Chapter 16 Family Ties: Changing Relations with Relations

As adolescents stive for autonomy, parents have the tendency to be more protective in some cases. Adolescents who grow up without authoritaritive style of parenting usually do not cope as well during adolescence. Authoritaritive parents are warm, caring, and supportive, especially when they know their child is going through peer pressure and making changes in their life. Adolescents are also trying to gain the role of an adult and gain more independence from their parents. This can be hard for parents since adolescents will begin to test their parents, break the rules, and give in to peer pressure. Since their biggeset influences at this time are their peers, parents are going to have a harder time getting their teens to accept their advice. The parenting style ties into how well adolescence cope with stress, peer pressure, and maturation. Those adolescence who are incapable of dealing with all the changes usually go into a depression. According to the book, boys elicit depression in a more hostile way and girls elicit depression inwardly and feel helpless. Since depression is so common among adolescence, I think there should be more assistance for students in high school and more training for teachers when dealing with depression. I remember having many rude and degrading teachers once I got to high school. I felt so embarrased once when I was the last student taking the test and the teacher asked if anyone was still taking the test. I raised my hand and I guess she did not see me so I outloud I said I was still taking the test. Her reply in front of the class was, "If you weren't such a slow poke, you'd be done. Go outside and finish." At that point I wanted to just leave and never come back to the class. I had never been so embarrased by an adult in my life and I will never forget it. Teachers should be encouraging and supportive, especially in high school when adolescence are dealing with so many changes. In order to control depression among adolescence, schools should take part and train their instructors to have a more positive attitude and influence on their students, since they are the adults who have big impacts on students lives.

Gender and College

In chapter 15, they discuss gender and college and the ways it could hurt or benefit women. The book talks about the physical science classes contain more men than women. As I have observed in my major, I would say even if I went to a college that was always co-educational, Family Studies would be predominantly female. I started in community college taking Cisco Systems' classes and was the only female in the class. My instructor was female but she seemed so lenient and there was not a lot of rules or structure in the class. I agree that instructors treat men and women differently in their classes. I felt like all of the guys just spoke out loud and never had to raise their hand. Since I could not speak over them without sounding mean, I had to rise my hand. I feel like the argument of single sex education is a great idea due to the evidence provided. After the third semester of my computer courses, I stopped showing up since I felt I did not receive the attention I deserved. I agree with the research stated on page 429, that women's self-esteem increases when they are in a learning environment with same-sex peers. I know that my self-esteem has increased since I have been at Texas Women's University.

"Threats to Adolescent's Well Being"

Being a parent is not an easy thing. A lot of parents now a days see their child as a reflection of themselves, thinking they're a wonderful kid and they don't do anything bad. With this thought, parents don't question their child as much as they should, especially when their child is getting into trouble or making bad grades. When another adult mentions the thought of using drugs, the parent is just in denial or thinks, "No, not my child." Like it explains on page 397, drug use starts as early as twelve years old. It is more common now for adolescence to try drugs. Some interesting statistics that are found on page 398 were, "out of a survey of 50,000 students, 20% of eighth graders used marijuana as well as 50% of high school seniors." I think parents and especially the media are major factors in controlling drug use among adolescence and teens. The media portrays images of people with perfect bodies, and teens and adolescents admire them. This leads to eating disorders in teens and adolescents. If parents kept authoritative style of parenting throughout their childs' lives, than they could keep their children aware of the media and peer pressure.

Chapter 10

In the section on The Emergence of Theory of Mind, it talks about the factors involved and one of them is older siblings. They discuss how preschool age children who have older siblings have more sophisticated theories of mind. I grew up with three older siblings, so it really did promote more social interaction and play. Especially since one of my sisters' and I were one year apart, we would share everything and cooperate well with each other. Once I started school I always had a variety of kids that I would play with. Kids always chose me to be on their team. Just like the book discusses, brain maturation is important, when talking about how preschoolers' family lives have a big influence on friendships. I had actually started being rude and feeling jealousy towards one of my long-time best friends when my parents began their divorce. I began to talk more aggressively with my best friend, the more my parents argued and grew distant. The influence parents have on their children's' relationship can have a negative or positive impact on their children's relationships.

Chapter 12: Bilingualism: Speaking in Many Tongues

In chapter 12 they discuss bilingualism and how it is increasing in the United States. They point out that it is crucial for bilingual students to learn the curriculum as well as the language the curriculum is taught in. The decision that most school districts face is whether to integrate bilingual students into English speaking classrooms or have separate classrooms where they are taught the curriculum in their native language, gradually shifting to English instruction. This really is a tough decision to choose just one since each students' learning style varies.
When I worked retail I would get majority Spanish speakers who would get upset since I was Mexican and did not speak Spanish. I would even get them a Spanish speaker and the customer would end up speaking perfect English to the associate. I never understood this until I had a conversation with a guy who was a Mexican immigrant. He said in school ESL classes taught him how to read and write in English, but he does not feel comfortable speaking it or conversing with people. This made sense because I took two years of Spanish; I can read it and write it, but I feel uncomfortable speaking it because I have always spoken English. So in the book it says it offers cognitive flexibility and versatility, it is true, because they can communicate with a variety of people, providing them with advantages in their jobs. It also would help minorities have higher self-esteem if they learn in a separate classroom and slowly switch to English. This is also beneficial like the book says because they will have greater metalinguistic awareness, understanding the rules of the language better. Overall both sides have their benefits, but either way these native speakers will benefit in the long run.

