Child Development

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The mother fed the baby exclusively with breast milk until the baby was six months old. After these six months of breastfeeding alone, the mother introduced the baby to semi-sold meals such as mashed pumpkin, potatoes, and fruit juice.

A young single mother is taking care of her 13 months old son in a one-bedroom apartment. There is no door to kitchen, and the boy is left to roam around the house without adult’s attention. There are numerous small objects on the floor that are supposedly the child’s toys. These plastic objects appear dangerous for such a young child because they can be easily swallowed and the baby can choke. A low drawer in the living room contains all drugs and plastic, paper bags, moreover, the child can easily gain access to this drawer because it is not locked. In addition, as essaysprofessors inform the bathroom door is left open at all times while the boy seems to spend most of his time in the bathroom playing with soap and other objects. The baby has its own crib and bedding, eating utensils, and a private drawer for his clothes.

The mother fed the baby exclusively with breast milk until the baby was six months old. After these six months of breastfeeding alone, the mother introduced the baby to semi-sold meals such as mashed pumpkin, potatoes, and fruit juice. Nonetheless, the mother continued breastfeeding her son until the baby was 12 months old. When the boy was twelve months old, the mother decided to stop breast feeding his son and focused on giving him balanced diets. She feeds the child with all sorts of meals eaten by a grown person. These meals range from a variety of animal products and vegetables, to fruits. She does not plan to change the feeding plan for her baby; she only intends to alter the quantities of these meals and the frequency in which she feeds her child. Now she feeds her child at least 8 times per day, giving him a variety of small quantities of meals.

The family of the mother has significantly influenced her feeding practices. This is because she has followed her mother’s teachings on how to feed her child. She believes that breasting her child after he is one-year-old will only prevent him from eating other meals and makes me completely dependent on her. Therefore, she stopped breastfeeding her son when he attained twelve months old.

Based on class content, the mother should continue breastfeeding her child for as long as she and her child are comfortable with. This is vital in providing the child with essential elements for growth. In addition, the mother should create conducive environment for raising her child. She should ensure that her child does not gain access to drugs, bathroom and kitchen appliances by himself. In addition, she should buy his son toys that are safe for him. At the age of 12 months the baby should be fed on a variety of nutritious food relating to five categories of food. This is essential in ensuring that the child gains energy and nutrition that enhance growth and development.

The mother believes that brain development process of her child is automatic, and does not necessitate any form of external contribution. Therefore, she ensures that the child gets everything he needs for his natural growth processes to take place without interference. She ensures that the child sleeps for at least twelve hours, feeds on balanced diets, and plays as much as he feels like.

Based on class content, the baby needs to eat well nutritious meals in order to attain a normal brain development. The child should have plenty of sleep and time to play. Brain development of a child depends on the environment; this entails whether he participates in social interactions and if he is spoken to and encouraged to play and make sounds. The nature of toys that the child plays with must be interesting and safe. They should be able to capture the child’s attention and imagination through shifting shapes, and making sounds.

The mother described her child as a gentle child who is independent and self-efficient. In addition, she described her child as occasionally stubborn and demanding. Moreover, she described her child as a happy and peaceful baby. Based on personal assessment and parent’s response, the child has an easy and warm character. However, the child portrayed a high level of tolerance to pain and independence, hence, implying a possible lack of attention and maternal gestures of love and affection. For instance, in the course of playing, the child falls down and hurts his forehead. Instead of crying, the child rubs his forehead and seats on the floor. The mother fails to notice that the child is in pain; therefore, after a while the child stands up and continues to play.

The mother describes her relationship with her son as loving and fulfilling. She states that their relationship is better than that of most parents who constantly complain of difficult and aggressive children. She explains that her child does not need constant attention because he is happy with playing alone and he eats well. She feels like the child brightens home and gives her a reason to want to come home every day.

Based on personal observation, the mother-child relationship is secure and is based on healthy attachments. However, the child is quite detached from his mother and this behavior shows that the mother does not give her child the necessary care and attention. Moreover, a parent-child relationship is an exceptional bond that enables parents to channel their values and beliefs to their children. This relationship influences the manner, in which children think, feel and behave. The independent parent-child relationship has its advantages in the sense that it promotes an independence aspect of the child. However, it is disadvantageous because children lack proper parental care and it weakens the bond between parents and their children.

