Well made it through this quarter and through a book full of interesting terms and new ideas. So what better way to send off than with doom and gloom! I can see that this is one of the hardest chapters in the whole book to read, as I had to take several sit downs over a few days to read it. I also found it the most depressing.
Out of this chapter I could identify mostly with the euthanasia and stages of grief parts. Sadly in 2007 my grandfather had a stroke (or what we all think was a stroke as the doctors couldn't identify exactly what had happened) and fell of a ladder in his garage while trying to get some ham radio equipment down. He was in the hospital for about two and a half weeks before my grandmother, his wife, decided to pull the plug and take the feeding tube out and let him slip away. It was a super tough choice as most of us in the family wanted, wished, and hoped he would show some signs of activity and wake up. We all knew it wasn't going to happen but we all wanted it to. We didn't want to loose this man. It was one of the most toughest decisions that my grandmother has had to make her entire life. I am very proud on how she pulled all the way through this tough time and I swear she's even more tough now that it has passed.
After the passing of my grandfather it was very interesting how everyone in the family coped with his death. My grandmother was like a rock, my aunt was beside herself, and both my father and uncle didn't really show that much emotion at all. I myself acted out in that I quit my job because I just couldn't handle his death each day and deal with the public. It was just to much. You can't run through these stages in a matter of days in my opinion. It took me a few months to do it. Others in my family about a few weeks. It seemed like most of it cumulated when the "remember the life" funeral type party was held. We rented out the camp place at Intalco and invited (what seemed like half the county) to come celebrate my grandfathers life and his passing. After that we all adjusted but it still hurts.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Old Age, does it get better?
Wow what an interesting 2 chapters! I'm still not sure if getting old is better or not better for many reasons and the authors seem to do a little more doom and gloom. Yes getting old adds one more wrinkle on your head and one more grey hair (if your a mom or have a mom it's not old age that makes you turn grey its the stress from your "darling" kids over the years) but there are other things about getting old to.
The demographics are very interesting. They had some good charts to show it but anyone who reads all the news stories knows what his happening. We have all the baby boomers retiring thus putting the strain on the health care, social security, and pension systems. It's already started! This is by far the largest group of people retiring ever and sorry to say it's even a smaller group that is shouldering the tax burden to pay for it all. But as I said we already know about this and it's not the prettiest picture that is being painted. Hey we knew it was coming and yet did nothing to prepare for it (congress just gives us stupid excuses that we are suppose to buy while they sit pretty with their money and cushy jobs).
So almost everyone has at least one set or just a grandparent. I am graced with just 3 grandparents right now. One set and my grandmother on my fathers side. Reading in the book that most widowers follow their spouses to the grave shortly after the first passes, to me isn't true. I swear my grandmother is to stubborn to pass and she won't until her great grandchildren are well into their teens. While my other set of grandparents are just hilarious. I always want to know if I'm going to turn out like them or not. I can see the love for each other but it's the great way that they show it.... or really don't show it. They nit pick at every little thing and my grandfather loves it. He turns it into a game on how well he can make his wife mad and how fast. Sadly though we as a family are dealing with Alzheimers with him. Currently he is in the very early stages of it and I find it more fun to talk to him than ever before! I find it more of a gift than a curse right now, as I get to hear more stories from his childhood and while we was growing up than ever before! My grandfather is a very guarded person and really won't tell much of his days in the army or what he considers bad times but now I get to hear a story every now and then and I simply enjoy it.
One draw back in the text that I didn't like it only gave about a half page to elder abuse. I find this something we as a country have a serious problem with. There is tons of information out there on it and more statistics to go with it as well. I wish they devoted a little bit more to this problem than what they did.
The demographics are very interesting. They had some good charts to show it but anyone who reads all the news stories knows what his happening. We have all the baby boomers retiring thus putting the strain on the health care, social security, and pension systems. It's already started! This is by far the largest group of people retiring ever and sorry to say it's even a smaller group that is shouldering the tax burden to pay for it all. But as I said we already know about this and it's not the prettiest picture that is being painted. Hey we knew it was coming and yet did nothing to prepare for it (congress just gives us stupid excuses that we are suppose to buy while they sit pretty with their money and cushy jobs).
