Children's Growth and Development: Exercise and Sleep

            Technically speaking, growth is the physical changes of your child's body. Getting taller, stronger, and faster are all a part of your child's growth. Development on the other hand is the process in which a child learns to adapt to his environment.

            During your child's first few years of life, his or her growth will be rapid. You will feel like every time you turn around they've grown again. Normally children after the age of two will grow a couple of inches every year till they reach their adolescent growth spurts. Sometimes they won't grow one year and then grow four inches the next year.

            Every child is different. What is important is that they are growing. After your child's last and largest growth spurt in their adolescence, they will stop growing and be at their maximum height. As a parent you don't have to worry too much about your child's physical growth unless you see something alarming.

            Your child's development can be cognitive, social, emotional, and/ or psychological. Most of these things can be observed one way or the other, but the growth and development of your child internally is often taken for granted by parents after they've completed all the major doctor's check ups in their younger years.

            To make sure your child is growing and developing well on the inside, there are several things you can do. Making sure they get a good amount of exercise is one of them. Too often we find children, and sometimes very young children, being placed in front of the television so that they will be entertained and stay out of trouble.

            While television and computer playing can be good for brain stimulation, no parent should ever underestimate the importance of outside play. Getting your children active and in effect getting a good amount of exercise will be a good habit for them to develop, and it will help their internal development, mainly that of the heart, muscles, circulatory system, and motor skills.

Page 2: Your Child and Nutrition: The Importance of Sleep

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