"The new version of the Child Development Card is easier to use to monitor the development of children aged 0–72 months gradually," deputy for family welfare and empowerment at the BKKBN, Nopian Andusti, said here on Thursday.
The Child Development Card can serve as a tool to detect anomalies or developmental disorders early, he added.
According to him, optimal child development covers seven areas, which are gross motor, fine motor, passive communication, active communication, intelligence, social behavior, and self-help.
"It needs to be our concern if a child's development is different from other children because it can be one of the causes of stunting," he said.
Therefore, by using the updated Child Development Card, it is hoped that parents will be able to monitor their children's development so they can grow optimally, he added.
Stunting is not only an economic problem, but also an issue of parenting, he underlined.
"Family is important because it plays a role in children's upbringing and supports the implementation of eight family functions," he explained.
The eight functions of a family according to the BKKBN are teaching religious values, sociocultural values, providing care, protection, reproduction, education, economy, and environmental mentoring.
"The Child Development Card for parents, especially mothers, is useful for monitoring children's growth and development by guiding, stimulating, and fostering their children according to their age," Andusti said.
The new version of the card also supports children's stimulation, as it has been launched along with an educational game that explains the eight family functions, he added.
In addition, BKKBN, together with researchers and experts from universities, has uploaded the new version of the card on the website KKAonline.bkkbn.go.id.
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Translator: Lintang P, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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