Week5-Adolescence-Journet

1              In Chapter 8 we learn about the adolescence which is usually marked by the onset of puberty.  In girls, menstruation marks the start of Adolescence.  In boys the first ejaculation usually signifies adolescence.  Although the ages can be different for everyone, the average age when in which these major transitions happen for girls is 11 years old and boys is 12 years old.  Major physical changes in girls are broader hips and boys develop broader shoulders.( Fiore2011)  What I found very confusing was that in the late 1700's and early 1800's the average age that girls first began menstruating was 17 years old.  I wondered what external factors could be contributed to this.  Could it be that back in the period food was more organic and less processed.  Their may have been less exposure to pollution.  The chapter also talked about the correlation between obesity and an earlier age of menarche.

   

               Parents are usually razzed about watching out for when their kids become teens because of attitudes and emotional behaviors.  My 3 children currently fall within the age range of adolescence.  I have an 11 year old daughter, 13 year old son, and my oldest daughter is 15.  I do notice their preoccupation with image and better self care with respects to hygiene.  They are all involved in sports.  As a parents I was a bit relieved to see that teens involved in sports are less likely to get involved in risk taking behaviors and also less likely to be sexually active.  Of course there are other factors that increase the chances of an adolescent doing risk taking behaviors.  Statistics show that factors like uninvolved parents and teens that come from a low socioeconomic household are most likely to become involved in drugs, alcoholism and sex.  

    

                Teens go through so many transitions and it is a time that is very critical to finding their identity.   I really enjoyed reading James Marcia's Identity Statuses.  He states that there are 4 Identity Statuses that determine where someone is in regards to attaining mature identity which involves crisis and commitment.  I strongly agree with his ideas on Identity Statuses.

               * Identity Confusion: No crisis has been experienced and no commitments have been made.

               * Identity foreclosure: No crisis has been experienced but commitments have been made,                       usually forced on the person by the parent or society.

               *Identity Moratorium: A number of crises have been experienced, but no commitments are                     made.

.                * Identity Achievement: Numerous crises have been experienced and resolved.  Permanent 

             commitments have been made.: (Fiore 2011)                       

          Piaget describes this period as the Formal operational stage (11 years or higher) where thinking is more abstractly, logical reasoning takes place along with hypothetical thinking and the combination of groups of concrete operations are happening as well.  

        

Week4-Early & Middle Childhood-Journet

  Chapter 6 talks about the "Magical Years" of early childhood.  Kids ages 2 to 6 are perfecting gross motor skills such as running,stairs,jumping,hopping, skipping, pedaling, balancing, carrying bundles, rope jumping and much more.  During these activities they are using the larger muscles of their bodies.  They are also developing other skills using small muscles which is know as their fine motor skills.  These involve throwing, kicking a ball, scribbling, turning pages, holding a pencil, dressing, eating neater, using scissors, shoe tieing and using eating utensils among other skills.  Lateralization is being established and a child begins to exhibit a preference for either the left or the right hand.  I found it very interesting that a child's body size not only is influenced by their genes but by their socioeconomic status.  They attribute this to nutrition, sleep and recreation.  Those with limited resources may not be well nourished leading to a smaller body size.  

This year I am blessed to work with preschoolers in a blended pre-k program and it is remarkable to see such eager little faces that are excited about learning.  For most of the students it is their first schooling experience.  They are learning so much like walking up and down the stairs.  The range of developed or undeveloped skills between them is very broad.  For instance we have students that may already know how to write their name and on the other hand we might have a child that has never held a pencil before.  While I was reading this chapter I was really able to make many connections.  

At this age they are in Piaget's preoperational period at this stage the explore and learn about their environment through play.  We learned about the different types of early childhood programs like Montessori, Reggio Emilia Schools and the Head Start Program.  Most of the programs have similarities in the way that they were designed.  They focus on the importance of learning through play.  They are set up with different centers that have block play, art, sand/water, dramatic play etc. Through play children are developing cognitively, socially and emotionally.

In Chapter 7 we learn about the middle Childhood where kids are ages of 5-12.  By the age of 8 or 9 the brain size has grown to its full size.  There are many synapses going on as they become better at problem solving, their memory improves, more attentive,  and they develop better judgement.   They are very energetic and have fine tuned the gross and motor skills.  Since the body is preparing for the growth spurt of adolescents in this chapter it is recommended that parents establish healthy eating patterns which will decrease the risk of obesity and diseases related to obesity.  During this age some kids may face other challenges such as being diagnosed with a learning disability.  

