Erikson's Theory Of My Child

Theoretical Framework When raising my child, I decided to use Erikson’s Theory of development as my main framework, due to the fact that it’s clearly lain out and broken into life stages. The first stage of this theory is infancy, which focuses on trust and mistrust. I spent quite a bit of bonding time with my child, building his trust in people. He showed a strong attachment to me and a general hesitance towards strangers, which is normal in infants. In toddlerhood, my child faced the crisis of autonomy versus shame and doubt. At this stage in life, I tried to give my child a lot of support, but also encouraged him to find some independence. He tended to be slightly clingy with his teachers and anxious to interact with other children, though

My child tended to get stressed or upset easily, but always seemed to bounce back quickly with some encouragement. He tended to work independently, though when faced with a stressor, such as a request to hurry up, he would rely on the teacher to guide him towards the end of the assignment. The next stage in Erikson’s theory that applies to my child is middle childhood, where the issue of industry and inferiority is presented. In this stage, my child was focused when faced with a task, and didn’t get discouraged easily when things became difficult, though occasionally he would become stressed, but he tended to bounce back easily. The final stage of Erikson’s theory that I will be touching on is adolescents, where ones main crisis is that of identity versus role confusion, a time of discovering who one truly is. My child became more interested in what he wore, the music he listened to, and who his friends were. At this stage in life I tried not to interfere too much, as I felt it was best to let my child’s identity develop on its own, just with the occasional push in the right direction. I would set limits or rules, but nothing out of reason, and occasionally I would be lenient in order to let my child’s individuality and identity grow, such as allowing him to buy a racy videogame that all of his friends had and that he would experience either way, so long as he

My child tended to be slow to warm up to others, but was very cooperative and got along well with others once he got used to them. As he got older, he grew out of this anxiety and began to be slightly more laid back with social interactions, being a consistent contributor in group work and becoming a leader in his class. His verbal skills were outstanding from a young age, using language far more complex than most other children in his age group. In contrast, his reading and writing skills and phonetic understanding were extremely poor. This was later attributed to a reading disability, and after obtaining this knowledge and taking special education courses, my child’s reading skills were brought appropriately up to grade level. Throughout the entirety of his academic career, my child regularly scored A’s and B’s, which was a pleasant surprise considering the aforementioned reading disability. My child wasn’t very interested in sports, but found his place in the world of the arts. When he was younger my child participated in theater, and took piano, singing, and music literacy classes from a neighbor. When he got older he took an interest in the saxophone, and exceled at it. In his junior year of high school he took painting, photography, orchestra, and vocal music classes, and exceled in all four. My child also participated in a scout troop for most of his