Childcare and Education Essay Example for Free

Childcare and Education Essay E1- Summarise the factors which may influence the health and development of babies in the first year of their lives Environmental factors such as not having enough space in the garden for babies to move around to play and explore will influence their development as they maynot be able to expand their fine and gross motor skills. The environment can affect babies health and development as people around the baby who may smoke can transfer that smoke to the baby even if the smoke isnt directly infront of them. By having a ward and consistant home this can help the baby feel safe and secure therefore maintaining their health and development. Parents may not be able to afford toys and equipment for their child to play with, this may affect the child as the child may not get to experience different experiences. A stimulating environment for a baby is important as they will learn according to the opportunities they get, objects such as rattles, musical toys will encourage movement and interaction. Physical- This is important as babies development can be affected by this. The mother may not be able to take the baby for walks outside or carry the baby around or upstairs/downstairs due to disabilities that the mother or parents may have in general. Genetics is another factor which may influence health and development of the child as some illnessess are inherited. An example is Downs Syndrome, this is a genetic condition that causes physical and intellectual impariments. The mothers health plays a vital role in the development of a baby as women who are in good health during pregnancy are more likely of having a healthy baby, as the baby will be getting all the nurtition it needs to develop. If the mother is not healthy the baby will be affected by this. Emotional- After having a baby some mothers suffer or develop from post natal depression and this can affect how the mother and babys bond in the first few months. After a difficult birth post natal depression may develop, some women suffer generally from depression, if it has taken a mother a while to fall pregant and have children, and some women may develop this for some unkown reason. During the first month, some babies may develop faster or slower than average; this is only rarely a sign of a medical condition. Preterm babies born before the 37th week of pregnancy are physically younger than their full-term peers, so they may show signs of cognitive or physical delays. However, most preterm infants catch up to their peers during the first or second year of life. Other factors that influence a newborns development include genetics, environment and the caregivers levels of interaction. E2/C1- Describe how indoor and outdoor environments can be made safe, reassuring and stimulating Indoor and outdoor environments can be made safe by making sure children are looked after and cared for properly and never left alone, so there must be correct ratios in the setting, ratios are stated under Ofsted and the EYFS to make sure the children have the right amount of care attention they need. If theres not correct ratios the children can be put at risk, and this may cause accidents. By following all the correct policies and procedures and checking all eqiupment is safe for the child to use. Risk assessments must be done before the children can go into the environment and the environment must be adapted for all childrens individual needs so they are able to learn and achieve. From providing the correct equipment this will help develop the childrens individual skills. By having a safe and secure environment children will feel comfortable and safe which is important. The indoor environment should feel homely so the children will feel settled and comfortable in the environment. It is important to let children to give their input in the indoor areas, such as allowing them to do a display. The indoor area must have space and room for the children can move around safely, the cupboards,draws and tables must all be at the childrens level and not high up as this could cause an accident as something could fall down from above and hit the child. Radiator guards must be in setting to protect the children. Ensuring children have new experiences helps them develop in many ways, new experiences allows babies too use their imagination and copy what they see or experience in another situation. New experiences stimulate babies into wanting to learn and do more that challenges them to see what happens. The outdoor environment must provide children to have freedom and able to run around and have independance. The outdoor environment must suit all ranges of weather so the children can go outside in all weathers. All equiptment must be suitable and age appropriate, before children can go outside risk assessments must be done, if there is any unnessesary objects outdoors such as glass, litter or waste can be removed so it is safe for the children to play. The outdoor area should provide challenge as a risk is a challenge what a child can see, and are able to undertake it or not. Free flow must be introduced so children can move freely from outdoors to indoors easily. Learning activities must be provided outdoors also. Daily outdoor play is an important part of children’s learning and is required by the EYFS. It offers many new learning experiences, and boosts mental and physical wellbeing and confidence. Free-flow play adds further benefits, giving children more space and freedom to explore the world around them, letting them make decisions and assess risks while reducing the feeling of being rushed from one activity to the other. Children all have different learning styles and needs; some prefer to play and learn outside, and should be offered this opportunity wherever possible. Some may not have outdoor space at home, in which case it’s even more important. http://www. teachnursery. com/nursery-management/view/qa-free-flow-play It is important that practitoners know if children have any allergies, as children under 12 months cannot talk or