Piaget's concrete operational stage talks about cognitive achievements in this age group. In conservation children understand that two the amount of water stays the same even if it is poured in a taller glass.  They also can group objects in diferent categories.  In seriation kids can group objects based on length or weight.

I really liked Gardner's Multiple intelligence and that is why I attached Albert Eintein's Fish quote.  I believe we all have different types of intelligence and we cannot measure each other based on one intelligence.   I took a survey earlier this year and to see what type of intelligence I have.  It was a close tie between interpersonal and spatial intelligence.  People with interpersonal Intelligence become teachers, therapist, actors. As it turns out im currently studying to be a teacher.

In this chapter Moral Development was introduced in this chapter.  Piaget says that before the age of 4, children are not worried about morals.  After age 4 kids start making decisions based on right or wrong.  Between the ages of 7-11 kids realize that because rules were made by people they can be changed.

I loved learning about Resilient Children,  Three things they have in common are that they are considered to have good temperaments in turn people are nicer or positive towards them.  They also have special interest or talents.  The third thing they have in common is that they have sufficient intelligence to to acquire good problem solving skills. Resilient children have rough lives or may have gone through crises but the manage to come out and continue developing in a healthy manner despite the trauma they have been through,  I believe that I fall under this category of a resilient child/adult.  I believe that my faith in God and in good people has attributed to my resilience.

Week3-Conception through Infancy-Journet

While reading the three chapters about conception through infancy, I thought I was an expert because I already have three children of my own.  There was a lot of material that I did find very interesting.  Although I have read most of this before and have personally experienced it, I realized that it is not an easy process to go from conception through through infancy.  I personally had no complications with pregnancy or births and I'm blessed to have had three healthy children.  So my perception of the whole thing is that it was easy.  In reading the first chapter, I was surprised that a male ejaculation produces about 100 to 250 billion sperm but only about 200 make it up the Fallopian tubes(FioreChapter1).  The conditions must be perfect for fertilization.  Many fertilized eggs may self terminate if things are not right..  Environmental factors also play a roll in the prenatal period.  Assuming that everything goes well during pregnancy the mom will start the labor and delivery.

         We read in chapter 4 about the process of birth.  Once again thinking back to my personal experiences,   My labor and deliveries were rather simple and epidural free.  Within 3-4 hours of arriving at the hospital I delivered 3 healthy babies separately.  The book explains about the complications that may occur during labor and delivery such as a baby in breech position or the umbilical cord wrapped around the babies neck.  Complications may also also affect the mom such as fever or infections.  A women at risk of complications make deliver her baby through cesarean section to minimize any danger to her baby or herself.  Every new parents wish is that there baby is born healthy.  Unfortunately, genes and environmental factor may cause a baby to be born with a disorder such as spinabifida or downs syndrome just to name a few.  Some disorders  maybe evident at birth and some may not be evident until past infancy stage like autism or develop much later into adulthood.  After delivery many woman are affected by postpartum blues and some are hit a little heavier with postpartum depression.  It takes a lot of adjusting to a new baby and also a woman's body is still going through a lot of changes.

         In Chapter 5 we learn about the Infancy Stage which is from birth to age 2.  It talks about how babies are born with natural reflexes such as sucking which is crucial for eating and survival.  Infants are measured using milestones to make sure the are growing healthy.  Some of these milestones include lifting their heads, rolling over and crawling.  They explain the process of language acquisition and Vygotskys 3 stage of language development.  I have witnessed many infants and toddlers in these stages.  In cognitive development we read about Piagets sensorimotor stage and   Information processing in infancy. I was very interested to read about attachment and the challenges of attachment during infancy.  It talks about how important it is for an infant to form a secure and warm attachment with mom.  It made me think back to when I was about 2 years old, although I don't remember, my mom told me about when she sent my brother and I to Mexico.  She was a single mom who just found a job and wanted to earn money to rent an apartment for us three.  She sent us to Mexico where we were cared for by our aunts.  We were there 4 months.  My aunts later told me that I cried a lot.  My mom told us about our return to Chicago and our new apartment.  I believe I had just turned.  My mom was so excited to be reunited with us.  We were home and she remembers my brother crying and telling her that he wanted his mom.  It broke her heart to hear that.  I'm sure it affected us in some way.  Two youngsters leaving their mom and having to depend on strangers in Mexico.  I'm sure we established a bond and then we were sent back to Chicago to go through it all over again.