The Mt Kenya Times 
By: Wanjohi. P. Mugambi
Worth Noting:
- The more and more information the child receives from his own body, his perception, his physical motor activities, he understands the world better. Whatever the child does from his birth to pre-school stage, does lay foundation not only for later physical motor skills, but also for cognitive progresses and social-emotional and aesthetic development as well.
- Therefore, interrelatedness among all the aspects of growth and development should always be recognised. We need to know the children with keener insight and have a clear understanding of how they develop and learn in these early years so that we will have a point of departure for planning, administering and sypervising a solid base on which to make our appropriate decisions.
Manifestations of physical growth and development range from those at the molecular level such as the activation of enzymes in the course of differentiation the complex interplay of metabolic and physical changes associated with puberty and adolescence. Neurodevelopmental processes, such as the acquisition of basic gross and fine motor skills, depend to a great extent on maturation of neural structures, but they may be profoundly modified by the environment and by experience. Cognitive growth and development depends on both genetic and environmental factors. In early infancy this process may be difficult to differentiate from neurologic and behavioural maturation. In later infancy and childhood, cognitive and intellectual functions are increasingly measured by communicative skills and by the ability to handle abstract and symbolicmaterial
The psychosocial development of the child integrates all of the foregoing in a process that incorporates genetic constitution, cognition, and experience into the continuing and ultimate definition of the individual as a unique person and personality
Genetic factors may set limits to biologic potential, but these are intimately interwoven with the environment.
Physical trauma may be prenatal or postnatal, nutritional, chemical, residual from infection, or immunologic.
Nutritional factors may reflect primarily socioeconomic realities. Social and emotional factors affecting growth potential include the sex of the child, the position of the child in the family, the quality of interaction of the infant of child with siblings, parents and others, the personal concerns and needs of the parents, and the child rearing patterns of the parents and of the community.
Cultural considerations may either limit or expand the range of behaviour of children by establishing conventional expectations and may alter the schedule for acquisition of skills, such as sitting or walking, which were once regarded as depending almost entirely on maturation. Politics and culture are closely related, in as much as the political life of any community provides the arena in which public priorities are set, including those that may have profound effects on children.
The experience of each child is unique, and the patterns of development may be profoundly different for individual children within the broad limits that designate normality. Patterns of physical growth and development, for example have such variability that they can often be expressed only in statistical terms.
So long as the fetus is inside the mother’s womb it receives food materials directly from the nutrients of the mother’s blood stream. These nutrients are obtained from her food through the process of digestion. They are absorbed and carried to the placenta by her blood stream which then passes to the fetal circulation. Hence, it is very essential to keep the mother in proper diet by providing her with essential nutritious food. This would be perhaps the only right step to look to the development of the child (fetus) during the prenatal period.
These two terms “growth” and “development” are sometimes confusing. Many people use these two terms interchangeably. In reality these two terms “growth” and “development” mean different aspects Growth, in the strict sense, refers to measurable quantities such as weight and height whereas development refers to the process of functional maturation, that is, maturation of the roles played by the body’s systems, in its purest sense.
‘Troth does not restrict its reference only to outward physical growth but that of internal organs like brain. Hence it is both physical and mental. But development by contrast, refers to “qualitative changes”.)
As Anderson has not emphasised “Nor is development merely a matter of adding inches to stature or ability to ability, instead, it is a complex process of integrating many structures and functions.” In the views of Hurlock “It may be defined as a progressive series of orderly coherent changes.”Progressive” signifies that the changes are directional, that they lead forward rather than backward.
“Orderly” and “Coherent” suggest that there is a definite relationship between a given stage and the stages which precede or follow it.” It is the emerging and broadening of the child’s ability to function on a higher level, whether in the psychomotor, cognitive or affective domains of human behaviour. It is impossible to separate these three areas of human behaviour from one another due to unity of man. It is rather inappropriate to try to perpetuate development in one domain separately.
The more and more information the child receives from his own body, his perception, his physical motor activities, he understands the world better. Whatever the child does from his birth to pre-school stage, does lay foundation not only for later physical motor skills, but also for cognitive progresses and social-emotional and aesthetic development as well.
Therefore, interrelatedness among all the aspects of growth and development should always be recognised. We need to know the children with keener insight and have a clear understanding of how they develop and learn in these early years so that we will have a point of departure for planning, administering and sypervising a solid base on which to make our appropriate decisions.
The rates growth with individual children are not the same. They grow and develop at their own rate. These rates vary due to various reasons which are discussed later. Hence at Pre-schools stage we get children with different ability level. Even though theories very little to be done about the maturational component of the process, teachers and care takers can influence the experience component very well.
All movements occur in space and involve an element of time and the development of these structures in considered basic to efficient functioning in variety of other areas. Hence while planning physical and motor activities in Pre-school Education it is essential to enhance the child’s knowledge of his/her spatial world by means of getting his/her involved in movement activities designed to his/her body awareness, directional awareness and spatial awareness.
If we look to the condition of Physical Education in our formal schools now we can very well mark its place in the curriculum. Even though it is very essential to contribute towards proper growth and development of the child it still remains as a neglected subject.
Children who are supported by physical education are usually those who are well developed physically and motorically, moving forward to be future promising school athletes, whereas most of the students try to avoid this and become poorly developed. It is also very easy to escape physical education classes in the school as it finds least place in school curriculum.
In words we give much importance to physical education by saying “a sound mind rests in a sound physique.” But in practice, no tangible steps are taken in formal schools to provide adequate opportunity to the children for having proper physical growth and development.
Hence teachers of young children should recognise the need of such an education and put emphasis on these activities to enhance both fine and gross motor skills with children to expedite proper growth and development.
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