Children

Parents play an important role in a child’s life. I don’t think that there are ideal parents, as nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes at some point. However I consider every parent to be unique, who has its own style in rearing their children and do what they find the best for their offspring.

Playing many parts in the life of the growing child, home is the natural source of affection, the place where a child can live with the sense of security; it educates him in all sorts of ways, provides him with his opportunities of recreation and affects his status in society. It must be quite obvious that if a child doesn’t spend his formative years in love and security, feeling part of the family, he will feel neglected, because what children need is to live in an atmosphere of calm and quiet.

The happiest homes are those in which parents are frankly honest with their children without moralizing. Fear does not enter these homes. Grown-ups and children are pals, treating each other like equals. The happiness and well-being of children depend on a degree of love and approval parents give them. Being on a child’s side is not only giving sentimental love to him, but behaving to the child in such a way he feels you love him and approve of him.

Providing an affectionate background for childhood is a very important aspect of up-bringing. The childhood spent with heartless, indifferent or quarrelsome parents or in a broken home makes a child permanently embittered. Nothing can compensate for lack of parental affection. When the home is a loveless one, the children are impersonal and even hostile.

That’s why ideal parents know how to create the right atmosphere so that their children are comfortable talking to them about anything in their mind, feeling free to discuss even sensitive or difficult issues. Such parents are able to listen to their children with understanding and sympathy lest it should be difficult enough for them to open their hearts, when they really need a piece of advice. Setting a good examples themselves, adults should teach children manners. Moreover, it’s necessary that parents must concentrating on a child’s strength rather than weakness, keeping away from general remarks about his personality. Otherwise it would shake his confidence or offend his self-respect. A parent should accept his or her children for who they are and not to put so much hopes and expectations on them.

Ideal parents encourage and guide their children to making their own decisions and never force their will on them. If adults imposed anything on children by authority, they mightn’t avoid statements which can create arguments and tension. Being firm and well-disciplined are essential qualities an ideal parent should have. To develop a child to be a well-behaved and well-mannered individual, a parent should correct a child’s wrongdoings so that useful values could be instilled into the child. For this matter, ideal parents should avoid using undesirable forms of punishment, having capacity to restrain anger, not screaming and yelling at a child lest they could develop psychological damage. And what is worse a child might work out all sorts of schemes for revenge, becoming full of resentment.

To sum up, I suggest that parents should read some books on handling children, if they want to avoid numerous pitfalls. However, it must be too hard to be an ideal parent. So we must be grateful for parents that we have because they have sacrificed their time and energy for us.

The sun was splendid, the yellow rays were going straight thorough my face, I felt the warmth of my eyelids that were closed covering my eyes. My cat lucky was sitting in my lap. When i try to brush her back. Lucky was standing crossed other side of the street. I was confused. I started to go after her but I could not reach her; she was so closed to me; but when I try to reach her, she is far way. I fell out from my bed to the ground. Thought it was just dream, it hurt so much that I began to cry.

My parents split up when I was nine years old. My dad took my brother with him, and went back to Somalia. My mother became depressed and sad because she still had feeling for my dad, and she did not got it over yet. My grandfather decided that my mother should leave the state and go to different state, since their are a lot memories of my dad in the house. My mother agreed, to leave and started all over. Therefore, she left me with my grandfather.

It wasn’t bad staying with my grandfather, matter fact he get me a lot of things that my parent used say no to. My grandfather did everything for me so I could feel happy. However, deep down I was feeling that my parent abandon me, and that I was just neglected child.

Worst part was that my neighborhoods used call me unlucky child, because the day my mother found out, she was pregnant with me. It was the day; my father started having affair with other women. matter fact when my mother was giving birth to me; the same day my father was getting marry to other woman.(Islamic religious allows Muslim men to have four wives at same time). Some of my neighborhood believed that I bring bad luck to my family.

My grandfather suggested that we should leave the neighborhood, and move to new neighborhood. I told him that those rumors do not bother me. Moreover, the house was the only memory I had from my family, and am not leaving it behind because of stupid rumors. However, it started getting to me in fifth grade, when I tried to make friend with my classmate and they said that their mother told them not to play with kid like me because I was unlucky one year passed, and I did not have friend or anyone to talk to but my grandfather, and still people called me “unlucky child “. I was depressed, and I felt that I was isolated from my classmate, and everyone that was around me, but it all change when I met lucky.

