Childhood Development and Nutrition

Childhood Development and Nutrition

A child’s development begins in the mother’s womb so an expecting mother diet must consist of healthy nutritious meals.   Likewise, children must receive appropriate nourishment following birth.   Furthermore, children should get the proper health-care, education and live in a safe environment.   This is crucial because it helps to assist in the development of children’s cognitive, physical and emotional wellbeing.
There are several developmental theories that focus on children’s development, such as, the cognitive theory.   Piaget’s cognitive theory focuses on the development of the mental processes.   Piaget believed that cognitive development began with the natural capability to adapt to the environment.   According to Piaget, children adapt to their environment through assimilation which takes place when children incorporate new information into knowledge that is already available, and accommodation which is the process of how children adjust to the new information.   (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008)
Behaviorism a developmental theory began with Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov believed that behavior could be conditioned.   Also, he realized that he can condition a dog by the ringing of a bell.   Consequently, when he rang a bell the dogs will expect food, and when they became conditioned to hearing the bell they would begin to salivate in expectation for food even if the food were not present.   Pavlov referred to this behavior as classical conditioning.   In classical conditioning, children automatically respond to a certain stimuli.   (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008)
American psychologist B.F. Skinner who worked largely with rats and pigeons put together the principles of operant conditioning.   In operant conditioning a behavior will increase if it is followed by positive reinforcement and it will decrease if it is followed by punishment.   For example, I go everyday to a job I don’t like because I am aware that...