How does poor health affect child development
5 Ways Poverty Harms Children
Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty, and introduced legislation aiming to reduce the national poverty rate. As shown in this chart, in 1964, 23 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty. Since then, the rate has fluctuated quite a bit, but the latest child poverty rate (22 percent, for 2012) is barely lower than it was when the War began. Poverty rates for black and Hispanic children (at 39 and 34 percent, respectively) are even higher. Below, we highlight five ways poverty is harmful to children, and why it’s imperative to continue this fight.
1 Poverty harms the brain and other body systems.
How developmental science understands child poverty has changed a great deal in recent years. Poverty, for children, is not simply a matter of getting by with less of the essentials of life. Particularly at its extremes, poverty can negatively affect how the body and mind develop, and can actually alter the fundamental architecture of the brain. Children who experience poverty have an increased likelihood, extending into adulthood, for numerous chronic illnesses, and for a shortened life expectancy.
2 Poverty creates and widens achievement gaps.
Children growing up in poverty, when compared with their economically more secure peers, fall behind early. Starting in infancy, gaps are evident in key aspects of learning, knowledge, and social-emotional development. When left unaddressed, these early gaps become progressively wider. Early optimal development tends to open doors to further optimal development, while impoverished development tends to close those doors. So, poor children lag behind their peers at entry to kindergarten, in reading ability at the end of third grade, in the important self-monitoring skills often called “executive functioning,” and in school attendance in eighth grade. Poor children are more likely to drop out of school, or fail to obtain post- secondary education.
3 Poverty leads to poor physical, emotional, and behavioral health.
Even when poverty doesn’t directly alter human biological systems, we know that growing up poor increases the likelihood that children will have poor health, including poor emotional and behavioral health. Poverty works in multiple ways to constrict children’s opportunities and expose them to threats to well-being. Poor children are more likely to lack “food security,” as well as have diets that are deficient in important nutrients. Rates of several chronic health conditions, such as asthma, are higher among poor children. They areless likely to receive preventive medical and dental care.
4 Poor children are more likely to live in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty, which is associated with numerous social ills.
While direct causal links between neighborhood poverty and children’s outcomes are challenging to identify in research, scholars have found that growing up in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty is associated with negative academic outcomes, more social and behavioral problems, and poorer health and physical fitness outcomes.
Poor children are more likely to live in neighborhoods where they are exposed to environmental toxins and other physical hazards, including crime and violence. In the case of violence, evenindirect exposure — witnessing, or simply hearing of its occurrence — has been linked with adverse developmental outcomes. Poor children are also disproportionately likely to attend schools in districts with fewer resources, with facilities that are grossly inadequate, and with school leadership that is more transient.
5 Poverty can harm children through the negative effects it has on their families and the home environment.
While the strengths of poor families are often overlooked, parents experience numerous challenges that can affect their own emotional well-being, as well as their children’s. Poor parents report higher stress, aggravation, and depressive symptoms than do higher-income parents. Parents with scarce economic resources face difficulty planning, preparing, and providing for their families’ material needs.
Children in poor families have fewer books and other educational resources at home, and they are less likely to experience family outings, activities, and programs that can enrich learning opportunities. Their families are more likely to experience housing instability. Direct evidence that additional income can improve children’s lives comes from several experimental evaluations: programs that increased family income showed improvements in children’s social and academic outcomes.
Poverty and its Effects on Children
Blog
01/28/2019
Children in Poverty – Effects of Poverty on Children
It’s no question that poverty and its effects harms communities and even entire countries, but did you know that socioeconomic status directly impacts children as well? Children living in poverty experience a wide variety of risk factors, ranging from health concerns to increased difficulties at school. Unfortunately, about 15 million children (approximately 21% of all children!) in the United States live in low-income families (incomes below the federal poverty line or poverty threshold), a measurement that has been shown to underestimate the needs of working families.
