The development of a child is considered integral for their overall well being. Childhood development also influences the kind of an adult the child will become. Childhood development can be either social or cognitive. A theorist named Erik Erikson believed that early childhood failures and successes were responsible for impacting later developmental stages. His theory is based on eight developmental stages that all individuals should go through from infancy.
He believed that people experience conflict at each stage which paves the way for the next stage. If conflicts are not dealt with effectively, a person may not develop essential skills of a strong sense of self. This essay will explore the important aspects of psychosocial development and occurring to children aged 2- 5 years and talk about what influences this development.
Psychosocial development is the kind of development that focuses on the social dimension. It is how one develops in their mind, their maturity level and emotions in the course of their life. Psychosocial development can become difficult to achieve when a child is not able to achieve his or her developmental task related to the age(Halford, 2014). Both biological and environmental factors influence psychosocial development in children. In the case study, Julie is already two years and two months and not yet toilet trained.
The Child and Family Health Nurse reassured Victoria that Julie was meeting all her developmental milestones and would gain continence in her own time. This stage is characterized by a transition from disorganized toddlers to vigorous explorers (Halford, 2014). The main areas of development include physical development in which they become stronger and look longer and slender; Cognitive development in which they become able to reason and think, differentiate colors, count and understand different letters.
This stage is also influenced by social and emotional development in which they learn how to manage their feelings and perceive the importance of friends (Robinson et al., 2015). Language is also an important aspect of this stage as children become able to speak in between 50 to thousands of words. They can also tell stories and engage in conversations. Motor and sensory Development is also an important aspect of this stage. Children at the age of two can make a few pencil strokes, kick a ball and make some strides upstairs.
By the time they are five years, they can wear and remove clothes on their own and write in Capital and lower Cases(Leppänen et al., 2013). By learning to speak, walk and more independently, self- confidence is developed in a child. Psychosocial development is therefore concerned with the social and emotional development of a child.
Parenting and caregiving play an integral role in Psychosocial development. By allowing the child to make choices and gain control, parents, nurses and the caregivers help the kid develop a sense of autonomy. They also have control over the choices of food, selective on clothing and toy preferences (Birch & Doub, 2014). Erikson also believed that toilet training was an important part of the process in that learning to control body functions lead to feelings of control and independence. According to Freud, success at this stage depends on the way parents respond to toilet training.
He believed that positive experiences made children become competent, productive and creative persons later (Campbell et al., 2014). Julie is already two years and two months and not yet toilet trained despite the assurance by the Child and Family Health Nurse that she was meeting all her developmental milestones. According to (Freud, 2018), parental responses can result in positive or negative outcomes on children. Children who complete this stage feel secure and complete. On the contrary, those who do not complete it develop a feeling of self-doubt. The failure to complete this stage can be caused by parents being overprotective and showing disapproval when the child shows independence (McLeod, 2018).
Just like Freud, Erik Erikson through his psychosocial development model also argued that development of personality is based on different stages dependent on each other. The first stage for children aged 2-5 is autonomy, shame, and doubt. At this stage, a child asserts their independence by walking away from their parent (McLeod, 2018). They also become more mobile and identify some of their skills and abilities. It is important that parents allow children to explore what they can do with their abilities and skills. For example, the can let then wear and take off clothes on their own. Initiative vs. Guilt is the next stage according to Erikson’s model. It occurs between the ages of 2-5. This stage involves regular interactions with other children. Child’s play is important to this stage.
Children begin taking initiatives which are often stopped by parents. By being able to take initiatives, they become secure in their abilities (McLeod, 2018). Restriction of this tendency through control or criticism develops a sense of quilt in them. Parents should not restrict children’s initiatives too much. An effective parental role is therefore important in promoting psychosocial development.