So almost everyone has at least one set or just a grandparent. I am graced with just 3 grandparents right now. One set and my grandmother on my fathers side. Reading in the book that most widowers follow their spouses to the grave shortly after the first passes, to me isn't true. I swear my grandmother is to stubborn to pass and she won't until her great grandchildren are well into their teens. While my other set of grandparents are just hilarious. I always want to know if I'm going to turn out like them or not. I can see the love for each other but it's the great way that they show it.... or really don't show it. They nit pick at every little thing and my grandfather loves it. He turns it into a game on how well he can make his wife mad and how fast. Sadly though we as a family are dealing with Alzheimers with him. Currently he is in the very early stages of it and I find it more fun to talk to him than ever before! I find it more of a gift than a curse right now, as I get to hear more stories from his childhood and while we was growing up than ever before! My grandfather is a very guarded person and really won't tell much of his days in the army or what he considers bad times but now I get to hear a story every now and then and I simply enjoy it.
One draw back in the text that I didn't like it only gave about a half page to elder abuse. I find this something we as a country have a serious problem with. There is tons of information out there on it and more statistics to go with it as well. I wish they devoted a little bit more to this problem than what they did.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Rehash of the same stuff you learn
Well didn't find it to exciting and chapter 12 was more of a review. I did like how they opened chapter 12 in they define, with several theories, why we go to work, what work means to us and how we choose our paths that we do. I found Super's Theory very interesting to me because this one really makes sense. Implementation, where in your early 20's you dabble in different jobs trying to figure out what ones you like, dislike, and others that you might want to make a career out of. Then by the mid 20, stabilization occurs and continues into the 30's. I took it as the more settling down and pursuing the career you want to go into. Then lastly there's consolidation that starts mid 30's and continues until retirement.
I see myself following this pretty dam well while others (like my brother who started a bit early and only dabbled with 1 real job before landing his career job) don't. But it seems to be a small few and not a giant few that do. I have had alot of jobs over the last 10 or so years and I end up quitting a lot of them because I don't like the company, the work, the lack of promotions/raises, the hours of work nor the pay, or the management.
Also being a girl I can relate to some of the readings in that we don't get the same job opportunities as men, nor the same pay. I have even come across some of it. I have been denied some jobs within a company because they say they are to dangerous for a woman and that only a man can do them (like forklift driving). I have also been in a situation of being sexually harassed as well. Sadly it didn't turn out that great and the upper management took the words of the store manager and assistant manager over mine, even though I had documentation of what was happening and other co-workers to back me up. The word was they were going to fire me for no reason what so ever (as Washington is a state where you don't need a reason) as I showed up to work every day, did my assigned duties, helped out others in the store, etc. So just to stick your neck out isn't a good idea because it might get chopped off. So hitting those kinds of ceilings suck or hitting biasness isn't good also (this also seems to come from people that have been around in the workplace for along time and don't want to or do need to adapt to the new age views of women in the workplace).
I have even been on the unemployment boat and wow what a shocker that was. I could so relate to what they were talking about. It's the most depressing thing that has ever happened to me! You send out resume after resume and got a lot of feedback from potential employers that I was over qualified to be selected for that job if I was selected at all. Went on countless interviews to only to have the interview person lie to me in that they would let me know what happens. So yah totally relate on how your mental and physical health suffer in that one.
I see myself following this pretty dam well while others (like my brother who started a bit early and only dabbled with 1 real job before landing his career job) don't. But it seems to be a small few and not a giant few that do. I have had alot of jobs over the last 10 or so years and I end up quitting a lot of them because I don't like the company, the work, the lack of promotions/raises, the hours of work nor the pay, or the management.
Also being a girl I can relate to some of the readings in that we don't get the same job opportunities as men, nor the same pay. I have even come across some of it. I have been denied some jobs within a company because they say they are to dangerous for a woman and that only a man can do them (like forklift driving). I have also been in a situation of being sexually harassed as well. Sadly it didn't turn out that great and the upper management took the words of the store manager and assistant manager over mine, even though I had documentation of what was happening and other co-workers to back me up. The word was they were going to fire me for no reason what so ever (as Washington is a state where you don't need a reason) as I showed up to work every day, did my assigned duties, helped out others in the store, etc. So just to stick your neck out isn't a good idea because it might get chopped off. So hitting those kinds of ceilings suck or hitting biasness isn't good also (this also seems to come from people that have been around in the workplace for along time and don't want to or do need to adapt to the new age views of women in the workplace).
