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My Virtual Child Reflection I started this project very excited and interested in different decisions I’d be able to make and choose for a virtual child. I want to be a parent at some point in time, so I found this project to be very influential and helpful for me. Throughout the simulation, I made choices and decisions based on what both my parents and I would do, particularly leaning toward a stricter parenting style in order to keep the child in line with good morals and a strong background. I enjoyed this assignment, and I expect to remember certain decisions I made when I may become a real parent. When the child was first born (his name is Lionel), one of the first major decisions we made was determining what type of food we should give to him. I never leaned toward either one of the options more than the other, so I decided to feed him by giving him both breast milk and formula. This was a good decision in my opinion, because he got the nutrients and antibodies from the breast milk, as well as the ability to eat …show more content…
without having to have the mother around. This was an important decision, because it made or broke the ability for him to go to a daycare or not. One of the important decisions I made for Lionel, starting out as an infant, and continuing throughout his childhood, was to make sure he had good language abilities. This major influence on his speech and language definitely worked out in the end, as I’ll discuss later. I knew that infants need a lot of stimulation with all of their senses, so I made sure that there was auditory stimulation by providing music. This also lead me to supply Lionel with many objects to manipulate with, so that he can develop his motor skills well. By the end of the 8 month period, we had received a report about his development compared to other children his age. He was deemed as cautious around new environments, but was able to warm up quickly. Though, as he was separated from my partner, he began to have some behavioral issues. This would show the type of attachment that Lionel has to his caregivers, which I would consider a typical secure attachment. He was also rated as advanced with his motor skills, as he was able to crawl and reach to grab objects. By the time he was 9 months old, he was able to walk. He’s was very exploratory at this stage in his life, he would climb into things, run off alone, and get himself into difficult situations. I think that it’s good for a child to be this explorative, it shows how they’re developing properly and becoming curious about the world around them. Lionel still showed signs of heavy attachment at this time in his life, as he wouldn’t want to be babysat or meet new people such as our neighbors. When Lionel got older, he started to be interested in experiments; seeing what would happen if he did something. This is important for him to learn the cause and effects of his actions. Even though these actions were nothing that could be disciplined, it still showed him that his actions can cause a chain reaction that will lead to a certain conclusion. When Lionel started to turn 18 months old, we decided that it was time to start potty training him in order for him to be prepared to go to daycare or preschool. This was very important for his development, so we did our best to praise him when he did good, so that he had a motive to do well. We received an assessment of Lionel’s development before he was going to attend preschool. He had scored above average in all aspects of his language development, and he was very good at concentrating. The one negative aspect of his behavior would be that he is too clingy and insecure about new situations. This is something that occurred often throughout his childhood, and I tried my best to make it better for him. I constantly tried to ease him into social situations in order to train him to enjoy being around others. Once he started preschool, he had a little bit of trouble sharing and playing fairly with other children. He hadn’t learned the proper social skills to interact with other children his age. Over time, he learned better about what he’s supposed to do, as he spent more time with them. An important skill that he can learn from being with other kids, is learning how his actions can effect others. If he sees other kids treating him poorly, he will see how that behavior makes him feel bad, so, consequently, he’ll know that that kind of behavior hurts others. Lionel is learned more and more about social and ethnic standards. He starts to see differences in races, gender, and ethnics. Now, at about age 4, he’s learned how to cooperatively play with others, and even how to start pronouncing simple words. When he goes into kindergarten, he’s going to have a better idea of what to expect, because we brought him into preschool. He now has experience in working with others, and a better knowledge of language, motor skills, and more proper behavior in public situations. After Kindergarten, he started first grade. As a 6-year-old, he now demonstrates stronger reading and writing skills. He’s very cooperative now around both the teachers and children. This is something that I’ve tried to focus on as a “parent”. I want to make sure that the child understands social boundaries within different locations. I also strive to make the child very intelligent, because I want him to be able to have a good education and job when he’s older. I have stronger discipline than most parents, because I want him to have a strong set of morals, and keep him from making too many poor decisions. All of the decisions I’ve made thus far are a true reflection of what I’ve been raised to be. This would explain the similarities I can correlate between Lionel and myself at his age. Since I was raised this way, it is very likely that I would demonstrate the same parental skills that my parents inhabited. We got a psychologist’s report when Lionel was 8 years old. Many of the same characteristics remained the same as his previous reports; such as his reading and writing abilities. At this point in time, we had approached a specific issue that he had that hadn’t been recognized otherwise. He has some difficulty with mathematics and science. I took the initiative in this situation to help tutor Lionel with these skills. These abilities needed to be strengthened, even though they may not be his favorite or best subjects, I wanted him to be able to do decent in them. Lionel had started to be interested in playing musical instruments. We had decided to start piano lessons for him to take, hoping that it could be something fun for him to do, as well as something that is good for his brain to exercise on. Another thing that he took interest in was art, so I decided to get him a plethora of supplies for him to create whatever he contends to. This is the stage in life where his talents and skills truly started to shine through. After elementary school, Lionel was very nervous to start middle school.
