HS1005
Environmental Influences

Throughout this assignment I will be discussing the development of a four year old child. With the support of relevant theories including the work of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson, I will discuss the environmental influences that promote the physical, cognitive and psychosocial development of a four year old child. I will also review the importance of play in the child’s development and propose an activity of play that would enhance the child’s development.

In the world of a four year old child there is a lot of changing. For in the fourth year in most western societies this is the time they will most commonly begin attending kindergarten/preschool. Energetic and imaginative best
With the typical sibling relationship, most will be throughout the first few years fuelled by competition for their mothers love and attention. Petty bickering is usually the outcome of most quarrels, but the intervention by the mother who does not wish to witness her children fighting offers as a lesson in understanding another’s feelings and emotions and finding compromise. In contrast, a relationship where love and support is offered to each other through a partnership gained through understanding and shared experience, offers the psychosocial competencies required for building and nurturing friendships (Kramer & Conger, 2009).

The balance of support and conflict offered in a four year old child’s relationship with their sibling, provides a unique opportunity to develop social cognitive and behavioural competencies that are linked to managing conflict and anger on one hand and providing support and nurturance on the other (Kramer & Conger, 2009). Perhaps then the balance of support and conflict in the sibling relationship may exert a positive effect in promoting psychosocial competence outside of the home, where they will need to utilise these skills in preschool to build new friendships.

Cognitive development is the patterns of change in mental