Childhood is the stage of life that goes from birth to the child's own maturity. Each niño it is different from each other so childhood develops in a specific way in each child and is not the same. In childhood, the minor will be able to acquire a series of capacities that help him to develop as a person and to think for himself.
For this, the child will undergo a series of changes at the cognitive level, in the language or social and emotional level. Then we will talk about the characteristics of childhood and its phases.
Phases of childhood
In the childhood stage they can be clearly distinguished two well differentiated phases:
- The one known as early childhood or early childhood that goes from the first year of age until the child turns six years of age.
- The second phase is childhood and it goes from six years to twelve years of age giving way to adolescence.
Throughout these two phases, the child will experience a series of changes both physically, cognitively and linguistically. In addition to this, he begins to have greater autonomy with respect to his parents and begins to socialize with the other people around him.
What happens in each phase of childhood
Then we explain you in a much more detailed way the characteristics of each phase and the changes that the little one will undergo:
From the first year of age to three years, children begin by going to kindergarten and they are going to undergo a series of quite important changes. Self-centeredness is present all the time and they will hardly care what others think. In relation to language, they begin by using single words and little by little they form meaningful sentences in order to communicate. At the end of this phase the child begins to socialize with other children of the same age and begin to explore everything that surrounds him.
Between three and six years of age, the child is still in early childhood and it has evolved much more in its development. There is an improvement in the use of language and he is already able to communicate without problems, although he still has to improve a lot in this field.In the social field, the child is already able to have a circle of friends with whom to play and have a good time. Another important aspect from the point of view of motor activity is that they are already able to control the sphincters and acquire greater independence of movement.
The last stage of childhood is that which occurs between the ages of six and twelve. At the end of this stage, the child already becomes an adolescent. With regard to the cognitive area, the child is able to think in abstract terms. Over the years the language and vocabulary progresses and each time he communicates much better with others. Friends are becoming more and more important and he begins to break the rules imposed by the family. In relation to the motor area, the minor has a greater control of the movements of his body.
From the age of twelve, the child leaves behind the stage of childhood and begins a very important stage of life since he enters fully into adolescence in which he will be definitively formed as a person. Childhood is a wonderful and special stage of life for any child. In it, he makes his first friends, begins to get in touch with the environment that surrounds him, begins to interact with other people and lives really beautiful and unique experiences that will not be repeated.