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Chapter 7: Physical Development and Health in Early
Childhood
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CHAPTER
Chapter 7 highlights research and theory on the development and rate of change in a child’s
brain and, thus, the implications for physical development. These changes within the brain
particularly impact attention span, memory, communication, and executive brain abilities such
as planning, decision making, and self-control. Physical coordination, speed of movement, and
vigor evolve in multiple ways including significant changes in gross and fine motor skills. Risk-
taking, nutritional choices, and play are highlighted as well as types of maltreatment of children
by caretakers.
CHAPTER-AT-A-GLANCE GRID
Chapter Outline Instructor’s Resources Multimedia Resources
7.1 Growth of the Learning Objectives 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 The Science of Early
Body and Brain Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Childhood
Prompt Reflection Activities Development video
Pair and Share: Childhood Recollections (3:57)
Interview on School Curriculum Brain Development of
Writing Exercise: Brain Games Young Children video
Observing the Dynamic Child 7.1: Executive (4:00)
Functions in Preschool Experiences Build Brain
Architecture video
(1:57)
Observing the Dynamic
Child 7.1: Executive
Functions in
Preschool video
(3:30)
7.2 Motor Learning Objectives 7.5, 7.6, 7.7 Early Childhood Gross
Development Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Motor Development
Prompt Reflection Activities video (1:39)
Observing the Dynamic Child 7.2: Motor Early Childhood Fine
Skills Motor Development
Observational Activity: Gender Differences in video (1:36)
Motor Skills Occuptional Therapy for
Writing Exercise: Hand It Over! Kids video (4:31)
The Dynamic Child in the Classroom: Motor Improving Your Child’s
Development in Early Childhood Fine Motor and Gross
Motor Skills video
(3:50)
Handedness in
Preschoolers video
(2:01)
Observing the Dynamic
Child 7.2: Motor Skills
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Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
video (4:43)
The Dynamic Child in
the Classroom: Motor
Development in Early
Childhood video
(6:34)
7.3 Children’s Learning Objectives 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, 7.11, 7.12 What Are Night
Health and Safety Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Terrors? video (2:12)
Prompt Reflection Activities Thinking Like a
Class Discussion: Raising Healthy Children Preschool Director:
Group Discussion: Children and the Media Healthy Eating video
Observational Activity: The Apple Does Not (1:40)
Fall Far from the Tree An America Disaster:
Interview Professionals About Feeding The Crisis in Flint
Children video (7:47)
Flint: It’s Not Just About
the Water video
(4:30)
7.4 Child Learning Objectives 7.13, 7.14, 7.15 The Impact of Early
Maltreatment and Shared Writing: Preventing Child Adversity on Child
Neglect Maltreatment Development video
Application Assignment: Investigate a (3:54)
Program that Targets Maltreated Children; The Science of Neglect
Maltreatment and Brain Development video (5:58)
Case Study: Child Maltreatment TED MED Talk: How
Guest Speaker: Child Protective Services Childhood Trauma
Worker Affects Health Across
Thinking About the Whole Child: My Virtual a Lifetime video
Child at Ages 3 to 5 Years (Group Activity) (19:00)
141
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LO 7.3 Describe how improvements in brain functioning are thought to contribute
to the development of executive functions in early childhood.
Individual Differences in Executive Functions
LO 7.4 Explain which factors influence development of executive functions.
Observing the Dynamic Child 7.1: Executive Functions in Preschool
7.2 Motor Development
Gross Motor Skills
LO 7.5 Explain how gross motor skills improve during early childhood.
Fine Motor Skills
LO 7.6 Describe how the fine motor skills of drawing and writing develop.
Drawing Pictures
Learning to Write
Handedness
LO 7.7 Explain the development of handedness in the first 5 years.
Observing the Dynamic Child 7.2: Motor Skills
The Dynamic Child in the Classroom: Motor Development in Early Childhood
7.3 Children’s Health and Safety
Sleep Patterns and Disturbances
LO 7.8 Describe the factors associated with sleep disturbances.
Nutrition and Malnutrition
LO 7.9 Explain what factors influence children’s developing food preferences.
Illnesses
LO 7.10 Describe the most common illnesses or diseases affecting children, and
note preventative measures.
Injuries
LO 7.11 Discuss how risks from the most common sources of injuries among
young children can be minimized.
Environmental Risk Factors
LO 7.12 Describe two environmental hazards that pose a risk to young children.
Secondhand Smoke
Lead Exposure
7.4 Child Maltreatment and Neglect
Incidence, Types, and Risk Factors for Maltreatment
LO 7.13 Discuss the risk factors for child maltreatment.
Consequences of Maltreatment
LO 7.14 Explain how the consequences of maltreatment can be viewed as
following a developmental cascade within and across domains of development.
Physical Health and Brain Development
Cognitive Development
Emotional Regulation and Perception
Social Relationships
Prevention of Maltreatment
LO 7.15 Describe two strategies that may help prevent maltreatment.
Shared Writing: Preventing Child Maltreatment
Thinking About the Whole Child: My Virtual Child at Ages 3 to 5 Years (Group Activity)
LESSON PLANS
Module 7.1 Growth of the Body and Brain
Introduction/hook to stimulate students’ interest (5 minutes)
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Ask students to think about games they played as a child. Did they play alone or with others?
Were the groups the same sex or were they made up of boys and girls? Were they more
likely to climb to the top of the monkey bars or play on the swing set?
Organizing theme: How children’s physical development influences both body and brain and
how environmental factors impact the rate of this growth and the efficiency of the brain.
LO 7.1 Lecture Notes: Identify factors that influence individual differences in growth rates.
Inform students that of all the organs, the brain grows most rapidly between the ages of 2 and
5.
Bodily growth does continue but at a slower pace than in the infant and toddler years, adding
an average of 2 to 3 inches in height and 5 pounds in weight.
Children begin to lose baby fat and appear taller, slimmer, and more erect.
The average girl matures faster than the average boy, with girls having greater fine motor
skills.
The average 5-year-old boy in the United States is 43 inches tall and 40 pounds and the
average girl is 42 ½ inches and 39 pounds.
