According to Pikler’s comprehensive observations of developmental milestones, most of infants become able to sit up unsupported after they began creeping on the ground. In Japan, the acquisition of sitting has been adopted as one of the important developmental indicators of infants. The age of acquisition of sitting-up of infants and its individual differences have been reported in previous research; however, the acquisition process has not been well investigated for infants after Pikler’s observations during 1940s-1960s. The present study investigated the process of acquiring the sitting posture from creeping and crawling in infants, by a questionnaire collected from 260 Japanese parents in 31 nursery school in three prefectures (Hyogo, Okayama and Tottori) of Western Japan. The results showed that 61.2% of infants sat up unsupported earlier than they began creeping or hands-and-knees crawling. The study further revealed that cultural reasons and parents’ misinterpretation of the definitions regarding milestone postures advised by the current governmental handbook for mother and child health may attribute to the reversal of these two major milestone sequences in the case of Japanese infants. We propose that a revision of the related mother-child handbook with appropriate words of motor developmental milestones with their clear definitions is recommended. This study also suggests the needs of further investigations of the effects of environmental factors related to the spontaneous movement of infants, such as the use of infant equipment, on motor development of infants.

View full abstract

The COVID-19 discovered at the end of 2019 has thrown the world into confusion. Under such situations, in Japan, the Prime Minister announced a policy to request temporary school closure (SC)of elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools, special schools, etc. nationwide, on February 27, 2020. In response to this, on the 28th of the following day, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology requested a temporary closure from March 2 of the same year until the start of the spring holiday, and the children were suddenly forced to take a long-term closure. It is not difficult to imagine that such a situation will have a great impact on the child's body and mind. Therefore, this study aimed to grasp the children’s troubles and parents’ worries during and after SC. In this study, we conducted the school survey about the number of enrolled students, location of school, the duration of SC and the web survey about children’s troubles and parents’ worries during and after school closure. These surveys were conducted in May 2020 with the cooperation of 31 public elementary and junior high schools in a metropolitan and 3 prefectures. The subjects were 31 persons (a person in a school) for the school survey and 14,903 child-parent pairs for the web survey. In the web survey analysis, 2,423 pairs of the survey during the SC (1,974 pairs of elementary school, 449 pairs of junior high school) and 1,341 pairs of the survey after SC (1,214 pairs of elementary school, 126 pairs of junior high school) data was used. The findings obtained as the results of this study are as follows. 1) Although these schools were closed for a shorter duration than those in foreign countries, they had the same closed period as many schools in Japan. 2) The top three children’s troubles faced during SC included “Can’t meet friends,” “Can’t go out outside as wish,” and “Lack of exercise,” and the top three parent’s warries faced during SC included “Can’t be taught study,” “Can’t go out outside as wish” and “Lack of exercise.” 3) Although the complaint rate of children’s troubles after SC decreased from those during SC in all 12 items, the newly established “Mask wear” and “No school events” after SC were shown the high complaint rate. 4) There were gaps in children’s troubles and parents’ worries, and it was speculated that there was difference in what they wanted from the school.

View full abstract

This study examines health education in early childhood (the health field) from the perspective of the development of inner expression. This paper examines how young children perceive their inner bodies as an initial stage of research and clarifies s how this perception can be expressed through drawing and language. In parallel, we discuss the educational significance of expressing perception of the inner body. Accordingly, we analyzed children's drawings and remarks with the theme of “their own vomiting figures” by drawing body images using x-ray drawing method in 4 and 5 year old classes at comprehensive type of certified center for early childhood education and care. As a result, it was revealed that children in 4 and 5 year old classes could express by drawing and language based on their own body sensations, experiences, and imagination while applying the scientific knowledge they had acquired in the past. In addition, the expression of the body image of the infant has the characteristic of imagining and compensating for the lack of knowledge and experience, and at the same time, the development process of children in 4 and 5 year old classes is based on the scientific knowledge of the body image. It can be said that this is a transitional period in which it can be reflected in the expression. Consequently, it is considered that the childcare method of increasing the interest in one's body by imagining and enjoying the inside of the body is suitable for infants. Health education should not be started after acquiring a perfect body image, but the body image should be formed by providing health education and circularity providing health education will be important based on a formed body image. Also, in this process, it is necessary to have and express their own ideas, rather than trying to let them acquire correct knowledge efficiently.

View full abstract

This paper proposes a swim teaching practice for children aged 4 and 5 years at a childcare facility, and support for their diverse learning at the facility. First, we discuss the content of the “water activity instruction plan” prepared by two nursery teachers certified as “Japan Sport Association Swimming Coach 1” based on their own teaching experience and actual situations in the childcare facility, and their childcare intention. Then, we examine the educational validity and its spillover effect from the result of instruction by nursery teachers who do not have Swimming Coach qualification based on the “water activity instruction plan”. Lastly, we discuss the diversified learning and growth expected from the “water activity instruction plan”. The learning that can be expected from the systematically planned water activity instruction plan presented in this paper can be assumed as various kinds of learning associated with development of other regions and of non-cognitive abilities, in addition to those related to the childcare content “health”. In particular, the fact that it is positioned as an activity that can fully satisfy the willingness to take on challenges is considered to be useful for the development of swimming instruction.

View full abstract