He had been scared about being at the bottom of the food chain again. He pulled through well, but had a couple of social issues as this stage in his life progressed. For example, he had some experiences with peer pressure by his fellow classmates. It was important for him to go through this, because he needed to learn about standing up for what he believes in. Lionel started to make a lot of friends, and he was even deemed as leader of his friend group. He invited friends over often, and he got invited over to other friends’ places too. But once he started dealing with puberty, he began to be more curious and outgoing about certain things. As a specific example, he was invited over to a party at one point, and one of the games that was mentioned sounded sexual in nature. We approached this situation by trusting him to make the right choices, and as it turns out, he
did. By this stage in his life, he is ready to begin learning how to drive. He did very well in learning this skill, and he’s stayed caught up with his school work. Lionel also became interested in sports, more specifically into swimming. We allowed Lionel to join a swim team, as long as he kept his grades up in school. He became very excellent in the sport, and even won awards in competitions. This is exactly how I’d been wanting my child to turn out. I tried hard to make him have a good set of morals, have good intellect, and be able to be good in social situations as well as be somewhat athletic. This is a lot to expect from a child, but in this assignment, he had matched perfectly to my expectations. As he was in high school, he remained fairly similar to his previous years. He was still interested in swimming, playing piano, and doing well in school. Something he thrived in and enjoyed doing was writing stories. The previous concentration on Lionel’s speech and language abilities had paid off. I had imagined at this point that he would be either an author or a journalist. He took a part in the school newspaper, and did a very good job in it. By the time he had gotten his own job, he was able to drive himself, and was a trustworthy young man. One issue that had occurred one night, was that Lionel came home past his curfew, with the smell of alcohol in his breath. I took this occasion very seriously and used it as a learning experience for him. He knew that what he had done wasn’t right, and I temporarily grounded him from using his car. He was smart enough to get a cab home that night, but I had to make sure that he knew that that kind of behavior would not be accepted.
Having a mentor was really helpful in Sam’s life. Since He lived in bad neighborhood full of gangs and drugs, he needed to have a role model who is his Kung Fu teacher Reggie, who used to live in the same neighborhood with Sam. Reggie’s lessons kept Sam busy from all trouble and focused on his education. Ms. Sandi Schimmel, a sixth grade teacher, was also one of the mentors that helped Sam staying on the right path, when she recommended Sam to
But life is not a fairytale. Standing there lonely, having no job is our Sammy. This is when Sam realizes his path, the true way to become mature. The moment when “Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient:” Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad” (Updike) hold him back a little bit, we can feel the regret in his heart. But he cannot go back anymore, decision has been made. He gives up his last chance; from now on, he’s on his own. Sammy finally understands that it is responsible behavior but not playing “adult-like” game that will make him a true
...e accepted. Anh tried hard at school to make his parents proud and happy of him, but it was all so miserable for Anh. When Anh started school his English wasn’t very good and he was different from everyone else. “I had different food to the other kids and some of them laughed at me” Anh was new to the school and did not know English very well. He had different food from everyone else and it made Anh feel lonely as they teased and laughed at him.
Just as Johnny’s courage shines through so does his fast maturity from child to adult. His childhood was stolen away from him by his illness but instead of sulking he pulls himself together. He takes every difficulty in stride, and gets through them. Even when he is feeling down he hides it for he does not want anyone else to feel his pain. Being a seventeen year old boy he wants to do the things all other seventeen year old boys do.