LO 7.2 Lecture Notes: Identify which aspects of brain growth are prominent in early
childhood.
Mini-lecture hook: At what age do you believe the brain reaches its adult volume? The human
brain grows to about 80 percent of its adult volume by age 2 and another 10 percent between
2 and 6 years of age (Brown & Jernigan, 2012).
Synaptogenesis, pruning, and myelination continue to reshape the brain, particularly in
language areas and the prefrontal cortex.
Gray matter (neuron cell bodies, dendrites, and synapses) grows rapidly in the first two years,
begins to slow in pace, and peaks in late childhood followed by a decline after age 10.
White matter (myelinated axons) shows rapid increases in infancy followed by a more gradual
increase from age 3 to early adulthood.
LO 7.3 Lecture Notes: Describe how improvements in brain functioning are thought to
contribute to the development of executive functions in early childhood.
One of the fastest-growing areas in early childhood is the prefrontal cortex.
The prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functions, which are deliberate, conscious
strategies used in goal attainment, decision making, and problem solving.
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Review Figure 7.3: Executive Functions in Early Childhood and review the specific executive
functions involved that go through rapid change in early childhood: working memory,
inhibition, and shifting. Each of these processes is important for school performance.
Three-year-olds have a difficult time shifting rules in games but by age 4 they were able to
switch between new rules more readily.
Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.1a (5 minutes): Did you see any signs of improvement in executive functions (working
memory, inhibition, and shifting mental states) in your virtual child at ages 3, 4, and 5? (This
may be used as an in-class writing assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime
students to have answers to these journal prompts ready for class discussion.)
LO 7.4 Lecture Notes: Explain which factors influence development of executive functions.
Biological factors contribute to the development of executive functions.
Abnormalities in the development of frontal lobe brain circuits may result in disorders of
genetic or prenatal origin such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Peterson, Pine, Cohen, & Brook, 2001).
Environmental factors such as socioeconomic status and culture may also contribute to
differences in executive functions.
Early results from the Family Life Project reveal a variety of risk factors in working memory,
inhibition, and mental switching at age 3.
The strongest predictor of executive functioning was cumulative risk, a composite including
factors such as family income, marital status, environmental stress, maternal depression, food
insufficiency, and health problems within the family.
Parenting quality plays a role: Parents with the highest cumulative risk are more likely to be
low in positive engagement and less likely to provide books and toys.
Parents help shape executive functions by providing structure and organization.
Culture may also influence parenting practices, thus impacting the development of executive
functions.
Executive functions impact school performance, as children need to pay attention, inhibit off-
task behavior, and remember instructions.
Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.1b (5 minutes): Examine your virtual child’s pre-kindergarten assessment and evaluation (at
age 5). To what extent do you think executive functioning was involved in your child’s outcomes
on this assessment? (This may be used as an in-class writing assignment or a group
discussion. For best results, prime students to have answers to these journal prompts ready for
class discussion.)
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Ask students to discuss the following questions with their seatmates:
1. What specific techniques did your parents use to encourage development of working
memory, inhibition of off-task behaviors, and shifting between tasks?
2. Do you recall any games you played as a young child that may serve to enhance
executive function? If so, what specific games and what aspects of the games do you
believe served to help in executive development functions?
Invite students to share their recollections.
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b. The teacher effectively serves as the child’s working memory, reminding her of the
overall goal.
c. The teacher supports the functions of planning, inhibiting, and shifting rules (for
example, four involves counting one more spindle than three) when the child’s efforts
fall short.
d. The teacher points out when the child makes an error in identifying a number.
e. *b and c
f. b and d
To encourage additional critical thinking following the Observing the Dynamic Child video,
ask students to address this question:
Turning things on their head, why might it be adaptive for cognitive and motor
development for children to have immature executive functioning? Hint (if some students
are stymied): This means that the child might “play around” with objects, rather than only
doing the procedure demonstrated by the teacher.
One answer is that playing around allows children to discover new and interesting
activities or properties of objects. For example, the child might discover that lifting
several sticks at a time and dropping the appropriate number in a bin is a faster and
more efficient way of filling the bins than moving the sticks one at a time. Or the child
might discover some property of the sticks that is unrelated to the counting activity, such
as that they can be used to make musical rhythms or other sounds.
LO 7.5 Lecture Notes: Explain how gross motor skills improve during early childhood.
By age 2 to 2 ½ years, children learn to walk efficiently. Once walking is learned, they begin
to develop fundamental movement skills, which include running, hopping, skipping,
climbing, throwing, catching, and kicking.
Figure 7.4: Four Stages of Kicking. Share the four stages with students and describe the
behaviors and skills in each stage.
Formal movement education can teach children fundamental movement skills more rapidly
than traditional physical education or free play programs (Goodway & Branta, 2003).
Recall from Chapter 4 the discussion of the dynamic systems theory: Motor development
requires knowledge beyond mastery of movement. It requires perception of movement,
relative location of object in motion, balance, and kinesthetic awareness of object relative to
self.
Practice and motivation are also essential in motor development, such as encouragement
from parents and siblings.
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Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.2a (5 minutes): Explain how certain activities your virtual child has engaged in might provide
practice in fundamental movement skills. (This may be used as an in-class writing assignment
or a group discussion. For best results, prime students to have answers to these journal
prompts ready for class discussion.)
LO 7.6 Lecture Notes: Describe how the fine motor skills of drawing and writing develop.
Between ages 2 ½ and 5, fine motor skills develop as children become skillful and precise
with hand motion via activities such as writing, drawing, fastening buttons, and tying
shoelaces.
As early as 18 months, children learn to hold a pencil or crayon in a power grip. Practice
determines increased dexterity but by about age 6 they progress to the tripod grip. Refer to
Figure 7.5: Power Versus Tripod Grip.
By age 4, many children can write their own name and produce legible representations of the
26 letters of the alphabet.
Children’s ability to draw pictures provides insight into how advances in motor, cognitive, and
socioemotional aspects of development occur simultaneously.
