IndexIntroductionPhysical DevelopmentCognitive DevelopmentEmotional DevelopmentSocial DevelopmentConclusionIntroductionMy observation of children took place in two different locations, the Holland College Child Development Centre, located on the corner of Cumberland and Grafton and an internal home daycare located on Centennial Drive in Charlottetown. At the Child Development Center there were about 14 children in the area I was observing, half were boys and half were girls. They were aged between two and five years old. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay I went to this center twice to observe, the first time was on October 15 at 8:00 am for two hours and the second date was October 6pm to 3pm for two hours. For my last two hours of observation I went to a home daycare on October 21st from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. During this time there was another in-home babysitter with the children visiting across the street. In total there were nine girls aged between one and a half and five years.Physical developmentPhysical development is "the genetic foundation of development, the physical growth of all components of the body, their functioning and their care"( Rice 586). During my observation I examined five aspects of physical development: physical growth, motor development, bladder/bowel control, nutrition, and sleep. While observing children at the Child Development Center and in-home daycare, I found that boys and girls of the same age were approximately the same size, but there were differences in height between the different ages. The difference between the ages is due to the rapid growth spurts that occur during early childhood. As stated in the text, children tend to follow the cephalocaudal principle, growing from head to toe. This has been evident with the children I have observed and I have also noticed it with my daughter because I always need to buy shirts that have a wide opening at the neck so her head can fit through. The children's motor development varied greatly, this is mainly due to the overall physical maturation of skeletal and neuromuscular development. At nursery a little girl of about one year old is unable to walk on her own while another little girl of the same age is very agile on her feet and has a lot of coordination. This difference is most likely due to the fact that the girl's neurons are not myelinated, while the girl's neurons cannot walk. Myelination is “the process by which neurons become coated with an insulating fatty substance called myelin,” this “helps neurons transmit nerve impulses faster and more efficiently” (Rice 113). This myelination also plays a role in potty training. If the neurons are myelinated, the sensation of urinating and bowel movement can be felt faster, so the child knows when to go to the bathroom. During the observation I noticed that all the children over the age of three in the nursery had learned to use the potty. I didn't get any numbers from Holland College daycare. Both places I looked at were having a snack. This is very important for children to receive the energy and nutrition they need. Both places offered a healthy snack, at the home daycare the afternoon snack was apple slices, trail mix and a cup of milk. Holland College Center received a cookie and a cup of juice the morning of my first observation and some fruit and a cup of milk the afternoon I went. The two seats also had a nap scheduled. This is very important since sleep is necessary forchildren's brains process and learn new information correctly. Cognitive Development Cognitive development is “all changes in the intellectual processes of thinking, learning, remembering, judging, problem solving, and communicating” (Rice 580 ). I examined thinking, remembering, problem solving, and communicating intellectual processes in my observation of children. Most of the issues that I will present in this section of the report are related to the pre-operational phase of the Piagetian perspective. At this stage “children acquire language and learn to manipulate these symbols that represent the environment” (Rice 35). Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist who outlined the "four phases of cognitive development: the sensorimotor phase (from birth to 2 years), the preoperational phase (from 2 to 7 years), the concrete operational phase (from 7 to 11 years ) and the formal operational phase (ages 11 and up)" (Rice 160). First I noticed that children show abstract thinking, which is When a child is unable to understand time, money, distance, right or left, etc. I observed this type of thinking when I was at the Child Development Centre. There were two girls and two boys in the corner with a student from Holland College. The student asked the children what their favorite month was, all the children responded by indicating a public holiday and not an actual month. I see this happen with my daughter too, I'll ask her when her bedtime is and she'll say "30 o'clock" when it's really 9:00. Children also tend to use static thinking, this is when a child thinks about things in life as separate, the stories tend not to flow together. There was a boy at the Child Development Center telling a story about his weekend. He told the student that he went to Cape Breton for the weekend and who had gone to Magic Mountain. It was having two separate holidays mixed into one. Children learn in many different ways, both places I visited had many stimulating materials and activities to learn from sitting with me and we played with a foam puzzle that had the shape of an object and a word underneath. We had to match the shape to the word, I found that this four year old quickly learned which pieces went together. She knew her ABCs which helped her match the two pieces. At the nursery the children were playing with blocks, a 2 year old girl was trying to build a tower but kept falling around the 5th block, a 3 year old girl came over to show her how to line up the blocks straight and together they built a tower 10 blocks high. When the older child helped the younger child, this reflected Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development. "The zone is the distance between the child's actual developmental level achieved through individual problem solving, and the highest level of potential developmental level achieved through problem solving under the guidance of an adult or in collaboration with older peers capable" (Rice 167). they took note of how the children memorized information. At the home daycare there was a group of children visiting across the street. The children had all met before, usually meeting twice a week for the last two weeks. Most of the children in each group did not remember the other children's names. This is due to short-term memory storage, “short-term memory capacity increases throughout childhood” (Rice 171). This explains why the older children (four- and five-year-olds) could remember the children's names while the two- and three-year-olds could not. The resolution ofChildren's problems can be interrupted