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ARTS AND NATURE IN EMOTIONAL CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT All children are influenced by the experiences in their early childhood. Those who live in secured homes and communities filled with all the nurture and attentive caregivers evolve as stable individuals who are able to view the world as a relatively safe and exciting place to learn. Consistent, nurturing and enriching experiences support children in their development which increases their chances for health, happiness, productivity and creativity. Thus, it can be gleaned that positive early life experiences not only facilitate the childs intellectual development intellect but also stimulates the childs emotional and behavioral development. (Miranda et. al 1998).
Emotions and their expression are an important part of our behavior and a distinctive aspect of our personality. We can think of an emotion as a feeling accompanied by changes in motor or glandular activities. Some common emotions are jealousy, anger, love, anxiety, fear and joy. Emotional responses basically have two components: (1) a physiological component and (2) a cognitive component (Going and Dawson, 1978). The physiological component is called the autonomic nervous system response, abbreviated AND response. The autonomic nervous system controls bodily functions and such internal activities as glandular secretion, digestion, blood pressure, sweating, heart rate and body temperature.
The cognitive or central nervous system response, or the CNS response, constitutes the intellectual part of an emotion. It involves perception, awareness, knowledge and feeling. According to the Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre. Play nourishes every aspect of childrens development.
It forms the foundation of intellectual, social, physical and emotional skills which are essential for the success in school and in life. It actually paves the way for learning. Play that is done close to nature is the best in the emotional enhancement of children. This is why it is recognized that block building and sand and water play lay the foundation for logical mathematical thinking, scientific reasoning as well as cognitive problem solving. (Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Center). Defined as the capacity to form and maintain healthy emotional [and social] relationships, attachment bonds are initially formed during early childhood via interactions with parents or to other primary caregivers (Perry, n.
d. ). These bonds are considered to be the first and most valuable of all types of relationships since it delineate the childs capacity to set tone for all future relationships (Perry, n. d. ). Several psychologists and researchers like Erikson, Harlow, Ainsworth, and Bowlby claim that it is primordial for a child to yearn caring and social relationships (as cited in sparknotes, n. d. ). In effect, the presence or absence and the quality of relationships that a child receives become significant factors in determining childs emotional and social development as against the internal psychodynamics hypothesis of Sigmund Freud.
This contention was affirmed by Dr. Bruce Duncan Perry who believed that emotional attachment is significantly exhibited when the child receives responsive, attentive, and loving acts of caregiving (n. d. ). He continues that as the infant grows to become a toddler and acquainted with more people, i. e.
siblings, friends, neighbors, etc. , the capacity of the child to attain healthy and robust emotional [and social] relationships (Perry, n. d. ). One of the psychologists who focused their studies on childs attachment bond vis-a-vis with childs social and emotional development was John Bowlby. According to Dr. Bowlby's theory of infant attachment, the need of a child for comfort and security of adult figure is seen to be evolutionary advantageous because it helped keep a child from engaging to precarious conditions (as cited in sparknotes, n. d. ).
Bowlby also observed that children become distressed in the absence of their caregiver while feel comforted in the presence of their caregiver (as cited in sparknotes, n. d. ). According to Dr. Novella J. Ruffin, Department of Education licensed school psychologist of Virginia State University, actions such as cooing, kicking, gurgling, smiling, crying, and laughing are manifestations of childs early attachment behaviors (2001).
Dr. Ruffin (2001) continued that as early as one month infants can show attachment behaviors in the form of anxiety such as irregular eating or sleeping patterns especially in the situations when they are cared by a person they are not familiar with. If ability could be developed simply by exposing the child to opportunity in rich environment, there would be little need to fret about identifying high potential. Ability being presented could seize upon opportunity and flower accordingly in time. In such a situation schools would have only to offer a wealth of challenge and a variety of stimulating learning experiences. The able youngsters would do the rest.
