Children form emotional attachments to their parents and carers from birth and this is known as bonding. They become attached to their parents by the sound of their voice and smell. At this stage they begin to fear strangers with unknown voices and smells and feel more secured with familiar faces. Infants who form a secure bond with their carers grow up emotionally strong and prepared to cope with uncertainties in life than those who grow with an unsecure bond with their carers.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
Infants have the skills and abilities to interact with their carers. By the time they get to 2 months the start to smile at human voice, touch and faces. At 3 months they are able to respond back when spoken to and at 5 months they can now distinguish between familiar faces and tend to cry when their carers leave the room and when they are around unfamiliar faces. As they grow older they now form relationships with other children and can play with them. Their first social relationship is with their carers.
CHILDHOOD 2-9:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
During this stage of life children grow steadily and less rapidly than during infancy. Their bodies continue to grow and develop but some parts like their reproductive organs still remain the same till they become adolescents. They grow taller than they were during infancy. Between the ages of 2-3 they are able to run and climb. By the ages of 4 they are able to kick and throw and by the 6-7 they are physically able to skip and ride bikes.
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT:
During childhood children develop intellectually and begin to learn and build their vocabulary and say few words. Language and numeracy abilities develop rapidly. By the age of 3 they begin to make simple sentence like ’’I want water’’ and they also develop their abilities to ask questions and increase their knowledge of words and speech. By the age of 4 they improve in their speech and knowledge of words and can be able to make sentences even though they generally make mistakes. And between the ages of 5-9 they are able to speak properly while learning and adjusting on their grammatical errors. Children generally are not able to reason wisely or make decisions on their own. They learn to count numbers and their memory capacity expands.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
A child’s relationship with other family member may influence how a child feels and develops emotionally. Children develop a sense of self confidence or inferiority. Children begin to play with others and become increasingly imaginative and they use their imagination to understand the social roles others play. They start becoming aware of their gender difference by between the ages of 2-5 and develop a sense of self. By the ages of 6-9 they become more attached to their peers. They become more emotionally attached to their peers and become more involved of the world outside. Younger children are more emotionally attached to their parents than friends.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
A child’s first socialization begins at home with their parents and carers which is called primary socialization. They begin to learn social roles and behaviours with their family. As they grow older they become more independent and form other social relationships with other children which is known as secondary socialization and they form social circles with other children who like and agree with each other. As they grow older towards adolescence friendship becomes more and more important to them.
ADOLESCENTS 10-18:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
This is the stage of life where growth is rapid and it is also known as a growth spurt where they grow faster and taller than before. This is also when puberty kicks in. Puberty always begins for boys a little bit later than girls which are between the ages of 13-15 and for girls during the ages of 11-13. This is when hormones are being triggered and the sexual reproductive organs are being greatly developed. For girls their breasts develop and are enlarged, they grow pubic hair, hair under the armpits and the fat layers under the skin are increased and menstruation begins. For boys there is an enlargement of the testes and penis, grow pubic hair, armpit hair and facial hair. They also experience an increase in muscle strength, their voices break and become deeper.
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT:
Adolescents develop intellectually by developing on their thinking skills. This is a stage where a concrete thinking child develops to an abstract thinking adult. They learn more how to plan things ahead before doing. Thinking becomes more self-conscious, idealistic, and critical. They are able to reason through problems and look for solutions. This is the stage when adolescents think they can make good decisions on their own and improve on the knowledge of language and numeracy. Most adolescents get a job or go to college and higher education.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Here hormones kick in and adolescents become more complicated. Teenagers become more drifted from their parents and more attached to their peers. They even get to form love relationships with the opposite sex. They start getting in to conflicts with their parents over who should make the decisions. They also start developing a sense of identity by the kind of clothes they wear and make up. Stress also comes in and adolescents build on their self esteem
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
This is where secondary socialization comes in. An adolescent self worth and self esteem is influenced by their peers than family. Their dressing styles and behaviours change and are copied from their peers too. Conflicts with parents become more common and sexual relationships with the opposite sex become more common too. They form relationships and learn more from colleagues at work and at school.
ADULTHOOD 18-45:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
Adulthood is the period in which people are always at the peak of their performance. Growth is steady and far less than when they were adolescents. Muscle strength is increased and more mature physical looks are developed. At this stage women are very fertile enough to conceive. Many women become pregnant and become parents and get married.
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT:
Adults become wiser and more skilled in their ability to make judgements and decisions. They develop more wisdom as they grow older due to life experiences. Their ability to work under pressure grows more. They learn more skills at work and from colleagues and people around them and try to reach their full potential.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
This is a very difficult stage in life emotionally because many adults try to cope with the stress of combining work with family life, children and partners. Many adults get too involved in work and other activities that they have little or no time for emotional attachments. Stress and depression is very common at this stage of life. Some become more self-centred and emotionally isolated while some enjoy the privileges of a good emotional relationship with their partners and children.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
At this time friendship is still very important and involvement in sexual relationships is also very important and even more common. Adulthood is more about forming relationships and getting a job and establishing a career. Some people also get in to marriage and parenthood. But as an adult grows older they become more stresses and so limit their social engagements, some become less sociable due to responsibilities like children and marital duties.
OLDER ADULTHOOD 45-60:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
Adults tend to lose some physical strength and speed. As people grow older, they now tend to experience some other physical changes. Some people tend to develop poor eye sights, hearing problems, thinning of hair and hair loss is more common in men and a reduction in physical strength. At this stage there is a high risk of miscarriages. Between the age of 45-55 women get in to menopause where the gradually stop having menstrual periods and stop being able to conceive. At this time women have hot flushes and night sweats. There is also shrinkage of sexual organs and a reduction in sexual interest.
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT:
Older adults become wiser as they grow older and they are more capable and handling difficult situations and making decisions. Intellectual abilities depending on speed decreases. Their mental speed begins to decrease and some people start having problems remembering facts.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
People with high and secure sense of self are more able to cope with the physical changes in their lives than people with low or no sense of self. Some people feel emotionally isolated due to loss of partners or growth of their children. Marital satisfaction often increases as children move out of home. Many people face stress and depression due to discrimination.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
At this age and time many adults go on retirement and so have more free time. With this some people go through life crises where they try to do all the things they had no time doing. Some use this time to increase their involvement with family and close friends. They tend to withdraw from social activities with others.
LATER STAGE OF LIFE 60+ TILL DEATH:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
Here there is very little physical activity and strength. Most old people become too weak to walk or do physical activities. They lose their teeth and their physical structure changes and they become rather short and smaller.
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT:
At this stage of there is no more intellectual development. Instead people at this stage tend to have very little intellectual abilities and they tend to be very forgetful and slow. It is commonly said they tend to become babies again.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
They become more emotionally connected to their families and carers for help and assistance.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
At this age there is very little or even no social development and older people disengage from social activities and due to their physical state they prefer to stay with close friends and family.
