Assignment 3, Thirty months

1. When Sam was 2 I was hospitalized for a week with pneumonia. It was really difficult on Sam because he was not allowed to visit. We tried to explain that Mommy would be home soon but we did not want him to get sick. After I came home Sam as appeared unhappy and tense. He was misbehaving and seemed much more clingy to me. I just decided to spend more time with him cuddling and loving and playing. Two weeks later he was back to his bubbly self.

I feel my absence that week helped him with other transitional times. Recently we elected a new leader in our Mommy and Me class. Sam had some difficulties at first with that transition but "Virtual Ken" and I really gave him extra encouragement and attention at home and at class to help him get through. He seems to be back to normal in the group.

Sam also had an incident were he fell on his tricycle and hasn't wanted to get back on. We had decided at the time to monitor him more closely and let him learn by trial and error. Based on his evaluation we apparently took the wrong approach as he was once an above climber is now below average. He has become more cautious. Perhaps if we had guided him through all of his physical activities more he would be less cautious.

2. Sam is now potty trained so we are definitely getting ready for preschool. He gets a long well with other children although it does take him a few minutes of observing the children until he joins them in play. Once playing he giggles and smiles and likes to imitate. Sam is starting to exhibit some reactive aggression towards other children when playing with a favorite toy. He just needs the occasional reminder to share. My friend the developmental specialist feels that we do not have enough routine in the house. She feels if we had better routines Sam would get better at staying on task and have a better grasp of self control.

3. I feel my parenting style is based on love and nurturing where by my guidance as well as my child's own unguided self exploration he is able to grow and develop. Without having realized it I seem to be following a combination of

I feel that Sam has been able to develop quite well through self exploration in his quite times, and his active times when he is exploring throughout the house unguided. Those behaviors lend themselves to Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory, where children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world. Additionally, we are exposing him to Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory by taking him to the museum and the zoo. And by introducing him to new children at the park and playgroups. Sam has been required to potty train before preschool, which was not exactly something he wanted to do on his own and this is more of a social requirement forced upon him then it was pourly developmental.

There is a bit of Freud going on as well. Through interacting with peers he is learning all about the ego and the superego. He is learning that all though he wants to rip that toy out of a playmates hands he must take the socially acceptable high road and share.