Reaching milestones
A child’s development is a fascinating and complex process that begins in the womb. It includes various aspects such as physical, cognitive, and emotional growth stages. The individual developmental stages that children can—and, with healthy development, should—reach at a certain age are defined by so-called milestones. Whether and to what extent they reach these milestones depends on various factors. These include internal factors such as genes and hormones that guide development. External influences such as the environment and living conditions also play a role in children growing up. For example, parents’ level of education, poverty, or the quality and extent of media consumption can affect a child’s development. Parents and caregivers play important roles as attachment figures in a child’s development and can support and encourage it.
Physical development in children includes changes in height, weight, and motor skills. In the first years of life, children experience rapid growth. Key milestones in motor development include sitting, crawling, walking, jumping, climbing stairs, and balancing (balance control), as well as speaking. At school age, growth slows somewhat, but fine motor skills and coordination improve significantly.
Alongside motor skills, sensory abilities also continue to develop; together, they enable children to explore their environment and learn.
Cognitive development, often also referred to as mental or intellectual development, relates to thinking, learning, and, for example, problem-solving. Like physical development, cognitive development progresses step by step. An interesting developmental model was proposed by psychologist Jean Piaget.
Newborns and babies up to two years old, for example, are still strongly shaped by reflexes, but they already explore their environment with all their senses. As they get older, more complex behaviors increase, as children’s thinking and understanding—as well as their responses to experiences—become broader and more precise. They learn to think logically and abstractly, develop a growing imagination, and increasingly question connections.
Emotional intelligence—understanding and expressing emotions—is an essential part of child development. Children first have to learn to identify, understand, and respond appropriately to their own feelings and those of others.
Good to know
There are three qualities an attachment figure—parents or caregivers—should have for children to develop emotionally in a healthy way: familiarity, availability, and reliability. This means, for example, that the attachment figure is always available to the child (throughout the entire course of childhood development), regardless of where the child is. For instance, a longer-term absence (deprivation) of the attachment figure can negatively affect a child’s attachment behavior. This does not necessarily happen intentionally. Sometimes an illness—combined with a longer hospital stay—is the reason why the child and attachment figure cannot see each other regularly. In such cases, care should be taken to ensure that a (preferably familiar) person is present with the child, with whom they can build a relationship.
Parents and caregivers can make a major contribution to children developing in a healthy way. Their tasks include, among other things, creating the right environment and providing the resources children need as they grow up.
A child’s development is a multifaceted process with individual differences. Children generally go through similar developmental stages, but they do so at their own pace. Every child is an individual, so parents and caregivers should create an environment that supports their unique abilities and interests.
