Child Development Psychology

I have always considered myself to be a good parent, but I never knew how many things I did not know about my little ones until I took a class in child development psychology. I have been interested in child development and psychology for as long as I can remember so, when I went back to school, it was only natural that I get a degree specializing in that field. I had figured that, as an astute student of human nature, I would be well within my comfort zone. The joke was on me when the child development psychology class was more strange and foreign than I could have imagined.

Not that it was not a fascinating class. It can be a real joy to be challenged, and I felt challenged very day. Child psychology, I learned in that class, is anything but static. From day to day, week to week, and month to month, children are learning and becoming better, more sophisticated thinkers. That means that the interests, fears, and obsessions that a kid has one day will not necessarily even be a factor within a month or two. Kids come up with phobias, only to lose them just as quickly. They get so interested in a toy that they can not put it down, only to get bored with it all of the sudden and never touch it again. These are some of the paradoxes of child development psychology.

To us, the adults, these behaviors may seem strange, but to a child development psychologist they make a lot of sense. There is a lot more purpose in the way that kids interact with the world than most people can even see. One of the central teachings of child development psychology is that make believe is a sort of way for kids to model behaviors and explore the world around them. When they come up with a new interest and lose all affection for an old one, it is because they are discarding an old behavior, motivation, or idea in favor of something new. Sometimes, they will come back to it at a later time. Just as often, however, once it is gone it is gone for good.

I think the child development psychology classes have even effected the way I care for my kids. I used to feel guilty about sending them to after care or making them stay over at their friends houses sometimes, but I have since realized that that guilt was misplaced. By being forced to spend more time in a group environment, my kids get the chance to learn how to interact with other children in a social setting. This is one of the most important stages in child development psychology, so I am actually helping them!