Research shows that on average, families require a household income of about twice that amount to cover basic expenses. It is no secret that poverty in America is an epidemic that needs to be confronted head-on! Besides having difficulties meeting basic, everyday needs, here are just a few of the many other ways child poverty harms children of all ages:
Most are unaware of just how greatly low-income households & extreme poverty can influence child health and cognitive child development. However, poverty does indeed impact growth from early childhood, starting with brain development and other body systems. Poverty itself can negatively affect how the body and mind develop, and economic hardship can actually alter the fundamental structure of the child’s brain. Children who directly or indirectly experience risk factors associated with poverty have higher odds of experiencing poor health problems as adults such as heart disease, hypertension, stroke, obesity, certain cancers, and even a shorter life expectancy.
In addition to brain development and health risks associated with holding low-socioeconomic status, a child’s mental health is at risk of being greatly affected as well. Low-income parents and children are more likely to be affected by challenges with mental health and mental illness. These mental health problems often impair overall academic achievement and the ability of children to succeed in school. The effects of poverty can place these children at a higher risk of involvement with child welfare and juvenile justice agencies.
Growing Up in Impoverished NeighborhoodsUnfortunately, children who are poor are more likely to be raised in impoverished neighborhoods. These types of neighborhoods that have concentrated poverty levels are often associated with difficulties in academics, behavioral and social issues, and worsening health. Additionally, these children are more likely to live in neighborhoods where they are exposed to environmental risk factors.
These socioeconomic risk factors may include malnutrition, pollution, food insecurity, housing instability, economic hardship, led exposure, violence, and crime.
In regards to violence, even indirect exposure (such as witnessing a violent act or simply knowing of its occurrence) has shown to leave adverse developmental outcomes. As a result of family income inequality, poor children are also disproportionately more likely to attend schools in districts with fewer resources, less funding from local tax dollars, less parental involvement due to longer, lower wage working hours, facilities that are inadequate, and with school leadership that has a much higher turnover.
Poverty and AcademicsIn addition to these macro-level factors that influence neighborhood schools, poverty affects the way children learn as well. For starters, children who directly or indirectly experience risk factors associated with poverty or low parental education have higher than a 90% chance of having 1 or more problems with speech, learning, and/or emotional development.
Also, kids who are experiencing poverty at home often have difficulties focusing at school. (You cannot learn well on an empty stomach!) There are also often higher levels of stressors and issues that these young children are worried about after school, in addition to having to worry about completing their homework.
Because children grow within the context of a family unit, it is important to recognize how poverty affects the household as a whole. Firstly, parents living below the poverty level often have difficulties meeting basic economic needs for their families, such as paying for rent, food, utilities, clothing, education, accommodations, health care, health insurance, transportation, and child care. Living in poverty often means having limited access to health care, food and housing security, greater risk of school drop-out for children, homeless, unemployment due to lack of education or child care and, unfortunately, not reaching one’s full potential.
Poverty Status and Stress
Additionally, stress and alienation have negative impacts connected to having little or no income. For parents, financial uncertainty is their major stressor when trying to meet their family’s basic needs. According to the “Stress in America” survey conducted by the American Psychological Association (2017), the proportion of adults who reported that stress impacts their physical and mental health and overall well-being is significantly growing.
Unfortunately, poverty status and stress are two markedly consistent factors among perpetrators of child abuse, and they are intrinsically intertwined. While there are multiple causes of child maltreatment (such as mental illness, intimate partner violence, substance abuse, poor parenting skills, unmanaged anger, lack of coping strategies, or other individual issues), the correlation between poverty and stress, abuse, and neglect cannot be ignored. Children that experience these traumatic events (also known as adverse childhood experiences) are more likely to develop a variety of health problems, behavioral issues, or even substance abuse disorders down the road.
The negative effects of adverse childhood experiences will only lead to further problems as the child develops from teen to adulthood.
Multiple studies have found environmental complexities and material deprivations to be causes of serious physical abuse. For example, low income, uneducated caregivers, single parent households, an incarcerated parent, teen pregnancy, unemployment, and living in the midst of community violence are macro-level socioeconomic factors that undoubtedly lead to stress in the family.
Additionally, inadequate bonding between the child and their caregivers, intimate partner violence in the home, a physical or mental disability (either the parent or the child), and other health problems (such as being born prematurely), are micro-level issues that place parents under tremendous mental stress, which may translate into abusive behavior. Younger children are more vulnerable to abuse as well, as 46.5% of child abuse fatality victims were younger than one year old, and 34.
5% were between the ages of one and three (“Child Welfare Information Gateway,” n.d.).