Review Figure 7.6: Stages in Children’s Drawings. Research reveals ages 3 to 4 is pivotal for
the development of the use of a vocabulary of symbols such as a circle, square, triangle, and
diagonal line (Machón, 2013).
Children progress through stages of drawing depending on environmental factors such as
availability of drawing materials and cultural influences.
Evidence suggests that providing correct practice with a pencil beginning at age 2 ½ can lead
to earlier and more accurate letter writing when children begin school (Callaghan & Rankin,
2002).
Rule and Stewart (2002) found children had an easier time learning to write with a pencil if
they had prior experience with using a paint brush, stringing beads, and scissors.
Practicing gross and fine motor skills helps the motor and somatosensory regions of the brain
prune down for efficiency and, thus, smoother movements.
Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.2b (5 minutes): How do you think the development of your virtual child’s fine motor skills
might affect kindergarten/first grade success? (This may be used as an in-class writing
assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime students to have answers to these
journal prompts ready for class discussion.)
Video Link: Improving Your Child’s Fine Motor and Gross Motor Skills (3:50)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuVkkhpiHTA
This video demonstrates several engaging ways caregivers can work with their child on his or
her fine motor skills and gross motor skills. In this video, physical therapist Kendra
VanWasshenova from the University of Michigan’s Milestones pediatric rehabilitation program
shows us a few activities that can be done with materials most have at home.
LO 7.7 Lecture Notes: Explain the development of handedness in the first 5 years.
Mini-lecture hook: Ask students to write a short sentence with their dominant hand and then
with their nondominant hand. Then ask how many are left-handed, right-handed, or
ambidextrous. When and how does handedness develop?
In North America, 88 percent show right-handed preferences and 12 percent left-handed.
Some cultures with a right-handed bias may have left-handedness as low as 1 to 2 percent,
suggesting an environmental influence on handedness.
Research reveals handedness is polygenic, or influenced by more than one gene (Francks et
al., 2002; Ocklenburg, Beste, & Güntürkün, 2013).
Recent research points to a theory of development for handedness that includes bidirectional
interactions of brain development, behavior, and experience (Michel, 2014; Michel et al.,
2013) and hence is an example of a developmental systems theory.
Eighty-five percent of infants adopt a position in the womb that makes it easier for right arm
movements, which indicates that a tendency toward handedness can begin in the womb.
Newborns have a preferred head and arm orientation (either right or left) that correlates with
their prenatal orientation (Michel & Goodwin, 1979).
Some infants may switch hand preference after 6 months of age. Refer to Figure 7.8: The
Development of Hand Preference in Infancy, which indicates hand preferences between 6
and 14 months: 38 percent had a stable right-hand preference; 14 percent a stable left-hand
preference; 48 percent began using either hand but steadily increased preference for right
hand.
There is brain plasticity for hand preference in the first 2 years of life.
Social experience influences handedness, with mothers showing unconscious behaviors
indicating bias in movements that stimulate the child’s hand preference.
Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.2c (5 minutes): Based on small to moderate genetic and shared environmental contributions
to handedness, is your virtual child likely to be left- or right-handed? (This may be used as an in-
class writing assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime students to have
answers to these journal prompts ready for class discussion.)
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7.2: Motor Skills video (4:43). This can be used as an in-class participation grade. NOTE: Be
sure to remove the * before using this as a handout for students!
1. Which of the following activities in the video seems to provide an excellent opportunity
for fine motor skill practice?
a. Eating snacks
b. Playing outside
c. Yoga/dance class
d. Cleaning up
e. a and c
f. *a and d
2. Which of the following activities in the video seems to provide an excellent opportunity
for gross motor skill practice?
a. eating snacks
b. yoga/dance class
c. drawing/painting
d. playing outside
e. *b and d
f. c and d
3. Watch the portions of the video where children are in yoga/dance class and playing
outside. Which of the following might be considered fundamental movement skills?
a. jumping off a ledge
b. balancing on two feet before jumping off a ledge
c. moving one arm up and down
d. moving the upper body and arms at the same time
e. *b and c
f. a and c
To encourage additional critical thinking following the Observing the Dynamic Child video,
ask students to watch the video again and find two additional examples of fundamental
movement skills and an action in which two or more fundamental movement skills are
coordinated. Share some examples with the class and discuss whether they were correctly
identified or not, and why.
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red fish, blue fish” at the top right corner. Then, ask them to use their other hand and
rewrite the same information on the top left corner of the paper. Discuss how it felt to use
the nondominant hand. What challenges did students have performing the task using
their nondominant hand? Ask any left-handed students to describe specific challenges
they face in day-to-day existence that the right-handed majority may take for granted. If
the writing activity was already used as a lecture hook, make this activity about asking
left-handed students to discuss specific experiences and challenges they faced growing
up as a left-hander and functioning on a daily basis in the world as a left-hander. Are
there any students who switched hand dominance or learned a skill with the
nondominant hand after the sensitive period (first 5 years or so)? If so, how difficult was
it to acquire the skill? Good examples include sports skills such as swinging a bat or a
tennis racquet, or musical skills such as playing a stringed instrument or the piano.
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Introduction/hook to stimulate students’ interest (5 minutes)
Organizing theme: At what age do you first remember learning about healthy behaviors?
Are children born with the innate ability to discern between healthy food choices and
unhealthy food choices? Do children know how to self-regulate their sleep time?
LO 7.8 Lecture Notes: Describe the factors associated with sleep disturbances.
Toddlers ages 1 to 2 tend to sleep about 12 to 14 hours a day with one nap of 1 to 3 hours,
whereas 3- to 5-year-olds sleep less (Hoban, 2004; National Sleep Foundation, 2011).
Sleep difficulties begin to appear between 2 and 5 years of age and as noted in Figure 7.9:
National Sleep Foundation Survey Results, the most common is stalling before bedtime.
One way to address sleep disturbances is to adhere to a regular bedtime routine including
reading a story, listening to music, taking a soft toy to bed, or turning on a night-light.
Nightmares and sleep terrors appear to have genetic and environmental origins.
