"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.