Chapter 9 Memory: Recalling the Past

On page 240, in the paragraph that discusses autobiographical memory is described well. If we all look back and try to recall stories our parents or older siblings shared with us that occurred before the age of 3, we may not remember. In the book it also explains that how meaningful the event was will determine whether we recall the event. A good example I experienced was when I used to babysit a 13 month old. Since it was my neighbor's house I walked there in the morning and got him up in the morning and watched him till his nap time. Months after I would bring him over to my house and watch him once a week. At my house was a stuffed animal, which was a monkey that made whaling noise. It made him uncomfortable everytime he saw it or when I played the noise he would shake his head and say, "No, No." When we would go back to his house his mom would ask him what he did at my house and he would repeat the monkey noise and say no, no. He always recalled the monkey, he even told his grandma about, "Jen-Jen's house, eeehhh, eeehhh, no, no." At two I stopped babysitting him and recently I visited him in his new home and he could not recall the monkey. Although he always talked about it when he was between ages one and two, now that I did not see till a year later, he cannot recall it. It's exactly what the book discusses.

Chapter 8 Major illnesses of Preschoolers

Pages 215-216 under Major illnesses of Preschoolers they discusses healthcare in the U.S. and emotional depression. They ask the question that I have always wondered, " Why does the United States, the richest nation in the world, provide less than ideal health care for its children?" Their answer was it's not the government's problem, it's the parents problem.
I do not think this statement is valid because not all parents have control over birth defects, hereditary diseases, or genetic disorders. And if parents are trying to care for a child who has some illness or disorder at birth, how can they care for their child if the U.S. does not provide paid maternity leave? Also, parents or single parents are struggling fincancially to pay for health care while out of work. there really is no benefits for anyone in the U.S to have little or no health insurance at all.
We also have a President who passes the No Child Left Behind Act, causing teachers to change their curriculum so they can spend classroom time preparing students to pass a test. Then the pressure is put on children to pass a test which may not work for poor test taker. these types of pressures follow Bronfenbrenner's Ecological model; the pressure starts from the Macrosystem and works its way to the Microsystem. So much pressure leads to emotional illnesses or depression. If a parent wants the child to see a psychiatrist who wants to prescribe medicine, this goes right back to the issue of relying on health care, a problem waiting to aleviate itself.

Appraising Piaget ( chapter 6)

I was actually glad that this section in the book discussed some challenges of Piaget. As I have been reading some of his theories, I keep comparing it to the kids I have helped take care of in their infant years, to Piaget's studies and theories. Some of his theories seem proven wrong through my experience with children or seemed questionable. In the section, Appraising Piaget: Support and Challenges, they discuss Piaget's theory of infants mastering object permanence by 12 months was not correctly tested. I agree that a child may not reach for the object for various reasons other than they do not think it exists. It could be that their attention is turned toward something else since children are shown to quickly move from doing one thing, to easily changing or being directed towards another thing. Not only that but depending on whether a child is premature, born with a birth defect of some sort, the true age of a child is harder to determine in some cases. I agree with Robert Siegler a little more than Piaget, since Siegler believes that cognitive development is more like a wave, children can motion up or down depending on what strategies they encounter that day. Some days children are active and playing with toys or doing things with people they have not encountered. Then the next few days they could be spending time in a waiting room due to a family emergency, with the same 2 toys, not really making any effort or getting attention. I do agree that Piaget's stages of cognitive development are on average, but they are questionable sometimes.

Breast Feeding

I have learned a lot about breast feeding from the book more than from other people. I agree with the book (pg. 135-136) when it discusses how breast feeding is best for newborns. For many reasons there are benefits, but unfortanately many mothers are not educated on these benefits. Breast milk provides more nutrients and regular formula lacks nutrients. Some of the nutrients help children as they get older and fight illnesses. One important factor is just the fact that while breast feeding, the mother holds her infant close to her body, creating the bond that infants need to develop a secure bond.
Overall I feel like if possible, we should collect breast milk from mother's who have an overflow of it, and keep it stored for others mothers' who cannot breast feed. (Of course we would run test to make sure the mother's are in good health). This plan would create healthier infants and mother's. Also pamphlet's of information should be given to new mother's on breast feeding, instead of samples or coupons on formula. This would also help those in low socioeconomic areas maintain proper nutrition for their baby.

Behavior (Chapter 2)

I find Konrad Lorenz's theory interesting and have observed on my own time that behavior is inherited. Becoming an Aunt played a big part in my conclusion. Once my nephew was born I saw a lot of emotional behavior from him that was easily sparked. I wondered why we could not calm him or predict his emotional outbursts. After observing his father's emotional behavior I saw the connection between him and my nephew. I started to observe other kids I would babysit or other nieces and nephews and concluded that their behavior was a result of their parents' genetic traits. Konrad's theory reaffirmed my conclusion because he bases his theories on Darwin's evolution theory.
Although I find that Konrad's theory is true, I also believe that even though behavior is inherited, it also can be changed throughout time such as Lev Vygotsky's theory. People mature and grow through social experiences and by the influence of peers. Throughout a life time experiences can alter someone's behavior which creates their pesonality. They still have the same behavior traits but they just know how to control them through maturity.