental milestones in playing, learning, speaking, behaving, and moving.

Developmental screening takes a closer look at how your child is developing. A missed milestone could
be a sign of a problem, so when you take your child to a well visit, the doctor, nurse, or another specialist
might give your child a brief test, or you will complete a questionnaire about your child.

If the screening tool identifies an area of concern, a formal developmental evaluation may be needed,
where a trained specialist takes an in-depth look at a child’s development.

If a child has a developmental delay, it is important to get help as soon as possible. When a
developmental delay is not found early, children must wait to get the help they need to do well in social
and educational settings.

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