Week 4: Your Childhood Roots; Ljoiner

Week 4: Your Childhood Roots; Ljoiner

 As adults we look back at how we act in certain situations it all starts with our childhood roots.  In this weeks reading we learned about early childhood and early adolescences.  One of the first things that we need to look at for early childhood development is in the growing stages of the motor skills.  Pediatricians have charts given certain dates or years to check off where a child is in their life according to their gross motor skills and fine motor skills.  This is a check off list to just see where a child fits because some will have a hard time developmentally getting to certain points throughout their life.  Such as at two years old you're gross motor skills should be running climbing stairs jumps from objects with both feet.  And you're fine motor skills should be learning how to throw ball take a ball turn the page and beginning to scribble. This chart can be found on page 132 in the life smart textbook,   Table 6.1.  Many kids will learn how to use these motor skills by doing repetitions or learning by watching a parent or guardian complete these actions. At this stage many children are learning by watching as others do.  But in early childhood it is not only the physical  Side of how a child is setting the roots but also the cognitive development that plays a crucial role for years to come. Piaget was one of the leading fundamentalists on this theory of cognitive development. Piaget uses the pre-operationalperiod to describe that children use objects  to describe what is going around in their environment and also the relationships that they have with others.
 I find PJs Siri on cognitive development very intriguing do too when I watch my nephews play around in the use deferred imitation or symbolic play to portray what they are trying to communicate with me.   They may not be able to speak as well as an adult for an older child but they use their body language and objects around them to represent how things are in their life.
 Another issue that I think is something to bring to the surface is the  situation of parents going through divorce and having young children in the middle of it, I myself am a child that has been through a divorce family and it does play a big role in the fundamental roots that a child needs to  develop.  This study is very hard to have substantial evidence due to the ages of the children can vary with in a household that is going through divorce and also the severity of the divorce and what social class they live in.  The study still show that 50% of all marriages end up in divorce 60% to get remarried and 60% divorces in the United States involve children.
 This is something that could  have a very substantial effect on children no matter what age they are through the divorce. I myself have gone through a divorce family as well as my sisters are going through currently a divorce situation. Each one is different in their own right but some can be good and some can be ugly.
 Early childhood is a transitions into middle childhood and you see a lot of the physical development in a child throughout the middle childhood rapidly increasing as well as the brain development. The health  sector has always been present but even more so with in the past 10 years of increasing obesity in children and Howard has no effect on life decisions or life paths that could potential he lead to very high health risks.  Many schools now are going or trying to decrease the amount of sugar that students have and also fat content that they have throughout the day.  Working in a school I see this almost every day and I am all about making healthy choices.  As before in the early childhood stage the middle childhood stage is also crucial on children for the target of development of challenging students to increase their critical thinking and problem-solving strategies. This is also where  you see many children increase their moral compass in what is right and what is wrong to do.
Some children will try to push the limits to see how far they can g some children will try to push the limits to see how far they can  get away with something before getting in trouble.  As kids grow physically and mentally  self-esteem is starting to take a toll on some children in increasing or decreasing stress.  This is the start of kids fitting  in going along with the status quo.

- Landon

Week 3: The Miracle of Birth! Ljoiner

Week 3: The Miracle of Birth!

This weeks reading was a lot of information that most was a recap of biology in school. I remember some of the terms and stages of an infant's milestones. But some of the information was new to me. I was fascinated by something of the things in chapter 4 about the neonates characteristics. How far they can see, how much they can hear, how much touch really means a lot for the bond of a mother to a child. As well as the reflexes of a baby to grasp on to something even though it may not be human but to hold onto it and almost have a death grip, The grasping relex it is called.
Some of the things that I remember from school or that I can apply to my own life were the kinostetic stages of a child moving around; head support, turning over, pushing up, sitting with out support, standing with and then without support. Those were just a few examples, but I have red it before and seen it with my own eyes with my sisters and nephews. I may not have children my self (yet) but I have been around many children and also helped raise them. I cannot speak upon the bond that a mother has with their child nor a father, but I have seen the first few days of my mother holding my sister as if there leaving and never coming back. Looking back on it now I know that she was building s bond with them. I guess I can say I have done the same with my dog. Not that is the same level but guilding a bond in humans is similar with animals. I remember getting my puppy and she was scared the first few days not knowing where she was but showing her comfort and compassion let her ease into me and learned to trust me. To this day if I go on a walk somewhere new she doesn't leave my side because of that bond. I have seen this with my nephews, mom or dad is gone and they go crazy because mom and dad are their safely blankets. Luckily now they know me enough to let me put them to bed and stay with me if my bother and sister need to get away for s bit.
What I found interesting is Piaget's sensorimotor period. As I read this I was thinking of my nephews and they went through each stage some at the same time but progressed. What stuck out the most is stage 5: tertiary circular reactions, repitition occurs again, a child will do things to see what the reaction is. Take for example a baby accidentally hits you(it doesn't hurt) but you act out and make it a funny scene or weird face. The child will do it again to see if you make the same remark. Since I work with high school students they should know better but I feel that this stage comes back or a possible varsition of this stage( testing the bounderies).

Landon

Hello Everyone, my name is Landon Joiner. I am currently getting into the adult studies program here at Trinity. I am going in to the Adult studies program for Physical Education K-12. Hoping to be a PE teacher in the near future and in the western suburbs of Chicago.

I am Currently 24 will be 25 in May, substitute teaching at Lyons Township and Hinsdale South during the days. I also coach Girls Swimming at Benet Academy and Girls Water Polo at Hinsdale South.

I spent some time up in Wisconsin during my undergrad receiving a BSW (bachelors in social work) at UW-Whitewater.

I love to eat food. It may be because I swam for many years in high school and in college.

My family lives in the Chicago land area and we visit quite often. I live at home with my Father and puppy. Spend most of my weekend outdoors with my puppy and girl friend training and hiking as the weather gets warmer.

I hope to discuss many thing of the stages of life as we go through the class and look forward to hearing from all of you at some point during the class as well.

Landon Joiner