Child Development and Care
Child Development and Care tests growth and development, milestones, needs, play, feeding and health care of children. You must avoid judging children by a single milestone.
Core concepts
- Stages: prenatal, infancy (0-2), early childhood (2-6), later childhood (6-12) and adolescence.
- Development areas: physical and motor, cognitive, language, social and emotional.
- Milestones are approximate: a child may walk, speak or socialize at different rates. Delay is suspected when several skills are markedly late or lost.
- Needs: food and nutrition, love and security, stimulation, play, health care, immunization, sleep and a safe environment.
- Breastfeeding supports infant health; complementary feeding begins around six months while breastfeeding continues.
- Play develops motor, language, social and problem-solving skills; it should be safe, age-appropriate and supervised.
Worked example
A one-year-old is breastfed but refuses family food. Reasoning: at this age breast milk alone cannot meet energy and iron needs; complementary food should be soft, mashed, energy-dense and offered patiently. The plan should include immunization, play and hygiene, and the child should be checked if growth falters.
Traps
Treating milestones as exact deadlines; forcing a child to walk early; ignoring play as a waste of time; stopping breastfeeding abruptly; using unsafe toys or unattended feeding; blaming the mother for normal variation.