Furthermore, poor families living in poverty may not have access to adequate resources. Family income inequality creates high risk for neglect, criminal activity, and physical abuse due to additional stress in the home. While it is significant to note that most parents living in poverty or under stressful circumstances will not abuse or neglect their children, kids who grow up in poverty are at a greater risk for maltreatment overall.
The Cycle of Poverty
You may have heard the term, “The Cycle of Poverty.” The cycle of intergenerational poverty refers to the idea that poor parents raise their children in poverty, who are then more likely to become poor parents themselves. It is important to keep in mind that children are more vulnerable to negative consequences of poverty, than adults. While various types of risk factors exist for impoverished households (such as including single parent or single income households and low parental education), the best protection against further increasing the child poverty rate is access to the labor market, quality childcare, and adequate employment and education for parents.
In fact, according to Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, it is best and more useful to intervene right at the start of development, rather than to try to fix things later. In other words, if we provide the right tools for parents and poor families in need, their children will have greater chances to get out of poverty and become successful as adults. Children who live in poverty are affected by one or more risk factors that have been linked to academic failure and poor health, a perfect combination for remaining in the cycle of poverty. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (2017), between three and 16 percent of children are affected by poverty in combination with another risk factor. An example of a risk factor may include single parent households or parents with no or low education (1.7 million). These alarming numbers will continue to rise if no adequate intervention is used.
So, what can be done?Today, the leading strategy to break the cycle of poverty in families is the two-generation approach, which aims to improve the family’s economic growth and circumstances by supporting parents both as workers and as parents.
If low-income parents are provided with the opportunity to receive higher education, then they will be given the chance they need to compete for higher pay.
Furthermore, if low-income parents are provided with quality child care and access to resources like children’s therapy, then their children’s development will improve. Additionally, while we mentioned the numerous health outcomes that can arise from growing up in poverty, studies have shown that ending intergenerational poverty can greatly reduce these odds. Overall, by helping both generations reach their highest potential, we are helping multiple generations reach economic growth in order to escape the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
Parental Education as Protective Factor
Children who attend child care at an early age and whose parents have a high educational attainment, experience positive developmental benefits at a higher rate, compared to children who do not, including:
- By age 18 months, there is a significant difference in vocabulary between children whose parents have a high educational attainment and attend a high-quality child care, compared to children whose parents have a low educational attainment and low income.
By age 3, children whose parents have a college degree have a vocabulary 2-3 times larger than children whose parents did not earn a high school diploma. - By age 3, children with employed parents have a vocabulary of about 575 words compared to children with unemployed parents, who have a vocabulary of about 300 words.
- Children with educated parents have someone in their own home who understands the struggles associated with academics and can help them push through the everyday obstacles.
- Overall, parental education is indeed a significant predictor of child achievement. For example, in an analysis of data from several large-scale developmental studies, researchers concluded that maternal education was linked significantly to children’s intellectual outcomes even in the face of poverty. Additionally, an examination of the direct effects of parental education, but not income, on children’s standardized achievement scores found that both parental education and household income exerted indirect effects on parents’ achievement-fostering behaviors, and subsequently children’s achievement, through their effects on parents’ educational expectations.
By helping parents gain the resources and support needed to pursue an education, we can not only help them and their children, but their entire family and community for generations to come.
School as a Protective Factor
Likewise, it is no mystery that children’s own education is a tremendous protective factor in poverty as well. However, you may be surprised to learn that even school attendance alone can help change the course of their lives! Primarily, it has been said that “Every child is one caring adult away from a success story.” Attending a school in which there is at least one adult who cares — whether that is a teacher, school social worker, counselor, principal, or administrative assistant — can cultivate resilience in children.
What you can do – TODAY!Along these same lines, you can choose to be that positive, caring adult in a young child’s life! You can volunteer to be a mentor, classroom aide, a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for foster youth, work at an after school club, invite your own child’s friends over more often, volunteer in your communities child abuse prevention program, or even be a foster or adoptive parent! You can truly make a difference in a child’s life.
