Physical and psychological needs of a three year old child free essay sample

In this assignment it will be discussed what constitute the main physical and psychological necessities of a toddler, more precisely a three years old child. As soon as these needs are defined, it shall be discussed how to provide, inside the environment of a childcare setting, the means to achieve the suitable conditions to satisfy such necessities, as well as selected specific capabilities that carers must acquire to accomplish the task to adequately provide appropriate carefulness. Firstly, it is compulsory to provide a definition for physical and psychological needs. Beginning with the physical necessities, there are key factors that must be addressed considering, the childcare environment, including physical exercises, rest and sleep, promotion of good health, including adequate nutrition and personal hygiene, as well as safety and first aid at the childcare environment (MCI, undated). These needs apply to the child’s life, your job is to identify them and then show how they can be met in daycare. Physical exercises are essential for all individuals. Although Montessori never encouraged formal exercises to children under 6 years old (MCI, undated), nowadays this activity must be explored, aiming to provide better health, as well as contributing to improve gross motor skills, like running, picking up balls, jumping and climbing. Yes, but Montessori did advocate the freedom for the child to move at will, to move around the classroom and to repeat movements until the child was satisfied. She did place great importance on allowing the child to develop the muscles required to gain full control over the body. Naturally, rest and sleep are as essential as exercises. Once the child has accomplished his/hers activities, a resting time must be provided, especially when concentration and energy tasks are required. Additionally, sleeping is such a vital requirement, that a facility for resting must be available in any childcare facility. If not in an adequate state of repose, a child may become irritable and can have his/hers concentration capacity seriously reduced. This should be made available to all children but nap time should not be enforced, not all 3 yr olds require a nap during the day. The next subject is related to the diet, and this matter must always be adequately addressed in a childcare facility. The nourishing practices are of crucial importance, and the carers, additionally to the noble task of verifying and sometimes prepare the food, must assure that children are being properly fed. Along with feeding, hygiene is also essential and carers must always inspect for proper bathing, hands, hair, nails, feet, ears, toilet and teeth. (MCI, undated) Is it the job of the childcare setting to bathe the child and cut the child’s nails? Eventually, safety and first aid must always be observed. Apart from lawful and legal issues, carers must know how to take proper actions when urged. Following the structure presented, the definitions were already mentioned. Therefore, it is valid to discuss how the setting and carers can accomplish the necessities previously defined. On the focus of the physical aspects, the setting shall provide proper means for children to exercise. It can be set as a separate room or space to accommodate suitable toys for indoor use. For outdoor exercises, the setting must offer a safe area, like a playground, including supervised activities for children. In terms of rest and sleep, an adequate setting must keep a quiet room containing comfortable facilities for children in need of a rest. Considering feeding and nourishing, the setting shall include a proper kitchen with suitable appliances for preparation, storage, cleaning, serving and feeding installations. In relation to hygiene issues, all carers shall have appropriate training about topics that may take place in a setting environment. A carer shall be able to bath a child, check for nails, hair, ears, feet hands and teeth. Ultimately, all carers must keep a basic training concerning first aid and safety. It is not expected that a carer might be able to employ resurrecting techniques for example, but in case of an emergency, there basics actions that can be taken. Safety aid equipment must be kept at easy access and the legal procedures about this subject shall be observed in the sake of protecting the children well-being. You have not discussed ventilation in the setting (fresh air will improve brain function and will help prevent the spread of air-borne germs), the security of the setting (secure so that no child can leave unattended and unnoticed, no-one can enter unsupervised and no child can be picked up unless the adult is known to the setting), the safety of the physical setting (storage of chemicals, covers on ponds, radiators and electrical sockets etc. ), safety for the child from the elements ( how to dress for outdoor weather), removal of ill children from the setting etc. Until this point, some topics on physical well-being were covered, with emphasis on the role played by the carer in a setting environment. Continuing this assignment, it shall be discussed the psychological needs, focusing on emotional and social necessities and what carers must observe to ensure emotional and social well-being. According to Erickson (Erikson in Macleod-Brudenell Kay, 2008), a child on the age surrounding three years should be able to control his/hers physiological necessities and basically respond for his/hers personal hygiene. This â€Å"control† provides the child great autonomy, confidence and freedom to try new experiences not being afraid to make mistakes. However, if a child is criticized or ridiculed she/he might develop an embarrassment or distress concerning his/hers abilities to be autonomous, leading to a return to the previous stage, i. e. , the complete dependency. Throughout this stage, a child will learn about the privileges, obligations e limitations that he/she will encounter. The carer must be able to observe and help the child to learn and eventually overcome this process. To support this idea, the words of Macleod-Brudenell and Kay (2008, pp ) are replicated here: â€Å"The way the children develop emotionally and socially is of prime importance to an understand of healthy development and learning†. Another topic that has to be noticed is related to what Erikson defines as â€Å"Secondary Emotions†. At this stage, the child should be able to feel guilty, envy, shame and pride. These feelings must be dealt with extreme care to avoid traumas for the child. In terms of psychological subjects, some key aspects were briefly defined until this point. However, a â€Å"central and