Child Development

1. Child Development MICS3 Data Analysis and Report Writing

2. Early childhood development: Background A period of rapid brain development occurs in the first 3-4 years of life The quality of home environment is the major factor determining the child’s development during this period Over 240 million children under 5 in the developing world are not developing their full potential.

3. International Goals & Targets “That children should be physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally secure, socially competent and ready to learn”

4. Early childhood development: Background Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) inventory – to measure the quality and quantity of stimulation and support available to a child in the home environment UNICEF has developed an alternative list of questions similar to HOME – longer list of questions, piloted in 7 different settings, includes 5 sub-scales: Adult activities with children Sources of play materials Presence of books in the home, and for the child Severity of punishment Conditions of care

5. Early childhood development: Background Activities correlate strongly with nutritional status and IQ scores Activities include adult engagement in: Reading books, looking at picture books Telling stories Singing Playing Taking out Naming, counting, drawing things Books are associated with stunting, vocabulary score, IQ score, important for later school performance

6. Early childhood development: Background Materials for play: Play is child’s work, Young children learn by manipulating objects Home-based toys require no money and indicative of involvement of family members in child care.

7. Early childhood development: Background Inadequate care: Children left alone Children left in the care of other children Increased risk of accidents

8. Indicator • Numerator: • Number of children aged 0-59 months living in households in which an adult has engaged in four or more activities to promote learning and school readiness in the past 3 days • Denominator: • Total number of children aged 0-59 months surveyed MICS indicator 46 – Support for Learning

9. Indicator Numerator: Number of children aged 0-59 months whose father has engaged in one or more activities to promote learning and school readiness in the past 3 days Denominator: Total number of children aged 0-59 months MICS Indicator 47- Father’s support for learning

11. Indicator • Numerator: • Number of households with three or more children’s books • Denominator: • Total number of households surveyed MICS indicator 48 – Support for learning: children’s books

12. Indicator • Numerator: • Number of households with three or more non-children’s books • Denominator: • Total number of households surveyed MICS indicator 49 – Support for learning: non-children’s books

13. Indicator • Numerator: • Number of households with three or more materials intended for play • Denominator: • Total number of households surveyed MICS indicator 50 – Support for learning: materials for play

15. Indicator • Numerator: • Number of children aged 0-59 months left alone or in the care of another child younger than 10 years of age in the past week • Denominator: • Total number of children aged 0-59 months surveyed MICS indicator 51 – Non-adult care

17. Methodological issues • Non-children’s books asked for the household, while children’s books asked for each child • Materials child plays with may add to more than 100, as it was a multiple-response question • Questions new to MICS