Children with frequent nightmares tend to show an anxious or fussy temperament at 17
months and had more conflict with parents during the day.
In one longitudinal study, sleep terrors occurred in about 20 percent of children and seem to
have both a strong genetic component and level of daily stress influence.
LO 7.9 Lecture Notes: Explain what factors influence children’s developing food preferences.
Between 2 and 5 years of age, children exercise more choice over food options than in
infancy and prefer foods high in sugar, salt, protein, and fat. Is this environmentally inspired or
evolutionary in nature?
About 9 percent of children ages 2 to 5 were obese in 2011–2012 (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, &
Flegal, 2014).
How can parents teach children to make healthy food choices? Effective methods include
offering children the same food repeatedly. Children tend to prefer what they are exposed to
most often. Ask students if they have experienced this with an initially unfamiliar food within
the past few years.
Another effective technique involves offering healthy foods in pleasant surroundings.
Less than 1 percent of children in the United States are malnourished.
Some children may experience food insecurity, irregular servings of nutritious food needed
to provide for normal activity and health, with the rate of food insecurity in the United States
estimated at 10 percent in 2013.
Not getting consistent healthy foods is associated with poorer health and school achievement
and increased risk of obesity.
Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.3a (5 minutes): How might the research on children’s food preferences influence your
approach to your virtual child’s meals? (This may be used as an in-class writing assignment or a
group discussion. For best results, prime students to have answers to these journal prompts
ready for class discussion.)
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https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2015-manis1e_0134410971-
healthy_eating_2
Watch the video Thinking Like a Preschool Director: Healthy Eating (1:40). Recall the video
interview of the nutritionist in Chapter 2 of the PowerPoint presentation. Ask students if they can
identify any similarities between the preschool director’s approach at school and the
nutritionist’s advice for healthy eating at home.
LO 7.10 Lecture Notes: Describe the most common illnesses or diseases affecting children,
and note preventative measures.
Health recommendations for young children include regular medical checkups, continued
immunizations, and beginning self-care with the teeth.
Regular medical checkups require access to affordable medical care. Approximately 3
percent of children in the United States have no usual source of medical care (Martinez &
Cohen, 2015).
Children experience an average of seven to 10 colds per year, with higher rates in children
attending child care centers or preschool. Middle ear infections result in more complications
and may create temporary problems with hearing.
Although few children die of infectious diseases in the United States, worldwide the most
frequent killer of infants are preterm birth and asphyxia, while pneumonia and diarrhea kill
young children most often, followed by malaria and other infections.
LO 7.11 Lecture Notes: Discuss how risks from the most common sources of injuries among
young children can be minimized.
In the United States and other industrialized countries, accidents are the most common
source of injuries or death among children 11 years and younger, and occur more often in
children under age 5.
Fatal injuries are rare and most commonly involve accidents followed by birth defects and
homicide at ages 1 to 4.
Looking at Figure 7.10, students can review the most common Reasons for Emergency Room
Visits, 2009–2010, for children ages 1 to 4 and 5 to 14. What is the most common reason for
emergency room visits for children between 1 and 4 years of age?
Boys are more likely than girls to be injured or killed (Safe Kids, 2008). Why?
Young children may have underdeveloped ability to control attention and inhibit undesirable
actions.
Children with ADD or hyperactivity are more likely to have physical accidents than other
children (Schwebel et al., 2004).
Parental instruction in safety rules and parental oversight in the home help reduce rates of
injuries and accidental death.
Low compliance with parental rules and lack of direct parental supervision are strong
predictors of injury rates in 4- to 6-year-olds (Morrongiello, Midgett, & Shields, 2001).
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Injury and fatality rates are highest among American Indian/Alaska Native and African
American children and lowest among Asian/Pacific Islanders, with white and Hispanic children
falling in between (Safe Kids, 2008).
Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
7.3b (5 minutes): Based on the risk factors described above, is your virtual child at high,
medium, or low risk for a physical injury, and how does this change with age? (This may be
used as an in-class writing assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime students
to have answers to these journal prompts ready for class discussion.)
LO 7.12 Lecture Notes: Describe two environmental hazards that pose a risk to young
children.
Children may be more vulnerable to the dangers of environmental hazards than adults
because they lack knowledge about how to identify and avoid such dangers.
Estimates suggest 9 percent of young children are exposed to significant levels of
secondhand smoke (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2013).
Children exposed to secondhand smoke have increased incidence of infections in the lower
respiratory tract, bronchitis, pneumonia, middle ear disease, sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS), and respiratory symptoms.
Small amounts of lead in the bloodstream are associated in young children with nervous
system damage; deficits on IQ, memory, and problem-solving tests; and attentional and
behavioral difficulties that can persist into adulthood.
Lead appears to cause permanent harm in the brain and is compounded by poverty and poor
diet.
About 3 percent of American children as a whole and 6 percent of African American children
had dangerously high levels of lead in their blood in surveys conducted in 2007 and 2010
(Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2013).
Video Link: Flint: It’s Not Just About the Water (4:30)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/06/us/flint-problems-unemployment-poverty-crime/index.html
CNN reports on the chronic, underlying factors contributing to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
Discuss how poverty, unemployment, and crime impact communities such as Flint.
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This activity is designed to help highlight the level of nutritional guidance provided by
parents. Children often indicate preferences by throwing a tantrum if they don’t get what
they want—and parents often give in. It can be challenging for parents to encourage
children to select healthy food. However, sometimes children follow the unhealthy choices
demonstrated by their parents.
Writing Activity Instructions for Students: Visit a local restaurant where you can observe
families of preschool-age children. You might wish to purchase a food item so that you
can comfortably sit near a family in order to observe more directly. (A mall food court is
an excellent environment in which to observe multiple families and a wide variety of food
choices.) Select at least three families. Note the approximate age and gender of the
family members. Make notations of the following as accurately as possible: What parent
is accompanying the child? Does the parent select the food for the child or is the child
allowed to select? If the child is given the option to select, is it from the whole menu or
does the parent provide a choice from a list of pre-determined options? Do the child and
parent or other family members appear to be within a normal weight range? (This may
be difficult to discern since weights may vary between children of the same age.)
