Recent studies conducted at Cornell University suggest negative environmental effects can and do have a marked influence on your child's cognitive and developmental growth.
On the flip-side, however, exposure to pleasant, natural settings, like the Garden Route of the Cape or the pristine South African bush have quite the opposite, and a rather therapeutic, effect on the overall well being of any child.
A leading environmental and developmental psychologist, Dr Gary Evans, has earmarked a handful of elements that have a significant effect on children's overall development and they include noise levels, overcrowding and housing and neighbourhood quality - most of which do not pertain to either golf course living or the coveted seaside lifestyle of our coastal regions.
Noise
Ongoing exposure to unacceptably high levels of noise, be they traffic noises or simply music, has been proven to affect a child's reading ability, concentration levels and even physiological indicators. Apart from long term memory problems, a child may also show signs of high blood pressure and even a rise in stress hormones.
Overcrowding
Overcrowding, whether in your dwelling place or the neighbourhood, is a no-no if you wish your child to reach his or her full potential. Interpersonal relationships will obviously be put under added pressure and the insecure child may well withdraw totally as a means of coping with the spatial constraints.
Quality of the neighbourhood
But it is the housing and quality of the neighbourhood that probably has the most profound effect on the growth of your child. Families who live in high rise buildings as opposed to a family resort or a single family home on a golf resort, for instance, will have fewer relationships with neighbours and consequently far less social support.
Even the quality of municipal services, recreational opportunities and the access to transport will affect your child either favourably or adversely. Can you imagine the heights any child will attain if they are brought up in a safe, secure environment like a golf property near George or Cape Town where there are literally dozens of exciting outdoor activities on tap?
Increase in the incidence of childhood diseases
What is more frightening, however, is that children are far more vulnerable to exposure to pesticides, heavy metals and other forms of chemical pollution as indicated by the increased incidence of diseases directly linked to environmental effects. These include asthma, autism, attention deficit activity disorder and even childhood cancer.
In fact, it has been suggested that over 80% of all developmental disorders in childhood are a direct result of exposure to negative environmental elements. Need any more persuading to pack the bags and family and move lock, stock and barrel to the safe and nurturing environment of the golf estates, small holdings or balmy beach towns?
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amelia_Stenson
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2007012
Showing posts with label Posted By: Stephanie Joseph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Posted By: Stephanie Joseph. Show all posts
6.19.2011
The Influence of Culture On Child Development
The influences of culture play heavily into the making of the person of a child, creating oftentimes beautiful and sometimes bitter trends in development. But culture itself poses so much possibility it becomes difficult to establish what of culture affects child development.
Where Culture and Child Development Find Meaning:
How does one child react to this culture as compared to the other child within this same culture? One child may find the daily routine of the American cultural tradition of daycare to be invigorating, affecting the life beyond childhood and into an adulthood of active involvement in community. Another child, in the same daily routine, may find it overwhelming and grow up to avoid exposure to large groups, preferring a life path more secluded.
Culture and child development takes on meaning where it intersects with the degrees of sensitivity within each child. Within culture, we find the significance of the child's unique reaction to the culture of daily life and from that reaction is the influence on development.
Landmark Influences Common to All Cultures:
What is commonly experienced and can be identified as consistently influential in every life? While we cannot determine how each child will react to cultural influences, it is critical that the most important influences be identified in order to give children the best opportunities to thrive.
Studies and, plain observation itself, suggest three landmark influences prominent in the dynamics of culture and child development:
1. Security
2. Education
3. Socialization
There's no denying the fact that the physical and social surroundings of a child's daily world create or destroy the atmosphere of security. Cultural styles will directly influence just how much a child feels secure, molding the development of that internal security needful to venture out into life. To say a domino effect flows from the one level of either security or insecurity is to understate. Essentially, of all the possible cultural influences on child development, it is important to identify what will foster security.
From the influence of security a child moves forward into the world of education. Educational resources within any given culture will mold the development of a child powerfully by either broadening or narrowing the fields of possibility for that one life, weaving together with either a secure or insecure worldview. Obviously, where the culture upholds the value of education, the child develops more broadly and with more possibilities to prosper on every level.
From these influences and within them are the workings of socialization. Socialization is simply the integration into society as either a positive experience perpetuating healthy, balanced living or some variety of struggling to integrate, to sustain a thriving life.
Caretakers can hold to the consistent work of safeguarding security, of education and of socialization in order to help children develop appropriately. In the final analysis, culture and child development narrows itself down to the intimacy in relationships between caretakers and children, an intimacy that nurtures the best of security, education and socialization no matter the cultural tide.
Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about children within your culture [http://parentingadvicesite.info/your-child-within-your-culture], please visit Parenting Advice Site [http://parentingadvicesite.info] for current articles and discussions.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wendy_Pan
Where Culture and Child Development Find Meaning:
How does one child react to this culture as compared to the other child within this same culture? One child may find the daily routine of the American cultural tradition of daycare to be invigorating, affecting the life beyond childhood and into an adulthood of active involvement in community. Another child, in the same daily routine, may find it overwhelming and grow up to avoid exposure to large groups, preferring a life path more secluded.
Culture and child development takes on meaning where it intersects with the degrees of sensitivity within each child. Within culture, we find the significance of the child's unique reaction to the culture of daily life and from that reaction is the influence on development.
Landmark Influences Common to All Cultures:
What is commonly experienced and can be identified as consistently influential in every life? While we cannot determine how each child will react to cultural influences, it is critical that the most important influences be identified in order to give children the best opportunities to thrive.
Studies and, plain observation itself, suggest three landmark influences prominent in the dynamics of culture and child development:
1. Security
2. Education
3. Socialization
There's no denying the fact that the physical and social surroundings of a child's daily world create or destroy the atmosphere of security. Cultural styles will directly influence just how much a child feels secure, molding the development of that internal security needful to venture out into life. To say a domino effect flows from the one level of either security or insecurity is to understate. Essentially, of all the possible cultural influences on child development, it is important to identify what will foster security.
From the influence of security a child moves forward into the world of education. Educational resources within any given culture will mold the development of a child powerfully by either broadening or narrowing the fields of possibility for that one life, weaving together with either a secure or insecure worldview. Obviously, where the culture upholds the value of education, the child develops more broadly and with more possibilities to prosper on every level.
From these influences and within them are the workings of socialization. Socialization is simply the integration into society as either a positive experience perpetuating healthy, balanced living or some variety of struggling to integrate, to sustain a thriving life.
Caretakers can hold to the consistent work of safeguarding security, of education and of socialization in order to help children develop appropriately. In the final analysis, culture and child development narrows itself down to the intimacy in relationships between caretakers and children, an intimacy that nurtures the best of security, education and socialization no matter the cultural tide.
Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about children within your culture [http://parentingadvicesite.info/your-child-within-your-culture], please visit Parenting Advice Site [http://parentingadvicesite.info] for current articles and discussions.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wendy_Pan
6.16.2011
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