I have even been on the unemployment boat and wow what a shocker that was. I could so relate to what they were talking about. It's the most depressing thing that has ever happened to me! You send out resume after resume and got a lot of feedback from potential employers that I was over qualified to be selected for that job if I was selected at all. Went on countless interviews to only to have the interview person lie to me in that they would let me know what happens. So yah totally relate on how your mental and physical health suffer in that one.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Teenagers, Need I say more?
Wow depressing and yet very informative. I so skipped chapter 8 and started in on chapter 9. So I was scratching my head a bit about teenager development. I swore there should have been more in this book! But low and behold (after checking the syllabus like 3 times) there was mystery chapter 8! I found this one a bit depressing but a lot of it rings so true to any teenager or earlier in one's life.
Everyone went though the sex education class around the 5th grade (well I did) so some of this was a review on what changes happen. I found the part about a teenager starting her first period and how they throw a party down in the southwest very different. I am curious if that is because more Latinos reside in that area thus bring their customs and norms with them to celebrate this or if it's tied to a different culture. As for the rest it's the basic stuff we have heard over and over again. Yes we know that the United States is a FAT nation! We have some of the worst obesity rates in the world. But at the same time we have teenagers, I have to say mostly girls but there are more and more boys subjecting themselves to it as well, with eating disorders. It saddens me how our culture in America is so obsessed with how thin a person must be in order to be accepted! Teenagers are constantly bombarded with ads, subliminal messages, and more about how in order to be accepted first you must weight under 100 lbs. Look at the Vitoria Secret models, they are mostly skin and bones! The ads in the magazines that teenage girls read, Cosmo as an example, has models in there that are pencil thin (many of us know that these models are airbrushed to make them look perfect in every way but most teenagers don't think about that). Girls want that unattainable body and some go to extreme lengths to get it with eating disorders. This hit the biggest nerve with me because as a teenager I was never accepted by my mother because I was always over weight. I was never skinny enough for her and she constantly reminded me of it. I wish the media would change and America as well with their dangerous obsession with thinness and start accepting girls for being a bit overweight and let many more know that that model body is just fake and most of the time unobtainable.
Everyone went though the sex education class around the 5th grade (well I did) so some of this was a review on what changes happen. I found the part about a teenager starting her first period and how they throw a party down in the southwest very different. I am curious if that is because more Latinos reside in that area thus bring their customs and norms with them to celebrate this or if it's tied to a different culture. As for the rest it's the basic stuff we have heard over and over again. Yes we know that the United States is a FAT nation! We have some of the worst obesity rates in the world. But at the same time we have teenagers, I have to say mostly girls but there are more and more boys subjecting themselves to it as well, with eating disorders. It saddens me how our culture in America is so obsessed with how thin a person must be in order to be accepted! Teenagers are constantly bombarded with ads, subliminal messages, and more about how in order to be accepted first you must weight under 100 lbs. Look at the Vitoria Secret models, they are mostly skin and bones! The ads in the magazines that teenage girls read, Cosmo as an example, has models in there that are pencil thin (many of us know that these models are airbrushed to make them look perfect in every way but most teenagers don't think about that). Girls want that unattainable body and some go to extreme lengths to get it with eating disorders. This hit the biggest nerve with me because as a teenager I was never accepted by my mother because I was always over weight. I was never skinny enough for her and she constantly reminded me of it. I wish the media would change and America as well with their dangerous obsession with thinness and start accepting girls for being a bit overweight and let many more know that that model body is just fake and most of the time unobtainable.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Hey All,
Yes I know this blog is several days late but I'm not caring at all at the moment. I read the chapter in the book, read the article, and browsed your guys' blogs and it just hit me! So now I am typing this out.
So the biggest thing that has struck me is the way parents discipline or don't discipline their kid(s). After reading the article about Parenting: The Lost Art, it hit me. Now adays many parents just make up excuses for their kids and don't do anything. I have recently ran into this. My old boss needed to find a place for her son to stay and I told her we could offer him a room in our house if it was okay. We all agreed on it and about a month into it her son went and stole my Xbox 360! I confronted him about it and he acted like it wasn't his fault and didn't do a single thing to rectify the situation. So I went and talked to his mom about it and all she could tell me it wasn't her son, her son is a good boy and would NEVER do anything like that! I just couldn't believe it! Granted the book aims for the teenagers and younger and he was 25 but it still lines up along the same talk.
