Influence of Parents, the Family and Peers on Child Development

COMPONENT 1 - ESSAY

Influence of Parents, the Family and Peers on Child Development

Introduction

The paper attempts to focus on the concept of child development in a holistic context. It highlights the role played by parents, family members as well as peers in the process of child development. The paper begins with a brief idea of child development and childhood stages in human development. It presents the complex as well as contradictory issues in process of child development and highlights as to how these contradictions have changed over the passage of time. The neuro-scientific and genetic underpinning of child development is also discussed in the paper. Apart from that, the paper also mentions the theories and methodologies aimed at explaining the process of child development including the cognitive theory and attachment theory. Furthermore, Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development are also used for the purpose of discussing the influence of parents, family members and peers in child development.

Discussion

The life of human beings consist different stages and each stage of human life plays a significant role in developing an individual (Belsky, 2003). However, this paper is aimed at discussing the initial stages in the process of child development, childhood and teenage. The emphasis will be laid on the stages of childhood and teenage, as these are the stages of development where the peers and friends also play their role in moulding the personality and character of a child. This is is one reason as to why the stages of childhood and teenage are also termed as the “sensitive stages” (Dykas, Ziv & Cassidy, 2008).

Child Development and Childhood

The human beings in the stage of childhood begin to realize the happenings in their surroundings, and attempt to generate meaning out of these events on the basis of their understanding and frame of mind (Polan & Hofer, 2008). Out of all of the human development phases, childhood makes a significant impact human development due to the fact that an individuals' way of seeing the world is entirely based on an individual's nurture in this stage (Dykas, Ziv & Cassidy, 2008).

Childhood and teenage are both stages of an individual' life that are extremely influential, which is why they should be given immense importance by parents and teachers. An individual during these stages notices many changes including the physical development, cognitive development as well as emotional development. Normally children have some unique attitude and behaviours but by the time the child grows up it reshapes due to influence of parents, family members as well as the peers and societal influences. Therefore, parents, as the first and the most effective people around the child, should give importance to the child's initial life stages. Similarly, teachers also play their part in moulding the personality of a child (Belsky, 2003).

Complex and Contradictory Issues in Child Development

Child development has been an area of study requiring a lot of psychological and sociological factors, which makes it very difficult for ...