Your name: (__Annie Little_____________)

CHILD 210 - Unit 3: Reflective Journal Questions

1 Should children be allowed to eat only when they want or does that encourage
picky eating?

It is important to have balance when children are hungry or think they may be
hungry. You don’t as a parent want to control every single thing they eat
because that can’t be good for them mentally or physically later on in life, but
you do want them do be healthy and have the nutrients they need to grow and
have a healthy body. I think they need to know the importance of what types
of nutrients they need so they can function and think and not always be high
on sugar and candy. Setting limits with making sure they are getting enough
calcium for healthy bones, and eating fruits and vegetables and a balanced
diet.

2 Why are children so rigid about routines, preferences, and wanting things just
right? Can you think of examples from your own family?

When children want something “just right” or it has to be a certain way about
routines or preferences, it is because they are experiencing a possible sign of a
obsessive-compulsive disorder in older children and sometimes with adults.
This usually peaks at the age of 3 and will fade at the age of 6. I know in my
family, I can think of my nephew having to wear his shoes on the wrong feet
even though he knows its wrong, and he has to wear his orange Planes shoes
from the movie. My niece having always having to have it be her turn first
when they watch a show. They are 3 and 4 and this is the age in which they
insist that they have things their way.

3 Why do we develop left/right preferences? Would there be danger in having no

preference or forcing a child to switch?

We choose with which had we write with partially due to genetics, and also due to
culture. In our culture here in the US, were have most things geared towards right
handed people. Though there have been accommodations made for people who are
left handed for some things, it is not for everything. There are cultures that have tried
to make the children switch, and it didn’t work, and when you force a child to do so, it
causes problems in the brain such as adult-child conflicts and create confusion. For
me, I can write with both hands because I broke my right arm and couldn’t write with
it for several weeks so I had to learn to write with my left. And I can be very
confusing when you are writing with your left, when you are not accustomed to it and
writing a little weirder. It takes a lot of effort in your brain to think which way to write
and what to do.

4 Why do young children overreact and get stuck on ideas so often (impulsiveness,
preservation)? How would you explain the response of the girl in the video regarding
her own birthday party? Can you think of any examples like this from your own
family?

Impulsiveness and preservation has to do with the frontal part of the brain in the
prefrontal cortex. There are neurons in the brain that are either on or off and they
signal a biochemical message to axons and neurons. Young children do not have this
balance quite right yet, and so they cannot help when they don’t sit still when they are
supposed to. The girl in the video at her birthday party was upset because she had this
idea in her head on how things should go, but it wasn’t going the way she thought,
and when she tried doing it by herself it still wasn’t right.

I remember as a child I would think things were a bigger deal than they were, or
would always think the same thoughts even if I had solved the problem to it. I can
totally relate to this as a child and I also see this in my nieces and nephews as
sometimes they will make things a bigger deal than they need to be like what shoes or
clothes they will wear or if they are allowed to get a treat at grandmas house.

5 How and why does the ability to skip change from age three to age six? Why are
fine motor skills even less developed than gross motor skills?

During the ages of three and six, our brain, is maturing so much in the prefrontal
cortex which controls impulse control, and there is also myelination that goes into the
brain which better help with physical coordination. As that is going on, we are
constantly learning, growing, and developing new skills that we will need the rest of
our lives. Basic things like learning to run, and jump, and climb are some skills we
subconsciously do every day we don’t have to think about. These skills are our gross
motor skill, and they develop quicker because they are the basics of how our body
functions and how we play and exercise. With fine motor skills they take longer
because they are using more of the brain which is still developing, and we haven’t had
as much practice with these skills like coloring, or cutting, because we haven’t done
them or practiced them enough from the time we were babies to be good at them so
they take longer to develop. Fine motor skills usually require both hands or feet which
after just learning how to walk we can’t do very well. We have to learn the basics first
before doing something else.
6 Children’s gross motor skills advance greatly during the early childhood. View
the video segments in the Improved Motor Skills. Identify four examples of gross
motor skills that a five-year old child could do, but a three-year-old child could
generally not do.

