Developmental Tasks

In the process of physical growth and the development of abilities and skills the children are expected to carry out certain responsibilities or tasks at certain stages of dvelopment. These tasks are called developmental tasks. Havighurst, a psychologist, has defined the developmental task as "the task which arieses at certain periods in the life of an individual, the successful accomplishment of which leads to satisfaction and success with later tasks while the failure leads to dissatisfaction and difficulty with later life."  Some of these developmental tasks arise out of physical maturation e.g. learnng to sit, stand or walk. Wereas other developmental taks arise from social pressure e.g. learning to play , speak, read etc. and some developmental tasks arise out of personal values and desires e.g. preparing for a vocation.

Purposes of developmental tasks

•  Developmental taks serve as guidelines to know what the chiild is expected to do at different ages.
• Developmental tasks enable the parents to motivate children to do what is expected of them.

Developmental taks enable the parents to know what lie ahead and what the child is expected to do in the successive stages.