The first time I saw my cat, it was a dreary early morning and I was waiting for the school bus, just minding my own business, when something touched my leg, I looked down to check what was touch me, then there was she black cat staring at me .i try to scare her, but she didn’t flinch one pit. I ignored her, but she keeps mawn at me. I though maybe she was hungry so I give her half of my launch, but she did not eat it, she just keep staring at me with her yellow eyes. The bus came so I left her

After that day, I used see the black cat everyday when I come back from school, and when am leaving. She used sit tree on our front yard, and wait for me to come out, everyday when I come outside she used run to me and e, she was follows me until, I reached my house but what amazed me was that she never went inside my house instead she just stand there looking at me. it was like she was waiting for me to invited her to my house.

I asked around that neighborhood,if they knew the who was her owner .everyone said that her owner abandoned her since his wife dead and he lost his job, and he believed that all those things happened to him because he had a black cat in the house. They said he was superstition guy. After hearing all those story, I felt that I had a lot of connection with the black cat, and that our story’s was similar, so I decided to make her my pet my grandfather agreed that I could keep her. I named her lucky because since I saw her, my life changed a lot. People forget about me and they stopped calling me unlucky. Best of all week later when I tmade lucky my pet, my mother called me and said that she is coming back to Egypt.

Lucky helped me forget my horrible childhood. I do not know if could had made it with lucky. She helped through childish fights, starting a new school and multiple injuries and sicknesses where I was confined to staying at home. I’ve lived with her longer than I lived with either of my parents. She was family, and my best friend to me. I never once thought that I will loss her, but it was all fair tale because everyone dead.

One day I came home from school, and lucky didn’t meet me at the door, like she usually does. So I searched through the house, when I couldn’t find her, I called my grandfather, when I asked him where is lucky, he said “honey am sorry, car hit lucky this morning when you left” Before he finished his sentence, I knew what he was going to say but I didn’t want to believed. My heart started beating so fast that I thought was going to exploded. My entered body was shocking.

I do not remember what happen after that, I k woke up in hospital. My mind was spinning around. My body was so weak. My mother told me that I was in hospital three days.

Most parents don’t get to choose their kids, but mine did. My parents chose to adopt a special needs child because they felt in their hearts it was what they were called to do. My mom and dad honestly had no idea what they were getting into or exactly what was required. They only knew what needed to be done.

My parents knew that God wanted them to adopt a child with physical problems, and also to adopt internationally. They received a huge book of photos showing kids from all over the world that needed a family. There were boys and girls from infants to fourteen years old; individual kids, and groups of siblings; healthy kids, and kids with problems.

My parents saw a page in the book that read “Maria, #6048, date of birth 3-92. Maria is a smiling child from Russia. She enjoys helping her teachers and playing with her friends. Her right leg is underdeveloped and will require prosthetic intervention.” My mom and dad said I wasn’t smiling in the photo, and that I looked really hopeless. They kept on looking at all the other kids, but I stood out among all the others because when they saw my picture, they knew in their hearts that I was meant to be part of their family.

It took around nine months to have the preparations for my adoption finished; there was so much that had to be done before: adoption papers, immigration papers, plane tickets, passports, visas, a place to stay, a car, and a translator for while they were in Russia. It seemed like the paperwork and expenses would never end!

My mom and dad’s family were ecstatic and were telling their friends about how Jeff and Cindy would soon be getting their little girl from Russia. Family and friends bought me loads of clothes and toys. My new home was ready for me to arrive. All that was needed was for me to move in.

My parents were very concerned because I was so small. At four and half years old, I only weighed 24 pounds. I was so small and malnourished that I could not be placed on the growth charts. My leg had rickets, and my hair would fall out if it was brushed too hard. My mom and dad were scared for me because of my small size. They could see that my leg was different, but worried that something else could be wrong and that my life could be in danger.

The day came when my mom and dad arrived in Russia to get me. On a cold, snowy, October afternoon, I was brought to the apartment where my parents were staying. The first meeting didn’t go well at all. The adoption people put me in my dad’s arms, but I began crying, and immediately went back to the people who had brought me to the apartment. My parents had hoped and prayed that we would meet and everything would get off to a good start, but that’s not what happened.

The two weeks my parents spent with me in Russia were hard because of my bad behavior. I said bad words, spit on my mom and dad, punched my dad in the face, tore through my parent’s suitcases again and again, and called them bad names.

My mom and dad went through with the adoption anyway. While we were in Krasnoyarsk, we were interviewed by a TV station about my adoption. They wanted to know why an American couple would come all the way to adopt a child with so many problems. I screamed during the interview, but it was edited to show me being adopted by a young, American couple and taken to a new life.