I see that alot of parents don't want to be the bad guy so they might make the other half (mother or father) the bad guy in having them always dispense the discipline while they look like the cool parent in letting the child do whatever they want. Also the forms of discipline are very different. Depending on culture and how your parents were raised your form of discipline might be different.
My mother was the one that always dispensed all the discipline at my house and she would always beat the crap out of me (my brother was her favorite so he didn't get in as much trouble as I always did) and her word was always golden. She was the authoritative type parent. There was no questioning her, if you didn't like the answer you never asked "but or why" you just went with it or you would be beaten. It was the worst childhood ever. I have come out a different person and vow that if I ever have kids there will be no physical discipline in the house. I always found the more I got beat the more I wanted to rebel and the cycle kept going. I don't want to repeat that.
Just a little insight on spanking lol.
Yes I know this blog is several days late but I'm not caring at all at the moment. I read the chapter in the book, read the article, and browsed your guys' blogs and it just hit me! So now I am typing this out.
So the biggest thing that has struck me is the way parents discipline or don't discipline their kid(s). After reading the article about Parenting: The Lost Art, it hit me. Now adays many parents just make up excuses for their kids and don't do anything. I have recently ran into this. My old boss needed to find a place for her son to stay and I told her we could offer him a room in our house if it was okay. We all agreed on it and about a month into it her son went and stole my Xbox 360! I confronted him about it and he acted like it wasn't his fault and didn't do a single thing to rectify the situation. So I went and talked to his mom about it and all she could tell me it wasn't her son, her son is a good boy and would NEVER do anything like that! I just couldn't believe it! Granted the book aims for the teenagers and younger and he was 25 but it still lines up along the same talk.
I see that alot of parents don't want to be the bad guy so they might make the other half (mother or father) the bad guy in having them always dispense the discipline while they look like the cool parent in letting the child do whatever they want. Also the forms of discipline are very different. Depending on culture and how your parents were raised your form of discipline might be different.
My mother was the one that always dispensed all the discipline at my house and she would always beat the crap out of me (my brother was her favorite so he didn't get in as much trouble as I always did) and her word was always golden. She was the authoritative type parent. There was no questioning her, if you didn't like the answer you never asked "but or why" you just went with it or you would be beaten. It was the worst childhood ever. I have come out a different person and vow that if I ever have kids there will be no physical discipline in the house. I always found the more I got beat the more I wanted to rebel and the cycle kept going. I don't want to repeat that.
Just a little insight on spanking lol.
Monday, April 29, 2013
IQ, what does it really mean?
We all know what the regular IQ test is like (well kinda for me. My mom bought one for me from Barnes & Noble when I was a kid and I found it really easy, even more so when I found out the answers were in the back of the book :P ) but as the book talks about is it really to gauge how smart or dumb a person is? I found out that it's reading, math and comprehension skills and how well a person can grasp concepts and ideas but it never takes into account any other kind of aspects of intelligence. Yah a person may score extremely high on the IQ test but not be able to hold a conversation with a "regular" person, they might not be able to assimilate into society because they are to smart. The best example here I can think of is a TV show (sadly). I watch Bones and in the first couple of seasons they had a young man on there playing the character of Dr. Zack Addy and he had an IQ in the crazy high range like 180 or something. But they wrote the character as having a tough time just trying to make simple conversation that didn't have to deal with work, didn't get any jokes people cracked, basically had no sense of humor and dealt in absolutes. Sure he was smart but he wasn't life smart as I call it.
I really liked Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences in how it doesn't relie on test scores to base a subjects intelligence but rather research in many different categories like child development, studies of brain damaged people, and studies of exceptionally talented people (I would guess savants would be placed in this one). A savant is a prime example of other intelligence besides the basic ones we test. They can be really smart at one thing like music (as the example in the book). They can hear a tune just once and play it back without any training of any sort but according to regular IQ tests they are in the mentally retarded range. But I would like to say if one is mentally retarded how do they preform such a feat and play beautiful music? How about people that study other people and their emotions (like a profiler)? They can be really smart, above what we think day to day stuff, and predict what criminals are going to commit what crimes and where they will strike next. Is this not a kind of intelligence? Another is someone that can read someone's emotions and play on a persons strengths and weakness of that. The only thing that is coming to mind is some kind of con-artist like the people that say they can talk to the dead. Is this still some other form of intelligence? The list can go on and on.