The arts and nature play an important part in the development of a childs emotions and thus sets him / her ready to face the world. Educators and experts are now concerned about potential that is not realized, or emotions wasted in low level pursuits, about drab lives spreading out before children who might live more richly, and about unfilled needs in society demanding more top level competences than are apparently at hand. Failure to identify young people with hidden but genuine potential may result in denying them the opportunity which is equal in its challenge to less demanding opportunities presented to less able contemporaries. The democratic ethos does not require foregoing efforts to identify ability. It requires that we look below the surface and give full value to ability that may be submerged in unequal environments.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund reports on The Pursuit of excellence states well the issue of democracy in the identification of students with exceptional ability: Parents naturally desire the best for their children; they pour all their love and attention so that their kids may grow into excellent individuals someday. Given the kind of parenting trends nowadays, the world may be witnessing smarter babies and smarter kids -- a movement which may extend through the future. Todays alacrity to enhance the process of growth is perhaps notched up a little higher than the past generations. It does not mean, however, that parents before invested less or cared less for their childrens proper growth. What is perceptibly different now is that parents obsess more in securing the bright future that their children must face, by striving to turn their babies into prodigies who will eventually grow into genius adults with greater leverage in this increasingly competitive world. Childrens educational toys and art play are not anymore new.
Lego, Play-Doh and Sesame Street have long served as both educational and entertainment materials to several generations of children already. Maria Montessori promoted that learning and education need not be forced fed on children but can in fact be carried out in the form of play. Children can learn, interact and have fun at the same time. What is new is that child-enrichment products now have a complete line purely designed for babies. Pioneering products include Baby Einstein and Baby Plus, an educational video and a prenatal sound-delivery system strapped into the abdomen pregnant moms. Once considered as caprices, child-enrichment products are now so prevalent that business had burgeoned into an enormous industry that includes Warner Brothers and the Mattel.
These two giant firms finally released their own versions of educational entertainment and toys to cater to the lucrative market. Robert Bradley and Bettye Caldwell recommended provisions of appropriate play material in support of their research on stimulation and cognitive ability. Thus, are edutainment materials today the ideal play material for a childs optimum development? For many who doubt the edutainment claims, the answer is a big no; of course, the opposite is true for parents and scientists who are quite satisfied with edutainment's results. Harvard Medical School professor, Charles Nelson stressed, There is no proof of the value of the early-enrichment toys and videos in terms of brain science (Quart). A greater issue involves the possible detriment of edutainment products to a childs development.
Sometimes there are critics who still find fault in this such as the several groups who were criticized for the educational videos which they claim foster inactivity among children, thereby discouraging interaction with the outside world in preference to indoor and inactive entertainment. (Bradley & Caldwell). Nevertheless, there is no denying that art and nature are valuable tools for facilitating childrens emotional development. Childrens concepts and emotions can and do develop anywhere, any time and parents and teachers can offer environments, materials and nature experiences both at home and in school. References Bradley, Robert H. and Bettye M. Caldwell.
The Relation of Infants Home Environment to Mental Test Performance at 54 Months: A Follow-up Study. Child Development. 47. 4 (Dec 1976): 1172 - 1174. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from < web site? site = 0009 - 3920 (197612) 47 % 3 A 4 % 3 C 1172 % 3 ATROIHE% 3 E 2. 0. CO% 3 B 2 - 1 > Child Development Institute. Stages of Intellectual Development in Children and Teenagers. 2006.
Retrieved April 2, 2008, from < web development / play -child-development. htm> Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre. Let the Children Play: Natures Answer to Early Learning. Nov. 8, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from web cca. ca/CCL/Reports/LessonsInLearning/LinLearninPla y.
htm Miranda, L. , Arthur, A. , Milan, T. , Mahoney, O. , and Perry, B. D. , The art of healing: The Healing Arts Project, Early Childhood Connections, Journal of Music- and Movement-Based Learning, 4: 4, 35 - 40, 1998. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from web Perry, B. (n. d. ).
Attachment: The First Core Strength. Early Childhood Today. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from web Sparknotes. (n. d. ).
Attachment and Early Caregiving. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from web rhyme Ruffin, N. (2001). Understanding Growth and Development Patterns of Infants. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from web
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Research essay sample on Arts And Nature In Emotional Childhood Development