Finally, all the paperwork was finished and it was time to go home to the United States. My mom and dad said that we got on a plane and flew from Krasnoyarsk to Moscow, Moscow to New York, and then on to Shreveport. While we were on the plane, I was crawling up and down the aisle receiving goodies from people. Everyone who was on the plane knew who I was because they saw me on TV. I was famous!

Throughout the years, I have wondered why my biological parents gave me up for adoption. Sometimes it hurts, but I’ve realized that if they hadn’t given me up, I may not be alive. My mom and dad wouldn’t have found me in the photo listings, and I’d have never been their little girl. The reason why Jeff and Cindy went all the way to Russia for me is because the Lord led them to me. They followed their hearts from Louisiana to Siberia to let me be a part of their family.

American youths are bombarded with advertising from the outset of their lives and into adulthood. While casual observers may shrug off the billboard here and the commercial there, it would be hard to dismiss the negative impact that such a barrage of advertising can have on young children. Growing up and being subjected to a non-stop influence from the media leads to the development of harmful stereotypes and a lingering impact on ones’ ability to process and filter information. The image chosen for this paper shows a young baby that is covered with logos from a variety of companies in the United States such as McDonaldss, Starbucks, and Windows.

This visual is symbolic of the fact that the average American child will see more than 20,000 commercials each year (Advertising to Children, 2005). While 20,000 different commercials is not vastly different than American adults, it has been found that children are unable to differentiate between truth and advertising. Advertising is much more harmful towards children as they are unable to distinguish between media that is meant to persuade and will therefore accept statements and visual content as facts, and will begin to act upon such persuasions (Haefner, 2009). Haefner asserts this point, “Why do we need to be particularly concerned about advertising of all kinds to children? Children are at a disadvantage in their interactions with television commercials because they lack the sophistication needed to understand differences between commercials and programs and the persuasive intents of commercials.

Years of research on children’s advertising from a cognitive developmental perspective suggest that children think differently than adults and that children of various ages think differently about television advertisements.” Children are also one of the most targeted groups of users that are targeted by marketing agencies due to the fact that young kids have a lot of money spending influence upon their parents. The Advertising Educational Foundation emphasizes this point, “Much is at stake. The children’s market today (through age 12) is estimated to represent $500 billion, consisting of both personal spending of $200 billion–primarily for snacks, soft drinks, entertainment and apparel– and $300 billion in directly-influenced spending in these same categories plus food, toys, health and beauty aids, gifts, accessories and school supplies. Another $500 billion worth of purchases are indirectly influenced in categories such as recreation, technology, vacations, etc.

The spending power of children is, altogether, in the area of $1 trillion.” It has also been found that consumer spending patterns and association with long-term buying habits are formed as a children which encourages the display of habit forming advertising which is detrimental to the health of its viewers. For example, there are a lot of ethical issues around the marketing of unhealthy junk food to children which has been correlated with the increase in childhood obesity in the country. Commercials which promote high sugar, fatty, and salty food helps to lead to a high caloried diet and a cognitive misconception about healthy eating habits in kids (Harris, 2009).

The promotion of fast food on television and kid-accessible media has led to chain resturaunts, such as McDonalds, as having the highest rate of recognizability to children. Kid-centered promotions such as Happy Meals and free toys have also led to the development of positive reinforcements within children for negative actions. Studies have been done to confirm these claims including one from Harris (2009) which states, “Health advocates have focused on the prevalence of advertising for calorie-dense low-nutrient foods as a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic. This research tests the hypothesis that exposure to food advertising during TV viewing may also contribute to obesity by triggering automatic snacking of available food. Design: In Experiments 1a and 1b, elementary-school-age children watched a cartoon that contained either food advertising or advertising for other products and received a snack while watching.

In Experiment 2, adults watched a TV program that included food advertising that promoted snacking and/or fun product benefits, food advertising that promoted nutrition benefits, or no food advertising. The adults then tasted and evaluated a range of healthy to unhealthy snack foods in an apparently separate experiment. Main Outcome Measures: Amount of snack foods consumed during and after advertising exposure. Results: Children consumed 45% more when exposed to food advertising. Adults consumed more of both healthy and unhealthy snack foods following exposure to snack food advertising compared to the other conditions.

In both experiments, food advertising increased consumption of products not in the presented advertisements, and these effects were not related to reported hunger or other conscious influences. Conclusion: These experiments demonstrate power of food advertising to prime automatic eating behaviors and thus influence far more than brand preference alone. ” the Commercials aimed at children will also depict a number of social constructs which are detrimental to the well being of its end-users and their families. Toy commercials, for instance, will usually show a group of kids playing together with their marketed product.

