Enthusiasm in children is like a ripple in the water ... itspreads.~Anonymous~The study of child development helps us understand thechanges we see as children grow and develop. A child’sdevelopment is divided into five areas: physical, emotional,cognitive, social, and moral development (Mitchell and David 1992). Although each area will be discussed separately, it is important toremember that all these areas overlap. Together, they make up thewhole person.Physical development is an increase in body size and shape. Motor development is included in physical development because itshows the development of the large and small muscles. Changesin the brain and nervous system will affect physical and motordevelopment.Emotional development is how the child feels abouthimself/herself, other people, and the world that they live in. Emotional development also involves children’s learning todistinguish different feelings and express them in culturallyacceptable ways (Henniger, 1993/94).Cognitive development is how the child thinks and learns. Children learn by interacting with their environment, objects,adults and other children. Cognitive development includes growthin memory, attention, reasoning, problem solving strategies, andlanguage abilities (Mitchell and David 1992).Social development is how children of different ages relate toother people. In the beginning, the social world of a child consistsof family members. Throughout development, they meet friends,teachers and other adults in their community. Social development is simply the act of making new friends and learning how to getalong with other people.Moral development is when the child will learn the differencebetween right and wrong. Piaget came up with three theories ofmoral development: id, ego and superego. Lawrence Kohlbergexpanded Piaget’s theories and came up with six stages of moraldevelopment. A four year old child is known to be very active and energe...