Multiple factors influence psychosocial development including the care that a child is given. With consistent, reliable and predictable care, a sense of trust can be developed in a child (Lauricella et al., 2015). This helps them to initiate other relationships and feel secure even when confronted by threats. Secondly, it is also influenced by control and criticism. Too much parental control and criticism can affect a child’s psychosocial development negatively (Britto et al., 2015). Failure to enforce too much control and criticism can focus on the contrary foster psychosocial development by enabling them to explore their skills and abilities. However, a child grows and gains skills at his or her own pace.
It is common for a child to be ahead in one area but a little behind in another. For example, Julie can communicate her needs well, but she is not toilet trained. She could be able to communicate because she is allowed to interact with other children and lag behind in toilet training because of too much restriction of personal initiatives. Learning what is normal for a child at this age helps the parents spot psychosocial development problems early (Britto et al., 2015). It is, therefore, true that psychosocial development is affected by many factors.
Nurses play an important role in enhancing the psychosocial development of children aged 2 to 5. This stage involves important routine checkups. Nurses help in immunization and checking on the progress of the child. Understanding this stage, therefore, helps nursing students to effectively help in the immunization of psychosocial development problems (Lauricella et al., 2015). They acquire the critical skills on the best strategies of treating children in this age so that they can easily identify why a child is facing certain psychosocial developmental problems. This way they can also advise parents on how they should deal with their parents.
This knowledge is also important in enhancing effective interaction with children in this stage. As part of their practice, nurses are required to understand and respect the norms and values of other people (NMBA, 2016). It is also important in understanding what is normal and what not (Narvaez et al., 2013). It will also enable me to identify and focus on the child’s strengths instead of the weaknesses to encourage them to learn as required by (NMBA 2016). This knowledge can be useful in providing parental support. The role nurses in promoting psychosocial development are therefore integral.
In conclusion, psychosocial development among children aged 2-5 is centered on different developmental stages such as Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, and Initiative vs. Guilt. During the Autonomy vs. shame stage, a child’s mobility increases and they become more adventurous. At this stage also children assert their independence. During the initiative vs. guilt stage, a child comes up with personal initiatives which may be opposed at times. Restriction of these personal initiatives leads to a feeling of the quilt. Psychosocial development is integral to the overall well being of a child. It is affected by factors such as encouragement, restriction, and control. Understanding the aspects of this is essential to enable nurses to offer child development support and offer necessary advice to parents.
References
Birch, L. L., &Doub, A. E. (2014).Learning to eat: from birth to age two y–. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 99(3), 723S-728S.
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102.
Campbell, F., Conti, G., Heckman, J. J., Moon, S. H., Pinto, R., Pungello, E., & Pan, Y. (2014). Early childhood investments substantially boost adult health. Science, 343(6178), 1478-1485.
Freud, A. (2018). Normality and pathology in childhood: Assessments of development. Routledge.
Halford, G. S. (2014). Children's understanding: The development of mental models. Psychology Press.
Lauricella, A. R., Wartella, E., &Rideout, V. J. (2015). Young children's screen time: The complex role of parent and child factors. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 36, 11-17.
Leppänen, M., Lapinleimu, H., Lind, A., Matomäki, J., Lehtonen, L., Haataja, L., ...& PIPARI Study Group. (2013). Antenatal and postnatal growth and 5-year cognitive outcome in very preterm infants. Pediatrics, peds-2013.
McLeod, S (2018). Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. Simply Psychology.
Narvaez, D., Gleason, T., Wang, L., Brooks, J., Lefever, J. B., Cheng, Y., & Centers for the Prevention of Child Neglect. (2013). The evolved development niche: Longitudinal effects of caregiving practices on early childhood psychosocial development. Early childhood research quarterly, 28(4), 759-773.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2016). National competency standards for the registered nurse.
Robinson, L. E., Stodden, D. F., Barnett, L. M., Lopes, V. P., Logan, S. W., Rodrigues, L. P., &D’Hondt, E. (2015). Motor competence and its effect on positive developmental trajectories of health. Sports Medicine, 45(9), 1273-1284.