Some gross motor skills that a three year old could not do but a five year old could,
would be things like swinging from rings on the play ground, holding themselves up
from the monkey bars, skipping, and touching or grabbing the other side of their head
and tilting their head. Their skills are increasing so much every day, and all the time
as they learn and develop.

7 Given what you have learned about fine motor skills, how old would guess this
child to be? (from Fine Motor Skills: Clip B (Video length: 15 sec))

This child has a desire to learn and develop more and more fine motor skills. I would
say this child is about five years old with her being able to button the shirt and sit
while doing so, so well.

8 What are red flags that might suggest abuse or neglect? When should it be
reported?

The abuse or neglect of any child is always sad to hear about, but yet it does happen
more often then we may hear about and maybe then people have reported about.
Abuse and neglect are when the basic needs of a child are not being met physically,
emotionally, this also includes educational needs, and abuse is when there is harmful
action done to the child, in which these needs are compromised. When you are
looking for signs to know if you should report such abuse, you can look out for things
like if they have repeated injuries especially broken bones, injuries that don’t fit their
“story” like having cuts instead of scraps if they fell. Are they very talkative, or
reluctant to play or move, do they miss a lot of school, do they have any close friends,
and are they afraid of seeing their caregiver just to name a few. If you suspect
something is wrong and the child displays some of these signs, it is important to report
it. It is a law that as teacher, they are required to report any signs of abuse they see. It
is better to be safe than sorry. And you never know what good you could do at
possibly saving that child’s life.
9 When do you talk to yourself? Is it an easy or complex task? Is it a common or
new experience? How does it help you (scaffolding)?

Recently I have been talking with my roommates about this. Some of us talk to
ourselves about maybe things we have to do, or like to motivate ourselves, and some
of them, think it is weird. I personally do it all the time and I think I got it from my
mom because she does it as well. I do as I am thinking things through like a problem
I’m dealing with, or things I have to get done that day. It is something I have always
done, not only know more so now as I am older, but also I can remember when I was
younger doing it as well. So for me it is easy and comes naturally, but as for others it
might be more complex and harder to do. I would say that it is common for young
children to talk to yourself. But it is also a new experience for young children as they
have thoughts, they are beginning to see things not there or have symbolic thoughts.
As Piaget explains it to be, they are no longer limited to the senses and motor skills.
As for scaffolding, talking to myself helps me with this because I can think through
challenges, try to encourage myself, and think through a situation and see if there is
any new information that comes to mind as I do so.

10. What evidence do you find for Piaget and Vygotsky's theories in these children's
understanding of birthdays?

These children were using symbolic thought when they were explaining about
birthdays and what happens at birthday parties. They are seeing a picture in their mind
of something that happened in the past and remembering it to explain it to others of
what happened. All the children in the video, one of the first things they said was that
there was cake at the party. When the children think of a party, they think of cake.

11 In the absence of logical answers, young children use magical thinking to create
explanations (theory-theory) for events. How might a three-year-old explain why
clouds move?

Children are always curious and are always asking questions on how things work and
why things are the way they are. Children attempt to explain everything they see and
hear using the theory-theory. They will ask adult “why” something happens when we
as adult will interpret it as “how” does it happen. So in return the child will then want
to know and question how it applies to them. We as adult will answer as if the child
were asking about science which sometimes is not always the case.
12 Is teaching young children a second language a help or a hindrance to overall
language development? Why?

Teaching a child a second language while they are young has both its advantages and
disadvantages. Some say that it makes it harder to keep the languages separate and
that they should focus on only one language and master it before they learn a new
language. For some, they might have decreased success in school and be less
proficient. However there have also been studies done to show that learning two or
more languages will be better for everyone and will not get them confused. Children
who have heard two languages since birth, are able to master the distinct differences
and pronunciation with them both and keep them separate. The older you get the
harder it becomes to learn a language so as a child were to learn a second language,
they are a lot more capable, with their growing vocabulary and growing brain. Really
what is important is to know the language of the dominate country in which you are
in, so you can communicate with the people and be more successful, but continually
practicing, if desired the second language either with other friends, or at home.

