Principles of Growth and Development

Growth and development form the theoretical foundation of pediatric nursing. Every assessment, teaching intervention, and care planning decision should be filtered through the question: 'What is developmentally normal for this child at this age?' Why it matters for the RPN: Practical nurses perform developmental surveillance at every patient encounter — observing a toddler's gait, noting that an infant tracks faces, recognizing that a preschooler's refusal to cooperate may be developmentally appropriate. Identifying deviation from expected norms and reporting to the RN or provider is a core RPN competency. Exam relevance: REx-PN questions on growth and development typically ask: (1) Which behaviour is normal for this age? (2) Which finding is a red flag requiring escalation? (3) What anticipatory guidance should the nurse give? (4) How should the nurse adapt care to this developmental stage? The correct answer almost always requires applying age-appropriate norms rather than treating children as small adults. On the exam, writers often pair stable-sounding options with unstable data—notice the mismatch before you commit. If the stem names a license or role, reread that line; scope errors are...