The Importance Of Childhood Emotional Development

As children grow throughout infancy and early childhood their brains, bodies and minds are rapidly developing. As Social Service Workers, we will be exposed to individuals who experienced challenges throughout their social, emotional or physical development process that has created further challenges for them as their lives progressed. I believe the home environment parents provide for their child, the quality of caregiving a child receives and the parenting styles within the household all highly affect the child’s social, emotional and physical development process. Social development is a key part of the developmental process as it encourages positive interaction and promotes healthy relationships with others. Throughout infancy, children …show more content…
In early infancy and childhood parental touch, warmth and interaction are extremely important throughout the developmental process. Experiencing these interactions with their primary caregivers provides emotional comfort for children and positively affects their emotional development. As (Factors in the Home, Urban Child Institute) states, “…touching, holding, comforting, rocking, singing, and talking calmly—can help children manage their emotional experience. This can contribute to the reduction of behaviour problems down the road.” However, if children lack this comfort and interaction it can severely impact their emotional well-being since they never experienced nurturing relationships and are unaware of how to handle their emotions and behaviour in a positive way. Negative home environments where parents lack emotional control and regulation can also critically impact their children’s emotional development. Experiencing aggressive discipline or in worst cases, emotional abuse has an everlasting affect on a child as they are growing and developing. Being exposed to continuous aggressive behaviour and responses will influence children to think that is an appropriate way to act and treat others. They may develop aggressive behaviours themselves or later become emotionally unstable. Finally, an uninvolved or neglectful parenting style has detrimental affects on …show more content…
A large contributor to children’s physical development is their nutritional intake. Nutrition and health are essential in healthy physical development as children need to be getting specific nutrients and vitamins that are vital to growth. It is extremely important that children are provided with proper food groups and nutritional intake to ensure they have the same opportunities for growth. If a child is not given the proper nourishment and diet it can affect their physical growth and can cause problems in their future. As an article states, “Children who are malnourished are at a disadvantage when it comes to cognitive and physical development because their brains and bodies don 't have the nutrition they need to grow.” (How Does the Environment Influence a Child 's Growth and Development). It is essential for children’s physical growth to provide them with the proper nutritional intake from a very early age to ensure adequate development. Another critical influence to children’s physical development is their environmental surroundings and living conditions. The home environment a child is exposed to is where they will be growing and developing. It can highly impact their physical development if their surroundings are unsafe or unsanitary. “…aspects of a child’s environment, such as hazardous chemicals that aren 't properly locked away and play areas that aren