There is a level of peer pressue which arises from such advertising which leads to children feeling left behind and outside of a social circle if they do not have a way to obtain the merchandise. This mindset quickly puts an emphasis on consumerism and the obtainment of material items to acquire happiness and fulfillment in life (Kelley, 2010). This problem not only creates a pattern of poor spending habits from an early age, but it also sets the individual up for a lifetime of low self esteem and a negative perception of self. Advertising will depict people in specific cirumcstances intended to make the product as marketable and desirable as possible. Since children are unable to decipher the marketing end-goals from reality, viewed stereotypes about family functions, gender roles, and behaviors will become entrenched within the individuals consciescness (Davis, 2003). In conclusion, advertising to children sets an early precedent for unhealthy habits and stereotypes that will impact individuals for their entire life. Being unable to decipher the differences between advertising content and reality puts children at significantly more risk to face detrimental problems that adult viewers can ignore.

As our society has been rapidly developing and is very wealthy, the number of teen consumer has also increased immensely. According to Lindsey, tanner’s research, this generation has been tagged as the most easily manipulated age group ever. It influences spending of up to US $600 billion a year. Young people view more that 40,000 ads per year on TV alone and increasingly are being exposed to advertising on the internet, in magazines, and in school (The Boston globe Dec 04, 2006).

Many parents try hard to protect their kids from TV and Internet advertising. But how can you shield a child from advertisement when they are being plastered in school? While parents can always turn of the television, however they cannot stop school from advertising. Advertisement in school can harm independent and critical thinking of our younger generations, It is unhealthy for students to be constantly bombarded with ads in a learning environment, kids have little or no money of their own and Children are being persuaded to demand things that they don’t need in their life and to adopt consumerist values, lifestyles and attitudes in their life.

Kid are bombarded with advertisement all day thorough out the day, which effect their decision making. One of the biggest issues of advertisement on teens is health and unrealistic views. One study reports that at age thirteen, 55% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to 82% by the time girls reach eighteen.

Advertising promotes extremely unrealistic views of society and make believes reality. This greatly affects the views of kids and teens that lack self esteem, and are more easily manipulated into the media and its advertising. These children and teens are given fake views and requirements of what “reality” really is, and the importance of being socially accepted. Now If it this is advertised in the school, kids would be socially trying to fit in knowing they would be segregated in school because the advertisement that is being promoted he doesn’t have but his friends does. He would constantly be trying to get that “item” so he could fit in which would require him to get money which he doesn’t have and so leave lead to the problem of asking his parents.

Kids demand are increasing as more and more products influence their “social culture” and this put so much pressure on the parent that it turn into a burden for them however to satisfy their need, parents usually give in. Kids nagging is a great factor for adverters because they know that the parents get aggravate and persuade them into buying something that will make them satisfy their kids need temporary so they can be happy. Some believe that it’s the fault of the parents who has spoiled their kids; However, parents are stuck between giving what their kids want or risking their child becoming an outsider in society.

Kids now a days are so focused on the advertisement that they forget to do good in school, their distraction will cause them in the future, because them not focusing on school, will affect their lives. Their grades will drop in school because all they care are the materialist things. As they grow old their demand in will increase, this Increase in craving materialist things will hurt him because he will demand more from his parents when they cannot facilitate, and this will lead to problem of aggression. People don’t realize that advertiser, does not care about customer. To them you are just a buyer who is buying their product.

In today society we are infiltrated with non-stop advertising, these advertisement at schools can harm independent and critical thinking of our younger generations, Parents need to protect their kids and speak against school advertisement. Their future is being jeopardized and it need to be protected. 

These include rooting, sucking, swallowing, grasping, and stepping ND startle reflex. Babies are helpless when they are born and they don’t have very much muscular co-ordination. They are able to focus their eyes very quickly and follow sound from side to side as well as being able to cry and make gurgling sounds Soon the muscles begin to strengthen and babies start to control their movements. This allows them to begin exploring their environment and learn how their world operates. Physical control and co-ordination progress downwards, beginning with the head and moving through the neck, trunk arms and the legs.

