Needs of a Child During Growth
Children enter the world as helpless little creatures with many needs. In order to grow properly, children not only have physical needs, but mental, emotional and social requirements as well. As children grow, their needs change as they become more self-sufficient. A wise parent knows when to help a child and when to allow a child to help himself. It takes a healthy balance of helping and backing away for a child to develop properly.
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Nutritional Needs
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Growing children need more nutrients in proportion to their body weight than adults do. Their bodies are developing rapidly, and nutritional intakes should support the development of bones, muscles, teeth and other body parts. The number of calories a child needs depends on age, size and amount of physical activity. They should eat an assortment of nutritionally rich foods, including protein (meat, poultry, fish and eggs), fruits and vegetables, fats and dairy products. Although infants lack teeth and can't chew meat, baby foods should contain vitamins and minerals (especially iron and zinc).
Fitness Needs
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Physical activity is important in order to avoid childhood obesity, which can lead to a lifelong problem with weight and health issues. A child's body is growing and needs muscles to be developed. Parents should encourage children to strive for at least half an hour of daily exercise of moderate intensity. This can be done either all at once or in intervals. Activities can range from walking, biking and sports (team sports such as baseball and soccer) to individual activities such as swimming or running.
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Healthcare
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Parents need to ensure their growing children get regular medical checkups, as well as be current on their vaccines and shots when needed. This includes dental and eye care checkups as well as regular medical examinations.
Social Needs
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Part of growing up is learning to interact with other children. Parents should have their children interact with other kids, inviting friends to their homes and allowing their kids to visit classmates. However, they should supervise activities, especially when children are young. A play group for toddlers and preschoolers is an ideal setting for introducing small children to social skills and teaching them how to relate to others their age.
Discipline
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To develop as a responsible human being, a child needs order, boundaries and discipline. Because children by nature are self-centered, they need to learn moral guidelines and rules in the home. Otherwise, they'll suffer consequences when they enter the real world because boundaries weren't set and they were free to do whatever they pleased.
Mental and Emotional Needs
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Parents need to make sure their children are doing well in school by meeting with teachers and attending school meetings, as well as monitoring homework and helping them study for tests.
Most of all, children have emotional needs. Parents should make sure their children are loved unconditionally. When children do need to be disciplined, parents need to ensure them they're still loved and cherished for the special little people they are. Also, It's important that parents stress the positive aspects of their children rather than dwelling on what's wrong with their kids. When a child doesn't receive the emotional support and needed hugs, he can act out, trying to get attention for doing negative actions.
Warnings and Considerations
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Although children need help to meet their many needs, parents also need to learn to slowly back off as they get older. That's not to say that parents should not be involved at all in their children's lives, but part of raising healthy children is knowing when to let go gradually, such as in adolescence and especially as a child enters the last years of high school.
Parents need to take in consideration special circumstances about why a child acts the way he does. Also, parents should consider the individual personality of the child when deciding the best course for discipline.
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