NewsLetter #4 June 3, 2024
Change as Fundamental
The world is about change. Everything is subject to change. Perhaps at first, change may have been conceived as simply some kind of difference occurring in the world. But in time, people began to realize that change was more than the mere occurrence of something different in the world. When things changed, it may have been observed, they did so in patterns. What was previously viewed as random began to look systematic. People began to see a process. When they looked, people found this process everywhere.
Development: Systematic Change
Humans have two major areas of systematic change, physical and mental, that are important for us to consider together. These two areas don’t just occur in a parallel fashion but are interconnected. Changes that occur in one are played out in the other. For example, the changes in a child’s balance and physical coordination create for the child new possibilities of exploring its environment that produce changes in the organization of the child’s brain through new experiences. In return, changes in the organization of the child’s brain creates new possibilities for exploration of the environment. Thus, the physical and mental systems change systematically in coordination with one another, and they stimulate one another.
Body Supports Mind, Mind Supports Behavior
Given that change in different areas is coordinated, one could add to this section “and vice versa” for each supportive relationship. As a parent you have several important responsibilities. One is to teach your child and the other is to manage your child’s behavior. To effectively assume these responsibilities, you must take into consideration this coordinated and structural change we call development. This means that your parental strategies must change with the emergence of each developmental phase your child experiences. Failure for the parent to consider these factors creates problems for both the child and parent.
Non-Stop Developmental Process
One important characteristic of development is that it never stops. Another important characteristic is that it progresses in small increments and is often uneven for different skill sets. For example, motor development may lag behind cognitive development, or vice versa. This developmental fact is responsible for some of the cuteness found in children.
For our concept of a child, some of us have a static image. A child is a child is a child, so to speak. Yet, if you work with children, you know their skill sets change everyday. Children have this strong, organically driven motivation to master their environment. Normally, one doesn’t have to motivate a child. Motivation doesn’t arise as a problem of learning in early childhood like it does in adult learning. Rather, controlling the enthusiasm does.
Mastery of Environment a Developmental Goal
The factors of physical and psychological development are important for the parent, as these factors give the parent an important perspective. That perspective is of a child developmentally in motion with organically driven motivation to master her environment. The parent who gains influence over her child is a parent who facilitates that child’s mastery of its environment.