Muscle control 0-3 years: 2 Months – able to raise head when lying on stomach Months- can grasp objects using whole hand 6 Months- Can sit up without support 8 Months – Can start to crawl 12 Months – can walk without help 18 Months- Can climb stairs and run but often falls 2 Years – Can controls muscles which allow for toilet training and can climb on furniture and kick a ball but not yet catch one 3 Years- can Jump and ride a tricycle Intellectual – means the development of the mind and lets us to recognize, remember, reason, know and understand thing around us.

We also develop communication skills which allow us to make ourselves understood and to develop relationships. As children interact with the environment they slowly organism their thoughts and develop a set of Reposes for dealing with the world. These become adapted as new experiences occur giving us all a better understanding of our world. Language development is another part of intellectual development; children should know at least six works by 18 months.

Most one-years-olds should be able to name simple objects and by the age of two most are able to put two or three words together into a simple sentence. By the age of three, most speech should be understandable and children should be able to speak in complete sentences. Emotional- at the age of one babies are able to learn about the effect their behavior has on their parents/guardians and can express emotions through tears, laugher and facial expressions At two years of age toddlers are known for their temper tantrums “terrible two’s” as they struggle to express how they feel.

They are able to show things to a certain degree, which is often expressed through play. At the age of three, children are more sensitive to others feelings and will share their toys with others and take it in turns to play with toys. They are interested in having friends and his is often when children start nursery or playgroup Social – Social development is similar to emotional development, young children from friendships and tends to show preferences for particular people.

Language skills are important in the development of this relationship and, as children develop, they are more able to express their feeling verbally. Contact between ages is part of a normal family life and children benefit from spending time with both older and young people. Most children start nursery at this age and this provides an opportunity for them to share time with different age groups. Childhood 3- 11 years physical- growth continues really fast during childhood, although not as fast as in the first three years, and body proportions as beginning to be more adult-like.

Gross and fine motor skills are becoming more advanced, like tying shoes, making and decorating a cake, playing football, building a musical instrument, throwing a ball and gymnastics Intellectual – as children get older they are able to do more logical activities. That begins to understand different concepts but often need to actually see concrete objects in order to understand them. As a child progresses through this tag they become fluent in language and may develop a good vocabulary. They become able to construct sentences and use grammar well.

Moral development is something that begins during this phase. This is the process by which children take on rules and expectations of the society in which they brought up and develop a sense of right and wrong Emotional – as children progress through this stage they begin to lose the bounds with their main careers although they still need their support. They begin to be more independent and start to develop a sense of ‘sense’ Most of our emotional responses are learned from our parents/guardians.

All children learn to control of their emotional Reposes and to resolve conflict and parents/guardians should praise them when this occurs while trying to understand the temper tantrums of frustration that do occur. Children begin to show signs of compassion and empathy and again careers need to encourage this. During this stage children also develop the ability to talk about their feelings. Even at a young age children will say things such as ‘l feel sad’ or ‘that makes me happy’. Social- as children develops into social beings they go through what us termed oscillations.

Primary solicitation takes place within the family although there as many different types of family. Relationship with people outside the family becomes more important as children move through this stage. Teenagers 11-19 years Physical- at puberty, chemicals in your body called hormones trigger many changes, including growth spurts and weight increases, and boys and girls begin to change and look different as they grow into young woman and men. Intellectual- ideas about religions and politics may also begin to think about as their minds become more complex. Long term memory develops which enables teens to study for pass exams.

Adolescents are able to start thinking about possibilities for both their immediate and long-term futures and plan ahead. Decisions such as whether or not to continue in education or to go out to work may be options for some. Emotional- often teenagers alternate from behaving like children and then behaving as adults. They also often feel misunderstood and may challenge parental value, deliberately pushing against boundaries which are often perceived as too restrictive or controlling. Teenagers become less dependent on family for emotional support and urn to their friends for advice, which is called influence of a peer group.

Young people want to be accepted by their friends and this can sometimes lead to difficult situations, affecting both self-esteem and self-concept. Social- social and emotional developments are intertwined. As teenagers gain independence, they spend more time with friends. This allows them to practice social skills. As teenagers turn more to their peers they often struggle because they want to be liked. Peer recognition is very important and things like the types of clothes and interest that are followed become significant.

Peer pressure can also present difficulties as it can challenge many of the ideas learned from families. This can be a period during which problems can start by experimenting with alcohol, sexual orientation and attitudes toward education. 2. Know the factors that affect children and young people’s development 2. 1 identify the factors that affect children’s and to include: Background health environment Income- An income is the amount of money an individual has pay to provide everything they need in there life.

