7 Essential Domains of Child Development. %%Esslearning%%

The youngster is like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow,' said Jawaharlal Nehru.

All Children are very important resources for any country. Children re not only the future of the country they are the future of mankind. They are the important pillars with whom one can build their future. So in this case, for making our future strong, we need to make our pillar strong. They are the ones who are going to make the country strong and conducive places to live. So if we want to make our future strong so need to focus on the present as well. We need to focus on the child's present, growth, and development. Cater to their essential needs, and prepare them for the future.

Meaning of Child Development

Child development is a specialized area of study. Which concerns itself with the growth and development of a child right from the moment of conception to adolescence.

 The term development means a progressive series of changes. This occurs as a result of maturation and learning.

Development implies qualitative changes. This means that development does not consist of adding inches to one's hight or increasing kg in weight. These include changes in abilities like learning to speak, changes in behavior, interests, comprehensions, etc.

According to Laura Berk, Child development is a field of study devoted to understanding human constancy. It also related to change from conception through adolescence.

Domains/Aspects of Child Development.

Growth and development occur in different aspects of human beings. For the purpose of the study. To make it more orderly and convenient it is divided into various domains or aspects.

These aspects are mainly physical, motor, cognitive, social, emotional, and moral development. These aspects are interrelated and interconnected with each other. For proper development and growth of the child's parents and teachers have to aware of every domain/aspect. These aspects are as follows.

Essential domains of child development.

Physical Development.

The rapid growth of different parts of the body and their capacity to function is Physical Development. It is regarding the development of the body and its parts.

Changes in body size, brain development. Changes in body proportion, development of sensory capacities, the functioning of various body systems are all parts of physical development. It is important to know how children grow physically.

As physical development is connected with other domains and it can affect the development of other domains directly or indirectly. Although physical growth follows similar patterns in all children, the rate of development differs from individual to individual. It is also different from one stage to another stage.

Motor Development. 

Motor development means controlled movements of the body through the coordination of muscles and nerves. It is the development of the body and muscles.

Children learn and acquire many skills through motor muscles, which are of two types of fine motor and gross motor.

Fine motor is smaller muscles involve pincer grasp and the gross motor is the involvement of larger muscles. Fine motor skills are the involvement of holding a pencil, crayons, holding the spoon, eating food, etc. Gross motor skills mean using larger muscles of hand and legs for running, jumping, playing, etc.

Motor development is the development of control over bodily movements. Through the coordinated activity of the nerve centers, the nerves, and the muscles. There are specific years to acquire motor skills.

Children's bodies are more flexible and easily acquire skills in childhood. Therefore childhood is an" ideal age" to learn any skills.

NOTE- In order to make children acquire motor skills easily and have proper physical growth and development. It is the duty of parents and teachers to provide opportunities that promote muscle coordination.

For both muscles, for gross motor -jumping, hopping, ball play, outdoor games. And for fine motor there are coloring, cutting, pasting, lacing, beading. In order to develop their muscle skills, they are indoor and outdoor play very important. Motor development and physical development are greatly dependant on each other and connected.

Language Development.

A language is a form of communication that helps to express thoughts and feelings easily. Which helps to convey meaning to others, such as speaking, sign language, gestures, and facial expressions.

Language development plays a very important role in children's social development.

For enhancing language development certain skills and activities are important. It includes enable children to listen, speak, read and write, encourage object talk, free conversation, picture talk, drama, word/letter games, stories, poems/rhymes/songs, drawing, pretend play can help a lot.

There are four components of language -Listening, speaking, Reading, and Writing. More and More opportunities have to be given to a child for proper language development. Encourage children to express verbally in the form of speech, reading, and then eventually writing.

Cognitive Development.

The ability to think/reason and become aware of one's environment/surroundings. Cognition is closely related to intelligence.
Can a young child think logically and have a reason? This is a question that we often ask ourselves.

Young children can achieve cognitive abilities gradually. Real concrete forms help the child to gain understanding easily.
A younger child would know about apple when he looks, feels, sees, tastes the apple. An older child can just by imagination without seeing. An apple describes an apple as he has already known about apple.
Cognitive development is the development of a wide variety of thought processes and intellectual abilities.
This including attention, memory, acquisition of academic and everyday knowledge, problem-solving, imagination, creativity, and the uniquely human capacity to represent the world through language.
Parents and teachers can promote cognitive development such as puzzles, riddles, games related to concept-based lessons, field trips, role play, concreate experiments, books, sensory play with equipment, quiz, etc.

Moral Development

Moral development occurs in two distinct but interrelated phases i.e. the development of moral behavior and development of moral concepts.

It is the development of behavior that conforms to the standard of the group with which the individual is identified. There are rules of behavior. Which the members of a culture are accustomed to and which determines the expected behavior patterns of all group members.

Learning to behave in the right way, distinguishing between right and wrong, and the development of the conscience is gradually learned.

Social Development

The ability to behave and adjust according to the expectations of the society, including conforming to a group standard, morals, and traditions. It means acquisitions of ability to behave in accordance with social expectations. This called Socialization.

Becoming socialized involves processes such as learning to behave in socially approved ways. It also involves playing approved social roles and the development of social attitude. Every social group has its own standard of approved behaviors for its members. Children must learn that standard and behave accordingly.

There are certain ways to promotes social development such as group activities/games, moral stories, celebrations, drama, etc.

Emotional Development

The ability to identify, express, and control emotions. It refers to the development of emotions and how they affect personal and social adjustments. It is very essential to study this domain of development.
Emotion plays a very important role in everyone's life from infancy to old age.

The various aspects of emotions are like positive and negative emotions. Which includes emotional expressions, control over expressions and emotions, and emotional maturity are studied.

For promoting Emotional development there are role-plays of different emotions, music, art, craft, clay, drama, puppets/dolls, stories, sand/water play, free play, pretend play are opportunities.