I wish the book gave more examples of Gardner's Theory and not just a list of the intelligences he came up with. It would have been excellent reading and quiet captivating if they had.
I really liked Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences in how it doesn't relie on test scores to base a subjects intelligence but rather research in many different categories like child development, studies of brain damaged people, and studies of exceptionally talented people (I would guess savants would be placed in this one). A savant is a prime example of other intelligence besides the basic ones we test. They can be really smart at one thing like music (as the example in the book). They can hear a tune just once and play it back without any training of any sort but according to regular IQ tests they are in the mentally retarded range. But I would like to say if one is mentally retarded how do they preform such a feat and play beautiful music? How about people that study other people and their emotions (like a profiler)? They can be really smart, above what we think day to day stuff, and predict what criminals are going to commit what crimes and where they will strike next. Is this not a kind of intelligence? Another is someone that can read someone's emotions and play on a persons strengths and weakness of that. The only thing that is coming to mind is some kind of con-artist like the people that say they can talk to the dead. Is this still some other form of intelligence? The list can go on and on.
I wish the book gave more examples of Gardner's Theory and not just a list of the intelligences he came up with. It would have been excellent reading and quiet captivating if they had.
Monday, April 22, 2013
More Step By Step Progress
Wow what a fact filled fun 2 chapters! I really wish I could transfer some sarcasm here but it doesn't work to well typing.
I am having fun reading but also not so fun trying to relate to some of the information given as I don't have any kids nor do I interact with them on a daily basis. This stuff is great for when kids do come along (if they ever do) but right now it's not in the cards.
I found that in chapter 4 when they talk about babies and how they perceive things and make sense of the world interesting. I didn't know there was a Naive Physics and Naive Biology for babies until I read this. I can see where they are coming from. However some stuff I'm not on board with. The talking about of teleological explanations where children believe that parts of living things exist for a purpose, they give the example of lions exist so people can see them in a zoo, just doesn't jive with me. I'm not sure if they are going as a blanket statement that says all children think this way, some children, a selected small %, or what. I remember when I was a kid I always drove my parents nuts always asking why to everything. Of course being good parents after they got tired of supplying answers they said just cuz that's the way it is now be quiet! LOL. But I really didn't think that the reason a zebra exists is so we could all see it in a zoo. I find this concept strange and either I didn't get put in the pool with the other kids or maybe I had a better understanding of the world by then.
Now moving along, the whole part on the learning of number skills; very interesting and sounds about right. I know that children from other parts of the world like Japan are far more advance in math than the United States (sadly we come in pretty dam low for a developed nation). This really just showed me how far we fall behind as kids when it comes to learning our numbers.
Another thing that caught my eye while reading was in chapter 5 the section on attachment. How there's good and bad attachment and how it affects the child later in life. After reading it I wanted to call up my mom and ask her what I was like when I was a baby when she left the room, what kind of attachment I had. I know when I was in kindergarten I had separation issues. My mother would drop me off and I would spend half the day crying because I wanted her to come back.
I am having fun reading but also not so fun trying to relate to some of the information given as I don't have any kids nor do I interact with them on a daily basis. This stuff is great for when kids do come along (if they ever do) but right now it's not in the cards.
I found that in chapter 4 when they talk about babies and how they perceive things and make sense of the world interesting. I didn't know there was a Naive Physics and Naive Biology for babies until I read this. I can see where they are coming from. However some stuff I'm not on board with. The talking about of teleological explanations where children believe that parts of living things exist for a purpose, they give the example of lions exist so people can see them in a zoo, just doesn't jive with me. I'm not sure if they are going as a blanket statement that says all children think this way, some children, a selected small %, or what. I remember when I was a kid I always drove my parents nuts always asking why to everything. Of course being good parents after they got tired of supplying answers they said just cuz that's the way it is now be quiet! LOL. But I really didn't think that the reason a zebra exists is so we could all see it in a zoo. I find this concept strange and either I didn't get put in the pool with the other kids or maybe I had a better understanding of the world by then.
