Factors Affecting Development

Factors affecting healthy development in children

There are many different factors that affect a child healthy growth and development. Knowing the different factors that can affect the child enables us to differentiate activities suited to all children and also if need be place areas of concern so there is early intervention and then that the child has the best possible start.

Ethnic group
The first factor is a child’s ethnic group. This can affect their healthy development in many ways. Firstly a child from a different ethnic group may have different dietary and food needs for example they may not be able to eat certain meats such as pork due to their religion, maybe meaning having different food(school dinners) at lunch time which may make them feel different to others lowering their self-esteem. They may not be able to eat with a knife and fork; they may eat with their hands or chop sticks, and because it is different to other children how they eat they could get stared at or asked questions regularly on why they eat like that. Everyone has a different attitude to food and diet and, how someone eats so the child having a different diet to other children may cause uneasiness for a child seeing that that they are different to other children because at a young age children want to be all the same. ‘The care standards act 2000 brought new guidance, one being the national standards for under eights day care and childminding. These were issued for full day care,sessional day care, crèches, out of school care and childminders. There are fourteen national standards, which represent a baseline of quality below which no provider may fall. Standard 8 food and drink states: children are provided with regular drinks and food in adequate quantities for their needs, and that is complies with dietary and religious requirements.” Anti-discriminatory practice, second edition MILLAM R”. there are policies and procedure too that are put in place to make sure everyone is treated fairly such as the race relations act 1976 this act defines discrimination in 4 ways; direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, segregation and victimization.
Someone’s race can also be an emotive subject, and some people may feel uncomfortable and feel awkward, so workers may feel they are unable to speak to the child or a different ethnic group, making the child feel left out and different to other children. Also other children may notice that they are different to that child and may leave them out and this can really affect a child emotionally and socially as they may feel they can only approach someone that has that is from the same ethnic group of them, so this can affect their social skills as they don’t get much interaction with many different people and are not learning and understanding about other races and that we are all equal and the same. According to page 38 of the EYFS 2012 understanding the world: people and communities, by the age of 30-50 months they should show an interest in different occupations and ways of life.
The child being in a certain ethnic group may mean that they are only used to their way of life and routines so being in a child care setting with children from many different ethnic groups they may feel out of place and very shy and confused of the different routines and different people and if they speak differently and may have different morals that the child’s parents has taught them not to do. The child and their family may only stay with their ethnic group, so they could feel a sense of loneliness and like an outsider and may be taught by family members or close friends from their ethnic group that other people not from their ethnicity shouldn’t be spoken too because of different opinions from different generations.
Child practitioners can overcome this in our modern world by showing good examples to all children by showing we are all equal; but this has not been the case for some cases for example in recent studies they have shown that workers spend more time with white children, saying that Asian children are disadvantaged and criticizing black children more often than white children” also parents are the most usually influential people in a child’s life so it is important for child practitioners to talk to parents about any issues with the child so that parents can enforce this at home. ‘All children need to feel valued and respected and to have the chance to fulfil their full potential.’ There are also many services that authorities offer to overcome this factor such as many schools now set up after school clubs especially for children needing help with their homework who are not confident with their English. Also in the EYFS children should be taught at nursery/reception about the world and different cultures around them ‘learns that they have similarities and differences that connect them to, and distinguish them from others’.

Gender
The gender roles in society play a major part and effect on a Childs life and future. Gender and the expectations of someones gender becomes a big part of somebody’s self image and who they are. Different societies have different outlooks on how boys and girls should behave and what roles they should do. By the age of 2 children should be able to correctly pick out a same sex picture (Thompson 1975). ‘All children should have the same, equal opportunities within the caring and educational services. These promote social, emotional and cognitive development for both girls and boys and so widen their future career aspirations’ SQUIRE G 2007. Socially these gender stereotypes can affect a child as it can stop them mixing with the opposite gender, because as a young child they need to be stimulated by many different people from different genders, cultures, religions and ages to get an overall understanding of how people are different and of the world ‘EYFS 2012: By 30-50 months they should be able to play in a group extending and elaborating play ideas and also can demonstrate friendly behaviour, initiating conservations and forming good relationships with peers and familiar adults’ and by 3-4 years they should be able to begin to associate tasks and objects with gender. Emotionally these can ‘affects a child’s self concept’ squire gill 2007. ‘Researchers have now found that sex-role behaviour is often shown earlier than we imagine. By 18-24 months, children start to show some preference amongst playthings, with boys choosing building blocks and cars and girls choosing dolls, and ‘caring’ toys (O’brien 1992) Physically girls tend to be slightly taller than boys by about age six or seven’ also in terms of puberty girls usually mature and come into puberty quicker than boys, but in general physically gender doesn’t affect a child’s development apart from the media and expectations on how a girl looks. Studies have now shown that children as young as 3 are being influenced by media on how they should look especially. But in general gender more affects a child socially and emotionally from gender stereotypes. One piece of media that portrayed about gender and ethnic stereotypes was eastenders. This episode showed an Asian family, and where the boy had come out as gay. In society and their culture it showed the family very upset and angry and wanting him to marry a woman, and the family even separating from him and disowning him. So gender stereotypes can greatly affect someones life. Authorities have services in play to overcome these stereotypes such as mixed gender classes, mixed after school and extra curricular classes.

