Early Childhood Sociology

In early childhood as in infancy, the body and brain develop according to powerful epigenetic forces, biologically driven as well as socially guided, experience-expectant and experience- dependent. Growing patterns in children change dramatically over time. During early childhood, children become slimmer as the lower body lengthens and baby fat turns to muscle. The body mass index also knows as the BMI is lower at age 5 than at any other age in the entire life span (Guillaume & Lissau 2002) BMI, the ratio of weight to height. Gone are the protruding belly, round face, short limb, and large head that characterize the toddler. The center of gravity moves from the breastbone to the belly button, enabling cartwheel, summersaults, balancing acts,

and many other motor skills. Incases weight and height accompany these changes in proportions. Each your form age 2 through 6, well –nourished children gain about 4 ½ pounds and add almost 3 inches to their height. By age 6, the average child in a developed nation weighs about 46 pounds. A typical 6 year-old weighs between 40 to 50 pounds, is at least 3 ½ feet tall, looks lean, not chubby (ages 5-6 are lowest in body fat) and has adult like body proportions (legs constitute about half the total height).
When many ethnic groups live together in a nation with abundant food and adequate medical care, children of African descent tend to be tall, followed by those of European descent, than Asians, and Latinos.

Height differences are greater within ethnic groups than between groups, body size especially varied among children of African descent because they are more genetically diverse than people from other continents (Goel et al., 2004). Over the centuries, low income families encourage their children to eat so that they would have a reserve of fat to protect them against famine. Today the poorest nations, malnourished young children are more likely to die young than other children. The malnourished also become less capable adolescent, as shown by a recent study in Ghana. Compared with similar children who were malnourished in early childhood, more of them were depressed, mentally impaired, or both (Appoh, 2004; Appoh & Krekling,

2004).
The practice of encouraging young children to eat has recently become destructive. Many children especially in low-income families eat too much and become over weight. In 1975 in Brazil, for example, under nutrition represented two-thirds of all nutrition problems. Thirty years later, over nutrition was twice as high among low-income Brazilians as among richer ones (Monteiro et al., 2007). A detailed study of 2 to 4 year olds in low income families in New York City found many overweight children moreover, the proportion of overweight children increased as family income fell ( Nelson et al., 2004). Overweight among children also increased with age (27 percent at age 4 compared with 14 percent at age 2). This finding suggests that eating habits, not genes, were the cause.
Appetite decreases between ages 2 and 6 because, compared with infants, young children need far fewer calories per pound of body weight. This is especially true for children today, who play outdoors less than their parents or grandparents did. Instead of appreciating this natural change in appetite, many parent fret, threaten, and cajole their children into eating more that they should. Although most children in developed nations consume more than enough calories, they do not always obtain adequate iron, zinc, and calcium. For example, consumption of calcium is lower than it was 20 years ago because children today drink less milk and more soda (Jahns et al., 2001). Another problem today is sugar, many cultures encourage children to eat sweets such as birthday cake, holiday candy, desserts, and other treats.
Essential but unknown nutrients sweetened cereals and drinks that are advertised as containing 100 percent of a day’s vitamin requirements are poor substitute for a balanced, varied diet.

The main reason is their high sugar content one of the many other reasons is that some essential nutrients have not yet been identified, much less listed on food labels. This means that eating a wide variety of foods is the only way to make sure that essential vitamins and minerals are being consumed. Oral health also plays a role in too much sugar and too little fiber encourage tooth decay, the most common disease of young children in developed nations.

Brains grow rapidly before birth and throughout infancy by age 2 most neurons are connected to another neurons, and substantial pruning of dendrites, has occurred. The functions of the brain that makes us most human are the ones that develop after infancy, enabling quicker, better-coordinated, and more reflective thought (Kagan & Herschkowitz., 2005). The brain growth that occurs after infancy allows advanced language and social understanding and is crucial difference between humans and other

animals.
After infancy, proliferation of communication pathways results in some brain growth. Most of the increase in brain weight (to 90 percent of adult weight by age 5) occurs because of myelination (Sampaio & Truwit, 2001). Myelination the processes by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses form neuron to neuron. The effect of myelination are most noticeable in early childhood (Nelson et al., 2006), partly because the areas of the brain that show greatest myelination during the early years are the motor sensory areas (Kolb & Wishaw, 2008). Greater speed of thought becomes pivotal when several thoughts must occur in rapid succession.
One part of the brain that grows and myelinates rapidly during early childhood is the corpus callosum, a long thick band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right side of the brain. Growth of corpus callosum makes communication between the two hemispheres more efficient, allowing children to coordinate the two sides of the brain or body. Failure of the corpus callosum to develop normally results in serious disorders and is one of many possible causes of autism (Mason et al., 2008)
To understand the significance of coordination between the two brain hemispheres, it is important to realize that the two sides of the body and the brain do not function in identical ways. Each side specializes, so each is dominant for certain functions that result of the process called lateralization. Lateralization or sidedness is apparent not only in right or left handedness but also in the feet, eyes, ears, and brain itself. Lateralization is epigenetic, promoted by genes, prenatal hormones, and each experience. So is the maturation of the corpus callosum, which allows coordination between the two sides of the body.
Through studies of people with brain damage as well as through brain imaging, neurologist have discovered how the brains hemispheres specialize: The left half controls the right side of the body and contains areas dedicated to logical reasoning, detailed analyses, and the basic of language; the right half controls the left side of the body and contains areas dedicated to generalized emotional and creative impulses, including appreciation of most music, art, and poetry. No one is exclusively left-brained or right-brained (except severely brain-damaged people) Ever cognitive skill requires both sides of the brain, just as gross motor skills require both sides of the body (Hugdahl & Davidson, 2002) because older children have more myelinated fibers in the corpus callosum to speed signals between the two hemispheres, they are capable of better thinking are less clumsy. The prefrontal cortex is in the very front part of the brains outer layer, just behind the forehead. It underlines higher-order cognition, including planning and complex forms of goal-directed behavior (Luciana, 2003). The cerebral hemispheres control opposites sides of the body, thus if a person receives an injury to the right hemisphere he or she will have difficulty controlling their left arm or leg. Studies of people who have had their hemispheres separated by surgically sectioning the corpus callosum, the left and right hemispheres to demonstrate some processing differences as well as many similarities. The left hemisphere processes information in a logical and linear manner which helps it better understand and use language (speaking, reading, writing, calculations), while the right hemisphere responds to information in a more holistic and spatial sense (shapes, faces, music, art). It is not that the right hemisphere cannot use language, simple words like book, dog are recognized, but words of higher conceptual demand like honesty or perseverance. The uniqueness in our cerebral hemispheres is that they do communicate to each other a thousand times a second through the corpus callosum. This 4 inch long, pencil thick band of complex nerve fibers allows our two hemispheres to work in tandem. When a student sustains a brain injury the swelling or impact may seriously damage this precious relay system and result in impaired processing of information. Students can have major damage to one hemisphere plus have damage to the corpus callosum pathway. Such injuries create very complex cognitive difficulties for people and many compensatory strategies need to be developed to help rehabilitate people.