Understanding Child Development

Children will vary in developmental needs and abilities. Read the following scenario:

Sheila was thrilled to learn that she was pregnant again. She had recently celebrated the second birthday of her daughter, Arabella. Sheila reveled in how easy the first years of life had been for Arabella. Arabella had an uneventful birth with equal ease in sleeping, eating, and interaction patterns. Everyone marveled at this wonderful toddler, with her pleasant disposition and outgoing personality traits and temperament.

When Sheila brought her second child, son Eli, home from the hospital, she was optimistic to again enjoy relative ease in the first years. Quickly, she began to notice differences between her prior experiences with Arabella and what was emerging with Eli. Eli was fussy during feedings and difficult to get to sleep, and he would cry frequently unless he was held and rocked. Sheila couldn’t help but wonder if something was wrong or whether she was simply witnessing differences between different children

In your initial post, what advice would you share with Sheila to help her better understand the several influences that account for variations in children? In your answer, consider gender, birth order, and nutrition. Please support your insight with theory or text research, to provide credibility to your answers.

In your follow up post, share your additional ideas about these variables of influence on children’s development. Give credibility to your ideas by including textbook or other research references