Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century: Environmental Effects on a Child’s Development

The environment in which a child grows up plays a crucial role in how the child develops. The child mainly learns through interactions with their environment and with other people. This is how they learn to solve problems, socialize, adopt good habits and develop the necessary motor skills and strength to function properly.

A child's development is influenced by a wide range of factors that are governed by both nature and nurture. Understanding some of these factors can help parents address their child's needs.

The information mentioned below can help one learn more about the role of the environment in child development.

1.Family

Parents who spend quality time with their children create a secure bond with their children and hence the child grows with the secure attachment and confidence. The time you invest in nurturing your child will show in his/her positive development and growth.

While conflict occurs in all families, children in families with high levels of discord are at risk of developmental damage. Parents who work together to raise their children and don't undermine each other's parenting have offspring who do better. Parents who struggle to reach this balance have children who may become fearful or anxious, and who may find it hard to focus on learning.

2. Physical environment

A child's early home environment has a profound effect on their well-being. Beginning in infancy, a problematic home environment can disrupt the brain's stress response system, reduce the quality of caregiving a child receives, and interfere with healthy development. Unpleasant surroundings often cause children to block out or bury negativity, making them more introverted.

As a parent, it is your responsibility to identify which school is most suited to your child's needs. Further, keeping yourself updated with your child's school activities, meeting their teachers regularly and interacting with their peers and their parents is the mark of a good, concerned parent.

Brain imaging research suggests that growing up in a disadvantaged environment causes the brain to develop differently.

3.Financial situation

It's not a surprise that money is a deciding factor when it comes to living comfortably. It has been well established that the privilege of wealth is real and that it has a greater impact on childhood development than education. For instance, rich parents can afford to spend more time with their children and poorer parents are too caught up in making ends meet to have the privilege of quality time. Wealth also helps secure better academic training, opportunities for travel, extra classes, and so on.

Family income and economic circumstances have a powerful effect on a children's development. Like other risk factors, low family income affects children mainly by affecting their home environments and the parenting they receive in ways that hinder optimal development. Income-related differences in parenting appear early. For instance, lower-income mothers are, on average, less affectionate, less responsive to their infants' distress signals, and more likely to have harsh parenting styles. In poor and low-income families, the home environment is more likely to be chaotic, and parents are more likely to be stressed and unresponsive. They show less sensitivity and provide less cognitive stimulation. Poor children have fewer stimulating experiences and learning materials than higher-income children. The effects are apparent in the early years and often last into adulthood. Low-income

children, even in the first three years of life, are more likely to have lower cognitive scores and

increased behavioural problems.

4. Nutrition

Child malnutrition includes under-nutrition and over-nutrition, both of which are deficiency diseases caused by inadequate nutrition (Ge & Chang 2001). During childhood, under-nutrition causes children to have less energy and less interest for learning, which negatively influences cognitive development and academic performance. Under-nutrition will also affect physical growth and maturation, thus affecting the growth rate, body weight and ultimately, height. Evidence suggests that the timing of nutritional deficiencies can also significantly affect growth and development.