For approximately three years I had seen the subject grow mentally and physically throughout toddlerhood as well as infancy. I am the aunt of this kid, and therefore, I observed this kid’s behavior for two weeks. The observation mainly took place at my home mainly in the kitchen as well as the living room. In the home, we live together with the grandmother of the subject, who is the caretaker of this subject, every day until the evening when the father comes to pick up the subject. The grandmother, Ruth, is a delivery and labor retired nurse and temporarily cares for this kid, granddaughter. The kitchen, as well as the living room, are separated by a beaded curtain and a half wall containing beams. I sat in the kitchen, where the subject and her grandmother customarily interacted in daily activities. As many interactions go, the grandmother with worm affections greets the subject, e.g., kisses and hugs, is involved in playtime, aids in potty training, prepares the subject to seep in nap time, makes a bottle for this subject and prepares her snacks. This grandmother has a customary schedule for the granddaughter, who has 3 years. Presently, the subject is three and a half years old. She is around 3 feet and 3 inches tall, weighs 35.6 pounds and has dark-brown eyes, rosy cheeks, average height and wavy-brunette hair. She will be called Rose. The grandmother will be called Ruth, and her elder brother Daniel, who is 19 years of age, sometimes stops to pay a visit to Ruth and Rose. The father will be called Japheth.
During the first observation week, I woke up at around 8:20 am for observation activity preparation. I was reading for my NCLEX exams and eating breakfast as I was waiting for Rose (the subject) to arrive at the apartment and intermingle with her grandmother. Ruth (the subject) arrived at around 8:29 am together with her father, Japheth. At that point, Rose (the subject) greeted Ruth with a kiss and hug. Ruth carried her as she inquired whether she was ready for breakfast. Rose answered that she milks. Ruth released, placed her down, and went to prepare breakfast. Immediately, Rose ran to the kitchen, where she got me and greeted me with a hug and said, “Hi. Tia”. I greeted her back with a kiss. The grandmother immediately told Rose that “you need to be quiet because Tia is doing her homework”. Rose understood and asked Ruth whether she could watch Doc McStuffins, her best cartoon program, in the living room. Ruth held Rose’s hand as they walked to the living room. Ruth removed Rose the boots and turned on the television. Ruth walked back to the kitchen and continued with breakfast preparation for Rose. Rose sat on the floor mat while drinking a bottle of mango juice and gazing at the colors on the television. At the same time, Ruth sat on the couch while reading a magazine on her tablet. In this, I observed that Rose is a calm child, and she has adapted to the everyday schedule created for her during the time she spends at her grandmother’s house.
At around 9:45 am, Rose went to the other living room side picked up her stuffed animals and dolls that were in her book box, and sat down on the bare floor part. She then started to play with her stuffed animals as she was watching “beauty-pet” on the television. As soon as she started playing, Ruth rushed to the kitchen to watch utensils. Later she came and switched off the television since Rose had stopped watching and was busy playing alone on the floor. Ruth then called Rose and asked her if she would like to play with her Candy Crash on her tablet. Rose stood from the floor and sat on the couch as she said: “yes, Grandma am coming”. Ruth started the game as Rose got excited and started shouting, “Yes, yay!” while clapping her hands. Ruth then pointed to her tablet and said: “this is the blue color”. Rose looked at this color and laughed. Then, immediately, Ruth asked Rose to point at the blue color, though she pointed at the wrong color. Ruth pointed at the blue color again and repeated the question, “Can you show me the blue color now?”. Ruth then showed her the corrected color and said: “this is color blue”. I immediately hear Rose shouting other colors, “This is green, orange, purple,” while clapping her hands. She then asked, “Grandma, allow me to play the coloring game now.” Ruth gave her the tablet and she started coloring a various drawing. Each time, I heard Ruth tell her, “You are doing good work, Rose.” They played some other educational games for about thirty-five minutes, and then Rose said: “Grandma am feeling hungry”. Ruth told her that she would make for her a cheesy and hams sandwich having strawberries and pineapple juice. Rose sat on the chair in the dining room and then asked her grandmother, Ruth, to put Edoli on her tablet. Ruth walked to the dining hall and switched to Eldo as she prepared their lunch. After making lunch, Ruth pushed away from the tablet, and Rose took her plate and started eating. She then told her grandmother, “Grandma, open the pineapple juice.” After Ruth opened it, she said: “Thank you, Grandma”. She then continued enjoying her lunch with her grandmother, Ruth. Ruth then noticed Rose was playing with some strawberry and pineapple juice and inquired whether she had finished eating. Rose replied, “Grandmother, I finished.” Ruth placed her in the playpen. I then moved out of the kitchen to realize Rose was deep asleep with her playing toy next to her.
