Social and Emotional Development of Children from Birth to Sixteen Years

Q1a) Briefly outline the social and emotional development of children from birth to sixteen years and the influences that might affect their development?


Social development is the child’s personal identity, their relationships with others from all age ranges, backgrounds and also the understanding of the culture, way of life of the society in which they live.


Emotional development is a child’s knowledge, increasing awareness and control of their own feelings and how they react to their feelings within any situation. It is also the involved of the development of self-image, identity and the growth of feelings towards other people.


      Home, school and community life are made upon the foundations of social, emotional and behavioural skills.

      There are five main social and emotional areas of learning, which are:
    ➢ Self-awareness.
    ➢ Managing feelings.
    ➢ Motivation.
    ➢ Empathy.
    ➢ Social skills.

These then break down into two sections:
    ➢ Personal skills (self-awareness).
    ➢ Inter-personal skills (social skills).














|Age               |Social Development                                 |Emotional Development                                     |
|Birth–1mth       |Stops crying when picked up or are spoken to.     |Expressions are vague but becoming more alert.           |
|                 |Will imitate facial expressions.                   |Gazes intently at whom are holding them.                 |
|                 |When the baby is not being handled or fed they     |Cries when hungry or thirsty.                             |
|                 |sleep most of the time.                           |                                                         |
|                 |Smiles.                                           |                                                         |
|1mth-3mths       |Smiles and engages.                               |Fixes on the face to whom is...