13 Are the mother's goals appropriate for her child? What philosophy and
characteristics would you want in a preschool program for your child? Why?

I feel that sometimes when a mother is forcing their child to choose something they
don’t want to do, or to be something they aren’t, it makes them draw away from them.
Children at a young age will learn so much and will explore at their own pace. It is
hard at a supper young age what is best for them because they are so young and they
are just starting out to begin their journey, but as you give them options daily and let
them choose, you will know your child better and know who they are as a person so
you can help them later on make more important decisions.

In the near future, when I have a family and send my children to childcare, I am
looking for someone, or a place that can meet their needs. I want to be able to have
my child learn as much as he/she can and have a good teacher who is passionate about
children who can do that and will give them activities that can help them continue to
develop. I think lastly I would look for a safe place and an effective and caring teacher
and where my child can learn from others.

14 What were your fears as a child? Why are they more common in childhood?
What should parents do about childhood fears?

Some of my own personal fears as a child included being a afraid of some animals,
like snakes, spiders, big animals, I was also afraid of heights, and I remember for a
while having a fear of cars because I was so little and was scared to be hit by one, and
there were many others. These fears are common as a child because as children, they
begin to start controlling when and how they express their emotions called emotion
regulation. When parents have children who are afraid, which will be all at one point
or another, it is important to be positive or correspond with the fear so they can learn
how to control or what their emotion regulations are.

15 Nearly all parents in the western society desire their children to have high self-
esteem. President Faust spoke highly on appropriate self-esteem. What is the
difference between self-esteem as defined by President Faust and self-esteem as
conceived by the self-esteem movement?

With the self-esteem movement, the children are happy to be who they are for either
a boy or a girl. They are more proud than realistic and believe they are smart, strong,
and anything is achievable. They are proud for the things they have and will
sometimes feel sad for the people who don’t have it as well. However with President
Faust, he speaks of six different things that help us to have self-esteem in which we
wont be too prideful of ourselves. President Faust counsels us of a couple things we
can do to have appropriate self-esteem when it shines. But a couple of things that
stood out to me with what he said. One thing he mentions is that we need to have
humility with inner self-esteem and accept ourselves for who we are with this
humility and have it shine forth in goodness like with a smile or how we present
ourselves to others. He wants us to be teachable so that if there is something about us
that needs to shift, it can change and make us better. One of the last things I wanted to
mention that I liked, was to show love. This does not only apply to others and how
you treat others, but first, how do you love yourself? I think this is important knowing
to be secure enough with accepting compliments, admitting to our mistakes and
having a smile on our face and saying hello to a stranger. The two that are conceived,
the self-esteem movement is a worldly way at looking at self-esteem and what you
must have to have this trait, but yet with President Faust, his is a much more spiritual
side, but it also helps us see things on how we can be less prideful and how we can
show more love to each other.

16 How was rough and tumble play or sociodramatic play manifested in your family
experience?

I know in my family, when my siblings were younger, we would all do a king of the
couch fight having my dad be the king at first and all five of us, me just being four or
five at the time, would tackle him and try to earn our spot as king and see who would
win. I vividly remember at times it getting very rough and ending in arguments saying
that they won when maybe they didn’t and some teeth marks or nail marks, that was
just the norm in my family. But I also remember a time when I was a little older, and
whenever my cousins were in town which wasn’t very often, we would go into my
grandmas back yard because her back yard was amazingly beautiful filled with lots of
flowers and a deck and a little river. Anyway, we would love to pretend we were
fairies or something like that and would have to rescue each other. We would love to
participate in sociodramatic play when we were younger and that is where we had all
our fun.

17 What are the parenting styles of a prophet? (1 Nephi 8:35-38)

This scripture talks about how Laman and Lamuel did not want to do what their
father wanted them to do. But yet the way their father taught them, and told them that
he had great fear for them and was showing love for them and was tender towards
them, they were able to listen to what he had told them. Lamen and Lemuel were able
to remember the things that were taught to them because it was done so in a loving
manner from their father knew the love that he had for them.