Observation

A group of children are playing in a park, which consists of several gadgets and equipment for playing. These include water pools, swings and balls. Most children in the park are three to five years old. The youngest child seems to be 2 years old while the oldest child is five years old. Most children are playing together, and only a few appear secluded. However, there are a few adults who seat in the park. They seem to be watching closely as children play. Most of them seem to be children’s parents while others are nannies. Most children are calling each other by name, which is an indication that they come to play here frequently. The few who seem like newcomers are quick in making friends as they join the others and play together.

Once, there was an occasion when one of the boys aged four fell down and injured his knee. From the shouts around the boy’s name is revealed to be Danny. While he was running across the field with his friends chasing him, he tripped on a tree stamp and fell down thereby grazing his knee. Most children run towards the direction of his cry and within a few minutes, Danny was surrounded by children. Soon after, his nanny appears and guides him away and together they disappear on their way to hospital.

One of the easy steps to avoid the occurrence of such accidents and injuries is good maintenance of parks. Since the park is community-based, the management should hire workers who will ensure that all surfaces such tree roots are removed to provide a safe playing environment for children.

Most children engage in symbolic thinking as a way of understanding the world. This is common in children at the pre-operational stage to which most of children in the park belong. There is a great deal of evidence of existence of symbolic thinking in children. Children demonstrate this through pretending to be other people or other thing, as well as using unrealistic raw materials to represent real things. For example, a group of three girls are demonstrating this concept by playing with sand and other plastic tools in a manner that suggests that they are cooking food. They are using plastic bottle tops to represent plates. They stir the sand with sticks. In this case, the sand represents the food they are cooking while the stick represents a spoon. Children are also impersonating a family, where one girl acts as mother and others as children.

A common type of play observable among children is socio-dramatic play. A socio-dramatic play consists of a complex form of play, in which children demonstrate their interaction with the world. They also display some expectations they have from the world. This type of pretentious play develops between the ages of two to seven years. Most children develop complex symbolic skills to represent the real world. Most children engage in this form of play to illustrate daily scenarios. A socio-dramatic play gives children a great sense of control over the natural environment.

A close observation of a few children demonstrates a socio-dramatic play. A group of girls is pretending that it is the first day in school. One of the girls pretends to be a mother who packs snacks and ensures that other children are ready for school. Another girl pretends to be the bus driver who drives children to school. A girl aged five years old pretends to be a teacher who punishes children who are late for school. This form of play helps children understand the different roles played by these individuals in the real world.

Some children at the playground demonstrate antisocial behavior. Antisocial behavior is described as behavior that makes it impossible for a person to adhere to social standards and mores that make it possible for members of a community to peacefully co-exist. Antisocial behavior ranges from seclusion to aggression and hostility. Others include defiance to the authority of parents, teachers and other adults.

In the park, one of the boys demonstrated strong antisocial behavior. The boy literally attacked his friends when they were playing football. When one of the boys complained the boy took the ball they were sharing and left with it without any concern for the protests of the others. The boy defied adults who tried to intervene. This is a strong antisocial behavior as it demonstrates hostility and defiance.

Adolescence

A teenager who was subject to the interview was sixteen years old. The normal demeanor for teenagers is influenced by peer pressure. Teens replace their family as they focus on developing peer relationships with their peers. Most teenagers strive to be accepted in the social circle of their peers. Therefore, peer identification becomes the basis for most of their choices, which include behavior and clothing. Most teens begin question the need for parental guidance and standards demanded by adults. At this stage teenagers begin exploring and testing new things so as to be accepted by their peers. This exposes them to dangerous behaviors such as drugs and theft.

Religion is a personal choice and everyone must be given the freedom to make the choice regarding whether to attend church or not. The relationship you build with others and with your inner spirituality is what is important.

Children should make their own choices and be allowed to be independent. This will enable them to follow their own path in life.

The society is judgmental, and it hinders people to live freely. People should do what they think is right without focusing on what the society thinks.

The answers given by the interviewee demonstrate that he is undergoing the adolescent stage of development as he questions the morality of behavior. He also portrays a sense of defiance to norms.

The selected child is a ten years old boy from a wealthy and religious family. He attends an expensive private school; he is disciplined, neat, confident, and intelligent. The child believes that a husband did a good deed stealing the drug in order to save his wife’s life. He reasons that a man should do everything possible to ensure the well-being of his family. He asserts that a parent should provide all financial needs of his family. Financial stability among parents is essential as it determines the form of life that child lives. This is in terms of security, food security, and educational needs.

The child is in the post-conventional moral stage. This is because the child is able to separate personal orientation from societal norms. He bases his reasons on his evaluative perspective of the greater good as opposed to the expectations of the society. Hence, he demonstrates a high ability of social evaluation and ethical principles.

 

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