This means that parents should constantly be teaching their children and ensuring they get the proper education because learning is a very important aspect of child development.
Child development covers the growth of a child all the way up until adolescence and this development is very important to society because of the cognitive, educational, and emotional development a child undergoes in order to be a productive member of society. Studying how a child develops is especially important since it results in the creation of developmentally appropriate programs within school systems. Even toy companies must know at what point children are developmentally at certain ages so that they can make their toys appropriate for the certain age groups. One canít expect a two year old to play video games with numbers and letters, but they can expect a 5 to 6 year old to successfully play the game.
These phases in which children are learning to do things such as read and write are considered milestones. Even walking is considered a milestone along with various phases in physical development and these milestones become a huge focus in the stages of child development. Accomplishments such as hand-eye coordination, talking, walking, and learning how to solve a problem are all milestones in child development that must be noted by parents.
When parents are aware of what the age-specific milestones are, they are able to keep track of the childís development and know that the child is either exceeding or meeting where they should be at specific points in their development. Some of the crucial parts of development that needs to be monitored are: problem-solving, social skills, patience, and creativity. Teaching these traits to children at a young age and practicing them frequently can result in proper development of these traits. If it is noticed that despite the teaching the child is not picking these necessary traits up, that may be indicative of a development delay, which is a common concern in child development.
If such a delay is occurring, it can be helped through early intervention in the form of therapy and delay. Although it may never be completely eradicated since a developmental delay is more or less a life-long disability. The good news is that the training and education opportunities are expanding as are the knowledge of those teaching these programs. There seems to have been an increase in those wanting to become involved with aiding those with developmental delays and helping them become functional members of society despite their disability.
So as you can see, child development is very important and knowing the phases of child development and their milestones is important for society to understand. Anytime there is a delay in activities such as the transfer of objects from one hand to the other at 6 months of age, for instance, there is need for further evaluation by the parents and this information should be presented to the babyís pediatrician. If other delays occur in development such as not crawling by 9 to 10 months, something may be going on that with early intervention can become less severe in the childís life.
Basically what it comes down to is educating parents on the stages of child development, what to look for to identify a developmental delay, and knowing what to do if there is one. Child development is very important to the child and society, so having the appropriate knowledge is very crucial in many ways.