Now moving along, the whole part on the learning of number skills; very interesting and sounds about right. I know that children from other parts of the world like Japan are far more advance in math than the United States (sadly we come in pretty dam low for a developed nation). This really just showed me how far we fall behind as kids when it comes to learning our numbers.
Another thing that caught my eye while reading was in chapter 5 the section on attachment. How there's good and bad attachment and how it affects the child later in life. After reading it I wanted to call up my mom and ask her what I was like when I was a baby when she left the room, what kind of attachment I had. I know when I was in kindergarten I had separation issues. My mother would drop me off and I would spend half the day crying because I wanted her to come back.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Birth and Development
Disclaimer:
Please forgive this poor blogger as I have just gotten off work and am not that awake so spelling may be off and/or rambling my be in affect.
Well chapter 2 didn't have to much affect on me and it seems to align with basic biology pretty well. I don't have any kids so I can only take the authors' words about being pregnant and childbirth at what they say. I have witnessed my cat being pregnant, having kittens, and rearing them but I don't quiet think that is what this chapter is after.
The 3rd chapter I found much more interesting. From the get go it seems like almost an A,B,C of child rearing. What to look for, what this particular action/non action means, what happens if kind of thing. Some of the stuff that is mentioned while the infant is a new born like the scales I had a grasping of but nothing in depth like the book talks about. I was very keenly into the part about the reflexes, crying and sleeping of infants. I am not much of a person for crying and I know when a baby starts to cry that I am holding that is my cue to give him/her back to mom and let her take care of the child. Some of the reflexes I know a baby does like the stepping and how it's kinda the building blocks for walking later in life but didn't know there was more than just that. Stuff I thought was just innate to infants is actually a reflex that leads to something else! Also didn't know about the different kinds of crying. I swear it was all just the same to me until I read this. Also, the sleeping item. I know a lot of parents put their child in a crib in the child's room and that's where they sleep. I however, didn't know that this isn't the norm and that a lot of cultures and people around the world sleep with the infant and toddler later in life. Also just to throw another ball out there I also found the writing about malnutrition very informative. It makes me sad to see the starving baby and the older sibling being so thin. I know that a lot of the developing nations have problems with getting food to their populations, droughts, and warfare that interferes with people getting the proper nutrition they need. The statistic that they threw out where about half of the world's undernourished children live in countries in Asia and not Africa. Granted the information is from 2006 and a bit dated but I always thought Africa had a worse problem of this than some of the countries in Asia. I think this merits some more digging in the future.
This chapter covers a lot of material (roughly 40 pages and I think one of the bigger chapters in the book). I wish the authors broke it down more into 2 chapters. I had a problem going through the reading and trying to remember some of the concepts and then tying some concepts that were mentioned in the beginning to others mentioned like 10 pages later. It seems to be a theme with these authors in that the flow isn't as great. I will say that I do know that the statistics are about 7+/- years out of date but you can't publish a new book every year and expect the teachers and students to shell out over $100 for it just to update the statistics. A suggestion is maybe a link in the book to the website that the statistic is from so we can go and check it in present time and see how it differs from when the book was published.
Please forgive this poor blogger as I have just gotten off work and am not that awake so spelling may be off and/or rambling my be in affect.
Well chapter 2 didn't have to much affect on me and it seems to align with basic biology pretty well. I don't have any kids so I can only take the authors' words about being pregnant and childbirth at what they say. I have witnessed my cat being pregnant, having kittens, and rearing them but I don't quiet think that is what this chapter is after.
The 3rd chapter I found much more interesting. From the get go it seems like almost an A,B,C of child rearing. What to look for, what this particular action/non action means, what happens if kind of thing. Some of the stuff that is mentioned while the infant is a new born like the scales I had a grasping of but nothing in depth like the book talks about. I was very keenly into the part about the reflexes, crying and sleeping of infants. I am not much of a person for crying and I know when a baby starts to cry that I am holding that is my cue to give him/her back to mom and let her take care of the child. Some of the reflexes I know a baby does like the stepping and how it's kinda the building blocks for walking later in life but didn't know there was more than just that. Stuff I thought was just innate to infants is actually a reflex that leads to something else! Also didn't know about the different kinds of crying. I swear it was all just the same to me until I read this. Also, the sleeping item. I know a lot of parents put their child in a crib in the child's room and that's where they sleep. I however, didn't know that this isn't the norm and that a lot of cultures and people around the world sleep with the infant and toddler later in life. Also just to throw another ball out there I also found the writing about malnutrition very informative. It makes me sad to see the starving baby and the older sibling being so thin. I know that a lot of the developing nations have problems with getting food to their populations, droughts, and warfare that interferes with people getting the proper nutrition they need. The statistic that they threw out where about half of the world's undernourished children live in countries in Asia and not Africa. Granted the information is from 2006 and a bit dated but I always thought Africa had a worse problem of this than some of the countries in Asia. I think this merits some more digging in the future.
