Thursday, October 2, 2008

Assignment 5

1. How would you characterize your parenting style? How have your specific parenting techniques changed since infancy? In what ways do you think your parenting style, or any other aspect of your parenting, has been influenced by your cultural background or other experiences? 

I would characterize my parenting style in a few words; loveable, reasonable, trustable, and Caring.  I have a few things specific parenting techniques that have changed since Sky was an infant.  One is I have eased up a lot about the germ factor with children, when Sky was younger she was getting sick all the time and I was trying to shelter her a little so she wouldn’t get sick so often but now I am constantly trying to invite Sky’s little friends over for play time.  Another technique is hard to explain, but I just kind of go with the flow now.  I’m not really too stressed out about Sky not being able to build blocks as well as other kids, in the beginning I was very concerned about every below average grade that Sky received, but what I have come to realize is that kids learn at different paces and I have lightened up a little on hammering Sky in certain categories that she is struggling with.  Although I still want her to improve, I just approach it with less urgency.  I truly feel that I am raising Sky just as my parents raised me when I was growing up, I try to provide a loving happy home for Sky and I encourage Sky to have a lot of family time because I feel family is the most important thing in the world.  My cultural background plays part in every decision I make with Sky, I only know the things I know today because of the culture, morals, and ethics I was taught.  Sky is going to be the next generation and I want nothing more than to guide her the proper way through life, that is how cultural background has played its role in my parenting decisions. 

 2. Describe two specific examples of changes in your child’s behavior at age 4 that seem to stem from growth in cognitive and language ability since the period of infancy (e.g., improvements in symbolic thinking, reasoning, knowledge of the world, theory of mind).

One example of change Sky has encountered is the arrival of her new sister.  Sky has been having behavioral changes off and on since the new baby came, at certain points Sky is more moody, acts like an infant, talks like an infant, and is more testy.  I believe this is Sky’s way of symbolic thinking, Sky sees her little sister cry and immediately one of the parents tends to the babies need’s.  With that in mind Sky has symbolic thinking in effect, what I mean by this is sky associates crying with receiving attention, so in Sky’s mind crying symbolizes the need for attention.  The second change in Sky’s behavior is how she conducts herself while in public places.  Every time we would take Sky out for dinner she would act up in the restaurant, yet now that she is in school her report showed that she was cooperative and understood the rules.  It seems that Sky is getting a better knowledge of the world and how it works, her mind is finally grasping the concept of rules.  By Sky being able to understand rules and why they are in place, shows me that she is getting a better grasp on the knowledge of the world.  

 3. How would you characterize your child’s personality? Would you say that your child is primarily overcontrolled, undercontrolled or resilient? Support your argument.

Sky’s personality is pretty awesome, she is extremely talkative and can hold conversations well for the most part.  She helps out a lot with the new baby even though she has her moments of acting out.  She is easy going for the most part and seems to be more sociable now than she was when she was younger.  She isn’t to testy on the rules and for the most part stays out of trouble.  Sky is becoming more independent by the day and loves animals, books, and out door activities.  If I had to call Sky anything it would be resilient because she has a good attitude even when being disciplined, she seems to listen to what you have to say and then makes an effort to correct the problem.  She recovers from the situation and understands that she needs to change the way she is acting, for example when Sky acts out at sit down restaurants I would explain to her what behavior I expected and that she needed to change her attitude right away or we would be leaving, and usually she would change her behavior.  Another example of how resilient Sky is, when we had the new baby and Sky seemed to be acting out, my partner and I would spend more alone time with Sky away from the baby and with that little act Sky seemed to turn around quickly and actually start helping out with the child instead of making a difficulty situation worse by continuing to act out.

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