Childhood stages by, Dr.. Elham Ghanem Issa

First, who are the children?

Children are the sector extending from human life from birth to the age of complete self-reliance.

The term "child and boy" is a term that is almost synonymous in language .. In the tongue of the Arabs came the subject of youth: I saw him in his youth, that is, when he was young, and the boy from being born until he was weaned, and the same is called the child and the little girl ... and the child is the little one of everything, and the boy is called A child when he falls from his mother's womb, until he has a wet dream (Lisan Al-Arab)

And the concept of a child in the Holy Qur’an is: From the birth of the boy until he dreams, the Almighty said, (We peck in the womb as we want it for a certain time, then it brings you out as a child) Surat Al-Hajj, 5

And the Almighty said (He is the one who created you from dust, then from a sperm, then from his clot, then he leads you out as a child) Surah Ghafir verse 67

The lexical meaning is consistent with the Qur’anic meaning of the concept of the child ... it is from the time he is born,

Until the dream reaches ... and the early Arabs followed the same path.

What are the stages of childhood?

Psychologists did not agree on unified divisions of the stages of a child's development, nor did they agree on the beginnings and ends of these stages ... the different stages of the child's development overlap in time, and differ between males and females, and also differ in different regions, geography, peoples, societies, cultural development and scientific progress. Estimated stages, but not critical

1: Early childhood from 3 to 5

The stage of illusory imagination, or the stage of realism and a limited imagination in the environment, is called in this stage, the physical growth is fast in the first three years and then slows down a little and gives way to the mental growth that accelerates and increases

2: Middle childhood stage from 6 to 8

It is called the free imagination stage, in which the child will have acquired

Some experiences related to a limited environment, and his imagination began to look to other worlds. The behavior of children at this stage is driven by their tendencies, instincts, exhortations and commands, which do not work much in directing children to a specific behavior.

3: Late childhood 9 to 12

It is called the adventure and tournament stages, and children tend to collect and save or own and acquire. This age is consistent with children's awareness of real matters, and the child tends to participate with his colleagues in play

Foundations of children's literature:

The foundations are the fixed rules upon which any business is completed

Purposeful, and children's literature has foundations that must be based on its rules, especially in our Arab homeland, in order to achieve the desired goals, and to be able to play its role in developing the culture of the contemporary Arab child. We review the following:

1: - Rooting the cultural identity, with a future look, in addition to special interest in the Arabic language

2: - Emphasizing the Arab and Islamic heritage, and its achievements, as a constant entry point for this literature.

3: -Use culture to unleash the growth potential of the child

4: - Emphasizing the cultural immunization of the Arab child against cultural conquest, intellectual alienation, and globalization

5: Adopting the principle of nationalism and comprehensiveness of planning for the culture of the child, and coordination between all fields and media.

6: Comprehensive planning is based on scientific studies that address all aspects of the child's life and is based on coordinating the efforts of specialists in the various cultural media of the child.

7: Special attention to preparing experts in various fields of children's culture and literature and raising them

These are the most important foundations of children's literature in the contemporary world and in the Arab world

In the coming episodes, we learn about the goals of children's literature and the effect of child literature on the development of the child's personality, to complete the process of identifying the foundations of child literature