Assignment: Human Development Studies

Assignment: Human Development Studies
Assignment: Human Development Studies
1. As you begin the study of the ways in which to raise children, take a moment to consider your own view regarding the essential nature of the child. That is, do you believe that all children are inherently sinful and willful or do you believe that children are basically good and that under optimal conditions, their innate talents will emerge? Explain how and why you view children’s nature in a particular way.
2. Consider an example of disequilibrium that occurred in your family and was brought about by a normative or non-normative event. In what ways did you, your parents, and other family members adapt to the resulting family imbalance, thereby re-establishing equilibrium in the family?
Option 2
1. Why do you think that parental warmth is such a powerful influence in the lives of children? Why do you suppose children are more accepting of parental demands from parents who are warm and responsive?
2. Everyone seems to know a child whose parents are indulgent and have noticed the negative effects of that style of parenting on the child’s behavior. What are the behaviors of the parent that you consider indulgent and what examples of negative outcomes have you observed in the child’s behaviors?
Option 3
1.Based on the reading about children and their divorced parents, what are your conclusions regarding the ways in which to alleviate the stress for children whose parents have divorced?
2.Now that you have read about the lives of teenage parents and their children, what are some of the ways you would recommend that families and the community support adolescent mothers? What family and community supports would you suggest for adolescent fathers?
Option 4
1.Suppose you observed a child who repeatedly knocked over her sister’s blocks even though that action gained a lot of negative responses from others. Which of the goals of misbehavior do you think the child is using and how would you recommend that the parent deal wit this misbehavior based on the information in the book?
2.Given the many positive outcomes associated with the use of induction, why do you think more parents do not use this technique with their children? If you were to become a parent educator, do you think you would teach this technique to parents? If a child in your care was hitting another child, how would you use the technique of induction to intervene in this situation?
Option 5
1. Were you surprised to learn that skin-to-skin holding of preterm infants (kangaroo care) promotes their ability to survive and also has a positive effect on later parent-infant interactions?How do you account for the fact that parents in traditional societies instinctively provide that type of care, whereas parents in Western, industrialized societies have to be taught to hold their infants?
2. Drawing on the views of Piaget, describe how a parent might design an activity for a toddler with the goal of promoting the toddler’s cognitive development. Then, using Vygotsky’s idea of guided participation, how might the parent alter the design of that activity?
Option 6 1. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model (See Chapter 1), how would you explain the role of cultural context in the development of young children’s fine and gross motor skills? In other words, how might differences in the child, the family, the community, the culture, and time, impact the development of fine and gross motor skills?
2.Given the information about how young children understand adult speech, describe how you might instruct preschoolers to put their toys away, wash their hands, and come to dinner.
Option 7 1.Go back in your mind to your middle childhood (the elementary school years). Consider some activity (such as sports, dance, or art) that you began to feel you were “good at.” What were the feelings of pride about being competent at that particular thing? What do you remember about the ways in which your parents or other caring adults supported your development or competence in that area?
2.What have you learned from your readings that you might, as a professional, recommend to parents to prevent their children from acting as bullies? For parents whose children are being victimized by other children, what steps would you recommend that these parents take?
Option 8 1.How important is it for minority youths to have a bicultural identity? What steps would you recommend that ethnic minority parents take in order to assist their adolescent children in the development of a bicultural identity?
2.Based on the information in the text regarding the role of parents in adolescents’ engagement in high-risk behaviors, what do you think are the three most important things that parents might do to prevent adolescence high-risk behaviors?
Option 9
1.Why do you suppose that the quality of young adults’ relationships with their parents is linked with the quality of their friendships, and romantic relationships?
2.The degree to which fathers were involved in sharing household tasks during their adolescent years is related to the values that young adults have regarding the gender division of household tasks. Describe the sharing of household tasks that you observed during your own adolescence in your own or another household. Explain how you are able to see a link between your own gender role attitudes and those earlier observations.
Option 10
1.If you have (or have had) grandparents, or older adults in your life who fulfilled the role of grandparent, identify the various roles that these individuals have played or are currently playing in your life.
2.In your experience or awareness of the death of an older person (such as a grandparent), what have you observed regarding the effect of that family member’s death on the relationships of his or her adult children? Is it similar to or different from how most adult sibling relationships are affected by parental death?
Option 11
1. The exceptionality of a child does not necessarily represent a handicap. A child might feel handicapped, however, if others respond negatively toward the child based on the child’s exceptionality. What are some parental attitudes and behaviors that prevent a child’s exceptionality from becoming handicapping?
2. Consider the contrasting lives of children with conduct disorders and children who are gifted. Based on the information in the textbook related to the lives of children with those two exceptionalities, do you think children with conduct disorders could have turned out to be gifted if they had been socialized in a more positive environment? On the other hand, do you think that children who are gifted might have become children with conduct disorders if they had been exposed to interpersonal violence and a preponderance of family negativity? Explain your answer.
Option 12
1. Given the negative consequences of parental abuse and neglect that are outlined in the textbook, what interventions do you think would be beneficial to provide for children who have been maltreated to help them to overcome the trauma they have experienced?
2. Why do you suppose that actively engaging families in a helping alliance, and encouraging them to accept services, helps reduce their likelihood of child maltreatment?