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(As published in the November/December 1992 i
issue of the What's New in Home Economics magazine.)

Child development education is an exciting part of the home economics curriculum. Whether your students are planning for a family, a career, or a babysitting job, understanding of the formative years of children is vital. What's New in Home Economics talked with child development experts to discover the important concerns they see emerging in the field of child development education.

Dr. Irene Lee, Family and Child Development Specialist University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff We're concerned about the increase in low birth-weight babies, families not being able to find affordable child care, the number of children who experience developmental delays, and the decrease in quality time families spend together. We need to help teenage parents develop parenting skills and help their children develop feelings of confidence, self-worth, and morality. We want to help young parents to understand that their newborn's remarkable abilities are the foundations for learning. We need to think of creative ways to get good child development information to those primarily single parents who can't come to a community setting for information. This could be done through interactive videos, cassettes, or parenting classes at places of employment.

Dr. Harold Stevenson University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, Center for Human Growth New research on infant perception, organization, and response to stimuli and sensitivity to change of stimulus points out things that even the best minds of the early parts of this century could not anticipate. There's much more interest in cross-national and cross-cultural studies than there was in the past. We contrast how we are influencing the development of our own children with how parents in other societies are doing the same. In Japan, for example, there's no interest in formal instruction before the child is six years old, yet here we have an interest in making classes for four year olds in pre-reading and pre-math. Why then does is seem we need improving in these subjects?

Dr. Lillian Katz, Professor of Early Childhood Education Department of Education, University of Illinois at Champaign One of the new issues in child development education is the increasing sensitivity to cultural differences in defining development. Another is the long-term effects of early social difficulty. I think we're learning a lot more than we did before. We need to understand how to help children in minority groups to develop so they can preserve their ethnic identity, but also feel positively toward mainstream culture. In addition, I think it's important to help children overcome discrimination and prejudice and to acquire social competence early. I hope child development studies go in the direction of building intergroup understanding and toward looking more closely at the long-term effects of early experience.

Dr. David Elkind, Professor of Child Studies Tufts University Matching children's abilities with our expectations and demands is important. During the 1950s, education was much more child-centered than it is today. Today teachers are better trained but not necessarily better equipped because of curriculum reform. The reform of the 1960s shifted the focus of education away from the child and toward the curriculum. In terms of the future of child development, I think we've moved away from the grand theories of education such as Freudian and Piagetian and toward one that centers more on particular kinds of activities. They are useful, but we may need the recognition of regular events, the appreciation of individuality, of individual family styles, and child rearing.

Urie Bronfenbrenner, Professor Emeritus Cornell University, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Department of Psychology Children become motivated to do something because a parent or teacher has shown them how. We need to remove the hecticness of everyday family life so that there is time for family activities on a fairly regular basis. That is the kind of interaction that makes us into human beings. Humans are designed to be great learners, yet someone has to have time to spend with them. As a society, we are not investing enough time to train the people who will make the next generation for us. Finally, there have to be jobs for the family breadwinner. The capacity of families to function as families depends upon whether the parents are in a position to do what they know is their job to do.

Maxine Freund, Director of Teacher Preparation and Special Education The George Washington University One issue in child development is the number of children living in poverty and what it means for them to grow up in such an environment. Another is the changing nature of the workforce requiring families to rely on infant care, childcare, daycare, preschool, and school. We must also come to understand the necessity for multicultural sensitivity. We must integrate into our society all families and children who are at risk, developmentally disabled, or congenitally handicapped. We must prepare to live together in the next century and to understand the wonderful nature and value of our own diversity

. - 30 -

Michael Walker is a freelance writer based in Washington, DC.   He is also the founder and proprietor of DREAMWalker Group.

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