This chapter covers a lot of material (roughly 40 pages and I think one of the bigger chapters in the book). I wish the authors broke it down more into 2 chapters. I had a problem going through the reading and trying to remember some of the concepts and then tying some concepts that were mentioned in the beginning to others mentioned like 10 pages later. It seems to be a theme with these authors in that the flow isn't as great. I will say that I do know that the statistics are about 7+/- years out of date but you can't publish a new book every year and expect the teachers and students to shell out over $100 for it just to update the statistics. A suggestion is maybe a link in the book to the website that the statistic is from so we can go and check it in present time and see how it differs from when the book was published.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Well first off I want to state that text books are cut and dry and I swear the authors need to start spicing them up and making them more interesting. Pictures are good but I'm sure there's other things that can be added to keep the readers attention (I had a hard time slogging through this material).
Anyways, the quick rundown of the learning going on is basically THIS vs. THAT in the upbringing of a child in the world we live in today. After a pass of this quick material you are introduced into some dead guys and some living guys that helped form theories on development. Yes, I have heard some of these guys before like Piaget because in Sociology 100 you cover a bunch of different bases and he is just one of the guys introduced (Freud of course it another big hitter to).
Out of the many theories that were thrown out at us I really liked the ones that have to do with the Ecological and Systems, Bronfenbrenner's Theory and the Competence-Environmental Press Theory. All the others try to explain the development of a human in stages and how each stage is broken up but I think there is a bigger picture here. Drawing back on Nature vs. Nurture and how it ties in very well with the environmental theories. The best line that is written is "In ecological theory, human development is inseparable from the environmental contests in which a person develops." This line is the best ever! The analogy they give of it being like the threads on a spider web all being connected is a pretty good picture. However I would like to ask the person who laid out the book why they did the This vs. That first, theories and then how to go about conducting experiments and not jumble them up and have each piece of information lead into the next. You could start out with Nature vs Nurture and the environmental theories, then lead into continuity vs discontinuity and have the theories on how life is in stages and depending on who suggested the theory what those stages are. Then tie it all up in conducting experiments and all that jazz but also referring to the stuff earlier in the book. (Just what I would think would be a better layout than what we have going on)
At this point I'm pretty blown by some of the stuff and just a review on the other stuff. So more to come later today after my mind can quiet down and let me think!
Anyways, the quick rundown of the learning going on is basically THIS vs. THAT in the upbringing of a child in the world we live in today. After a pass of this quick material you are introduced into some dead guys and some living guys that helped form theories on development. Yes, I have heard some of these guys before like Piaget because in Sociology 100 you cover a bunch of different bases and he is just one of the guys introduced (Freud of course it another big hitter to).
Out of the many theories that were thrown out at us I really liked the ones that have to do with the Ecological and Systems, Bronfenbrenner's Theory and the Competence-Environmental Press Theory. All the others try to explain the development of a human in stages and how each stage is broken up but I think there is a bigger picture here. Drawing back on Nature vs. Nurture and how it ties in very well with the environmental theories. The best line that is written is "In ecological theory, human development is inseparable from the environmental contests in which a person develops." This line is the best ever! The analogy they give of it being like the threads on a spider web all being connected is a pretty good picture. However I would like to ask the person who laid out the book why they did the This vs. That first, theories and then how to go about conducting experiments and not jumble them up and have each piece of information lead into the next. You could start out with Nature vs Nurture and the environmental theories, then lead into continuity vs discontinuity and have the theories on how life is in stages and depending on who suggested the theory what those stages are. Then tie it all up in conducting experiments and all that jazz but also referring to the stuff earlier in the book. (Just what I would think would be a better layout than what we have going on)
At this point I'm pretty blown by some of the stuff and just a review on the other stuff. So more to come later today after my mind can quiet down and let me think!
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