I've formed the opinion that developmental checks are rather silly overall. That's not to say that they don't do some good, as I'm sure they can help if a child is very behind, but I think a lot of it is silly. Some of the things that were listed were more about societal expectations than truly developmental.
I also object to the declaration that all children of this age should do these certain things, because every child is different and will reach different milestones at different times. Yes, you can say that the majority of children of a certain age will reach certain milestones around that age, but I think it can lead to unwarranted alarm when parents are told to contact their healthcare provider if their child isn't meeting one of those benchmarks. I suppose I don't have to worry as much since my children do not attend nursery or school, so there isn't the constant comparison of what one child can do and another can't. Personally, I think it's healthy to ditch the comparisons.
While I've felt this way for a while, I do admit that my ideas became more fleshed out after reading an article written by Mayim Bialik (aka Blossom, for those of us who grew up in that era). I think this quote sums it up, "Barring outstanding medical concerns, I believe in letting children progress in their own way and pace, modeling behavior while respecting the innate development of a child as an autonomous and purposeful creature."
No comments:
Post a Comment