I was observing my nephew Marang. He is four and a half years old. His parents live together but not married. Marang lives with his grandmother but he usually goes to his parents on weekends. The boy went to preschool in May and June this year and left preschool because of financial crises the family is facing.
Physical development
Whilst observing Marang in the first month, which is August, he was a restless boy. He would rush to the door to meet visitors. He was able to feed himself. He would pick up small coins like 5 thebe. He would try to reach the top of a kitchen counter but could not. When I observed him for the second time, he would grab a chair and step on it to reach items on top of the table. Mid October, was able to reach the objects close to the edge without any difficulty. He was able to put on socks and shoes with any help. He only had a problem mismatching the socks and shoes. He enjoyed a tricycle and being chased around the yard. I had challenged him to hoop with one foot five times but at first, he did it twice and lost balance. For the second time, he successfully did it three times, which shows an improvement in physical development.
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Cognitive development
When I started Marang’s cognitive abilities, I realized that he was able to count numbers from one to five correctly, from six he would jumble up the number, he be like ‘seven then skip to ten’ and clap his hands. For the second time, he would go up to seven without making mistakes. The last time I spent with him, he was able to count from one to eleven. This shows a massive improvement. I had realized that he had problems speaking English, as he would mix it up with Kalanga and Setswana. As time went, he slowly improved on the problem and was able to differentiate between the languages. This has validated Lev Vygotsky’s theory that learning in children is affected by the environment one grows up in (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019). The boy grows up in a Kalanga and Setswana speaking family, which confuses the child in terms of which language to speak. It also shows that one has attained the preoperational stage. He likes asking the ‘why’ questions. He makes grammar mistakes like combining ‘me and I’ in sentences when trying to express himself. There has been growth in his sentence construction skills. One threat I encountered was imitation. I had observed him take a pen, stand by the wall, and start acting as if he is smoking cigarettes. This verifies Albert Bandura’s theory of social learning that children imitate what they see adults do (Schultz & Schultz, 2005). It also consolidates Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory under the microsystem that individuals setting and those with direct interaction influence who we become (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Socioemotional development
As I observed Marang, I realized that he likes harassing other family members when his grandmother is around. This is something he did over the three months of observing him. He is always protected and that’s the reason why he acts this way around caretaker. This proves John Bowlby’s theory of attachment that it is because a caretaker provides comfort whenever the child feels threatened. At times he chooses whom he wants to bath him. This backs up Erik Erikson’s theory that he is probably gone through autonomy vs shame and doubt where he got his sense of free will. He likes sneaking out to go and join a play with other children. Whenever I refuse to comply with his orders, he tells me I am not his friend. As time went, he started appreciating and praising me for taking him to the airport junction mall to the play area. I also noticed that he likes sharing his tricycle with our neighbor’s kid. He even calls his name out at night and talk to him through the walls.
References
- Lally, M., & Valentine-French, S. (2019). Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective Second Edition. San Francisco: Creative Commons.
- Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2005). Theories of Personality. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
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Essay on Child Observation: Case Study.
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