Maharashtra Board Class 5 EVS Part I Chapter 22 Growth and Personality Development PDF Download

22. Growth And Personality Development

Can You Tell?

Do the clothes and shoes you wore as a baby fit you now?

Try This

Read the information about yourself entered in your report card and fill in the following table.

All living things eat and grow physically. Similarly, we, too, grow in height and weight from birth to adulthood. You will see this also from the information that your friends enter about themselves. Some of them will be more than you in height or weight while some will be less. But, they will all have gained in height and weight since they were in Std I or II. This is because the first 18 years are the growing years for all boys and girls.

Can You Tell?

(1) Can an infant feed itself?

(2) Can a two-year old child fold clothes neatly?

(3) When do they learn to do these tasks?

(4) Which of the following things have you learnt to do? Which ones have you yet to learn?

(5) Name the things you can do which are not seen in the list.

Skipping on a rope, writing an essay, combing your own hair, making tea, learning a song / poem, swimming, telling a story, cycling, giving a speech, counting money, tidying your house, using a computer, playing field games, climbing a tree, etc.

Skills And Efficiency

Small babies cannot do anything for themselves. If they need something, they can only cry and beat about with their legs and arms. But soon, they begin to get control over some of their movements and develop co-ordination between different movements. For example, they learn to turn their head and look at something they choose. If they recognize someone, they smile. They learn to grip and hold things and then to take them towards their mouth.

As they learn to control and coordinate their movements on their own, they begin to do several other tasks – for example, picking up things, holding a spoon and hitting it on a plate to make a noise.

Achieving control of one's movements to learn to do something new is called 'learning a skill'.

What does everyone feel when a baby says her first word or takes a step for the first time? What do they do?

As a baby learns various skills, the baby and everybody is happy. They praise the baby. The baby does the same things again and again. Thus, she gets a lot of practice with those skills and her strength also builds up. Slowly, she begins to do the newly learnt tasks more easily and without making mistakes. That is, her efficiency increases.

Every day, we keep learning. That makes it easier to learn new skills. For example, once the child is able to hold something, she can learn to throw a ball. After learning to walk, the child learns to do more difficult things like running, hopping on one leg, or catching a ball. These new tasks also include activities that are a part of our daily routine such as eating with one's own hands, washing one's own face, having a bath, dressing oneself, etc.

Teacher's Note

When a baby learns to sit or walk, the whole family celebrates. In India, we have special ceremonies when a baby reaches these milestones.

Exam Trick

Remember: A skill needs practice. Like learning multiplication tables, we have to do them again and again till we become fast and make no mistakes.

Points To Remember

Babies cannot do anything when they are born.
Babies learn control over their movements slowly.
Learning a skill means gaining control over movements to do something new.
Practicing a skill again and again makes us efficient.
Every person learns different skills at different ages.

Development

As we grow, our height and weight increases. With age our physical strength also increases. At the same time we keep learning new skills. In this way, every individual makes progress. This is called 'development'.

Observe

Try to observe a cow or a cat to find out all that she does for her young ones and also all the things that the calf and the kitten learn to do on their own.

These animals learn from their mother, the skills of obtaining their food, protecting themselves from the sun and rain, and from their enemies. After that, they begin to live independently.

Animals learn only a certain number of skills in their life. In comparison, human beings go on learning many more things throughout their life.

Teacher's Note

Our pets learn to follow us and obey simple commands. But human children keep learning new things every day throughout their lives.

Exam Trick

Remember: Animals learn fixed skills. Humans learn unlimited skills. This is the main difference.

Points To Remember

Development means growing taller and learning new skills.
Animals learn only certain fixed skills from their mothers.
Humans can learn many different types of skills.
Animals become independent faster than human children.
Humans learn throughout their entire life.

Use Your Brain Power!

Many skills have been mentioned in this lesson up to now. Can you do without learning some of them? Which ones are necessary for any person?

Think About It

1. Which are some of the tasks you like to do? Which ones would you like to do in future?

2. What things would you like to do just for recreation?

3. What would you like to do daily when you grow up?

Some of the early skills like walking and running come with age, without having to be taught. However, we have to be taught many of the skills we learn later. We learn many skills from our parents, teachers and other adults.

The greater the number of skills we learn, the less is our dependence on others. Even so, it is not as if we do every one of our tasks ourselves. For example, not all people stitch their own clothes. Nor does everyone grow their own food. But, we must all learn to take the responsibility for doing our personal tasks ourselves.

Find Out

How many years does it take the young ones of the tiger / elephant to start living independently?

Compare

Can you: play football, lagori / seven tiles, cook a meal, press clothes, shop for provisions, nurse a person who is ill, write a summary?

We are allowed to drive a motor vehicle, vote in an election only after a certain age.

Use Your Brain Power!

Sayali is in the sixth standard. They are going on a picnic. Sayali's Aai is going to make laadoos for the whole class. But she needs Sayali's help. What can Sayali do to help?

Teacher's Note

In India, children help their mothers in the kitchen from a young age. This teaches them cooking skills and responsibility.

Exam Trick

Remember: Not everyone does all tasks. But we should all learn to do our own personal tasks like bathing and dressing.

Points To Remember

Some skills come naturally with age, like walking.
Most skills need to be taught and practiced.
We learn skills from parents, teachers, and other adults.
More skills mean more independence from others.
We should learn to do our own personal tasks ourselves.

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