Conception

Life begins with conception. A woman normally produces one egg cell each month, roughly two weeks after the last menstrual period. This egg can then be fertilized if sexual intercourse takes place while the egg is in the fallopian tube. Fertilization means that the genetic material in the sperm joins with the genetic material in the egg to start new life.

Pregnancy

Pregnancy is the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing foetus in her uterus.

Pregnancy begins when a sperm penetrates an egg. One to one and a half days later, the single fertilized cell begins to divide, after two or three days there are enough cells to make the fertilised egg the size of a pin head. The collection of cells
Children can still be expected to make mistakes with their grammar. At 5 years children can speak using full adult grammar. Vocabulary will continue to develop through their whole lives.

Social Development for newborn and infants occurs while interacting with carers because they seem to have an in-built tendency to interact with carers. By 2 months they may start smile at human faces, at 3 months infants will respond when adults talk, at five months infants can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. Infants make their first relationships as they form an emotional attachment to carers. In the later stages of infancy, infants will play alongside other children.

Bowlby (1953) argued that infants have an in-built need to form an attachment with a carer. The quality of this attachment may affect emotional development for the rest of the child’s life.

Childhood

During this stage children grow steadily but extremely rapidly during infancy. By the age of six, a child's head will be ninety per cent of adult, even though the body still has a lot of growing to do. Reproductive organs remain small until the onset of puberty. Children's practical abilities continue: at the age of two, children may be able to run and climb stairs one step at a time, by age four children may be able to kick and throw objects, by age six or seven, a child may be able to skip and ride a bicycle. The pre-operational stage ( pre-logic ages 2-7)