KS1g: The role of families as the primary context for young children's development, including the importance of parents' expectations for their children, and how young children's development is affected by and affects parents, siblings, and extended family
Evidence 1: Infant and Toddler Development, PSY 2020, Community College of Vermont, Summer 2003, Transcript
Description: This course provided a study of development from conception through age two. Cognitive, social, emotional, and physical aspects of development were studied. Developmental theories and their practical application were studied.
Analysis: Family systems theory provides a useful approach to understanding the family as an ever-developing and changing social unit in which members constantly have to accommodate and adapt to each other's demands. Demands also come from outside of the family system as well and must be responded to. The influence that family members have on each other is not one-way, but is instead interactive and reciprocal.
Evidence 2: Family Process, FCD 310, Southern Virginia University, Fall 2008, Transcript
Description: This course was a study of marital and family processes - such as generations, emotions, communication, conflict, sexual intimacy, and rituals - as families develop across major life transitions such as marriage, parenting, divorce, and remarriage. Attention is given to the development of healthy family processes.
Analysis: In this class we learned about many systems that can affect the development of a child within his/her family. The microsystem is the part of a child's environment that most immediately affects a person, and would include, family, school or workplace. A mesosystem is the link between the family and the immediate neighborhood and community, and would include parent-teacher interactions or employment practices that affect the family. The exosystem is the part of the environment that includes the broader components of the community that affect the functioning of the family, and include governmental agencies and mass media. Lastly, the macrosystem is the broadest environment that includes cultural, political and economic forces that affect families.
Evidence 3: Development of the Young Child: 3-5, PSY 2025, Community College of Vermont, Fall 2003, Transcript
Description: This course provided a study of development of the young child from ages three to five. Cognitive, social, emotional and physical aspects of development were studied. Developmental theories and their practical application were studied.
Analysis: The family introduces children to the physical world through opportunities it provides for play and exploration of objects. It also creates unique bonds between people. The attachments formed between parent, child and sibling usually lasts a lifetime, and these relationships serve as models for the relationships in the wider world of neighborhood, school and community. At all ages children and adolescents turn to family members for assistance and pleasurable interaction. Warm, gratifying family ties predict psychological well-being throughout development. In contrast, isolation or alienation from the family is often associated with developmental problems.
