There are many hazards during early childhood. It is said to be very critical period when parents have to be very cautious all the time. Following physical hazards may be seen in early childhood:
Illness: There is increased risk of infections in childhood as children are more sensitive to chemicals, pollutants, etc. Due to the infection, they may get much medicines and sometimes can get greater resistance to medicines. Also, their immune system gets very weak due to frequent infections. If the illness is persistent for a long time, they may not be able to learn new skills generally being acquired by other children of same age and this may result in inferiority complex.
Accidents: Small children are more prone to accidents because They have less sense of depth and space. There can be falls which can result in fracture or dislocation. There can be injuries due to sharp objects like knife and blades: There can be blood loss due to these injuries. Boys are more prone to accidents than girls because they are more involved in outdoor games.
Obesity: Children who are obese face more trouble due to their weight. They are not able to pursue physical activities like skating, running, swimming, etc. while other children who have normal weight are better able to perform comparatively better. Therefore, obesity can result in inferiority complex because obese children are not able to participate in all the activities equally and become victim of bullying. Hence, obesity is a physical as well as psychological hazard.
We must also discuss the problems associated with this period. In learning to adjust to the world as children grow up, they often develop certain kinds of problem behaviour. The most common problems of early childhood are as follows:
Eating Problems: Children’s eating problems have received considerable attention from theorists and practitioners. They have suggested that early eating experiences of children play a significant role in determining their later personality characteristics as eating has a direct relationship with the physical well-being of the child. There are a number of common eating problems among the young children as experienced by parents and other family members. The most common problems are –(i) Not eating, (ii) Vomiting, (iii) Dawdling, and (iv) Weaning.Problems related to not eating tend to occur with considerable frequency during infancy and preschool years. Vomiting is also frequent in young children. Children vary greatly in their proneness to vomit. Vomiting tends to occur during the highly stimulating events, changes in environment and stressful experiences associated with food. Dawdling means doing something in a slow, lingering way – taking more time to finish the act than is needed. Most of the young children at this age take more time to finish a meal. Dawdling creates so many problems to the parents and it also affects the child’s health. Another problem of early childhood is weaning. The introduction of new food is usually correlated with the weaning process and presents its own problems. Children tend to reject the food that is different from their regular food in either taste or consistency. They push the food out of their mouths, or if forced to eat, they vomit. These eating problems affects in child’s physical as well as mental development.
Elimination Problem: Next to eating, toilet training has perhaps been given the greatest attention. Method of toilet training have long term consequences for later personality characteristics. Toilet training is very important and the mother has a great role to play in this regard. Children vary greatly in their progress towards successful toilet training. The child who has a regular elimination pattern is easier to train. But sometimes it has been observed that a well trained child begins to wet again or strongly resists sitting on the toilet; these kinds of behaviours create problems for the parents or the caretakers or the teachers.In this case, re-training must be provided. Proper toilet training should be provided from a very early age, otherwise elimination process will create lots of problem to the parents, caretakers and to the pre-school teachers.
Sleeping Problem: Problems connected with sleep are certain to arise at some time. Unless they are dealt with correctly, they can lead to other more serious problems that may harm the general state of the child’s health.Many of the sleeping problems that parents encounter in children occur when the child recognizes the discrepancy between his hour of retiring and the bed time of the other family members. The child does not want to be left out of any activities by going to sleep early. The young child cries when he does not want to be put to bed. Sometimes, the refusal to go to sleep is accompanied by emotional responses reflecting fear on the part of the child. Pre-school children are particularly prone to the development of fears. Events such as loud, sudden sounds and unfamiliar light patterns coming through the windows are sometimes sufficient for the conditioning of fear to the darkened bedroom.Awakening during the night may be initiated by many different events: illness, nightmares, changes in daytime routine, bed wetting, etc. Once the rhythmic sleep pattern has been broken, there is a tendency for the child to continue night time awakening in the absence of the original event. This situation may create stress on the parents. A child’s sleeping problems not only create problems to parents, but also these will hamper the physical as well as mental well-being of the child.
Accidents: Accidents in early childhood can be and often are one of the most serious problems that affect the physical well-being of children. Young children tend to have more accidents than the babies. Because young children are no longer as carefully supervised and protected as they were when they were babies. Nor are young children as aware of possible dangers and as careful as they will be when they grow older. Accidents can affect the head, feet, legs, hands, arms, body and face of a child.Accidents affect the child both physically and psychologically, which may affect the child’s personality development in his later life.
Social Adjustment Problems: Children under 4 years of age cannot be expected to be have in a truly social manner. They will push, grab, fight and refuse to share their things with others. However, by the time they are 5 years old, children should have overcome some of these behaviours. Children who still behave in an unsocial way after other children of the same age have developed more socially acceptable patterns will find that they have no one to play with. Normally other people also dislike children with unsocial behaviour. As a result, these children will develop adjustment problem in the social environment. So, unsocial behaviour should be checked as soon as it appears problems during early childhood.
