A Way to Raise a Child - Case Study Example

Grow-a-Child Narrative I. Prenatal/Perinatal (conception-birth) During conception, the mother had excellent prenatal care.She was able to get proper health care which at least ensured the maximum development potential of the fetus. She was also given prescriptions of proper vitamins to take, and her ideal weight was maintained all throughout the pregnancy. This increased her chances for normal delivery. The regular prenatal check-ups also helped a lot in detecting the mothers depression, which, if undetected, could have resulted in preterm labor. Undiagnosed depression can also lead to the mother failing to properly take care of herself, which is risky both for her health and the babys. The mothers depression was kept in check and balanced with excellent physical health care, and possible results of depression like bad sleeping habits, lack of exercise, and possible failure to follow instructions from the doctor were avoided. Furthermore, the mother has SERT-l genes, which decreased the possibility of long-term depression and oversensitivity to emotions. The mother was on a low-income socioeconomic level. She is also a single mother. These two conditions may have adverse effects on the development of the child if not given proper attention and intervention. The good thing bout this is that the mother was merely under short-term poverty, which was probably caused by the pregnancy and by being single, for she has only herself (mostly) to rely on during this period. However, she is a college graduate and would most probably be able to improve her income once she gets past the difficult stage of pregnancy. She was not given anti-depressants as it may have adverse effects to the unborn child, and coping with depression was focused on having emotional support from family and friends, plus nutritious food choices and healthy physical activities. The usual results of low IQ, school problems, and other childhood issues linked to poverty are not really expected to show up, or are least minimized, because despite being a single mother, she receives high social support from her family. Aside from this, she is very close to her sibling, as she one of a fraternal twin pair. Generally, their family has a good outlook towards family, parenthood, and children, which could serve as a supporting environment for the baby and the mother. Overall, the conditions of the mother during prenatal stage looks promising for the overall development of the child once born. Since she also received excellent health care immediately after giving birth, the mother was able to bounce back to normal activities and mental condition fast. Her quick recovery after birth paved the way for early and close bonding between the mother and the daughter. Furthermore, perinatal care ensured that possible health concerns were non-existent. In fact, the newborn received an Apgar score of 10, which shows that the newborn was active, healthy, and very normal during birth. During the perinatal health check-ups, the newborn was ensured of proper nutrition. She was prescribed with good vitamins and formula milk. She was also breastfed, and the formula milk was only for in-between breastfeeding sessions, because the quantity of the mothers milk during the first few weeks was not sufficient for the number of feedings that the newborn needed. Eventually, the breastfeeding was increased and the formula milk intake was decreased. II. Infancy/Toddlerhood (ages 0-2) Ever since, the issue on whether non-maternal care during infancy/toddlerhood has been a source of debate. As mentioned in the earlier narrative, the child had a good prenatal and perinatal stage. Any possible health concerns that are present during birth were diagnosed to be non-existent. Breastfeeding slowly became the regular food for the newborn as the mother decreased the amount of formula milk intake over the weeks. All seemed to b going good. The mother stayed at home and did not have any job during the first few years after giving birth. This prolonged the low-income level which was initially foreseen as short-term only. Being a stay-at-home mother should have promoted quality care for the infant, but the primary caring for the child was actually given to a caregiver. The caregiver had back problems so the infant was rarely carried during the first few months up to the first few years. Also, the baby displayed irritability, or symptoms of being a “difficult child.” This could b due to the lack of interaction between the mother and the infant. Furthermore, the infant may be going through a sense of abandonment for long periods of time due to the lack of maternal attention and high-quality primary care from the caregiver. This high-quality care was one of the crucial factors at this stage because the mother remained on a low-income level by being out of work. Thus, she was not able to afford a high-quality caregiver service for the child. The effect of early “isolation” of infants and toddlers from the warmth of primary care could result in the individual having problems in dealing with peers when she gets older and may be detrimental to her overall psychological well-being. For one, the child was observed to show signs of anxiety and seemed to b distrustful of adults when it comes to them getting toys from her playpen. Also, her facial expression and actions showed aggression instead of happiness when an adult offers her a toy while she was alone playing in her playpen. She usually snatches the toy away and then absorbs herself in it, totally shutting off or disregarding the adult afterward. When left unresolved, this could cause the child to have problems in building long-term