Monday, November 17, 2008

Assignment 12

1. As the program ends, what pathways does your child appear to be on in terms of physical, cognitive, social, emotional and moral development? To what extent could you have predicted these pathways based on what you knew of your child's earlier development?

Well Sky turned out to be a wonderful young women and I am very proud of her. Sky is very fit, physically active, and loves the outdoors, I think that it is very important for her to continue these traits.  Sky’s cognitive development is excellent, the only issue we had was with math and it seems to be a problem that is never going to work itself out.  Sky is very smart and is amazing a writing pieces, she is a very intelligent individual and is going to succeed in life, I’m sure of it.  Sky’s emotional well being is great, she is a very level headed sound individual.  She has her moments of being moody but for the most part is a very enjoyable young women to be around.  Sky’s moral development is excellent, she made a few mistakes here and there but learned from them immediately after.  She is a good person and gets along well with others as well as respects other peoples possessions, Sky also stayed out of trouble throughout her teenage years.  Sky turned out just how I thought she would with one exception, I thought Sky was going to be a little more rebellious to her parents due to the divorce at such a young age.  When the divorce happened Sky was acting out a lot and having a hard time with following rules and respecting her parents.  On the final report card it was mentioned that Sky comes to me over my ex partner for advice, also Sky has a very close relationship with her family which makes me very happy.

 2. Describe some specific ways in which you think your parenting mattered for your child’s development, based on evidence from the course regarding the contributions of parents to child development.

There are several ways in which my parenting style helped develop Sky, one example would have to be the amount of support that I tried to instill on Sky.  I think that it is very important for a parent to support their child and voice their excitement when there child performs well academically, morally, or emotionally.  I always tried to make Sky feel good about her performances that way she would strive to do well all the time.  Another way my parenting played a role with Sky is the way that I would deal with her when she was making bad decisions, what I mean by that is when Sky was experimenting with alcohol and marijuana.  When I was younger I was given the get out of jail free card one time, it made me realize how lucky I was and that I didn’t want to disappoint my parents like that again.  That is the same way I dealt with Sky when she was faced with these situations, and luckily for me and her, she didn’t make the same mistakes.  I feel that I did a very good job in guiding Sky throughout her life, It’s funny because I feel like she is just like me, I know it may sound corny but it seems like I was at the exact stage in my life when she graduated.  I think that I raised Sky just how my parents raised me.

 3. Describe some specific ways in which your child developed that appeared to be influenced by factors outside your control, such as genes, random environmental events or the general influence of contemporary middle-class American culture.

 Well it is hard for me to say that Sky developed differently due to her genes when she is just a virtual child.  However I can pick out when specific example of Sky’s development that is due to environmental issues and the American culture.  Sky has been worried about her appearance ever since she strolled in adolescence.  We had several incidents with Sky worrying about her weight, I was curios as to where she was getting these feelings from, then one day she was reading a magazine in the car and that’s where she was getting her feeling of being overweight from.  I had to put a stop to the magazine reading because I didn’t feel that it was having the best influence on Sky’s well being.  I felt that the modern day society outlook on how women should look was giving Sky a reason to feel less attractive, I felt that Sky didn’t need that negative outlook on herself and once we got rid of the magazine’s Sky become more confident in herself.

 

FINAL SELF-REFLECTIVE PIECE (POSSIBLE BONUS REPORT)

1. Are there any issues you had with your parents, your school work, your friends, or your romantic involvements in the last year of high school that continued to be issues for you in college?

I was very fortunate when it came to my relationship with my parents, we always got along very well.  My parents laid out some really easy rules to follow and as long as I abided by their rules then I had free range on whatever I wanted to do.  There rules were simple they were as follows, get a 3.5 GPA, no drugs, no alcohol, and no trouble as school or with law enforcement, if I followed the rules then I never got in trouble.  So to say the least I had a wonderful relationship with my parents and maintain that relationship to this day.  My school work always came first in high school and still holds priority while in college.  I have a very different group of friends then I did in high school.  It seems like all of my old friends are now doing drugs and not going to school, it is sad when I think about it but that’s just the way the world turns I guess, people grow out of stages and some don’t.  My romantic involvement in high school was really just a typical high school girlfriend and we broke up after graduation because we both had different goals and things we wanted to achieve.  My girlfriend now is much different and one of the most amazing people I have ever met, I can tell you that it is much different then my high school girlfriends.  It should be moving into the next stage here pretty soon when I grow the nerve to ask the big question.

 2. Reflect on your own personality, interests and cognitive abilities at the time you graduated high school. How did these personality characteristics and abilities manifest themselves in subsequent years? How have they changed since your high school days, if at all?

My personality has changed a little bit since high school, I used to be the guy who would always joke around and just try to make people laugh.  I still love to joke around and have a good time but, I am a little more mature now and tend to be more serious then I used to be.  My interests are still very much the same as they were in high school, I love to ride my dirtbike, play baseball, go fishing/hunting, hang out with the family, read books, and my job.  My cognitive strengths were always in reading, writing, history, and language arts.  My weaknesses were always math, I just plain suck at math and for some reason whatever I do I just have a hard time understanding the mathematical process in which to solve a problem.  Since I have gone to college I still struggle in math, I guess I will just have to continue to do my best and hope for a good outcome.  All of these topics have manifested in me since I was a child, I have always focused on being myself and not listening to the people with loose lips.  I feel it is good to have a sound self being and awareness of ones self, that is the way that my traits have manifested throughout my life.

1 comment:

Jamie Heller said...

Interesting about the math. I personally have always struggled with math. Finally as an adult I no longer see my self as unintelligent, I just have strengths and weaknesses.