Family and Human studies
I would put my child into a child care facility, with my first choice for my infant being a family member and a child care center for my three-year-old. “If the home learning environment is poor, a good preschool program aids health, cognition, and social skills. If, instead, a family provides excellent learning, children still benefit from attending a high-quality program.” (pg 7881) I think academic preschools have some great benefits because they can prepare the children for elementary school and higher with the structure. I also like the child centered because it allows the children some freedom in how they want to be as an individual and since no kid is the same I think that those are great. I think that the best thing would be to have a healthy mix of both.
My major concerns leaving my three-year-old at a child care facility is if she is being treated correctly, being pushed enough to learn new things, and experience new things or if she is just being pushed around and bullied. I would be concerned that the teachers aren’t being responsive to her needs and helping her build as a person. A big benefit though to a three-year-old is they can speak to tell you if something is going wrong. I would also talk to my child when she got home and gauge her response to how she enjoys her school and teachers. I like the academic preschool because it could help her understand concepts better and prepare her for school in the oncoming years. She may be better equipped to handle the stresses of school if she has already been introduced to how it would be. The benefit to the child-centered preschool is that she could gain more social skills and it would foster her artistic side which could help her as well. I would like a school that has a healthy mix of both, I would like my child to be pushed academically and have her artistic side fostered so she could grow as an individual. “Most child-centered programs encourage artistic expression…children need many opportunities to tell stories, draw pictures, dance, and make music for their own delight” (pg7926)
I would be more concerned for my infant because they wouldn’t be able to tell me if something was wrong or if the people were mistreating them. Most of my concerns would remain the same but I would have the added stress of not knowing because my child wouldn’t be able to tell me. I would have to fully trust the facility that they are treating my child with care and respect. I would also be concerned more about how they are being handled with their peers and if they are teaching all the children of the same age group the same thing. I would want a child centered preschool for my infant so they could grow as an individual and a healthy mix of an academic preschool and child-centered for my three-year-old because my infant doesn’t need to be preparing for school yet but my three-year-old does.
References
Berger, K.S. (2016) Invitation to the lifespan (3rd edition) [with salt lake community college supplement] Ney York, NY: Worth publishers.
Observation Paper #1
Name: SaraJane Hales
Class/Section: FHS 1500
Assignment: Observation 1
Background Information
Child’s age: Toddler 18-24 months
Name: Kyle (The child’s name has been changed)
Location: Park
Brief Description: Sitting at a park watching his interaction with children, toys, and his parents.
Biological Development
In my observations of Kyle*, I noticed several things that were indicative to his biological development. He appears to be a bit bigger than his peers in his weight but roughly the same in height. He is fearless with heights and can run pretty well and seems confident in his ability to do most things. Being confident in these areas show that he has developed his gross motor skills very well which is indicated as using large parts of the body in movements (Berger, 2016, p. 100). He is stable in using the stairs even without using the railing and maintains balance while holding his sippy cup.
While he was sitting down playing with some cars he was able to manipulate the small bark pieces away from the cars, so he could find one he was looking for. This shows his development in his fine motor skills is progressing well. He wasn’t very apt to putting anything in his mouth except for his cup which shows he is past using all his senses to understand his environment. He interacted with the other kids fairly well but was a little controlling of the cars, showing he seems to have a preference to that kind of toy. Once corrected by his caregiver to share he only half the time listened and otherwise would get upset and cry. The caregiver then came and removed him from the situation.
He seems to have developed quite well biologically but shows typical behavior of a toddler his age. I find it interesting that his height will double so it means he will be a tall adult and if his weight continues then potentially overweight. It also shows that he is well nourished at home and gets what he needs to develop his brain growth since malnourishment can result in the inability to properly grow (Berger, 2016, p. 93).
Cognitive Development
Once Kyle was allowed to return to play after he calmed down he went right back to the cars and started to interact with the children nicely and sharing. He dug a small hole and buried a car there and then once it was covered he moved on to playing on the structures some more. After a short amount of time and some kids had moved away from the toys he returned to his buried car and dug it up and continued playing with it. This shows object permanence because he knew the object wasn’t gone even though it wasn’t visible anymore (Berger, 2016, p. 115).
Once he uncovered the car he went over to the slide and proceeded to drop the car down the slide and see what happened with it. This shows he is in little scientist mode because he is experimenting what would happen without thinking about the consequences (Berger, 2016, p. 112). Once he was caught by the caregiver doing this and asked to stop he followed directions and stopped dropping it down the slide. This shows that he remembers when he didn’t listen earlier to instructions he was removed from the situation and he wanted to play still, this behavior shows he is in stage six (Berger, 2016, p. 112).
He played well with all the children and when they were laughing and running around he went to go follow and then started copying what they were doing. This also shows that he is in stage six because he is mimicking his peers (Berger, 2016, p. 112). Once he crawled up onto a very high surface and was looking over the edge, so the caregiver removed him from the height and told him not to do that, so he didn’t get hurt. Once the caregiver turned their back and went to go check on other kids, he immediately went to try again and when he slipped and nearly fell he moved to a shorter area. This behavior also indicates stage six (Berger, 2016, p. 112). It became very apparent throughout my time watching him that he has great cognitive development in comparison to his peers.
Psychosocial Development
It appeared to me that Kyle was a happy and content child. He was able to handle himself for the most part, looking for minimal interaction with his caregiver. He didn’t appear to have any stranger wariness or social anxiety that can usually present itself around this age (Berger, 2016, p. 119). He was able to interact with his peers with minimal bad behaviors which is probably why he is being taken to the park, so he can learn from his peers the appropriate behavior.
Social learning and imitating behavior are ways for children to learn and it’s clear that he is learning well. He was able to mimic his peers by running and playing with them and when they went to play with toys he followed suit. He got upset when he didn’t want to share but was able to respond to the caregiver when he was removed from the cars. He was given a consequence to not being a nice kid and he learned from it. He was taken so he could just sit and watch and then was able to continue with his play more appropriately. That can show synchrony between the caregiver and himself (Berger, 2016, p. 125) since the caregiver was able to respond to his needs in a smooth manner. He didn’t seem to be concerned about where his caregiver was so that shows a secure attachment since he was able to play independently (cite book).
He was a little concerned when his caregiver was out of sight for more than a few minutes, it appeared he was looking for reassurance (Berger, 2016, p. 140). This type of attachment is normal from two to six years and known as attachment as launching pad, where the child is looking for praise and assurance from their caregiver. He overall seems like he has a healthy attachment to his caregiver and is confident in himself and happy. He is able to play with children and respond well to his peers.
Reference List
Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (3rd ed.) [with Salt Lake Community College supplement]. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.