Explain What Constitutes the Physical and Psychological Needs of a Three Year Old Child. Explain How These Needs Can Ideally Be Met in a Childcare Setting.

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Children with different backgrounds and cultures develop and grow differently and at their own pace. In order for a three-year-old child to be physically, psychologically and emotionally healthy and develop into a holistic person, parents, teachers and caregivers should fulfil the physical and psychological needs of the child. In this essay the importance of physical and psychological needs for a child will be covered and explained in details. Important issues of a child’s well-being and safety issues will be identified and explained. An ideal environment in a school for a three-year-old child’s daily activities will be explained and discussed. Children learn and develop since birth. Therefore it is the adults’ responsibilities to provide children a safety environment, both at home and at school. Needs are what children have to have. All children need to be healthy which include physical, psychological and social well being in order to live happily. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) define health as: ‘A state of physical, mental and social well-being and so not merely the absence of disease.’ A healthy child is, therefore, one whose state of well-being enables him to develop into a healthy, emotionally secure adult” (MCI, Module 5, p1). When a child is happy and healthy, he/she is willing to learn and explore eagerly and quickly. A three-year-old child requires the following basic needs, “Fresh air to breath; water; adequate food and minerals to maintain nutrition; shelter and warmth. A child also requires: protection from accidents and injury; help with maintenance of personal hygiene; physical exercise; rest and sleep; promotion of good health and protection from illness; emotional bonds and loving relationships. Physical care, according to Donald Winnicott, is a psychological process from the child’s point of view. The manner in which it is
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