Each developmental stage that exists, brings about more exciting growth and change in a

person’s life. Humans, by nature, are continually evolving and adapting to their surroundings

and childhood development is no different. Development in children is classified into five

growth periods accordingly. Infancy, Early Childhood, Preschool Age, Middle Childhood,

Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood. It is important to note that each stage brings about a

more complex being in physical, cognitive and social aspects. While there are some

milestones that occur by nature, there are others that occur by nurture, both set the foundation

for our lives and set us up to be rational and functional adults. I have experienced the first

four stages of childhood development and am in the midst of the last stage.

I believe that everyone will go through stages in their life that will get them to where they are

on today. I am a person who has a very interesting story. I will be walking you though my life

using each one of his stages drawing out the map of my life. Not only that, because of this

assignment topic, I am now able to contemplate each milestone and begin to better

understand how I arrived at who I am today.

My name is Sharmila Thevi, and I was born on 7th December 1997 at 9.54 am morning on

Sunday. My weight, when I was born is 3.8 kilograms. I was born in normal delivery way. I

am the fourth and the youngest child in my family. I have three siblings that is two brothers

and one sister. In term of biological determinants my mom told me that I look like my father.

My eyes colour is black, and my hair is a bit wavy follows my father. Apart from that, my

height I follow my father side because my father side all of them are short compares to my

mother side. Other than that, I’m a left-handed person this is because my grandfather of

fathers is a left-handed person. In addition, I am short and round just like my father and also

my face similar to my father.

The first stage of development is infancy. Infancy is the period from birth through year one

and during this time, many significant milestones are met. Significant physical, cognitive and

social growth occurs during a child’s first year and if natural markers are not met, a child

could suffer severe consequences.

After I had interviewed my parents, they said that physically I grew at a rapid pace and also

gained weight equally as fast. Cognitively, my brain could recognize my mother’s voice, and

I could even read her facial expressions. I began to smile and steps towards locomotion were

made like crawling and pulling myself up to help me stabilize myself. During this stage my

parents stated that I was having secure feeling with people around me. My parents both are

working thus I was taken care by my grandma since birth. So, I assume there is a consistency,

and I probably could develop the sense of trust with my grandma. So, I assume there is a

consistency, and I probably could develop the sense of trust with my grandma. My parents

also start realizing that I am at the state of the dependent to my grandma who responds to my

need. Probably this is how I begin to distinguish myself from others.

For the most part, every milestone I encountered was expected in normal growth. I began to

teethe and was always ahead of my weight and height goal in terms of months. By the end of

year one, I had begun to speak basic words like “mama and papa” and was on the boundary

of walking on my own. According to my parents, I was stopped from breast milk within the

first month of being born. Not only that, I was not a habitual thumb sucker. During my

Infancy period, a few things happened were unexpected. One thing that happened to me was

having to be treated multiple times for jaundice. In addition to jaundice, I had frequent and

reoccurring ear infections that eventually required tubes. Ultimately, this stage was crucial in

setting up further development.

Early childhood stage occurs between the ages of 18 months to approximately 3 years. At this

stage a child is beginning to develop physically and becoming more mobile, and discovering

that he or she has many skills and abilities, such as putting on clothes and shoes, playing with

toys and many more. Such skills illustrate the child's growing sense of independence and

autonomy.

During this stage my parents said that starts to develop different interests. I showed interest in

playing with a ball or in listening to music when TV is played. By the age of 18 to 20 months,

I begin to use toys in specific and appropriate ways. My mom said when I was one year most

of the time I assume that the ball is for throwing, and the toy car is for pushing. Within six

months, symbolic play begins, and I start to use blocks to build garages for my toy cars. Not

only that, the type of environment also has strong effects on to develop my interests. For

example, my parents frequently take me and my siblings to parks nearby during weekends.

So the outdoor environment developed my interests in animals, birds and plants.

My parents motivated to create a conducive environment so that I won’t develop a sense of

shame and doubt in myself. When I was interviewing my parents, they mentioned that they

kept a tight balance between encouragements and limitation. So, on one end the safety is

ensuring and on the other I have the optimum chances of learning from my environment.