due to irreversibility and chaining. Irreversibility occurs when a child's "failure to recognize that an operation can go in both directions" (Rice 584) and chaining occurs when a child is sorting multiple features of an object but confusing the information and he is unable to do so. The irreversibility occurred with some of the younger children in the home daycare when they went out to play. The young children found it very difficult to put on their shoes and needed help, but when they returned from play they all managed to take their shoes off themselves. At the Child Development Center I asked a little girl of about three years old if she could sort the blocks into stacks of the same color. She was able to do this but was unable to sort the blocks when I asked her to stack the large yellow blocks. Communication was very evident between the children in both places. There was great variation in children's ability to communicate verbally. At the Child Development Center a child of about two years old could not communicate verbally very well. He used one word if he wanted something. At home day care, my daughter, who is also two years old, uses five- to seven-word sentences to tell her caregiver what she wanted. I feel that my daughter is able to communicate verbally better than the child due to learning theory. My daughter is constantly spoken to and read to as she is usually surrounded by adults, lives with me and her grandparents, and visits her father and stepmother two nights a week. Because of her living situation, I feel that she receives a lot of individual attention, which allows her to imitate, condition, associate and strengthen her verbal communication skills. Usually around the age of two and a half, children use sentences of 3-5 words, which have a subject and a predicate and have fewer grammatical errors. Emotional Development Emotional development is “the development of attachment, trust, love, feelings, temperament, self-concept, autonomy, and emotional disturbances” (Rice 580). During my observations I took note of aspects of trust, feelings, temperament, self-concept and autonomy among the children. During my first visit to the Child Development Center I noticed that all the children were happy to be there and felt very comfortable with their parents leaving. This could mean that children felt that the person who cared for them met their needs for sustenance, protection, affection and comfort. By meeting these needs for children, health workers have gained trust from children. I noticed that all the caregivers at both locations were very loving towards the children. It is very important for children to have a sense of trust so that they know they are loved. Another aspect I examined was children's feelings. At the in-home daycare I noticed that the children were very curious about each other (visitors versus regulars), but at the Child Development Center the children didn't notice me for the first hour of my visit. Another feeling I noticed in the children was the excitement when the caregivers at the home daycare asked the children if they wanted to go out and play, they all clapped, smiled and made exciting sounds like "yippy". The development of emotions emerges with age, and I found that the children I observed displayed many different emotions. When the children were read to, they made different facial expressions depending on what was happening in the story. Of all the children I observed, each of them had their own personality and temperament. There were some little girls at the Child Development Center who were veryoutgoing and felt very comfortable playing with me, while there were some children who enjoyed playing alone and were shy around me when I greeted them." At the age of three, personal information characteristics are defined in childish terms and are usually positive and exaggerated" (Rice 217). During my observation I realized that this statement was true. I asked several children between the ages of 4 and 5 in both places what they wanted to be when they grew up. I had many different answers, from a firefighter, to an astronaut, to a vet, to a hockey player. The different types of answers to this question show that at this age their self-concept is not exactly what reality will be. Autonomy is very important in children's development, they need to explore and be able to realize that they can do things for themselves. At home nursery I noticed that my daughter wants to do things on her own, I see it at home too. She didn't let anyone help her put on her jacket when they went out, even though it took about 5 minutes. I find that when I help her with a situation like putting on socks, she always starts at the beginning and gets very angry with me. If a child is not "allowed to do some things (within reason), he develops a sense of shame and doubt about his own abilities" (Rice 215). Social DevelopmentSocial development is "the process of socialization, moral development, and relationships with peers, family, and work" (Rice 587). I took note of the form of discipline used in the two different places, the relationships between peers, the roles of gender and gender stereotypes. During my observation at the Child Development Center I did not see any children behaving badly, so I did not see how they are disciplined -outs and explain to the children why they are put in time-outs. Even at home daycare, children are put in time-outs when they misbehave. When I was there, a two and a half year old girl was misbehaving other children's toys, she did it very violently, so the caregiver told her she was on break. The little girl had to sit alone until she was ready to play well, within two minutes she had said sorry and was ready to play again. The use of discipline is important because it fosters a sense of self-control in children that will stay with them throughout their lives. Peer relationships were clearly evident between children in both nurseries, although younger children in both locations did not interact with them. very much with each other, even if they played side by side. The text states that children between the ages of 2 and 7 try to play with children regardless of gender, but at the Child Development Center children are grouped by gender except for one group who were being read to. At daycare the older girls played together in a mini-kitchen. Even though there were only girls in the nursery, they all seemed to be involved in traditional girly activities like packing groceries and cleaning, I doubt if there were any boys present they would have played with the group. The girls played with the mini-kitchen inside - home daycare is an example of gender roles. The girls were all doing traditional female activities. Another example of gender roles is how some girls at the Child Development Center carried dolls and soft plush toys around, while one boy had a toy motorcycle. “Giving children gender-specific toys can have a major influence on career choices. Such toys influence boys to become scientists, astronauts or football players, and girls to.