Children’s engagement
Question 1
Between infancy to six years, the brain of a child undergoes sudden development that alters the weight of the brain. For instance, at the age of two years, the brain of the child contributes to 75 percent of their entire adult weight. However, by six years the development of the brain is at 95 percent of the adult weight as the myelination and the development of the dendrites continue in the cortex and the ability of the child (Physical Development, 2020). There is also more significant development at the prefrontal cortex, a part responsible for controlling emotions, strategizing, stimulate thinking, and makes it easy to control emotional outbursts.
Question 2
Children’s engagement in a play is significant in different ways towards their development and creativity. First, play learning allows children to enhance their language and social skills. Through play, the children can interact with each other easily, an aspect that often helps them improve their communication and social skills. Again, the children tend to develop their problem-solving skills through play learning. Finally, it enhances creativity and autonomy among the learners as they are always presented with the liberty to make choices, solve puzzles, and effectively solve various problems without the aid of the teacher.
Question 3
Baumrind sees parenting in three different styles. The first style is the authoritarian parenting style that is typified by a traditional parenting model where a parent makes rules and expects the child to obediently adhere to such rules (Family Life, 2020). The style always instils fear in children and they often turn out to be bullies. The other model is the permissive parenting that involves having reasonable expectations on the child and allowing the children to make their own rules and determine their activities (Family Life, 2020). However, these children tend to learn self-discipline and are often insecure. The last model is the authoritative parenting that entails a parent being reasonably strict but affectionate. The parents allow negotiation appropriately, and punishment is proportionate. However, due to the liberty that exists, the children tend to suffer in schools in attempts of making friends and relationships.
Question 4
As a child, I believe I was raised through an authoritative parenting model. My parents always allowed room for consensus, loving and imposed appropriately strict measures such as exempting us from going to the local lake for safety fears. Again, the punishment was also not severe, and if it was administered, it was proportionate to the mistake that was done. We had no set rules that dictated how we behaved but were often given the liberty in doing most things. However, I did not struggle with friendship, as Baumrind suggested.
Question 5
Stress plays an influential role in the development of the child, and the severity of such stress determines various aspects of development in the future. For instance, normal stress that occurs daily helps the child to develop coping skills and is not risky for the development of an individual (Childhood Stress and Development, 2020). However, toxic stress could be detrimental to various structures of the brain, which could, in turn, affect the memory ability of the child. Such instance could lead to such individual children being hypersensitive to stress in future.