Early Childhood – 2 years to 6 years of age

I will discuss children in early childhood which is between two and six years of age. In this stage of development children are changing and growing rapidly. They are start to learn new motor skills, there is pretend play and they are also learning more language skills. While every child develops at their own pace, there are some milestones you can expect to see each year from most children (Chaloux, 2014). By age two children begin pretend play more, by age three the child is able to focus more and are not distracted by things around them. By age four the child can usually count to 10 and write some letter, particularly the letters in their names. By age five the child is able to think more imaginatively so they are able to solve more complicated problems. By age six the child’s attention span is longer and they are more independent wanting to do things on their own, although they still need direction. Physical development in early childhood is generally at a slow and steady pace. The average preschooler growth is under three feet at the age of two to a little under four feet tall by age six. By age six most children weigh between thirty-five and sixty pounds. The child also begins to develop and master motor skills. Cognitive development the child’s language skills begin to develop very quickly.

At this point the child will also start using language as their major form of communication and their vocabulary also starts to expand and a rapid rate. The child starts to get an understanding of what is right and wrong, and is more prone to imitate what he may see his parents do. This means that if parent has a habit of swearing, it would be good to try and get rid of this habit since children will repeat what they have heard. By the same token, children will also imitate the positive things that their parents do. Children in this stage of development start interacting more with peers. They are more prone to emotional outbreaks whether it be a burst of laughter or a temper tantrum. According to Piaget a child’s behavior reflects the emergence of various cognitive structures, organized units or patterns of thinking, that influence how the child interprets experience (Bukatko, 2008). In this stage of Piaget’s theory the child learns to use language. Images and words also represent objects.

The child’s thinking is still egocentric so he still thinks that everyone should see things has he does. It is also difficult for the child to see others viewpoints of things. The second limitation of preoperational thought lies in the child’s inability to solve problems flexibly and logically (Bukatko, 2008). An example of this is showing a child four to five years of age two glasses of equal size and equal quantity and they will quickly say that the glasses contain the same about of liquid. If the liquid is poured into a tall glass, the child with say that they glass now contains more liquid. The child is looking only at the height of the glass and has doesn’t pay attention to all the other information. Piaget’s study of cognitive development, he did not only look at how development occurs, went further and asked questions about what it is that develops.

In conclusion it can be seen that in early childhood, children although still dependent on their parent, begin to show their independence, and are beginning to construct their own understanding of the things around them. This is the age range where the child has his own point of view and only sees the world in his eyes. As the child grows from the stage of early development, they will begin to better understand how things around them work and to see things from first their parents and then others point of view.

References
Atherton J S (2013) Learning and Teaching; Piaget’s developmental theory [On-line: UK] retrieved 1 October 2014 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm Bukatko, D. (2008). Child and adolescent development: A chronological approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Chalou, S. (2014). Early Childhood Development From 2 to 6 Years of Age. Retrieved from GlobalPost:
http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/early-childhood-development-2-6-years-age-2349.html