All prophets and leaders of the church, want us to show our children love when
teaching them. I can think of a talk by Sister Stephens of the General Relief Society,
who talked about teaching her granddaughter a principle when she was not behaving
but did so out of love and when she did, her granddaughter, listened and obeyed.

18 What is the displacement hypothesis of media (clue: Dr. Larry Rosen, Is too
much media making our kids sick)? Does this seem true in your own life?

The hypothesis of the article about media is that media predict children becoming ill
because of how much media they are watching and viewing, and how little they are
getting out and playing. I remember growing up when I would come home from
school and the first thing I would do was turn on the TV. Knowing I had homework
still to do and had to practice my instrument, or wanted to play with friends, it didn’t
really matter to me because I wanted to have TV time. However, my mom would
always say that we had to have other priorities done first, before friends or TV. So that
was sometimes hard. But as I grew older, and when I got a phone, it wasn’t a smart
phone at first, not until a couple years later, but when I finally got one, that is when I
have noticed it at times being a problem, but not really done anything about. I have
noticed through high school and even now, sometimes I get so overwhelmed in social
medial particularly and it is crazy to think how much time I spend wasting on it when
I could be doing other productive things.
19 What parenting style is illustrated by "Mother" as she talks with Rapunzel about
staying home (see Parenting Styles: Tangled)? What statements/behaviors illustrate
this? How do parents establish healthy boundaries (and consequences) without
becoming too demanding or too permissive?

In the example of Tangled, Rapunzel is kept away from the world and locked away in
a tower and not allowed to go anywhere and the mother is insisting that she knows
what is best for her. This is an example of Authoritarian parenting because of how
strict the mother is and how insisting the mother is of protecting her from letting her
get away and being found to go back to her real parents. The mother states at the end
to never ask again to leave the tower because it will never happen, meaning she will
never bend the rules and will give in to letting Rapunzel even step foot outside.

I think that there have been parents who have been able to let their children be
accountable for what they do within guidelines, and setting those guidelines or rules
to the children know what the parents expect can be heathy. Children need to have
boundaries and limits so that they can succeed in life and learn to do it for themselves
in life and latter on for their own family. You need to listen to your children when
they need that and not only have your words over theirs, and see what they are feeling
because it could change how you parent them and meet their needs.

20 A Lesson They'll Never Forget: Is there a difference between discipline

and punishment? Was spanking effective?

I think there is a difference between discipline and punishment. When you discipline
your children, you teach them and tell them what they are doing wrong with either
obeying the rules and then acting on that by using punishment by putting them in time
out or taking away a privilege. The punishment is the consequence of not listening to
the discipline.

Watching the video, made me a little sad to see how parents use spanking to punish
their children and continually do it over and over again. If spanking was effective
parents wouldn’t have to keep doing it and children would learn. However, the parents
in the video say they are learning and that may be right, but they are learning out of
fear from being spanked. Why would you not want to do something because of fear
of something happening to you, I don’t think that is a good way of being taught if it is
right or not. They are teaching a mixed message to their children if they are teaching
to not hit and then spank their children, they are telling them to do the exact opposite
and then the children will continue the behavior.
21 In what area or ways should parents strive for androgynous socialization? What
areas of gender roles do you feel are primarily biological and what areas are primarily
socialization? How would you respond to President Summer's (former Harvard
President) statement? Why?

I feel like sees women as the nurturer and that is generally true so staying home and
taking take of the children and the men going out and working. Men are usually the
providers and women the nurturing of the children is their full time job. This is how it
was in my family and this is how society is played with gender roles and always has
portrayed men and women to be like. However, there are many instances where the
mother goes and works and the father is the one to stay home with the kids. Or maybe
both parents go out and work and they hire a nanny or a care giver to take care of the
children and the duties at home until the parents get back from work. It all depends on
the family.