During the second week, I woke up very early to note the interaction between Rose and Ruth. I sat in the kitchen while studying and taking some short observation notes. Rose and her father, Japheth, greeted Ruth with a kiss and hug. Rose then pulled out a Princess toy and shouted: “Look, grandmother, mommy brought me my Princess Elsa.” Ruth agreed that the toy was so nice and carried Rose to the sitting room. Rose sat in the living room comfortably and drank her oatmeal milk. She then shouted, “Grandmother, I have finished my milk”. Grandmother Ruth congratulated her and told her that it was a nice job. She then sat on the floor mat and started playing with Princess Elsa. Grandmother told her to play with her. They played the pretending game Rose that Princess Elsa was a “Boo-boo,” so grandmother had the duty of taking care of her. They played this for some time before Rose received a family member’s call from the Dominican Republic. Rose became impatient because Ruth stopped playing and was not ready to play with her. She told her to play with her, and Ruth said she would not because she was talking on the phone. Rose started crying and called her to play with her. Grandmother Ruth switched the television on and placed Rose in the playpen.
After a short period, Rose requested Ruth her tablet from the playpen. Immediately, the doorbell rang, and Rose’s elder brother came in and greeted Rose. Rose started playing a “hide and seek” game with his brother Daniel. She hid under the toys in the playpen. Rose then poked her head slowly out to check whether Daniel was seeing her. She called Daniel’s name to take his attention before saying “you are not seeing me”. Daniel stood from the chair and told her, “I see you.” Rose then began running all over the living room for them to play hide and seek while shouting in a loud voice, “You can get me.” Ruth then said to Rose she was very noisy she should lower her pitch and stop running around the house. Daniel also warns her of her playing style. He told her that he was too tired and needed a rest, and he never wanted to continue playing with her since she was running around and shouting loudly. Rose accepted and went to play. She took his dolly, Princess Elsa, and started walking with it as though Princess Elsa was walking as well. Then, later, she started conversing with Princess Elsa. However, I would not hear since she whispered to Princess Elsa.
After finishing playing with Princess Elsa, she runs to the kitchen to ask for pineapple juice and see the activities that her grandmother is carrying out there. I was in the kitchen while taking some observation notes and studying for my exams as Rose interacted with her grandmother, Ruth. Nothing more happens till when Rose begins crying that she needs to play with Daniel, yet he is sleeping. She kept on crying to her grandmother Ruth, and Ruth kept telling her to relax. Daniel was tired, and he would wake up for them to play later. However, Rose kept crying, repeating her words again and again. After ten minutes, she went back to the living room, switched on the television and started watching Jack-inns, wiping tears from her face and eyes. Twenty minutes later, Daniel woke up and ran towards her in the bedroom to play with him. However, in a few minutes, she lay on his bed and slept. His father, Japheth, picked Rose up later in the evening while she was half asleep. She bid everyone goodbye while half asleep.
Physical Analysis
A normal child, being three years old, should be approximately 34 pounds in weight and a height of around 38 inches (Papalia & Feldman, 2016). Rose fits these average descriptions. Rose has good gross motor and motor skills; she had good muscle and eye-hand coordination because she was able to identify shapes and colors in her grandmother’s tablet and was able to pick straw bells and sandwiches for herself over the lunch period. Rose portrayed their gross motor abilities and skills when she constantly ran around the living room as they were playing with Daniel, her brother, and even in the kitchen to find out the activities her mother was undertaking. Through my observation, it is clearly evident that Rose has no developmental delay, declined mental abilities or physical abilities (Papalia & Feldman, 2016).
