Essay Sample on Developmental Psychology: Parenting Related to Development of Children

Introduction

This article mainly discusses the development of newborns in relation to how they are supposed to sleep. The manner in which they sleep is dependent on how their parents bring them up. For newborns, it is a requirement that they have enough sleep within twenty-four hours, where the minimum is 14 hours (Gavin, 2016). It is worth noting that those who take very long in sleeping need to be woken up so that they can have their food, as that is essential for the gaining of weight in the first few weeks. The pattern of sleeping varies from one child to the other, as parents may be forced to wake up one or more times during the night. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the best way of sleeping with the baby is by sharing a room with them but not the bed (Gavin, 2016). They can have a crib where they sleep, as that reduces the risk of them getting Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), or any other types of deaths that have a connection to sleep.

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A safe sleeping environment is where they sleep on their backs, the surface of sleeping is one that is firm, and they are dressed in a way that they are not overdressed. As a parent, one can help their baby to sleep by following a routine that they set as time goes by. A mother should know that keeping their child up during the day does not guarantee that they will sleep peacefully at night, considering that they also require enough rest during the day to sleep properly at night. If they are not peaceful where they are restless and fussy, one is allowed to cuddle or rock them, as that would reduce the tendency of having colic. It is worth noting that colic is one of the reasons as to why many babies keep on crying, especially during the night (Gavin, 2016).

The advice from the article has a great relationship with the present developmental theories, especially when looking at the works of Piaget's theory of parenting. According to him, as children develop from birth to adulthood, they go through various stages that happen naturally and through experience (Leehwado, 2010). The manner in which they develop differs from one child to another, and therefore, a parent does not need to force some of these cognitive abilities on them. For instance, from the advice given, a child develops a routine of sleeping as time goes by, considering that it takes time for them to differentiate between when there is darkness at night, and during the day when it is bright. That happens in the sensorimotor stage under the first sub-stage called the reflex schema where the child starts comprehending what they see as moving or as having light (Leehwado, 2010).

Conclusion

Therefore, parents are not supposed to force their child to sleep at night or keep them from sleeping during the day. The second sub-stage that happens between six and forty-eight weeks is where the baby masters routines as they start repeating actions that they may have carried out (Leehwado, 2010). These are actions that they learn by themselves, and forcing the same on them will only make the situation worse. The reason behind the same is that they will grow while always requiring help to do most of the things, like sleeping. Therefore, the article is very supportive of what is stated in the modern theories of development of babies.

References

Gavin, M. (2016). Sleep and Newborns (for Parents) - KidsHealth. Retrieved from https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/sleepnewborn.html

Leehwado. (2010). After Piaget: critical approaches to Piaget's theory by phenomenological understanding. Korean Journal Of Early Childhood Education, 30(6), 153-173. doi: 10.18023/kjece.2010.30.6.007