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FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT

How children grow and develop depend on both internal and external environmental factors, some of which we have no control over. Having a good understanding of what children need at each stage of their growth and development helps us raise them better.

Although the terms growth and development are used synonymously, they have different meanings biologically. Growth refers to the incremental changes in physical characteristics such as height, weight, size, etc., while development refers to qualitative changes to growth in an orderly and meaningful fashion which results in maturity. Growth and development contribute to each other, are inseparable, and occur simultaneously. For example, most babies, by the time they grow up to be 8 months old, can weigh around 8 to 10 kilograms and can sit up.

Nature and nurture both contribute to the growth and development of children. Although what’s endowed by nature is constant, nurture tends to make a big difference too. Here are a few factors affecting children’s growth and development.


Factors That Influence the Growth and Development of a Child
1. Heredity
2. Environment
3. Sex
4. Exercise and Health
5. Hormones
6. Nutrition
7. Familial Influence
8. Geographical Influences
9. Socio-Economic Status
10. Learning and Reinforcement


Developmental Health has been defined as the physical and mental health, well-being, coping and competence of human beings (Keating, 1999) and is the combination of health and developmental outcomes. Many different factors can positively or negatively affect developmental health. If we want to impact a child's development and ultimate life trajectory, we must understand the key risk and protective factors that strongly influence children's future health and well-being.

Some of the factors influencing children's developmental health include income, education, health, culture, parenting, neighborhood, and social status. It is a challenge to present this complex web of factors which influence child development, as most of them are interrelated. For example, income is a powerful indicator which can impact education level, access to health and child care services, choice of neighborhood, stress level, transportation, and social status.

Child development is cumulative in nature. A nurturing and stimulating environment will promote learning skills that in turn allow the child's curiosity and creativity to blossom and may even "open future possibilities in spite of biological interventions" (Shanker, 2008) . On the other hand, adopting a "wait and see" approach when a child is showing some atypical or delayed development in one domain, can negatively impact many areas of development over time (OCFP, 2005).


I am Paulane R. Navalta, Instructor from Teacher-Education Department at Pangasinan State Univesity-Urdaneta City Campus. I am willing to help the future early childhood educators to become the best version of themselves.

My philosophy about education is that "Teachers are the best role models. If you want to expect the best in your students, expect first the best in you".