Another big way that you and your family can help a young child, family, or even whole community is by giving, both of your time and finances! Donate to an organization that serves children in poverty, or sign up to volunteer at an event. Some individuals have even gone to their local school district and paid overdue lunch fees for students! Remember, it’s hard to learn when you’re hungry, and food insecurity disproportionately impacts low income families living below the poverty line! To make an effort towards poverty reduction, donate to local food banks, free clothing closets, and diaper banks. Tutoring children in need is also a huge way to help children’s lives and make a difference in reducing the growing poverty rate!
Additionally, we can help achieve extreme poverty reduction by spreading awareness of the effects of poverty on children! Talk to your friends, family, government representatives, school officials, and community members about the harmful effects and impacts of growing up in poverty.
Be an advocate for children’s lives by supporting children’s rights, change, and hope in your own community and neighborhood! Share this article on social media, as well as factsheets, and other information about childhood poverty and how widespread it truly is in the United States. No child should grow up in poverty – let’s all do our part to help!
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/five-numbers-to-remember-about-early-childhood-development/
http://people.auc.ca/brodbeck/4007/article9.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27244844
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26787551
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9299837
https://www.samhsa.gov/capt/practicing-effective-prevention/prevention-behavioral-health/adverse-childhood-experiences
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15982107
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How parents' quarrels affect children's health
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It's okay if parents sometimes argue with each other, but the way they do it affects children differently. How should parents and guardians act to reduce the damage caused by quarreling to children's health?
What happens at home does have a long-term impact on a child's development and mental health. And it is not only the relationship between the child and the parent that is important. nine0005
How parents communicate with each other also plays an important role in a child's well-being and can affect all areas of a child's life, from mental health to academic success and building future relationships.
- Family kidnapping: how Russians “kidnap” their own children
- When mother or father is an alcoholic: the stories of four British women from each other and stop talking, then the child may have problems.
nine0005 Long-term studies in the UK and elsewhere, based on long-term observations of children's behavior in the family and during growing up, show that as early as the age of six months, children during a domestic conflict can increase their heart rate and produce the stress hormone cortisol.
Photo copyright, PA
Photo caption,Family conflicts also affect a child's learning conditions of deep or chronic family conflict. nine0005
Similar problems are observed in children who live in an environment of periodically flashing, but less pronounced conflict between parents, while those children whose parents can negotiate among themselves and resolve controversial issues have fewer or no such manifestations at all.
Nature or nurture?
However, family quarrels affect children in different ways.
For example, it has always been believed that divorce or the decision of parents to live apart has a particularly detrimental effect on most children.
nine0005 However, psychologists now believe that in some cases children are harmed precisely by quarrels that occur between parents before, during and after a divorce, and not by their direct separation.
It was also previously believed that heredity plays a key role in how a child reacts to conflict.
And it is true that the natural factor is the main one in regard to children's mental health; heredity plays a significant role in the occurrence of such responses as anxiety, depression and psychosis. nine0005
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However, home environment and upbringing are also very important.
Child psychologists are increasingly inclined to believe that the innate predisposition to mental illness can worsen - or, on the contrary, improve - depending on the situation in the family.
And here the quality of the relationship between the parents plays a central role - regardless of whether they live together or apart, and whether they are related to children by blood kinship.
nine0005 Fighting over children
What does all this mean for parents?
First, it is important to understand that it is perfectly normal for parents or guardians to argue or disagree with each other.
However, if parents quarrel often, if it happens in a sharp form and the conflict is not resolved quickly, then this affects the children.
And even more so if the quarrel is because of the children, because then the children blame themselves or begin to feel responsible for the quarrel of their parents. nine0005
Adverse effects may manifest as sleep disturbance and mental developmental disturbances in infants; anxiety and behavioral problems in younger students; depression, learning difficulties, and other serious disorders, such as self-harm in high school students and adolescents.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Children often have difficulty communicating with other children because of their parents' quarrels
It has long been known that domestic violence causes the greatest harm to children, but now scientists have come to the conclusion that parents even it is not necessary to show aggression or anger towards each other in order for the damage to their children to be inflicted anyway.
nine0005 Children's emotional, behavioral and social development also suffers when parents withdraw into themselves and show little warmth towards each other.
But that's not all.
Bad relationships between parents not only affect children, but - as studies show - negative experiences can be passed on to other generations.