Special needs
Children with special needs generally have different needs so need different routines and strategies in order for them to develop and learn effectively. There are many different kinds of special needs from autism to ADHD.’ For example children with Autism have difficulties communicating with others and are unable to share their feelings and thoughts, so as a result it’s much harder to build effective relationships’. SQUIRE G 2007. Especially in child hood it is much harder for children who have special needs. Emotionally they are more prone to bullying, as they may not look the same as other children, they also may talk and act differently to other children. For example a child with aspergers syndrome finds it harder to see if another child is upset because of their actions or read another child’s feelings so they may be disliked in the class. Physically they may look differently to other children, and face further bullying because of this because they don’t look the same as the rest of the children. The child could have bad behaviour because they find it harder to express their feelings and feel frustrated because of this. For example ‘a child who is in a wheelchair may feel frustration and anger when they cannot do the things that his friends can do. This can cause tantrums, aggression, regression or attention seeking behaviour’. SQUIRE G 2007. Socially children may find it the hardest to fit in, as they may find it harder to talk to other children at their level and make friendships and be involved in activities because they have seen that they are different and have been treated differently to other which can greatly affect their self-esteem. There are policies though that protects even the most vulnerable children. For example the ‘every child matters policy’ their four main key areas are: supporting parents and carers, early intervention and protection, accountability and integration and children’s trusts. There is also the special education needs and disability act 2001, which covers discrimination, key services ect. In the EYFS 2012 adults should ‘provide positive images of all children including with diverse physical characteristics, including disabilities’ and also ‘provide books and resources which represent children’s diverse backgrounds and which avoid negative stereotypes’.

Abilities
Children all develop different ability’s to do things at different ages and levels, just like milestones some children develop quicker than others. If a child has a lower ability to do something than another child like colouring in the lines, they may think that they are not as good as that child lowering their self esteem, and ‘low self-esteem is linked to low achievement and are less likely to put them in challenging and new situations ’SQUIRE G 2007. So emotionally the child could get quite upset if they see they are not as good as another child as doing activities. But ability also applies to children who are gifted and talented; ‘gifted and talented children can also find difficulties in forming relationships as they experience frustration and self-esteem, with a feeling of being different from others’ SQUIRE G 2007. This also links to what adult expectations they have, because they are gifted and talented they may have higher expectations from teachers and parents .so they see that other children in their class do not have the same expectations as they do making them feel different. This could result in resentment from the child towards the parent or teaching who have high expectations of them. Also if many key skills that are missed my childcare practitioners and health care practitioners then this could seriously affect a child’s healthy development such as the ability to hear properly could affect their language and social skills.

Age
‘3.6 million Children live in poverty in the UK, that’s almost a third of children.
Poverty is the single greatest threat to the well-being of children and families. Growing up in poverty can affect every area of a child's development - social, educational and personal.’ BARNADOS.
‘Some of the effects of poverty on children include: a reduced life expectancy at birth, a greater likelihood of living in tempory housing, which may not have high standards such as heating or cooking facilities, a constant cycle of deprivation, a difficulty achieving or maintaining a satisfactory standard of personal hygiene so putting their health at risk and many others’ (SQUIRE G 2007).
One media piece called ‘poor kids’ that was put on BBC showed a range of families and the children’s outlook on living in poverty. The most common problems that many of them had was living in cramp and damp housing, chronic illnesses such as severe echzma, and little to do and no places to go because of little money.
WHO which is the world health organisation has statistics that 6.8 million children under 5 died in 2011 and 58% of them because of an infectious disease. (WHO) And many of the 58% will be because of poverty and not having the right medical support and money to fulfil key needs which is shown in Maslow’s triangle of needs, which is Maslow’s interpret of what we need to be motivated to be then successful in life. The first tier of the triangle shows that one of physiological needs is to have food, which many children in poverty sometimes do not have like three balanced meals a day.

some groups of children also have a greater risk these include: looked after children such as in care , because many of them have a low rate of educational which has implications for their health and future health and well being. Also children with disabilities are more at risk of bullying which affects their social and emotional development, children in need of protection such as children that have been abused. (SQUIRE G 2007).
There are also procedures that are put in place in childcare settings such as the ‘EYFS 2012 development check’ which is intended to enable earlier identification of development needs, so that support can be put in place as early as possible. 'Development is not an automatic process,' the guidance says. 'It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments. NURSERY WORLD.

Overall there are many factors that can affect a child’s health and development, but there are services that the authorities have put in place to ensure the child can overcome that factor and have the best possible start in their healthy development.