Note any conflict you see between parent and child. Is the child eating all of the food
or is s/he picking only certain food items? Does the parent allow the child to get dessert
before finishing the entrée or does the child get dessert only if the entrée is finished?
What other details did you notice in your observations? Be as concrete and descriptive
as possible with your observations.
2. Interview Professionals About Feeding Children (To be completed outside of class)
Schools and child care facilities provide a great source of real-world information. Interview
the supervisor of cafeteria foods or the meal preparation specialist at your local school or
child care center. The focus of this interview is to identify and record the types of processes
that go into the planning, preparation, and service of snacks and meals for children during
the school and/or child care day. Who plans the menu? Is it monthly or weekly? What sorts
of regulations guide the menu items? How much fresh food is offered compared to prepared
foods such as pizza? What do food specialists do to encourage children to make healthy
choices?
Writing Activity Instructions for Students: Students will interview one school food
specialist and one child care specialist, both working primarily with children ages 2 to 5
years.
Students are required to write a four- to five-page paper summarizing their findings
and integrating course concepts that serve to highlight their findings.
Most professionals will agree to a brief interview (15 to 30 minutes), either on the
phone or in person. Be sure to arrange a suitable meeting time with your interviewee.
Instructors may need to inform the students on how to conduct an effective interview.
Students should be prepared with a basic list of questions, centered on the topic of
emotional competence, to guide the interview (prepare five to 10 questions in advance).
Students will need to decide on a recording mechanism, typically a written accounting of
questions and responses. However, if using a voice recorder, students should be
instructed to get permission from the interviewee before making a voice recording.
Students should be instructed to conclude the interviews by thanking the professionals
for their time and insightful expertise. Instructors should encourage students to send
written thank-you notes to the professionals after conducting the interviews.
Students will then write a four- to five-page paper summarizing the interview results,
including the questions asked, and elaborating on how the professional responses
corroborated or conflicted with concepts learned in class. Instructors should provide
expectations of paper formatting, font, cover page, and reference page.
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Module 7.4 Child Maltreatment and Neglect
Introduction/hook to stimulate students’ interest (5 minutes)
Organizing theme: How do you interpret the following biblical proverb?: “Spare the rod, spoil
the child.”
Students will learn the differences among four types of maltreatment: physical abuse,
emotional/psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.
LO 7.13 Lecture Notes: Discuss the risk factors for child maltreatment.
Maltreatment consists of physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and
neglect that result in death, serious physical or emotional harm, or sexual abuse or
exploitation or create an imminent risk of serious harm (Cicchetti & Toth, 2015).
Child Protective Services (CPS) data reported in 2011 showed that 10 per 1,000 children
under 18 years of age were maltreated (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics, 2013).
In the CPS data, parents were the source of maltreatment more than 80 percent of the time.
Maltreatment was most common among African American, Native American, and multiracial
children and least common among Asian Americans.
Maltreatment occurs equally often for boys and girls and is most common among children
under 4 years of age.
Review Table 7.1 Types of Maltreatment and Relative Frequency in 2011 for definitions and
frequency of each type of maltreatment.
Neglect was the most common category of maltreatment followed by physical abuse, sexual
abuse, and emotional abuse.
Risk factors for physical abuse: living in conditions of poverty; single parenthood; a lack of
social support; social isolation; history of abuse; history of mental illness or substance abuse.
Children with disabilities are twice as likely to be abused as children without disabilities
(Sedlak et al., 2010).
Rising stress levels combined with lack of parenting skills present the fuel for abuse.
Neglect is more likely to occur with high stress levels; drug and alcohol abuse is often
involved.
Emotional abuse is more difficult to study.
Sexual abuse is uncommon prior to age 3 but more common for older children and reaches a
peak between ages 12 and 15.
Sexual abusers are socially isolated, have relationship problems, have low self-esteem, and
may have psychiatric disorders.
LO 7.14 Lecture Notes: Explain how the consequences of maltreatment can be viewed as
following a developmental cascade within and across domains of development.
The effects of abuse follow a developmental cascade, wherein negative events or behavior
at one age create negative behavior at a subsequent age. Refer to Figure 7.11: A
Developmental Cascade.
Physical and emotional abuse may alter the course of early brain development by increasing
harmful levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
MRI scans of maltreated children show evidence of reduced cerebral volume, larger
ventricles, and smaller corpus callosum.
Children who have a history of physical abuse have deficits in language, IQ, and academic
achievement (Wekerle & Wolfe, 2003; Wekerle et al., 2014).
Maltreated children develop atypical responses to emotional distress in other people.
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Maltreated children have a low threshold for detection of anger but may misinterpret a
person’s emotional state or overreact to perceived threats that are not there.
Seventy to 95 percent of maltreated infants have been found to have insecure or disorganized
attachments and may have poor emotional regulation, may act aggressively, or may withdraw
from social interactions with peers (Bolger & Patterson, 2001; Cicchetti & Toth, 2005).
LO 7.15 Lecture Notes: Describe two strategies that may help prevent maltreatment.
Two strategies to help prevent maltreatment include minimizing stress and improving mother–
child attachment relationships.
Minimizing stress includes assisting at-risk families to manage their daily lives and child care.
As illustrated in Figure 7.13: Results of Intervention Study, by Group, interventions that can
improve attachment relationships between mothers and maltreated children include
attachment building and psychoeducational interventions.
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viewed outside of class. This may be used as an in-class discussion starter or written
assignment.
2. Application Assignment: Investigate a Program that Targets Maltreated Children
Have students research a program that directly targets maltreated children. Possible
programs include Child Protective Services, Family Preservation Services, and other case
management services. You may also have local programs for students to research. Have
students compile their findings into a short (two- to three-page) paper or present findings to
the class through presentation or discussion.
3. Guest Speaker: Child Protective Services Worker
Invite a Child Protective Services worker to speak in your class. If your institution has a
social work program, you may also ask a social work faculty member to discuss work with
maltreated children and families. Ask the guest speaker to discuss the impact maltreatment
appears to have on the developing brain. Direct students to come prepared with at least two
questions for the speaker.