There are many hazards during early childhood. It is said to be very critical period when parents have to be very cautious all the time. Following physical hazards may be seen in early childhood:
Illness: There is increased risk of infections in childhood as children are more sensitive to chemicals, pollutants, etc. Due to the infection, they may get much medicines and sometimes can get greater resistance to medicines. Also, their immune system gets very weak due to frequent infections. If the illness is persistent for a long time, they may not be able to learn new skills generally being acquired by other children of same age and this may result in inferiority complex.
Accidents: Small children are more prone to accidents because They have less sense of depth and space. There can be falls which can result in fracture or dislocation. There can be injuries due to sharp objects like knife and blades: There can be blood loss due to these injuries. Boys are more prone to accidents than girls because they are more involved in outdoor games.
Obesity: Children who are obese face more trouble due to their weight. They are not able to pursue physical activities like skating, running, swimming, etc. while other children who have normal weight are better able to perform comparatively better. Therefore, obesity can result in inferiority complex because obese children are not able to participate in all the activities equally and become victim of bullying. Hence, obesity is a physical as well as psychological hazard.
We must also discuss the problems associated with this period. In learning to adjust to the world as children grow up, they often develop certain kinds of problem behaviour. The most common problems of early childhood are as follows:
Eating Problems: Children’s eating problems have received considerable attention from theorists and practitioners. They have suggested that early eating experiences of children play a significant role in determining their later personality characteristics as eating has a direct relationship with the physical well-being of the child. There are a number of common eating problems among the young children as experienced by parents and other family members. The most common problems are –(i) Not eating, (ii) Vomiting, (iii) Dawdling, and (iv) Weaning.Problems related to not eating tend to occur with considerable frequency during infancy and preschool years. Vomiting is also frequent in young children. Children vary greatly in their proneness to vomit. Vomiting tends to occur during the highly stimulating events, changes in environment and stressful experiences associated with food. Dawdling means doing something in a slow, lingering way – taking more time to finish the act than is needed. Most of the young children at this age take more time to finish a meal. Dawdling creates so many problems to the parents and it also affects the child’s health. Another problem of early childhood is weaning. The introduction of new food is usually correlated with the weaning process and presents its own problems. Children tend to reject the food that is different from their regular food in either taste or consistency. They push the food out of their mouths, or if forced to eat, they vomit. These eating problems affects in child’s physical as well as mental development.
Elimination Problem: Next to eating, toilet training has perhaps been given the greatest attention. Method of toilet training have long term consequences for later personality characteristics. Toilet training is very important and the mother has a great role to play in this regard. Children vary greatly in their progress towards successful toilet training. The child who has a regular elimination pattern is easier to train. But sometimes it has been observed that a well trained child begins to wet again or strongly resists sitting on the toilet; these kinds of behaviours create problems for the parents or the caretakers or the teachers.In this case, re-training must be provided. Proper toilet training should be provided from a very early age, otherwise elimination process will create lots of problem to the parents, caretakers and to the pre-school teachers.
Sleeping Problem: Problems connected with sleep are certain to arise at some time. Unless they are dealt with correctly, they can lead to other more serious problems that may harm the general state of the child’s health.Many of the sleeping problems that parents encounter in children occur when the child recognizes the discrepancy between his hour of retiring and the bed time of the other family members. The child does not want to be left out of any activities by going to sleep early. The young child cries when he does not want to be put to bed. Sometimes, the refusal to go to sleep is accompanied by emotional responses reflecting fear on the part of the child. Pre-school children are particularly prone to the development of fears. Events such as loud, sudden sounds and unfamiliar light patterns coming through the windows are sometimes sufficient for the conditioning of fear to the darkened bedroom.Awakening during the night may be initiated by many different events: illness, nightmares, changes in daytime routine, bed wetting, etc. Once the rhythmic sleep pattern has been broken, there is a tendency for the child to continue night time awakening in the absence of the original event. This situation may create stress on the parents. A child’s sleeping problems not only create problems to parents, but also these will hamper the physical as well as mental well-being of the child.
Accidents: Accidents in early childhood can be and often are one of the most serious problems that affect the physical well-being of children. Young children tend to have more accidents than the babies. Because young children are no longer as carefully supervised and protected as they were when they were babies. Nor are young children as aware of possible dangers and as careful as they will be when they grow older. Accidents can affect the head, feet, legs, hands, arms, body and face of a child.Accidents affect the child both physically and psychologically, which may affect the child’s personality development in his later life.
Social Adjustment Problems: Children under 4 years of age cannot be expected to be have in a truly social manner. They will push, grab, fight and refuse to share their things with others. However, by the time they are 5 years old, children should have overcome some of these behaviours. Children who still behave in an unsocial way after other children of the same age have developed more socially acceptable patterns will find that they have no one to play with. Normally other people also dislike children with unsocial behaviour. As a result, these children will develop adjustment problem in the social environment. So, unsocial behaviour should be checked as soon as it appears problems during early childhood.
From MPC-002 Life Span Psychology – IGNOU