critical† (Macleod-Brudenell Kay, 2008) still must be defined: self-esteem. Coopersmith (1967:4) defines self-esteem as â€Å"a personal judgement of worthiness, which is expressed in the attitudes the individual holds towards himself†. Associated with self-esteem, it is possible to link the personal identity and self-evaluation of the child and the caregivers shall always promote and incentive the child? s self-esteem towards continuous improvement. A last point valid to observe is related to the development of friendship. Around 3 years old the child begins to have some playmates and usually associate this friendship with the activities involved in the environment of the childcare setting. Alongside peer friendships would come the need for the child to form emotional bonds with adults other than the parent/primary carer. After all these definitions, it is important to explain the steps the carers must take to ensure the child? s well-being in emotional and social terms, assuring the child will feel linked to the care setting and the transition from home is the most suave possible. The first point to be addressed is related to providing the appropriate emotional environment for the child to feel safe and free at the same time. The carer must provide the necessary security for the child, demonstrating as well the limits, or boundaries, that shall be determined. This safeness and freedom must be assured every time, to provide adequate uniformity and sureness of care. Additionally, the care shall be certain that the child may be protected from embarrassment and shame when he/she is inside the setting. As cited earlier, this attitude may traumatize the child and regress he/she to an earlier stage of development. The social and emotional developments are crucial for the child. The carers shall be liable to accompany this development process during all the time. It is important to provide feedback to parents and counselling in subjects that might need special attention. Signs of underdevelopment and difficulty to learn must be addressed all the time aiming to provide support for the child. This contact with parents will also help to maintain a continuity of care which will help the child to feel secure moving between home and daycare. In terms of â€Å"Secondary Emotions†, the carers must observe the feelings brought to the external environment. The child eventually will show strong reactions depending on the situation that has been provoked. The carers must have adequate ability to help the child to control these â€Å"Secondary Emotions† without interfere excessively on the way the child behaves. At this point it is important to establish that all the responses the caregivers must provide to the child aim to guarantee a sense of belonging from the child to the care setting. Protection and freedom, respect and confidence, improvement of self-esteem and friendship are tools essentials for the carer, considering the arduous task associated with caring about a child. As more advanced and developed the carer can be on the use of these insights, the higher the probabilities to achieve success in raising a toddler. A last point to be considered in this assignment is related to the current legislation about health and safety and the strategies being adopted by the governments to establish the standards for care settings facilities and staff. In this assignment, it shall be considered the â€Å"Convention on the Rights of The Child† from UNICEF (2005). This agreement is of universal application and has been used as the base for most of the important legislation about the children wellbeing. Accordingly to the Convention, important key points were defined aiming to cover all aspects related to physical and psychological child? s well-being. Considering the scope of this assignment, the Articles 27, 28 and 29 establish vital directives to be followed not only by the Government, but by everyone responsible for a child care. Ref In Article 27 it is well defined that â€Å"States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the childs physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development†. At this point, it is important to notice that in a childcare setting these directives must be observed in consonance with the Convention. In this assignment it has been defined some fundamental points that could provide the means to achieve such standard of living. The Article 27 goes beyond, determining actions in the directions of providing also material assistance for the child, including nourishing, housing and clothing. Moving on to the Articles 28 and 29, it is possible to encounter the directives related to the â€Å"childs personality, talents and mental and physical abilities†. Ref Likewise, the main focus of this assignment was to establish the child? s physical and psychological needs and action that caregivers should always adopt in the direction of accomplishing the appropriate child? s development. Finally, Article 29 still establishes that freedom, friendship and respect are memorable points to always be observed by the Nations. Ref In conclusion, all the subjects enlisted in this assignment could be explored in almost a limitless approach. However, it is important to notice that only the points considered to have straightforward application in a childcare setting were described. Beginning by defining the physical necessities in terms of basics themes involved in the daily basis of a setting, this assignment evolved in the direction of establishing what should be the abilities a caregiver should demonstrate to fulfil these necessities. The next topic focused on the psychological necessities of the child, in terms of emotional and social needs. These subjects are extensively explored in the specialized literature due to their fundamental prominence. Once more, the idea was to provide a brief explanation about the main points involved without consume all the possible concepts. The main focus in this assignment was to define the social and emotional needs and point some directions on actions caregivers could follow to be successful in provide the adequate responsiveness to a child at the childcare setting. As a final point, the legislation related to the child well-being was cited, more specifically the â€Å"Convention on the Rights of The Child†. In general terms, the Convention determines main directives for the children rights, but not all of them are applicable in this assignment. Some key points were selected, more precisely the Articles 27, 28 and 29. In this case, the articles selected provided a recognized base to this assignment, considering the fact that most of the subjects encircled by those articles were well discussed in this assignment.