This cycle must be interrupted if we want our children and future generations to have a normal, happy life, scientists say. nine0005
Sneak disputes
There are factors that can reduce the damage caused by family quarrels to children's health.
Research shows that from about the age of two - and possibly even earlier - children begin to closely observe the behavior of their parents.
They often notice a brewing conflict even when their parents think their children can't hear or see anything because they swear "quietly".
What is important here is how children decipher for themselves and understand the reasons for the quarrel and the consequences that it can potentially lead to. nine0005
Based on their previous experiences, children consider whether another fight will escalate into a protracted conflict in which they may also be involved, or whether this may pose a threat to family stability - which may be particularly troubling for some children.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Boys and girls react differently to family conflict
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Children may also worry that their own relationship with their parents will worsen as a result.
Research also shows that boys and girls may react differently to family conflicts: girls may experience emotional problems as a result, while boys may experience behavioral problems. nine0005
Often, measures taken to improve the emotional state of children include assistance directly to the children themselves and only indirectly - to the educational process in the family.
However, the support of parents and their relationships may be the most necessary and important for children in the short term, and in the long term it will better prepare them for healthy relationships in their personal lives.
For normal long-term development, it is very important for a child to receive support from someone close: parents, siblings, friends and other adults such as teachers. What happens in the family can significantly affect these relationships, both for better and for worse. nine0005
It is natural for parents to worry about how their disputes might affect their children.
Arguing is normal, and children respond very well when parents explain what was the reason for the disagreement. In fact, children can learn an important lesson when parents safely resolve their verbal skirmish. This can teach them to better manage their own emotions and relationships outside of the family.
Helping parents understand how their relationships affect their children's development is the foundation for good health today and healthy families in the future. nine0005
This material was commissioned by the BBC with the participation of Professor Gordon Harold, Leading Psychologist and Director of the Research and Practice Center for Adoption. Andrew and Virginia Rudd at the University of Sussex.
Harold is the author of a recently published comprehensive analysis of this issue in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Daily routine and its impact on the health of the child
Daily routine is of great importance for the health and physical development of children.
A constant time for eating, sleeping, walking, playing and practicing - what I. P. Pavlov called an external stereotype - is a prerequisite for the proper upbringing of a child. Daily routine is a system for distributing periods of sleep and wakefulness, meals, hygiene and health procedures, activities and independent activities of children.
Cheerful, cheerful and at the same time balanced mood of children to a large extent depends on the strict implementation of the regimen. nine0005
Delay in eating, sleep, walks has a negative effect on the nervous system of children: they become lethargic or, conversely, excited, start acting up, lose their appetite, fall asleep poorly and sleep restlessly.
One of the important distinguishing features of upbringing in kindergarten from home is the mode in kindergarten. In the kindergarten, everything is subject to a predetermined schedule. And this is a definite plus. After all, such a system teaches even the most eccentric little one to accuracy, accuracy, order.
What to say about nutrition. Any nutritionist will confirm that the correct intake of food at the same time contributes to the growth of a healthy organism. nine0005 Daily routine is a clear daily routine that provides for the alternation of wakefulness and sleep, as well as the rational organization of various activities. The correct regimen, corresponding to the age capabilities of the child, strengthens health, ensures working capacity, successful implementation of a variety of activities, and protects against overwork.
Any activity is a response to an external stimulus, carried out reflexively. It is the result of complex processes in the cerebral cortex, accompanied by a huge expenditure of nervous energy and leads to fatigue. nine0005
In a child accustomed to a strict routine, the need for food, sleep, rest comes at certain intervals and is accompanied by rhythmic changes in the activity of all internal organs. The body, as it were, tunes in advance to the upcoming activity, so it is carried out quite efficiently, without unnecessary waste of nervous energy and does not cause pronounced fatigue.
In the first three years of life, the daily routine changes several times. It should be subordinated to the main tasks of educating children of preschool age: to promote proper growth and development, health promotion, development of basic movements, and the formation of speech function. nine0154
The daily routine of preschool children should also be built taking into account the peculiarities of their higher nervous activity, which is still characterized by a slight exhaustion of the cells of the cerebral cortex, a certain instability of nervous processes.
