Unit 1: Children and Society/Introduction to Working with Infants and Young Children
1. Defining Childhood
It is the time or period between infancy and adolescence. This time is characterised by rapid growth, rapid learning and a mystery of skills necessary for survival and everyday life.
2. Preparation in becoming a parent (challenges and rewards)
Challenges: Losing sleep, free time, doesn't know how to handle the child, no more social life.
Rewards: Proud feeling when the child successfully achieves a developmental milestone.
3. Roles of a Parent
Provide basic necessities of life, they also provide love, care guidance and opportunity for building self esteem
Help the child to learn things, and provide them with knowledge to be successful in life.
Teach them how to interact with people outside of his/her personal bubble.
4. Parenting Skills
Patients
Responsibility
Cautious
Loving
Great listener/communicator
Understanding/great at interpreting
5. Interacting with Children
People who work with children require special skills and knowledge.
Knowledge of child development (physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually) is essential for understanding their potential development.
Specific skills include: encouragement, listening problem solving, decision-making, leadership, and guidance.
These skills are necessary when working with children of all ages.
Perhaps the most important skill when working with children is the ability to interact with children in a way that makes them feel comfortable and worthy of the caregiver’s attention.
6. Developmental Theorists: Freud, Pavlov, Ainsworth, Thomas & Chess, Bronfenbrenner, B.F. Skinner, Piaget
Piaget - Ages & Stages (fundamental concepts learned in at different ages and stages of development)
Erikson - Psychosocial development - 8 stages, resolution of stages are based on how an individual deals with the crisis
Pavlov - Classical Conditioning
Thomas & Chess - 3 different types of children, temperaments
Bronfenbrenner - Bioecological Model
B.F. Skinner - Operant Conditioning
7. Why/How we study Children
1. Observation - record what is seen and heard when observing children.
2. Participatory Observation - play or interact with children while observing them.
3. Personal Interview - talk to an expert about children or talk to the children themselves, if they are old enough to understand.
4. Survey - ask several people the same questions about children.
5. Phenomenology (Life Story) - listen to someone describe a unique experience with children.
6. Historical Research - research information about children in historical documents or archives.
7. Official Statistics - research government records or research findings about children.
8. Review of the Literature - summarize what a number of authors/theorists have written about children.

Unit 2: Growth and Development
1. Early Learning Experiences & Stimulation
Helps baby to learn and adapt to the environment around him/her.

2. Areas of development
Social:
Definition: Learning to relate to other people.
Emotional:
Definition: The process of learning to recognize and express feeling.
Intellectual:
Definition: The process of learning to think, remember, understand, reason and use language.
Physical:
Definition: The increasing ability to control and co-ordinate body movements.
Moral;
Definition: Process of learning standards of right and wrong.

3. Environmental Risks that may impact the growth and development of a child: smoking, alcohol, malnutrition, poverty, and abuse/neglect

Nutrition needed:
Iron
Fluoric acid
Calcium
Vitamin D
Essential Fatty Acid
4. Preconception & Prenatal Health
Goal:
To Reduce:
Still births
Birth defects
Low birth weight babies ( below 2500g/5lb 8oz)
Premature births (before 37 weeks)

5. Functions of Family
Addition of new members through procreation or adoption
A society must maintain a stable population to