4. Application Assignment: Maltreatment and Brain Development
Have students read the following document:
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/brain_development.pdf. After reading the document,
have students summarize the impact of child maltreatment on the developing brain. Then,
direct students to come up with specific, research-supported recommendations to prevent
child maltreatment. Ask students to compile their program in a short (three- to four-page)
paper. You may also ask students to present their specific recommendations to the class.
5. Case Study: Child Maltreatment
An Internet search with the terms “child maltreatment case study” will return many results.
Ask students to choose one case study found online and link the experience of child
maltreatment with brain development. Have them compile their findings in a short (two- to
three-page) paper or ask them to present their findings to the class.
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http://www.naasca.org/2012-Articles/031212-BombInTheBrain.htm. Ask students to research
two of the organizations listed under the Recovery tab created to help in the treatment and
recovery of child abuse victimization.
Video Activity: What Would You Do? Kids on Leashes (20 minutes; video 3:21)
A mother uses harnesses to control her children’s behaviors. When she ties her child to a
parking meter outside a store while she goes in, trouble ensues. In a second scenario, the
caretaker is a nanny with four children in harnesses. Will onlookers intervene? View the episode
of What Would You Do? at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVDzRPZbHTk. Instruct
students to write a one-page response paper explaining what they would do as both an
observer of this situation and as a parent in a similar situation. What might a child psychologist
say about the resulting outcomes of a child kept in control using a leash? Explain your answer.
Your Questions Answered: How To Make Sure Your Tap Water Is Safe
Have students review the following transcript from The Diane Rehm Show:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/2016/02/22/your-questions-answered-how-to-make-sure-your-tap-
water-is-safe. After reading the article, have them outline where they would go to research their
own tap water safety report.
158
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A fun and valuable way to pull together the information in this chapter is to visit a preschool or
child care center that has children of multiple ages between 2 ½ and 5. If possible, observe
during their free play periods, both indoors and outdoors.
Although you can’t observe it directly, you know that continuing maturation of the brain
underlies all of the behavior you observe. You can look for a few behavioral signs that are
particularly characteristic of neurological maturation in early childhood, such as increases with
age in lateralization of hand and arm preferences, improvements in attention span, and
increases in the ability to follow directions, plan and enact elaborate sociodramatic play scenes,
and to tell stories. You may also notice individual differences within the same age group in the
extent of hand preference, attention span, or other behaviors.
What changes in motor skills should you look for? Outdoors you may notice that children
engage in a great deal of gross motor play, including jumping, riding tricycles, running, climbing,
etc. You should particularly look for the fundamental motor skills that make up more complex
actions. You may notice that younger children have some but not all elements of the complete
skill, or they execute them slowly and not very smoothly. Indoors you may notice more frequent
use of fine motor skills, such as drawing, finger painting, working with clay, building with blocks,
and printing letters. In keeping with dynamic systems theory, find examples of how changes in
bodily growth and strength, movement, coordination, visual perception, motivation, or practice
contribute to advances in either gross or fine motor skills.
Issues with children’s health were also highlighted in this chapter. If you are able to observe
during mealtime, you might notice that preschools generally offer familiar foods that children
enjoy. Are all of the food groups represented? Do the teachers exert any pressure on children to
eat particular foods, or to finish the food on their plates? How do the teachers and children act
with regard to any new or special foods present in the meal? You can also look for evidence that
the children have begun to internalize healthy habits, such as washing their hands, using
tissues to wipe their noses, and not coughing on their playmates. Finally, you should look for
signs that children have begun to follow safety rules, such as not throwing sand or other objects
that might hit people, and what preschool teachers do to remind children of the rules.
What differences among children might you notice? You might observe that the older
children have more distinct personalities, which reflects their growing awareness of themselves
as individuals and their greater confidence and skill in social interactions. Some children are
friendlier and more exuberant than others, and some are shyer, more inhibited, or even negative
in their reactions to novel peers and situations. You may also observe differences in emotional
regulation and effortful control; some children are better able to manage their emotions and
behavior, leading to more successful interactions with peers. You might try to classify children
as undercontrolled, overcontrolled, or resilient, although this is difficult to do in a short
observation. If they are willing, teachers might be of some help in identifying children who
exemplify each personality type.
You may notice gender differences in play styles and increasing gender segregation across
the years. Boys are generally more physically active and aggressive and play in larger groups,
and girls are more likely to play cooperatively and to communicate verbally in smaller groups or
pairs, although you may also notice that there is overlap between boys and girls on these
dimensions.
Although you can’t observe anything like parenting style or parenting techniques in the
center setting, you will probably notice that teachers and caregivers adopt a variety of the
parenting techniques we discussed (e.g., explanations of rules, inductive reasoning, and time-
outs). In addition, teachers vary along the same dimensions of warmth and control that parents
do, although they generally fall within the authoritative range.
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[CNN]. (2016, July 29). CNN: Flint Water Crisis: New Criminal Charges are Brought. [Video file.]
Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/us/flint-water-crisis-charges/.
InBrief: The impact of early adversity on children’s development (n.d.). In Center on the
Developing Child. [Video file.] Retrieved from
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-the-impact-of-early-adversity-on-
childrens-development-video/.
InBrief: The impact of early adversity on children’s development (n.d.). From the Center on the
Developing Child. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/inbrief-adversity-1.pdf.
Kennedy, M. (host). (2016, April 20.) Lead-Laced Water In Flint: A Step-by-Step Look At the
Makings of a Crisis. [Web log file.] Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-
a-crisis.
National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (n.d.). The bomb in the brain—death of
reason—effects of child abuse. Retrieved from http://www.naasca.org/2012-Articles/031212-
BombInTheBrain.htm.
[WWYD?]. (2010, Nov.19). WWYD? What Would You Do-“Child Left Outside Store on a Leash”
[Video file.] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVDzRPZbHTk.
