Early Childhood Education

Before, I joined the program; I did not have an exposed understanding of childhood development. I used to think that it just another process that happens just naturally. I never thought that a child could be affected by different factors such as where they rise from the way that they are treated among other issues. To the least, I only thought that everything that entails the physical growth alone. The program has however enlarged my view of childhood development from a layman understanding to thinking that encompasses the use of various child development theories. It is, therefore, a program that has instrumentally changed my understanding of child development. 

The theory I would like to understand more is the behavioral child development theory. It is a wide theory that encompasses many other little theories in it. The behavioral child developmental theory concerns matters of behaviorism and how behaviors affect the lifelong life of the child. I want to learn more of the theory so that I can understand the tendencies of a child to behave or act in a specific manner, how the environments they grow in affect them and also to know how I should best handle them to encourage them to acquire good behaviors.

As an early childhood educator, I feel that it is necessary to be informed about current research that involves childhood development because it affects the manner in which educators develop their training skills. Without current information, an educator could use outdated approaches that may not be applicable at that time thereby derailing the children. An educator may also lack an understanding of current factors that they need to address thus making a minimal impact on the children.

References

Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Knafo‐Noam, A. (2015). Prosocial development. Handbook of child psychology and developmental science, 1-47.