relationships as an adult due to the lack of warm feelings during the toddler years. Two, the child showed signs of depression at an early age. The irritable moods were usually unappeased by acts that normally comforts a toddler like carrying, touching, or even hugging. If left unresolved, this might cause the child to have problems in self-esteem later in life. It has also been observed that the child went through a disorganized attachment even at home. This is because there is little connection and interaction between the child and her mother, and mainly, the interaction was only during breastfeeding. After feeding, the care was given back to the caregiver who was not capable of providing sufficient warm caring to the child due to back pains. This is a serious issue that might have irreversible negative effects to the psychological make-up of the child. The good part however that may be seen during this stage is that since the child was left alone for long periods of time, she developed her sense of independence early. When allowed to crawl on the floor, she explores her freedom that allowed her to develop some psychomotor skills easily. She is able to walk early, and this was probably coupled by the pretend play that the mother encouraged during this development stage. The pretend plays paved the way for the child to mimic actions like reaching for something, drinking, and even eating on her own. However, this did not help much in the her learning to talk, since even verbal interactions with the mother and the primary caregiver were limited. III. Early Childhood (ages 2-6) With all the discussed concerns during the infancy/toddlerhood stage, the childs early childhood stage became worse. For one, the child was overweight for her age. This may be due to poor eating habits during the toddlerhood stage especially since no active participation by the mother or primary caregiver was given to the child. If this is left unresolved, it might cause the child to remain overweight until later in life. This might aggravate other development issues especially if the child already has dangers of having low self-esteem due to lack of trust to the adults in her primary relationships. In-home caring as a preschooler do not really have negative effects, generally-speaking. However, the quality of care do have impact on the development of the child. Since it has been established that the childs home environment is not the best surrounding for psychological development, she might have issues in surviving formal school by the time she needs to attend one. Furthermore, she was being maltreated by her uncle and the neighborhood provided chronic stress for the child. All these are not healthy factors when one considers the lack of psychological stability during toddlerhood which extended to early childhood. The good thing observed during this stage was that the child has an authoritative parent. The strict setting of rules coupled by empathy and diplomacy at least balanced the unhealthy environment for the growing child. The good thing here was that authoritative parenting aided the child to grow into an individual who respects rules, obeys them, and has confidence in themselves especially regarding rules. This was perhaps due to the still good family environment of the child in general. Furthermore, one has to remember that the mother is a college graduate, which could mean that the other members of the family are more or less graduates, or at least has a stable educational background of some sort. Educated parents are generally more able to understand that too much leniency or too much strictness are not the best ways to help a child learn. It might also help that the parent is the mother, as mothers are generally more empathic, nurturing, and forgiving of their children. This at least communicates to the child that there is still a mother who will “help her or correct her,” rather than merely “punish her” when she commits a mistake. Another good thing observed during this stage was that scaffolding was adapted. This definitely encouraged the inherent interest in the child, and encouraged her to explore more. Scaffolding, coupled by authoritative parenting, are good aids in helping the child in other areas of development like learning to express herself, learning to do things that develop psychomotor skills, and even learning to not b afraid to commit mistakes when trying to do something. This is very healthy indeed and looks promising in terms of balancing whatever causes of low self-esteem there may be for the child. Th attitude of the mother in hr parenting style could help encourage the child to be assertive in her own way, or maybe in things that she has already tried or already know. This is good considering the observations of possible continuous exposure to factors that promote low self-esteem for the child starting from toddlerhood. Being raised in a bilingual environment did not show any adverse effects in the childs recognition and acquisition of language. Thus, it can be said that the mother should not stop communicating with her child in both languages because doing so at this stag may cause the child to feel emotionally lost especially if the mother dos not immediately respond to what the child says in a particular language. The broken leg may cause problems in the physical growth of the child, aside from walking capabilities, if left untreated by experts. A child has open growth plates to which injuries might cause deformities or even discrepancies in the length of the broken limb. Th good side however is that childrens bones are quicker to heal since they are softer, thus have lesser occurrences of residual stiffness. Read More