Differences Between Early Childhood & Youth Development

Early Childhood Development

• Early childhood development covers the age range between birth and 8 years. During the early phases, until their first birthday, most babies develop an understanding of familiar people and voices, usually parents and close relatives, and discover their body and what it is capable of doing, such as holding objects, walking and basic communication.

  As this stage continues they learn to interact with family members through speech and start to form basic friendships. This stage continues through increasing language capacities and inquisitiveness about objects and the surrounding world. The stages broadly continue through the next stage of development called later childhood which lasts until the age of 12.

Youth Development

• Youth, or adolescent development, lasts during the teenage years from 13 to 18. The actual development process during this phase is a lot more complex and difficult to understand than early childhood as by this age children are a lot more self assured and capable of thinking independently.

  The main stages of youth development consist of discovering long-term interests, which lead to college and future careers, developing more complex friendships and coping with the physical changes of puberty.

Differences

• Apart from the obvious differences because of age, these two stages have some very marked differences, but also some similarities. The most obvious differences are the physical and mental capabilities. Younger children may try to act independently but are still very reliant on their parents. Teens still act independently but can, to some extent, help themselves as well.

  Mental development during these phases is also strikingly different as interests as a child do not last until teenage years, where long term interests are transformed into further education and career choices. The way they deal with relationships also changes. When children are very young they are not capable of communicating with each other to a large extent and forge friendships through playing together rather than talking. During the teen years this is almost the exact opposite as decisions on friendship are based almost exclusively through verbal communication.

Similarities

• It is important to remember there are also several similarities between these two phases as they both include physical and mental change. The physical changes are very different, from simply growing and learning about your body to the changes caused by puberty, but at the same time still carry the same development idea.

  Learning during early life is focused on basic life skills through learning to talk, read and do basic maths. Learning during adolescence is just an extension of this, although it does have a greater relation to later life.

  Developing relationships also have some similarities. During early life babies can be scared of strangers, but through early childhood they learn to interact. During the teen years this switches to learning and developing relationships with members of the opposite sex.