communicate very well so practitioners must ask parent/carers this informaation. Having allergies on recored or on view in the setting will help anyone unfamililar coming into the setting. If practitioners do not know this information then the child/baby will be at risk. There are different things that helps reassure babies in settings which could be stability and consistancy, familar staff and practitioners, good positive relationships and things which comfort the child such as a blankets and dummies. E3- Describe the expected stage of development of babies at the chosen age and how they may be expected to develop in the next two, three months of their lives At six months babies will develop gross motor skills. When a baby is lying on their back they can roll over onto their stomach. If lyin on their stomach the child will be able to llift their head and chest, supporting themselves on their arms and hands. Babies at this age can use their shoulders to pull themselves into a sittingn position. At 6 months a baby can almost handle all their own weight. They are able to move their arms purposefully and hold them up, indicating a wish to be lifted. Babies at six months are able to kick vigersously with their legs altertaning, the baby can also lift their legs into a vertical position and grasp one or both feet with their hands. Babies at this age also have social skills as they can sime and babble when given attention and enjoy social play. Also babies will be able to mimic facial expressions and repete them. In the next couple months of the babies live their emotional skills will develop more and will be able to express pleasure and displeasure also will be able to distinguish emotions by a tone of voice. Their language will also improve as the child will be able to reconigise th ecare givers voice, and is able to respond to their name also aswell as being able to respond to other words such as mummy bye bye. Babies will be able to thurn their head in direction when spoken to. In the next few months the baby will explore more with their hands and mouth as is able to find partially hidden objects. A baby at this age will also spend longer studying and taking more interest in toys. E4- Explain how TWO different play activities/experiences can support the overall development of the baby described in E3 Treasure baskets is a good way to get babies to explore different objects and toys. From the basket having toys which are sensory this will encourage the child to use all senses. Such as having musical things in the basket which will encourage to child to listen, having toys which are colourful, and other objects in the basket which are different shapes, sizes, different textures such as a fluffy, hard, soft etc. Introducing new things will support overall experiences and have a variety of objects in basket will give the child a range of new things they can play will and learn from, having mirrors and shinny bits on the basket will attract the baby’s attention, it can help the development of fine motor skills. The child will discover that not all things are the same. This will encourage hand and eye coordination and is allowing the baby to explore and use their own imaginaton. From using treasure baskets babies will be curious and will discover that some objects feel different, look different and may be harder to hold than others, they will be curious and may try banging the toys either on the floor, the basket on against another toy. Messy play. This stimulates the senses and babies are able to use their imagination. The experience gained during messy play helps children experience a variety of textures. During messy play, babies are developing eye hand coordination and fine motor skills and is a learning experience for the child. Children can do body paint and use their bodies to do a picture or objects can be introduced such as a sponge so the child can use different materials throught the activity. This will encourage the child to see different colours and use a variety of materials. E5- Describe the role of the practitioner in meeting the particualr needs of babies in the chosen type of setting (group care or home based care) In group based care such as pre-school, Private day nursery or schools the practitioner had an inportant role. This is to ensure that all individual needs of children are met. This is so the children will develop and grow. Communication with parents/carers is important as it gives the practitoner a chance to understand what the childs rountine is at home and make sure it is as stress free and possible, as using as much as the childs routine at home as possible. This routine may include feeding and sleeping. The practitioner must be aware of the childs routine as the child will be used to certain times they have a nap and sleep, what time they have meals etc so it is important that the pracftitioner must let the child sleep and eat at what times they are used to. Routines are important for babies as it helps them know what they are doing, without routines babies can be unsettled and not sleep well. Ensuring good relationships with both parents and baby will make sure information is passed between the parents and the practitioners so that both are aware of anything that could affect the care of the child. The practitioner needs to ensure that they have an honest and professional relationship with children and parents as this is vital. Practitioners and settings also must ensure that they have stimulating activities for babies to get involved in, such as an activity which will help develop the babies senses, their sight, touch, taste, and hearing, this will help babies develop and meet important milestones. Planning is very important in settings and practitooners must be able to adapt planning when needed or if needed to suuit individual needs, babies need stimulation to keep them engaged and to ensure they develop and make progress to ensure they meet milestones in the future. The environment in the setting must be open to adaptation, indoors and outdoors. Baies must have opportunities to help their development