CEPD 8102 Lifespan Human Development
I absolutely loved the course on human development. It was so interesting to study the lifespan perspective of human development. I enjoyed learning about cognitive psychologists and this was an amazing class.
The life-span approach is an interesting approach to development because it focuses on the developmental changes throughout all aspects of life whereas the traditional approach of development focuses on birth to adolescence. “But a great deal of change does occur in the five or six decades after adolescence” (Santrock, 2006, p. 3). This is the first time of my life that I have considered the life-span approach to development, and I was extremely interested to read book Essentials of Life-Span Development. According to the Santrock, only ¼ of our lives today is represented by childhood and adolescence, so it is behooves us to study adulthood.
I am currently in the middle adulthood developmental period, and I feel as though I am in a really good place in my life. I am married to a wonderful man. We have two healthy children, and we have a great life. I would imagine my biological age is pretty close to my chronological age since I maintain a healthy weight, exercise often, and eat a balanced diet.
I am not a fan of Freud’s theory. Instead, I support Erikson’s eight life-span stages. I have lived a very good life in my stages thus far. In infancy, I was in a loving relationship with attentive parents. “Trust in infancy sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be a good and pleasant place to live” (Santrock, 2006, p. 18). My parents allowed me to assert my own independence as a child and believed that I would make good choices, so I successfully navigated through Erikson’s second stage acquiring autonomy. My mother worked part-time as a registered nurse, so I went to a preschool and developed initiative as I navigated through my preschool years at Raggedy Ann and Andy preschool. I moved from Georgia to Canada when I was four and then moved to a different province in the middle of first grade. It was soon discovered that I had some gaps in my education, and I was blessed to have Ms. Trudy Schneider as my first grade teacher, who worked hard to fill in my gaps. Instead of developing a sense of inferiority, I gained a sense of industry from her guidance and support. I felt competent and productive and blossomed in second grade. I never had any issues in school again thanks to the care and support of Ms. Schneider. I worked through identity versus identity confusion in a fairly typical teenage fashion. I was fortunate to explore roles in a healthy manner and had a plan for my life. I made decisions and stuck to them to create a positive life. I knew I wanted to go to college, so I studied and did well in high school. I joined a sorority in college and made dear friends. These healthy friendships formed the basis for intimacy. My sorority sister told me that she met the man I would marry. She was right! A blind date started the next phase of my life and in turn, one that would shape the rest of my life. Right now, I am in the generativity versus stagnation stage of life. I am fortunate to be a school teacher, so this is an easy stage to be in and feel good about my life. Every day I go to work, I make a difference. It is so wonderful to see children from years gone by and hear how I have impacted their lives. Teaching is such an amazingly wonderfully profession, and I am truly blessed to do a job that I love. I decided in second grade that I wanted to teach, and I rarely wavered from this conviction. I imagine that as I age I will look back on my life and be thankful for a life well spent and will achieve integrity.
I am a firm believer that children construct their knowledge, and I prefer Vygotsky’s theory of sociocultural cognitive theory. According to Vygotsky, learners learn from the More Knowledgeable Other. I have learned from many ‘More Knowledgeable Others’ in my academic and personal life. According to Albert Bandura, “cognitive processes have important links with the environment and behavior” (Santrock, 2006, p. 22). Modeling the ‘More Knowledgeable Others’ helped me learn.
Nature and nature were both in my favor. My parents are very intelligent and provided a really nice life for me. We have some genetic abnormalities in our family like diabetes, but otherwise we are very healthy. Probably the worst period of my life, was my daughter’s preterm birth. She was born at 26 weeks. It was very stressful, but I prayed and kept faith. I focused on Jeremiah 29:11-14
"...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future. I had excellent maternal diet and fantastic pre-natal care. My husband had no paternal risk factors. So even though she was born premature, my daughter was a healthy pre-term baby. Her only long-term effect from her prematurity is illness-induced asthma. Our phenomenal newborn intensive care unit provided kangaroo care and other aggressive methods to ensure that our daughter would thrive. After our daughter was born, we had a son who born full-term. Both of our children are navigating through childhood well and are in the identity versus identity confusion stage. It is my job to ensure that my daughter and son “explore roles in a healthy manner and arrive at a positive path to follow in life” (Santrock, 2006, p. 18). I hope to look back in twenty years to see my children happily married in successful careers with babies of their own. Through the careful decisions I make and the prudent life I live, I am confident that when my life ends it will have meaning, and people will say that I lived a life that was pleasing to God.
References
Santrock, J. (2006). Essentials of Life-Span Development. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Books.