Your Questions Answered: How To Make Sure Your Tap Water is Safe. (2016, Feb. 22). In The
Diane Rehm Show [Web log file.] Retrieved from
http://thedianerehmshow.org/2016/02/22/your-questions-answered-how-to-make-sure-your-
tap-water-is-safe.
160
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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
often find one kind of merit denied, because it is not another. A man
of untutored genius is sneered at because he wants learning. A
learned man is termed a stupid dunce or a pedant, because he
wants genius. The writer of an unpretending narrative is described
by some of his invidious fellows as no Hume, or Gibbon, or
Robertson. An industrious tradesman is ridiculed as a mere plodder;
a farmer is laughed at because he is only acquainted with country
affairs. Glasgow is condemned as deficient in the refined
professional and literary classes of inhabitants, who reside in
Edinburgh; and Edinburgh is scouted for its being “not at all a place
of business.” These are vicious habits of thought and speech—if
thought there can be in what argues a total absence of every thing
like reason.
TRUST TO YOURSELF.
R. C.
ADVANCEMENT IN LIFE
It is very certain that all men are not born to be Franklins; and,
likewise, that if any considerable number of such persons were to
arise, their utility and their distinction would be diminished. There is a
good old proverb, however—“aim at a silk gown, and you may get a
sleeve of it;” which may be followed out, both to the advantage of
individuals and to the benefit of the community.
First, there is one great maxim that no youth should ever want
before his eyes, namely, that hardly any thing is beyond the
attainment of real merit. Let a man set up almost any object before
him on entering life, and, if his ambition be of that genuine kind
which springs from talent, and is not too much for his prudence,
there is a strong chance in his favour that a keen and steady pursuit
of the object will make him triumph at last. It is very common, when
the proposal of a young man’s entry into life is discussed, to hear
complaints as to the pre-occupation of every field of adventure by
unemployed multitudes. There may occasionally be some cause for
this; but the general truth is undeniable, that, in spite of every
disadvantage, men are rising daily to distinction in every profession
—the broadest shoulders, as usual, making their way best through
the crowd. It is the slothful and the fearful that generally make such
complaints; and they obviously do so in order to assure themselves
that they are not altogether wrong in continuing to misspend their
time. When we hear of the overcrowded state of any proposed
profession, we are apt to overlook that an immense proportion of
those engaged in it are destined, by the weakness of their character,
and want of specific qualifications, to make no way for themselves,
and must soon be the same, so far as rivalry is concerned, as if they
had never entered it. If the entrant, then, has only a well-grounded
confidence in his own powers of exertion and perseverance, he need
hardly be afraid to enter any profession. With the serious desire of
well-doing at heart, and some tolerable share of ability, he is sure
very soon to get ahead of a great proportion of those already in the
field. Only let him never despair—that is, tell himself it is all in vain, in
order that he may become idle with a good conscience—and there is
hardly any fear of him.
The present writer entertains some different ideas respecting
original humility of circumstances from what are generally prevalent.
The common notion is, that humble circumstances are a great
obstruction at the outset of life, and that the more difference between
a man’s origin and his eventual condition, the greater is the wonder,
and the greater his merit. Since it appears, however, that so large a
proportion of distinguished men were poor at the beginning, a
question may naturally arise, are not men just the more apt, on that
account, to become eminent? Although we are all familiar as
possible with instances of fortunes made from nothing, it will be
found, on recollection, that cases are comparatively rare of men who
began with fortunes having ended by greatly increasing them. Many
a poor boy has made twenty thousand pounds before he was forty
years of age; but few who had ten thousand at the age of majority
are found to double it with their years. Here—here is a reason for
hope. The fact is, large sums are not to be acquired without an
appreciation and an understanding of the meanest financial details.
To make pounds, we must know the value of shillings; we must have
felt before how much good could sometimes be done, how much evil
could sometimes be avoided, by the possession of a single penny!
For want of this knowledge, the opulent youth squanders or
otherwise loses more, perhaps, than he gains. But he who has risen
from the ranks knows the value and powers of every sum, from the
lowest upwards, and, as saving is the better part of the art of
acquiring money, he never goes back a step—his whole march is
onward. At the very worst, it is only a question of time. Say one
man begins at twenty with a good capital, and another at the same
age with none. For want of experience, and through other causes
above mentioned, it is not likely that the former person has made
much advance within the first ten years. Now, ten years is an
immense space to the individual who only commenced with good
resolutions. In that time, if he has not accumulated actual money, he
may quite well have secured good reputation and credit, which,
prudently managed, is just money of another kind. And so, while still
a young man, he is pretty much upon a par with him who seemed to
start with such superior advantages. In fact, fortune, or original good
circumstances, appear to the present writer as requisites of a very
unimportant character, compared with talent, power of application,
self-denial, and honourable intentions. The fortunate—to use the
erroneous language of common life—are selected from those who
have possessed the latter indispensable qualifications in their best
combinations: and as it is obvious that young men of fortune
(necessarily the smaller class) have only a chance, according to their
numbers, of possessing them, it follows, as a clear induction, that the
great mass of the prosperous were originally poor.
Talent.—It is a common cry that those who succeed best in life
are the dullest people, and that talent is too fine a quality for
common pursuits. There cannot be a greater fallacy than this. It may
be true that some decidedly stupid people succeed through the force
of a dogged resolution, which hardly any man of superior genius
could have submitted to. But I am disposed to dispute, in a great
measure, the existence of talent, where I do not find it at once
productive of superior address in ordinary affairs, and attended by a
magnanimity which elevates the possessor above all paltry and
vicious actions. The genius which only misleads its possessor from
the paths of prudence, or renders him a ridiculous and intolerable
member of society, is too much allied to Bedlam to be taken into
account; and in reality, there is nowhere so much of what is called
genius as in the madhouses.[6] The imputation of dulness to a man
who has prospered in life, will be found by impartial inquirers, in nine
cases out of ten, to be a mere consolatory appliance to the self-love
of one who has neither had the talent nor the morality to prosper in
life himself. Let every man, then, who possesses this gift, rejoice in it
with all his heart, and seek by every means to give it proper
guidance and direction.
