Early childhood is the most rapid period of development in a human life. Teachers need to be able to recognize and understand children's behavior to help them grow successfully in life. One way to better understand children is through child development. Early child care and development is not only what happens within the child, but also the care the child requires in order to prosper. Elementary schools must be more conscious of the physical and emotional needs required during all early childhood development stages.

For a child to develop and learn in a healthy and normal way, it is important not only to meet the basic needs for stability, food, and health care, but also to meet the basic needs for your inner-self, such as your emotions, affection, and security. Although individual children develop at their own pace, all children progress through a similar pattern of physical, cognitive, and emotional growth and change. It's a proven fact that young children respond best when caregivers use specific techniques designed to encourage and stimulate progress to the next level of development. Experts "believe in order to get results with children, you have

To better understand our modern views of children, it is substantial to examine views of childhood from earlier points in history. In the eras of the Greek and Roman civilization the childhood years were believed to have a great impact on their later development. During this time period Plato and Aristotle wrote of the importance of early education (Vasta 7). In the "eighteenth century an educational movement called naturalism developed" (Webb 146). The precursor of this movement, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was best known for his political theories (Webb 146-147). Rousseau construed a philosophy and theory of education that inspired many educators. He believed in the educational demand of adapting instruction to the diverse stages of children's growth and development (Webb 147). The United States schools can trace their ancestry to the ancient Greek and Roman civilization (Webb 163). Through change, the philosophy of childhood has changed immensely over the years (Vasta 10!

The unlike and difference between students in schools is becoming something children are more familiar with everyday. "Multiculturalism, the inclusion of all cultures, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, social class, gender, age, exceptionality, and sex orientation, is the latest in the progression of educational responses to diversity." It is important for everyone to be undivided in society, especially the classroom (Webb 276). "The individuality of children is at the heart of the diversity of challenge that education poses daily"(Jordan 3).

The family, a group with common ancestry, is the principal leader/teacher for an adolescent. "In all societies, the nuclear family is the initial social matrix within which personality is rooted and nourished" (Hoffman 1). It is the family that first introduces the child to the world, and transmits the culture's values to the young (Webb 243). The configuration of families has changed drastically in the present years (Webb 244). Every family is unique in a sense (Hoffman 4). Variations in family struct

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Approximate Word count = 1379
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)