THE NATURE AND NEEDS OF CHILDREN

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Children are the same all over the world as far as their physiological make up is concerned. Similarly, their interests, needs, growth and development patterns are the same. Therefore, majority of the differences we often observe in children are due mainly to hereditary and environmental factors. For example, the colour of the skin, shape of the nose, height, body size and weight and intelligence are all products of heredity and environment or what some people refer to as nature and nurture.

In the last unit, you have learnt the meaning of childhood, and the purpose of childhood education. In this unit, you are going to learn about the nature of children and their needs. In other words, you will learn the peculiarities of children and their special needs and how they can be met.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit carefully, you should be able to:

• describe the basic physiological make up of children.
•  identify the developmental tasks for pre-primary and primary school children. 
•  explain the educational implications of the developmental tasks. 

The Nature of Children

 The Physiological Make-up

The childhood period could be regarded as the most important stage in human development. First of all, it is a stage, which every adult member of the society has passed through in life. Therefore, there cannot be adulthood without childhood. As you are aware, not all children grow up to experience adulthood. This therefore makes the childhood period a unique one for everybody. The second reason why childhood can be regarded as the most important stage of development is that it lays the foundation for all other stages of human development. As the morning often shows the day, so also the childhood period shows what the adult life will look like. As people say, who we are today depends much on our development and experience as children.

As you have just read in the introduction to this unit, children are the same all over the world. The differences, which you may find is in their physical appearance, level of intelligence or even attitude, and these are due largely to hereditary and environmental factor. The birth normally follows the same procedure in all cultures of the world. In the same way, all children follow the same principles of growth and development no matter their geographical location or their family background. The only thing that may be different is their rate of growth and development. So, it is possible for children from very rich families in urban centres to be faster than their counterparts from very poor families in urban or rural areas. Why do you think that can be so? Yes, it is because the children from the rich families are given balanced diet, which keeps them growing up well. Also, they are given good care in terms of medical and other material needs. On the other hand, children from the poor families may have retarded growth because of inadequate care and balanced diet.

However, this does not mean that all of them will not pass through the same stages or process of development. As another example, all children learn to sit, crawl and walk before they can run, it is only the time of attainment that is different from one child to another. In the same way, the developments of spoken language among children start with babbling and gradually to the picking of their first words. Environmental factors may favour the rate of development of these skills in some children than others, but the fact still remains that they all follow the same pattern or process of development. Therefore, we can say that all normal children no matter their home or environmental backgrounds have the same types of organs of the body and these organs follow the same natural process in their growth, development and functions. No child in this regard is superior or more favoured by God. All of them have the same number of eyes, ears, hands, legs, toes, fingers, heart and mouth. Anyone that has for instance three eyes or no hands will be regarded as an abnormal child.

The Sociological and Psychological Nature of Children

You have just learnt that children are the same in their physical make up. The European child is not different from the African or the Asian children as far as the organs of the body are concerned. In the same way, children are the same in their social characteristics. Let us take an example to explain this point. Children are by nature gregarious. That is, they always like to be in the company of other children. If it is possible to bring children each from Europe, Asia and Africa to a place where they can see themselves, they will naturally walk towards each other. Even if language will initially be a problem, this will not stop them from moving very close to one another. What we are saying here is that no child likes to be alone. They all like to keep the company of other children. If you see a child that fails to move with or get closer to other children of approximately the same age, you should know that something is wrong. It is either the child is sick, hungry or angry. If they are older children, it might be due to the influence of some environmental factors such as racial discrimination, ethnicity or other negative things their parents must have 'planted' in them right from home. But if none of the above conditions exists, children will naturally want to move with other children no matter their background.

Children are by nature egocentric. That is, the child is self-centred or selfish. He is more concerned about his personal interest and needs. That is why he wants to have his way in all things or wants everything for him or herself alone. If for whatever reason he is not allowed to have his way, he cries. For instance, when the mother buys some biscuits, sweet or fruits from the market. You will always see the youngest trying to take possession of everything. In the same way, if a child wants to have something and the parents for some reasons say no, he does not want to listen to or hear why such a thing is denied him.

All his thinking is based on the personal desire for that thing. This is one of the general characteristics of children. However, with time and age, they gradually learn through the socialization process to be less selfish. They learn to share things with others, listen when others talk, take turns and cooperate with others during play. All these are learnt in the school where children from different home backgrounds interact and share things. They learn to tolerate others and from there the spirit of give and take is developed in them. Therefore, children who for one reason or the other do not have access to school education may miss this early socialization process.

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist has made it known to us that all children pass through the same stages of intellectual development. Although some children may be faster or slower than the other in going through the stages, yet the fact remains that all children go through the stages. Let us have a look at the stages of mental development as identified by Piaget. They are:

1. Sensorimotor period (from birth – 2 years) 
2. Pre-operational period (2 – 6 years) 
3.  Concrete operations period (7 – 12 years) 
4. Formal operations period (12 years and above) 

In one of your courses on child development, you must have learnt the details about what children can do during these stages. I want you to find out more from some of the books listed at the end of this unit.

One of the characteristics of children, which we must not forget, is curiosity. That is, all children naturally want to find out things for themselves. This they do through the exploration of their environment and asking questions from people around them. Again, some children are encouraged to develop this natural tendency in them by providing them stimulating environment with different toys and other objects, which they can play with. On the other hand, there are some children who are often discouraged from asking questions from elders. 

In some cases, unnecessary restrictions are placed on them as a result of cultural practices and beliefs. This is peculiar to traditional African children, who were 'to be seen and not heard'. This ideology is not too good for proper development of children who are naturally curious and inquisitive. It is not surprising therefore to find some children that are very restless in their natural desire to know. Such children often develop self-confidence, self-assertion and autonomy, if the environment is supportive. Such children are known to be great achievers and competent individuals later in life when the environment is made conducive and not hostile for them to develop that trait. The point we are making here is that all children possess this important natural tendency. The environment in which the child finds himself may hinder or promote it. But the fact still remains that they will like to explore, find out things and ask many questions.

All children also like to play with water and sand. No matter their location children always want to play with these two natural materials. Why this is so, we do not know. However, some children may not have access to these materials as a result of their environment. 

This is why pre-school establishments always have a corner for sand tray and water for children to play with. There are many other characteristics of children, which you can still find out on your own.