You might have heard of holistic healing, but have you ever heard about holistic development? Holistic development is somewhat related to holistic healing, with a slight difference. Holistic development starts from an early age when a child is raised holistically to develop into a happy and healthy adult.
Holistic development aims to make a child grow into an optimal functioning and independent adult. To achieve this, there are five key areas of development. They are as follows:
1. Physical Development
A child’s physical development refers to every facet that involves physical growth and body functions. That is, a child always performs an activity after strengthening the body or learning the control and coordination of movements.
A person does not just require the progress of explicit motor skills but the fulfillment of fundamental bodily requirements such as nourishment, physical love, wellness, cleanliness, and a comfortable learning process. Besides the development of five sensory skills, it is also essential to develop the motor skills such as balancing, skipping, hopping, etc.
2. Intellectual Development
Intellectual development is how a child processes information, interprets it, and picks up cognitive ideas. It is also known as cognitive development.
We frequently assume that intellectual ability is solely reflective of mastery of facts, figures, and information most frequently assed by standardized tests. However, that definition is limited and missing other skills to be included in assessing intellectual development.
The holistic development of a child includes teaching other abilities such as good listening skills, analytical skills, active listening skills, sustained attention span, etc.
3. Social Development
As important as the above skills are, social development is equally important. It includes teaching the children good manners, teaching them to show empathy towards others, generosity, sincerity, etc.
Furthermore, it is also essential to teach children negotiating skills, leadership skills, etc. Another essential aspect of social development that parents often neglect is teaching children to respect other people’s opinions; especially when the opinions being expressed to not align with current beliefs. That is, to teach children to tolerate others’ opinions and while reasonably expressing their point of view.
4. Emotional Development
From the moment children are born, they immediately begin developing – the stages of development through which they progress change as they age. During a life time, there are countless facets of development.
Emotional development is very important, and can sometimes garner less attention when parents focus only on their physical or intellectual abilities.
5. Spiritual Development
Moral standards are an important part of a child’s spiritual development. It is also about the development of children’s personalities and how they view themselves.
Children gradually learn that they are responsible for their actions and the repercussions of their choices, which contributes to the development of moral decision-making skills.
Additionally, the way youngsters interacts with their environment has an effect on their spiritual development.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, holistic development is an important part of holistic healing. It includes teaching children every aspect of life to help them become independent individuals with high self-esteem. It also heals children and makes their soul and mind peaceful, helping them to become better people.