My Virtual Child answer PDF

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Whilst your answers should be unique, this is an example of what I gave as my answer. Received a Distinction in PSYC2002. ...

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My Virtual Child Divya Joshi U5827326

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Q: As the program ends, what developmental pathways did your child take? Choose three domains (e.g., physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional…) and discuss your child’s development across the program with reference to the material you have learnt across the course. My Child Lakshya displayed great progress in all developmental domains, most notably Emotional, Cognitive and Social. Lakshya went through most of the major milestones in Emotional Development such as showing jealousy and imitating actions and words[ CITATION Car07 \l 1033 ] at the appropriate ages. He was able to smile in response to external stimuli in his first few months. He would smile when he saw a familiar face or when playing with toys. To my great pleasure, Lakshya developed an imaginary companion at age 4. He started blaming his mistakes on his companion and my accepted them as they were essential steps in development [CITATION Sei97 \p 137-154 \l 1033 ]. As Lakshya grew older, he developed a strong emotional bond with both his parents, preferring his mother. This preference never faded and was expected. When Lakshya’s younger sister was born, Lakshya displayed some jealous behaviour, which in turn changed to protective behaviour. He would insist that his sister sleep in the same room as him and would talk to her and play with her often, suggesting a growing emotional bond between the two. During adolescence, Lakshya interacted less with me and had a few mood swings when things didn’t go his way. This was considered normal emotional development whilst going through teenage years hence I was there to support him, but wasn’t too concerned about his behaviour[ CITATION Eva06 \l 1033 ]. At age 18, Lakshya had grown to be a conscientious and emotionally stable individual.

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Lakshya was slowest at developing socially compared to other domains. Since a young age, he stuck to his parents and displayed anxiousness when introduced to new faces. When he joined Preschool he was hesitant to leave me, sometimes throwing tantrums, but settled in well once I was gone. Lakshya displayed a secure attachment with both parents. As predicted by Bowlby’s Stages of Attachment [ CITATION Cyn11 \l 1033 ], Lakshya developed Separation anxiety as I put him into daycare at the age of 8 Months. He grew out of this overtime, mostly during his preschool years age 2-4, and showed almost no separation anxiety when he started school at the age of 5. My parenting style was closest to authoritative, with the only difference being that I didn’t have strict standards. I let Lakshya move at his own pace. Even though I tried to encourage Lakshya to play with all types of toys and not favour seemingly ‘masculine’ things over ‘feminine’ things, he identified as a boy throughout his childhood. Around the house, my partner and I both did household chores and both worked full-time. Lakshya started off a very shy child throughout his younger years. He would be slow to approach other kids in preschool and primary school, but got along well with them once acquainted. In high school, he was quick to make friends. As suggested by Parpal & Maccoby [CITATION Mar85 \n \t \l 1033 ], my eagerness to comply with the most reasonable of Lakshya’s requests led him to be very complaint, barely arguing with us with the exception of his early teenage years.

Lakshya started off average in his cognitive abilities and development but was quick to excel in them. I conducted the object permanence test with Lakshya twice – when he was 8 months and again at 12 months. Piaget’s theory (Kidd, 2006) suggested that children don’t

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understand object permanence until 18+ months old, whilst Baillargeon’s theory [CITATION Bai85 \p 191 \l 1033 ] suggests object permanence in children as young at 3.5 months old. Lakshya passed the test at 12 months, suggesting an advanced cognitive awareness according to Piaget, or a lack of awareness according to Barillargeon. Letting him develop at his own pace with less pressure most likely allowed him to complete the task stress-free and hence improved his performance. When my second child was born, Lakshya displayed a high level of Theory of Mind, as he changed his speech patterns to make it easier for his sister to understand (Flavell, 1992; Kidd 2006). Given the opportunity, I would have loved to conduct more egocentrism and centration tests on Lakshya. His egocentricity declined overtime, and at around 15 years old Lakshya understood my perspectives and became less argumentative. At age 16 Lakshya found himself a partner, which further developed his Theory of Mind and helped him mature emotionally as he now had to sympathize and take care of a completely different person. Lakshya’s ability to pick up language started off average, although after starting day-care, his vocabulary and language skills greatly increased. By the time he entered school, he was a ‘straight-A’ student and kept this up throughout all his schooling years, eventually gaining a scholarship into a prestigious university.

Q: Describe one specific way in which you think your parenting mattered for your child’s development. Base your answer on information presented in the course (text, lectures, labs) on the contribution of parents to children’s development. The one specific way that my parenting benefited Lakshya was my continued support yet push for independence. From a young age, I encouraged Lakshya to be self-disciplined and

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independent, yet continued to lend him support when he needed it. I gave him pocket money in exchange for doing housework and encouraged him to save up and buy things he wanted himself. I believe this also helped him learn the value of money. I never pushed him and was ready to help him deal with failure if the situation arose. Luckily for him and me, putting no pressure on him allowed him to peacefully pursue his interests and develop at his own pace. He remained a consistent A-scoring student throughout his schooling years, most likely because I gave him the freedom to continue the subjects he enjoyed and drop those he didn’t. My parenting style, as mentioned before, was closest to Authoritative. I was always open to new ideas and opinions, but had discipline rules that Lakshya followed. My open-mindedness also led him to feel comfortable speaking to me about problems in his life. Lakshya and I shared a strong emotional bond, which I believe also helped him form social relationships with others as he knew he always had that extra support if needed.

Q: Describe one specific way 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 culture. My child was born a biological male, grew up to identify as a boy and was also straight. These factors were out of my control. I were always supportive and would have supported him had he not chosen those pathways, although presumably due to his social environment from school, he was attracted to girls. Such an instance occurred when he bought a video game which his friends were playing which objectified women and was quite violent. I wanted to keep an open and trusting relationship, hence didn’t stop him, especially because he had bought it with

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his savings. Although as a parent, I never supported violence or objectification of women and tried my best to steer him away from that idea, he still ended up buying and playing the game due to social influences. His gender identity and sexuality were not only affected by his social environment, but in turn also affected his social development. Had he not been a straight male, he may have had different friends and possibly may have encountered different social settings with different developmental outcomes.

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Baillargeon, R. S. (1985). Object permanence in five-month-old infants. Cognition, 191-208. Eleanor, M. P. (1985). Maternal responsiveness and subsequent child complaince. Child Development, 1326-1334. Field, C. (2011). Bowlby's Stages of Attachment. Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development, 275-277. Kidd, E. (2006). Cognitive Development Lecture. Canberra, ACT, Australia. Kidd, E. (2006). Emotional Development Lecture. Canberra, ACT, Australia. Saarni, C., Campos, J., Camra, L. A., & Witherington, D. (2007). Emotional Development: Action, Communication, and Understanding. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1997). Imaginary Companions in Adolescence: sigh of a deficient or positive development? Journal of Adolescence, 137-154....