Good performance during the day is ensured by a variety of activities and their alternation. From a physiological point of view, this is explained by the ability of the cerebral cortex to work and rest at the same time. At each individual moment, not its entire surface works, but separate sections, namely those that are in charge of this activity (the field of optimal excitability).
The remaining areas of the cortex at this time are at rest. When the nature of the occupation changes, the field of optimal excitability moves and conditions are created for the rest of the previously functioning areas of the cerebral cortex. nine0005 All physiological processes in the body, having their own biological rhythm , are subject to a single daily rhythm - the change of day and night. During the day, the activity and performance of the child are not the same. Their rise is noted from 800 to 1200 hours and from 1600 to 1800 hours, and the period of minimum performance falls on 1400-1600 hours. It is no coincidence that classes that cause pronounced fatigue of children are planned in the first half of the day, during hours of optimal performance.
Performance is ambiguous and throughout the week. On Monday it is low. This can be explained adaptation of the child to the kindergarten regime after a two-day stay at home , when in most cases the usual regimen is significantly disturbed.
Performance is at its best on Tuesday and Wednesday, and starting from Thursday it worsens again, reaching the lowest performance on Friday and Saturday. Consequently, by the end of the week there is a gradual and steady increase in fatigue .
The duration of periods of wakefulness in preschool children is limited to 5-6 hours. This implies the need for alternating wakefulness and sleep. nine0005
A child, accustomed to living according to a schedule from early childhood, willingly fulfills it. It doesn't occur to him that he can refuse to go to bed when the time has come.
If he lay down at 9 o'clock in the evening and fell asleep soundly no later than half an hour later, then in the morning he does not have to be woken up - he himself wakes up cheerful and cheerful.
The child has enough time to get dressed calmly, and parents do not have to rush him and show dissatisfaction with his slowness. nine0154
During the day, they don't waste time on repeated invitations, persuasion to sit down at the table or go for a walk.
The day in the family begins and ends calmly, all conflict situations related to the observance of the regime are excluded. Evening hours are fully used by parents for their own affairs.
If the rhythm in the hours of eating, sleeping, walking, various activities is repeated day after day, then this has a positive effect on the state of the nervous system and how all physiological processes in the body proceed. nine0108
In preschool institutions, the regime is fully implemented.
But at home (for both children who do not attend kindergartens and those who attend kindergartens), it is far from always observed.
It has been noticed that the lack of a correct day regimen on weekends affects the child's condition in kindergarten on Monday : some fatigue, lethargy (or, conversely, increased excitability), the baby is inclined to sleep much more during the day than on other days. nine0005
Over the course of 4 preschool years , the regime changes slightly.
The daily amount of sleep is somewhat reduced, mainly due to daytime sleep. But we must not forget that a child still needs more sleep than an adult. A child under 5 years old is supposed to sleep 12.5-12 hours a day ).
Sleep time is from 9-9:30 pm to 7-7:30 am. Preschool children sleep once during the day. They are laid so that they wake up at 15-15 hours 30 minutes. Organizing daytime sleep later is impractical - this would inevitably cause later bedtime for night sleep. A six-hour wake in the afternoon is just the period of time during which the child has played enough to feel the need for rest. nine0005
The characteristics of a child's sleep are largely determined by the conditions of upbringing. The need to go to sleep is sometimes perceived as a nuisance, the child asks for permission to play more, watch TV. Having received a refusal, in a bad mood he goes to wash, undress, fiddles for a long time, does not fall asleep, and in the morning he has to be woken up, depriving him of part of the necessary rest.
Systematic lack of sleep has a negative effect on the child's mood, leads to whims, and adversely affects the state of the central nervous system. Therefore, it is so important, using appropriate pedagogical and hygienic means, to strengthen the child's need for sleep, to evoke a feeling of pleasure when laying down, to teach him to fall asleep quickly without any additional influences. nine0005
What means help to solve these problems?
First of all, the habit brought up in early childhood to follow the regimen. Usually the child wants to somehow complete what he is doing (and this can only be welcomed). Therefore, it should be in advance, 10-15 minutes in advance, to warn the baby that you need to go to bed soon. And when that time comes, insist that the child does not linger.
The gradual transition from play to sleep is facilitated by the child's habit of undressing himself. Already by the age of three, the baby can almost independently undress and neatly fold clothes.
