Child Development Health Reflections on Whole Child

¶ … CHILD" DEVELOPMENT

Health

Reflections on "Whole Child" Development

Reflection on "Whole Child" Development

My current thinking regarding the importance of helping the "whole child" develop is that it is essential and that this theory should be applied in a way that it is more widespread. The "whole child" theory is one of the theories that made the most sense to me and it made sense almost immediately. Having had a chance to understand it further, I think that it should be a theory to which all teachers and educators should be exposed. I do not think that one domain is more important than the other, but I do think that there are some cultures that are suffering in one or more areas over others, in a general way. For example, in American culture in the 21st century, I would argue that there is significant deficiency in emotional intelligence -- likely caused in part by the increased and sometimes excessive use of social media for communication and the large consumption of Internet pornography -- both of which are inadequate substitutes for human interaction and personal contact.

Some of the assumptions or misconceptions about child development that I brought into the course were that there was not much more to learn that was fairly new or recent. I knew that new theories or modern theories of child development were present in the 21st century, but I was unaware of how much new information and new perspectives were a part of child development theories today. Theories of the whole child, multiple intelligences, and things such as experiential learning really opened my eyes and diversified my thinking regarding the methods and approaches at the disposal of teachers/educators today. I additionally thought that there was less overlap among theories of development for special, normative, and gifted children. Modern and experienced teachers who are not as current in the theories and practices of child development often argue that children at different levels must be taught differently, strictly. That was a misconception that dissipated for me over the course. There are far more similarities among children of different levels than there are differences.

One "ah, ha!" moment I had was in relation to adults, rather than relation to children. I thought about all the imbalanced and frankly, screwed up, adults that I know or encounter on a daily basis, and how a child development course for them or for their teachers would have gone a long way into making them more healthy. The epiphany was how great an impact proper and balanced child development can have upon us at all stages of human development.

After several weeks of child development coursework, I am still further interested in very early development, from birth to 5 years old, and adolescence. I have always been interested in very young children and adolescents. I additionally have a lot of sympathy for adolescents in the 21st century because of social media, and really, the kind of world we live in overall. I always felt that teenagers often got a bad rap or had lots of negative stereotypes unnecessarily projected onto them, as well as that a lot of issues that adults have often stem from those periods of development. I am interested in teaching preschool and high school as well, so that is one way my interest intersects with my professional goals.