Week Three/ Chapters four and five

“Human development is often referred to as a journey that takes people along many different paths.” I personally agree that with Pigaget and other information processing psychologists, that children do make the “journey” alone. Factors such as family and environment influence their direction but it is ultimately a solo journey. I liked this concept.
    My favorite part of this week’s reading was the information about attachment. It is very interesting relationships and bonding that form in the earliest times of our lives, times that we cannot recall, (infancy), are so crucial in how we see the world as children and adults. Infant-parent attachment sets the foundation for our future social relationships,   this makes total sense, yet I can’t help but wonder how accurate it is? Is this true for every person?
     For example for someone who was adopted. Maybe this child had absent parents; they have no trust that their basic needs will be met. There was no bonding or attachment to any caregiver during this crucial period. The child is then adopted into a loving home and shown trust, security and attachment to the new family. Will that child still suffer from the consequences from not having a secure attachment to a caregiver as an infant? Will they suffer and have less successful social interactions as they mature into adulthood? Or is that more dependent on the individual child’s personality type?
  Or how about the opposite, A child that had secure attachment with their parent during infancy but has trouble socializing as they get older. What would be the cause of that?
  * This week’s reading on this topic brought up some questions, hypothetical questions and scenarios are difficult to write so my apologies if anything is unclear. If it’s any consolation it all made sense in my head lol ;). I am interested to hear your guys thoughts. *

Week two/ chapter two and three

     This week I found many topics of interest that stood out to me and that were relatable. One topic though, was fresh in mind due to a class I took last quarter. The course required me to do a research project on genetic counseling. I learned the roles of a genetic counselor as well as the different tests that can be performed; in order to determine a mutation in a gene. I found the information I learned to be fascinating but also noted that there was much more to learn about diseases or disorders and their hereditary links.  I liked how this week’s reading elaborated a bit on genetic disorders, gave an example of a couple’s story and talked about prenatal diagnosis and treatment.
      I was my mother’s six child and she had me at the age of forty. The risk of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome for a woman in her early forties is one in fifty. Whether or not she had the knowledge of that statistic prior to her pregnancy with me I am not sure. If she wasn’t informed, I wonder if she had been, if it would have changed her decision of trying to convince at an older age.
      My sibling and I are all in our child bearing years, I have witnessed a few complications that my siblings have experienced with their children’s health that are hereditary. I think that having knowledge of the possibility of genetic disorder or disease is important to a future parent, helping them better prepare to meet their child’s specific needs.

PS- I also found the statists of infant mortality around the globe to be interesting. The contributing factors of Sweden and Holland having the lowest infant mortality rate is also something to think about…

Chapter one

    I am a parent and like most parents I carry a dream for my children. I hope for them to grow to be sound adults; to be kind, insightful, to think outside of the box and to think beyond their own existences. Prior to having children I believed that the way a child turned out was based solely on the way that they were brought up, the way that they were parented.  I previously thought that by simply setting a good example and parenting to the best of my ability that I could pretty much assure that my daughters would develop these characteristics. Although parenting and support systems contributes largely to human development, I now know that there are many other contributing factors.      After reading this week’s information I found Bronfenbrenner’s theory very fascinating. I find the ecological system to be simple, logical yet thought provoking at the same time.  One concept that relates to this theory that is of interest to me is that the different experiences a person has in there systems could result in different development. My daughters are very similar in many ways, such as their mannerisms and behaviors; I believe this is based on their genes. They live together, share a room, and share their lives together. Yet their microsystem and mesosystem will differ from each other due to their age gap. The changes that took place in their 4 year age differences could ultimately have an effect on their devolvement.    I also found the article "The Identity Dance to be interesting. Although it focused on identical twins, it was still something that could be relative to siblings, and how it is both genes and life experiences that shape an individual.