ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How Can Parents Help in a Child's Growth and Development?

Updated on August 8, 2016

Child development refers to the physical, psychological and emotional changes that occur in a child from the time of birth to the end of adolescence. At this time, children learn from their family and the surrounding environment. The development is often put into categories based on the age, such as:

  • Newborn: 0-4 weeks.
  • Infant: 4 weeks to 1 year.
  • Toddler: 1-3 years.
  • Preschool: 3-6 years.
  • School-aged: 6-13 years.
  • Adolescent: 13-19 years.

At each stage of childhood development, the role of the parents is very important because they act as a guide and a friend for their kid. Also, the decisions that they make at this time can have critical impacts on the rest of the child’s life.

Why is Child Development Important?

According to the Australian Early Development Census, the emotional and physical well-being of a human being has its roots in childhood. If things go right in the early stages, we can expect the children to excel throughout their life. If the parenting is, however, is found missing in some aspects, the child could fail to gain self-confidence, interpersonal skills and much more that could lead to them expiring a tough time in life, starting with the school itself.

Appropriate experiences at the right time are the key to good child development. This is a very crucial time for the parents as well. For the first time, they are introduced to a more responsible world. Parenthood brings a lot of changes in an individual. It is very important to bond with your kid, since it lays the foundation for a better future. In one of his articles, James J. Heckman mentioned that learning begins at infancy. Indeed, it does. Parents need to take the responsibility and lay a good foundation for their child's development. Here is how parents can ensure the ideal development for their kids.

Take Care of Eating Habits

In a report published by the WHO, more than 6 million children under the age of 5 died in 2012 worldwide. This number comes down to 750 children every hour. India has 444 million children under the age of 18 years, which is more than the combined population of North America (United States, Mexico and Canada) put together. This number also represents 37% of total population of the country.

About 27 million babies are born in India every day but 2 million of them don't make it past their fifth years. The major reason for this is malnutrition, which results in about one third of the deaths. Out of these, two thirds of the deaths are caused by inappropriate feeding practices during the first year of life.

A balanced diet plays a major role in building a child's immunity soon after birth and even later in life. It makes them physically fit and helps them achieve optimal growth. So, as soon as your child begins to eat solids, make sure to include plenty of fruits and vegetables in their diet.

Invest in Their Future

As a parent, we all want to see our children happy and secure. All the hard work we put in at work and the trouble we go through is only to ensure a bright future for our little ones. But, there are some extra initiatives that have to be taken to make sure that when life hits you hard, you hold your ground firm.

Unfortunately, only 1% of the people in India with an annual income of more than Rs. 3 lakhs protect their families by opting for insurance. Opting for life insurance, health insurance or term insurance is a big step towards your child's future security. For example, term insurance gives you short term coverage with the investment of as little as Rs. 30,000 per year. Many insurance companies has made it easier to understand various plans to secure your child's future.

Every parent ensures the growth of their child but a responsible parent ensures that the development doesn't stop even if they are no longer around to take care of their children. Are you one of them?

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)