By the end of the simulation, he was more than capable to take on any obstacle the world had in store if this was real-life and not a virtual simulation. Authoritative parenting allows for children to have higher cognitive and social competence as well as other benefits. It is also advantageous because it encourages and permits autonomy, contains rules and sanctions when necessary, promotes open communication, and recognizes the rights of both children and parent (Dornbusch, 1987). With the aid of peer-reviewed articles, the following paper will assess the effects that authoritative parenting has on the development of children, especially in regards to my virtual child and the My Virtual Life Simulation, factors and theories contributing to and involved in child development and the effects of
All these boys hiding who or what they are caused major problems towards the end when they could have just had small problems in the beginning. People who are ashamed or afraid to be themselves end up acting like someone they are not. Struggling students in school who have problems making friends could have these problems and have worse problems or turn out different. Showing students this movie could show them to be themselves and to help them make friends on their own. Like a quote from Oscar Wilde “Be yourself because everyone else is taken.” This means everyone is unique and have their own way of acting or being. With this essay, teachers could help their students with their day to day life with friends and be
My virtual child experience began with the birth of Ivan Trejo. Throughout this journey I learned parents have great influence over their child before it’s brought into the world. For example, the biological parents determine their child’s genes that are passed down to them and the environment that impacts the child. With these factors in mind, it gave me a new perspective to parenting. I have adopted an authoritative parenting strategy to raise Ivan. Authoritative parents are parents who are firm, setting clear and consistent limits, but who try to reason with their child, giving explanation for why they should behave in a particular way. (Feldman, 2014). When raising Ivan, I made my decision based on previous encounters and positive results from authoritative strategies.
breast milk is more gentle to a newborns digestive system. Formula promotes to help reduce the
My Virtual Child didn’t have very many challenges and was proud to see her development from infant to adulthood. I felt as a virtual parent, I was confident in the decisions I made and always did what I felt was best for my Virtual Child. I let her have some freedom and do what interest her, but at the same time was able to discipline her when needed. My ideas about parenting were somewhat accurate; I was able to put up with the child’s temperament; I was able to deal with the challenges that came with parenting; and I raised a well-developed child that I’m proud of. Raising a child, parents have to be willing to make sacrifices, take on lots of responsibilities, and have good decision making because the child relies on their parents more than anyone
Manis, Frank. "My Virtual Child." My Virtual Child. University of Southern California, 4 Jan. 2004. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. .
They do not have the advantage of antibodies through formula. They tend to get sick three times more than babies that are breastfed. Formula feeding does not give your baby the chance to reduce their chance of infections, obesity, or allergies, but does give them the chance of being gassier and fussier. According to Joseph-Ben (Feb. 2015) “Infant milk is not as nutritionally complete as breast milk. Although manufacturers are constantly modifying infant milk so it resembles breast milk as closely as possible, there is no doubt that it is an inferior product, as it cannot reproduce the living antibodies and antibacterial properties which protect the baby against infection” (para
Currently, families face a multitude of stressors in their lives. The dynamics of the family has never been as complicated as they are in the world today. Napier’s “The Family Crucible” provides a critical look at the subtle struggles that shape the structure of the family for better or worse. The Brice family is viewed through the lens of Napier and Whitaker as they work together to help the family to reconcile their relationships and the structure of the family.
... old or older. Solid foods should be given to provide added nutrition, not to substitute for breastfeeding.
This paper will discuss My Virtual Life child development. I will go into detail how the theoretical framework and parental decision making I used with my child from birth to 18 years of age influenced my decision making and my virtual child’s life. I will discuss how I feel the theories I used and the decisions made had an impact on why my child is in the position he is, at 18-years of age.
Though I was unable obtain his immunization records, in consonance with the CDC (2015, p.1), Caleb should have received three doses of Hepatitis B, two doses of Rotavirus, three doses of DTaP, two doses of Hib, three doses of PCV13, and three doses of IPV. (CDC, 2015, p.1) His mother does not encourage the influenza vaccine considering that the shot can be ineffective at times. The vaccines he received have supplemented the lack of antibodies he received from only bottle-feeding. Though the World Health Organization (2015, p.1) recommends that infants be fed exclusively with breast milk for the first four to six months. Caleb only was breastfed until the age of four months because he preferred the bottle. Since he did not receive any antibodies, which as stated in the American Pregnancy Association article is “only found in breast milk” (American Pregnancy Association, 2015, p.1), it is expected that he can easily become sick, however Caleb is a relatively healthy baby. Although there was a time he had fallen ill, it was only due to a change in weather. It is too soon to determine whether this lack of breast milk will affect Caleb in the future, but as of now, he is doing well. He has been slowly introduced to solid foods and has a diet consisting of formula mixed with Gerber cereal and stage one baby food. The child is a difficult and fussy eater. Majority of the time his