In my observation, Rose has well-functioning motor skills. This is evident from Rose’s eating independently, drinking, handling the tablet and being able to identify the desired shapes and colors in those educational games. However, Rose could not stay within the lines when drawing, which is normal like other kids of her age whose muscles have not developed fully. Her grandmother Ruth was as well a great job at Applying herself and reinforcing her when she was doing simple tasks like eating and coloring. Rose also portrays an action system since she is able to drink her milk or juice at the same time while playing with the tablet or turning the television on by pressing the remote control. With time, she can do complex actions and multitask, as well as conquer some motor development milestones with a Denver Development Screening Test. Rose shows good hand control by copying certain shapes partially using her finger.
Rose’s skeletal and muscular system develops rapidly and well; thus, she is healthy. She tries to open the just, but she fails and asks for assistance. However, she actively participates in physical activities such as playing hide and seek, which results in psychological and physiological development.
Psychological Development
Rose, being three years old, belongs to in “Initiative vs. Guilt” development stage, as Erickson describes, where there is rapid development. At the development stage, the kid is actively, initiating activities and playing with others (Papalia & Feldman, 2016). In this period, if this kid goes beyond the boundaries or experiences parental restriction, this kid develops guilty for everything she does; thus, the child cannot take initiative. At this age, the child asks questions and as Erickson explains, a failure to allow the child to be initiative results in guilty. The children achieve initiative by playing with adults or other kids (Papalia & Feldman, 2016).
It is clearly evident that Rose’s development supports the “Initiative vs. Guilt” stage when she plays “hide and seek” with her brother Daniel and the pretend game with Grandmother Ruth. Rose had initiated the game, though she was loud and running everywhere, overstepping the boundaries. Therefore, the grandmother stopped her from shouting, and Daniel, his brother, told her he would not play with her. Rose was guilty of her actions. This development stage makes the child an adult.
Cognitive Development
According to my reading and observation, rose belongs to the stage of preoperational as explained in the cognitive theory of Piaget. In this period, the child gets to be more skillful, such as pretend playing (Papalia & Feldman, 2016). The kids do not completely understand concrete logic because they are egocentric. They rarely take other people’s perspectives (Gray, 1994). Children also practice new vocabulary when playing and have a vocabulary of between a hundred and a thousand words.
Rose tries to initiate games like hiding and seek, using words like “you don’t see me” to convince his brother Daniel to play. Her conversation with Daniel is an example of social speech. When playing was talking to her dolly through murmuring. While in the playpen, she engaged in a solitary independence game that made her able to master object constancy.
Object Relations
Rose had passed the object constancy stage, she never cried even after being dropped by her father in the morning. She always watched television, ate and drank independently. Even when handling the tablet, she did it independently. Ruth‘s work was to encourage her (Gray, 1994).
Hierarchy Of Needs
Child rose has all her needs starting with psychological to self –actualization. However, at the observation period she was at her grandmother’s place, she lives in a protected place. She lives with all her family members: father, mother and brother. In the absence of her parents, she is left at her grandmother’s place, where Grandmother Ruth takes care of her. She is given assistance in any difficult task and is well-motivated (Gray, 1994).
Moral Development
In terms of moral development, Rose belongs to the preconvention stage. In this stage, children begin to understand other people’s rights and needs (Gray, 1994). The children also learn obedience especially obeying the adults. Rose understood that she needed to listen to her grandmother Ruth and his brother Daniel when they told her to stop playing and shouting in loud tones in the house when she was playing hide and seek while running and shouting loudly in the house.
References
Gray, P. (1994). Psychology. (second edition). New York, NY: Worth
Papalia, D., & Feldman, R. (2016). Experience human development (Thirteen ed.). Wisconsin: The McGraw-Hill Companies.
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