and growth. When babies start to crawl, walk they need to have a safe environment. The safety and welfare of the children should still be the main priority of the practitioner, making sure toys are age and stage ppropriate and planning to meet the needs of all the children in the practitioners care. E6- Show how the child proctection policies and procedures in the setting protect and safeguard the babies Health and safety- This ensures all equipement and resources are safe to use and clean, sterrile for babies to use. Risk assessments must be made so all environments are safe for all children. Confidentiality This reassures parents/carers as it ensures that all the childrens information is secure and kept away, so only people who need to access it can do. Confidentiality means that all the childrens personal information must be kept in a locked cupboard or in a computter with a password to protect all the details and information. Practitioners within the setting should have up to date training to ensure they are fully aware of confidentiality and be aware if any policies and procedures have changed. Child protection policies and procedures in the settings are there to protect all children and babies. Babies cannot protect themselves so policies and procedures are to ensure children do not come to any unnessearyy harm and are cared for correctly. All babies and children must be protected from any discrimination such as gender, disability,race etc. Children must be safe and protected so practiononers must reconise abuse if they see any signs which are neglect, physical, sexual and emotional. Practitoners must know what to do if they see any of theses signs to protect the child. Child protection policies will cover all staff and those working in at setting have CRB checks, and trainign they need. Safe guarding procedures involve making sure all children are picked up from the setting by carers and not sent home with anyone without the parent/carers permission. Sharing information and team work is important when it comes to protecting babies as communication is key. If a parent tells a practitoner that another person is coming to pick their child up this must be passed on so the staff/practioners are aware of this. From working in a team this can help protect children, different professionals have different exeperiences and knowledge with children, so working together is important. It ensures a childs welfare through having knowledge from all different areas. An example is practitioners will know the childs day to day behaviour is, and will know the child well, as a GP will not know the child that well but will know medical knowledge which the practitoner wouldnt know, therefore for the childs welfare it is important for all professionals to work together. E7/D1- Explaing the importance of well planned care rountines and the key worker system Care rountines are very important for babies as by meeting babies needs carers are encouraging self-eteem and the sense of feeling valued. Care rountines are benficial as they involve identifying the needs of children so they can meet them. This can be done by observation, oberving children in groups and alsone to see how they behave. When needs of babies have been identified then you are able to move forward, planning can be done to meet these needs. If childrens needs are not met this will affect the child as the child will not be able to develop, learn and meet important milestones as they should. Care routines give babies stabiltity as having a good care routine reassures the child and gives them constiancy. By having practioners around will make the children feel more secure and safe, as the practitioner adn child will develop a relatioship and bond. This will help the baby feel settled and comfortable with a bond and may not feel safe without this bond and the babies may feel unsettled, disstressed and unhappy so a good relationship will encourage the child to develop trust and overall all will be happier and learn to develop better. Relatioships with practitoners and parents is also important as the parent knows the child best. Meal times is apart of a care routine, and the practioners must ensure children are getting the nurtition they need, and help to encourage the child to eat. Aswell as giving babies food and drink, meal times can be very enjoyable and stimualte the social and emotional development as children are able to communicate with each other during meal time and interact which is good for the babies social skills. Care routines are important for babies safety as policies will identify procedures which will ensure the children are safe and exaple is safety gates, gates must be kept shut at all times so the children cannot get out. Good hygiene is also beneficial to a good care routine as this will prevent babies and practitioners from becoming ill and prevents the spread of infection. Hygiene is a big part of a care routine for babies so practitoners must was hands after using the toilet, deadling with bodily fluids, before preparing foods and bottles. From having similar care routines at home and in settings is important as this will give children security and will understand whats happening around them and be more comfortable and confident. In every early years setting children have a key worker. Key Workers are resbonsible for their child and form good realtionships. Key worker will observe their child regualy and keep a record of how the child is developing. Planning is the key workers job and must plan to what the childs needs are. Key workers are close to their group of children and respoonsible for them, therefore will know their child more than other practitioners in the setting so key workers role is also to communicate with other professionals. The key person plays an essential role in supporting the emotional well-being of the children in their care. In doing so they take responsibility for those aspects of the child’s day which have the greatest impact on their well-being. These include personal care routines – nappy changing, toileting, rest times and meal times.