Furthermore, my parents added that after sometime during this second stage I have identified

myself as a person with my own desires and abilities that is leads to independent. I like to do

things without the help of my parents. So, my parents give the chance to learn and practice

new things.

Preschool age is the third stage of psychosocial development. It is around three to six years of

age when this role must be established. It's the time in life when children first get a chance to

take the initiative through play. Children of the play ages are usually in preschool for at least
part of every weekday. If not, they can still move through this stage successfully if they have

opportunities to play with other children often. They begin developing interpersonal skills

because they're now old enough to play with other children. Therefore, it is duty of parents

and caregivers to solve this crisis and challenge to get the balance right between giving young

children enough space and encouragement so as to foster a sense of purpose and confidence,

but to protect against danger.

After I explained my parents about this stage they directly shared a few situations where I had

a very good imagination and I love to initiate interesting type of play. My parents constantly

encouraged me and gave me the space and freedom to play. For example, my mom told me a

situation where we went to a zoo during weekends. Suddenly I roar loudly, pretending to be a

lion after seeing a lion at the zoo, the other children become scared and my parents started to

laugh. Not only that, my parents also said that I begin to be friendly at my kindergarten. I

begin to make friends, and I love to play in a group and will be very happy and satisfied to

play with my friends. Engaging with my friends in activities helped me to develop a symbolic

play and imagination.

The fourth stage is middle childhood. This takes place around the age of six to eleven years

old. Based on my life story, my mom told that during primary level I am little weak in

mathematics subject. When I first time, saw the numbers mixed with unfamiliar signs and

symbols I felt confused. The first question streaked in my mind is “What in the world does

this all mean, and how am I ever going to learn it?” My mom, my teacher and my friends

guide me along the way, in the right environment with appropriate support, and I slowly

improved my mathematics. During social interactions with peers, I discover that my abilities

are better than those of my friends or that my talents are highly prized by others.
The fifth stage where one is supposed to achieve their identity from the ages of twelve to

eighteen which is adolescence. Based on my life story, when I’m in adolescence, or the

period of life between childhood and adulthood I begin to change and rebel. I explored new

ideas about myself and my place in the world. I displayed the adolescent psychosocial crisis

that will either lead to identity, or knowing who am I and what I believes, or to role

confusion, or not being sure of who I am or what I believes. My mom discovered that I

started to explore and experiment with different aspects of myself. I dress differently, dying

my hair after school life, making up my own mind about college and other aspects of her life.

These are all part of my inner self, my psychology, which is the first part of psychosocial.

Emerging adulthood taking place between adolescence and young adulthood. Emerging

adulthood occurs during the transition period from adolescence to adulthood. They use this

period as an opportunity for identity exploration, trying out different roles and engaging in

different experiences, particularly in the domains of work, love, and worldview.

I'm a 22 year-old a university student who lives almost entirely off of my parent's welfare.

For the last several years, I've felt a pressure it might be a biological or a social pressure to

get out from under the yoke of my parents' financial assistance. I feel that only when I'm able

to support myself financially will I be a true "adult. Money really matters because past a

certain age it is the main determiner of what you can and cannot do. And I guess to me the

freedom to choose all "the things" in your life is what makes someone an adult.

In conclusion, after learning the different phases of childhood development, from Infancy to

Emerging Adulthood, I am better able to organize my growth accordingly. I now understand

my previous developmental milestones and can see how they have moulded me into the

person I am today. However, parents can do many things to ensure their child's

developmental process is successful such as, developing a positive bond with their child,
surrounding their child with positive influences and encouraging family and friends, and

attending child development support groups if need be. Since children truly are the future of

any society, it is important that each community recognizes the proper steps that need to be

taken in order to ensure each and every child is given the opportunity to develop properly.

Overall, early childhood development is an extremely important issue which needs to gain

recognition. Every parent needs to understand and be aware of how crucial the first several

years of their child's life is. They should not hesitate to research or ask for help on this topic

if they need.

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