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Infancy and Early Childhood

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Infancy and Early Childhood Development
Standing in the middle of the delivery room, completely consumed with what has been referred to as the miracle of life. You find yourself squeezing the hand of the women you love in an effort to provide strength and reassurance that everything will be alright. An explosion of life fills the room as the baby enters the world kicking and screaming. Captivated by such a beautiful sight your heart is filled with admiration, simultaneously launching the parental voyage that you have been preparing yourself for. Realizing that your baby will absorb life no differently than a sponge would absorb water, you exercise caution as to what your baby is exposed to.
Infants are immediately and primarily exposed to their family following childbirth, so there is no surprise that this will have an effect on development. With the absence of an instruction manual, parents often raise their children in ways that they deem fit. Considering the diversity amongst parents across the globe, environmental and cultural cues play a role in the development of children down to the smallest details. Certain cultures place more emphasis on certain aspects of development that influence parenting techniques. A study was conducted observing parents that demonstrated proximal interaction with their children, and distal interaction. Women from Cameron, Africa had more of a proximal relationship with their infants, providing them with more physical touch than the use of objects. Mothers from Athens, Greece had more of a distal relationship spending half as much time physically holding their infants and more time using objects. According to (Berger, 2007) “Researchers hypothesized that proximal parenting would result in toddlers who were less self-aware but more compliant—traits needed in an interdependent and cooperative society such as rural Cameroon. By

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