Application is another of the indispensable requisites. Detached
efforts, though they may individually be great, can never tell so well
in the aggregate as a regular and constant exertion, where the
doings of one day fortify and improve the doings of the preceding,
and lead on with certainty to the better doings of the next. It is not
economical to work by fits and starts; more exertion is required, by
that system, for a certain end, than what is necessary in the case of
a continuous effort, and thus the irregular man is apt to fall far behind
his rivals. Men of ability are apt to despise application as a mean and
grubbing qualification—which is only a piece of overweening self-
love on their part, and likely to be the very means of frustrating all
the proper results of their ability. On the other hand, the industrious
man is apt to despair for want of ability—not seeing that the clever
fellows are liable to the weakness we describe, which causes them
to be constantly giving way in the race to mere plodders. Besides,
while few faults are more common than an over-estimation of one’s
self, it is equally obvious that many men only discover their abilities
by chance, and that all of us possess latent powers, which might be
turned to good account, if we only knew and had confidence in them.
No man, therefore, should be too easily dashed on the subject of his
abilities. He should try, and, with the aid of a persevering industry, he
may do wonders such as he never dreamt of.
Self-Denial.—Perhaps among all the qualifications which, in a
combined form, lead to fortune, none is more absolutely
indispensable than this. A man may have talent, may have
application, both in abundance; but if he cannot resist vulgar
temptations, all is in vain. The Scotch, as a nation, are characterised
immensely by self-denial, and it is the main ground of their prosperity
both at home and abroad. It is one of the noblest of the virtues, if not,
indeed, the sole virtue which creates all the rest. If we are obliged at
every moment to abandon some sacred principle in order to gratify a
paltry appetite; if the extensive future is perpetually to be sacrificed
for the sake of the momentary present; if we are to lead a life of
Esau-like bargains from the first to the last—then we are totally unfit
for any purpose above the meanest. Self-indulgence makes brutes
out of gods; self-denial is the tangent line by which human nature
trenches upon the divine. Now, self-indulgence is not inherent except
in very few natures; it is almost invariably the result of “evil
communications” in youth, and generally becomes a mere use or
habit. The most of error arises from the contagion of example. A
youth at first debauches himself because he sees others do it; he
feels, all the time, as if he were sacrificing merely to the glory of
bravado; and there is far more of martyrdom in it than is generally
supposed. But though a person at first smokes in order to show how
much disgust he can endure, he soon comes to have a real liking for
tobacco. And thus, for the paltriest indulgences, which only are so
from vicious habit, and perhaps, after all, involve as much
dissatisfaction as pleasure, we daily see the most glorious and
ennobling objects cast, as it were, into hell-fire.
We are by no means hostile to all amusement. The mass of men
require a certain quantity of amusement almost as regularly as their
daily food. But amusement may be noxious or innocent, moderate or
immoderate. The amusements which can be enjoyed in the domestic
circle, or without company at all, are the safest; there is great danger
in all which require an association of individuals to carry them into
effect. Upon the whole, a multitude of bosom friends is the most
pernicious evil that ever besets a man in the world. Each becomes a
slave to the depraved appetites of the rest, and is at last ulcerated all
over with their various evil practices. At the very best, he is retarded
to the general pace, and never finds it possible to get a single
vantage hour, in order to steal a march upon his kind.
Honourable Intentions are also indispensably necessary. The
reverse is simply want of sense and understanding; for it is obvious
to every one who has seen the least of human life, that infinitely
more is lost in reputation and means and opportunities of well-doing,
by an attempt to gain an undue advantage, than what can in general
cases be gained. If we had to live only for a short time certain,
trickery might be the most expedient course, so far as this world is
concerned; but if a man contemplates a life above a single
twelvemonth, he will endeavour, by the guarded correctness of his
actions, to acquire the good character which tends so much to
eventual prosperity. The dishonest man, in one sense, may be
termed the most monstrous of all self-flatterers; he thinks he can
cheat the whole of the remaining part of mankind—which certainly is
no trifling compliment. He soon finds, however, that he was seen
through all the time by those whom he thought mere children, and
his blindness and silly arrogance receive their deserved punishment.
Even where the depravity may be of a very slight kind, it is alike in
vain. In ordinary transactions, the one party deals with the other
exactly according to his character; if the one be in general disposed
to overreach, the other is just proportionably on his guard; so that
there is no result but trouble, and a bad name. One thing should be
strongly impressed upon such persons: they are far more generally
understood and watched than they are aware of; for the world, so
long as it can simply take care of itself without much difficulty, is not
disposed to adopt the dangerous task of a monitor. The police-officer
knows of many rogues whom he passes every day on the street; he
never lays hold of any, unless for some particular offence.
Such are the principal qualities necessary for advancement in life,
though any one of them, without much or any of the other, will, if not
counteracted by negative properties, be sure to command a certain
degree of success. He who is about to start in the race would do well
to ponder upon the difficulties he has to encounter, and make up a
manful resolution to meet them with a full exertion of all his powers.
To revert to the general question—what is it that enables one man to
get in advance of his fellows? The answer is obvious: it can only be
his doing more than the generality of them, or his enduring more
privation than they are generally inclined to do [that is, self-denial], in
order that he may acquire increased power of doing. The fault of
most unsuccessful persons is their want of an adequate idea of what
is to be done, and what is to be endured. They enter business as
into a game or a sport, and they are surprised, after a time, to find
that there is a principle in the affair they never before took into
account—namely, the tremendous competition of other men. Without
being able to do and suffer as much as the best men of business,
the first place is not to be gained; without being able to do and suffer
as much as the second order of men of business, the second place
is not to be gained; and so on. New candidates should therefore
endeavour to make an estimate of the duties necessary for attaining
a certain point, and not permit themselves to be thrown out in the
race for want of a proper performance of those duties. They should
either be pretty certain of possessing the requisite powers of exertion
and endurance, or aim at a lower point, to which their powers may
seem certainly adequate.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] This remark is borrowed from the conversation of a medical
friend.
CONTROLLERS-GENERAL.