This usually comes from paid employment or infinite an individual may receive from the government. Housing- where your life affects a lot of an individual’s growth and development, some people live in cities, towns, some live in the suburbs and some live in rural areas. There are different types of places that you live in that can affect your health and wellbeing. Housing standards have improved a lot in the I-J but there are still people who live in poor housing. Environment- as well as the type of home you live in, the local environment and your community also affect your growth and development.

Other environmental actors can include living in overcrowded areas with no recreation spaces, living close to busy roads which are noisy, living near sources of pollution or living a long way from health and welfare services. Many areas have high crime areas which is very dangerous and stressful Education- education affects development mainly because it affects Job opportunities. Higher educational achievement usually gives individuals more choice of the types of career or employment they can follow in the I-J, education is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16, although many people study ended the age.

Culture- people are categorized by themselves and others in different ways for example, race, social class, ethnicity or religion. Sometimes this can lead to stereotyping and people may make generalizations about other based on, for example, the types of clothing they wear. Gender- gender stereotypes as also reinforces by the types of Job people are directed to. For example, the health and social care sector is mainly staffed by woman although today many more men are choosing Jobs in this area. Once in working there are employment laws against discrimination. 3. Know how to support children and young people’s development. . 1 outline different ways to support children and young people’s development to include; physical development communication intellectual development social, emotional and behavioral development Play is a big role in children’s and young people’s development. There are different ways in using language, verbal ways which are to question, clarify, describe, explain and debate. There is also nonverbal ways to communicate, like listening, looking and touching. Talking to your child, tell your child what is going to happen for example now we’re going to have a bath.

When we are dry, we’ll get dressed “parents can start reading with simple board books and longer stories as their child gets older. Story times where they can use their imagination and have input in their stories are also effective. Music is also good play to young children; they will interact with the music by dancing and try to sing to the words. When they listen to lively songs or rhymes they learn about the world around them and the rhythm of language. Repeat their statements back to them with correct words. Give your child lots of praise for heir efforts.

Physical Children develop at different rates while some are naturally late bloomers and others are ahead, there are things parents can do to encourage and support a child’s physical development. Encourage your child to move from one place to another, play games with them, run around a playground or sports field, and climb things. Intellectual Encourage your child to find out what he likes to do and answer your child’s questions when you can. As they grow older, many children lose their curiosity. Make sure your child eats well, stay active and gets proper amounts of sleep.

Provide an opportunity to learn musical instruments or practice some form of performing arts. Reading will help your child’s mind grow. Social, emotional and behavior development Children often struggle with expressing their feelings; they need help knowing how to appropriately manage their feelings. Using language to identify, label and respect. It can also be helpful to tell and show young children other ways to manage like pounding clay, drawing pictures, and telling stories about how they are feeling. Helping to find appropriate ways to express emotions.

When we first are Introduced to a child, we have to assess them to understand which bevel of language we are going to use with them, we would not say to a 6 month old baby, ‘Hello, how are you, what have you been doing today, what would you like for dinner et. We must use lots of facial expressions and soften our tone of voice and use shorter sentences, we tend to speak slower as well so we say ‘Hellos’ with a big smile on our face when speaking to a baby. If we are showing a baby something when we are speaking to them we should point also to help them understand what we are saying to them.

Rhetorical questions are not real questions as the person asking the question as such, also answer it, so we might say to a baby would you like your nap now, Oh yes you would, you look very tired’ or you would like your bottle of milk now, wouldn’t you’. It allows us to speak and communicate with a baby or toddler who will not answer our questions but it is a way of us using speech, language and communication on a daily basis, helping to be part of the day and feel involved.

Using eye contact and smiling the response it usually positive and received back with a mile or babble. Closed questions should not be used all the time, only when a yes or no answer Is needed, we must ensure we still use all others areas through out the day, we can use a closed questions Like ‘have you finished your lunch’ ‘do you need help with your shoes’. Closed question should not be used on babies, but can be used on young even able to shake or nod their head.

Sometimes if a child is upset or does not know you (their first settling in), closed questions can be used to help if the child is feeling anxious and does not want to hold a conversation with you, obviously this is something you do not want happening every day and the child should start to speak and say words to you. Open questions prompt a child to give a longer answer and are needed to develop their speech and language skills.

So asking questions like ‘what shall we do today’ ‘what shall we have for lunch’. A child should not give a yes or no answer in open questions, but hopefully will speak up and answer the questions, sometimes you may et a ‘l don’t no’ answer, but that usually is due to others reasons. Babies will not be able to answer open questions and most of the time only children that feel comfortable with you, so the children that attend you setting for a while and are quite settled.