Life Span Development - Assignment Example

Life Span Development Affiliation: What are some of the strengths associated with the Pro side of the issue? What are some of the weaknesses? Women who opt out of their careers and workplaces for parenting do so because they want to. This therefore means that they get to take care of their children wholeheartedly and without even feeling the strains of doing so. To them, saving money is not the issue because it is their choice to do so. They therefore get maximum gratification of seeing their children grow and being with them every step of the way. The women who opt out are those who are in their middle adulthood and have achieved a lot in their working years and career. The have enough money to retire early or at least to cushion them for a few years and hence do not have to seek part time jobs or even be fully dependent on their husbands for money (Hirshman, 2005). These women leave their hard earned position and money and hence reduce the statistics in the number of women working or in high positions in their careers. They also make the traditional roles of women of child rearing and household chores seem not such a bad thing as men take up the productive role. This is one of the things that feminists did not wish for women to just remain in the private life carrying out unappreciated reproductive roles while the men get to enjoy all the benefits of productive work. It sets a bad example to the girls and women in young adulthood who will find no need to work hard in school or in their careers only to end up living it for child rearing and housekeeping chores something that does not require a degree to be carried out. 2. What are some of the strengths associated with the Con side of the issue? What are some of the weaknesses? Even though women are practically “forced out” of the work and career once they become parents, there are some good things that come out of it. The woman and even man save a lot of money on nannies and au pairs to take care of the children and do house chores which amount to a lot of money. This means that the family can be able to save money. There is also the upside of the children getting to bond with their parents more and enjoy the joys of being brought up by the mother while instilling family values that they would want the children to grow up with themselves instead of relying on stranger to do so. Women also get to be there throughout all the developmental milestones of their children which are a joy of parenthood. Women get to miss out on their careers and chances of moving to even higher levels of achievement and recognition in their work places. They start to depend on their partners to provide for them and even give them money something which is at times humiliating as some husbands require an account of the money. These women worked very hard in school and colleges and to have all that hard work go to the drainage while the men have to continue enjoying theirs is not fair in any way. Women having to go back to the traditional roles of child rearing and home care which the feminists worked so hard to denounce is a waste of the energy and efforts of feminists around the world (Stone, 2007). 3. Based on the statements presented in this critical issue, which author do you agree with? Provide supporting evidence. I agree with Stone (2007) because she provides what is realistically happening at the ground with career women and their opting out of work as not being a choice but by being forced by several circumstances. There are several crucial points she discusses including the work place not being family friendly despite those which claim to be, the husbands not being supportive of juggling parenthood and career as well as women changing once their deliver and they have to put the needs of their children first as well as stay where their work desires. Many work places due to pressure from feminists as well as in order to attract a diverse workforce claim to be family friendly. Once a woman however gets children the employer forced the woman to choose between caring for the child and working. The women are expected to work full time with only a one hour lunch break like the rest of the employees while the infant is supposed to be breastfed. The women who cannot make it to breastfeed during their lunch break hour and make it back on time have to stop the child from breastfeeding earlier than planned or have no alternative but to quit their jobs and seek a part time job. Husbands are not supporting their wives as they still consider child rearing and all the household chores to be women’s roles. They do not help out in the home chores or in anything concerning the baby. Some even expect the women to be contributing the paying of nannies from their own pocket. When the woman has more than one child, the multitasking with no help even if one has a nanny is too much and they leave the workplace and start concentrating on their homes. 4. Explore two other roles that can be acquired during early and middle adulthood, such as through parenthood, romantic relationships, and career. How have these roles changed through the past generations? Romantic relationships have been on the increase in the recent years but unlike the previous years, most of the do not aim to end in marriage. To the people especially in the young adulthood stage, they seek romantic relationships as a way to have fun and enjoy their sexuality but not to settle down in marriage. The age of people settling down in marriages is from 30 years and above and at this point, they do not need romantic relationships as a qualifier to their ultimate marriage partner but just stability in terms of security and finances. More women have started having careers similar and sometimes even better than men as a result of their increase in acquisition of college degrees. More women are entering higher education and even becoming managers, lawyers, doctors and other careers that had previously been considered to belong exclusively to men. What this has done is increase the age at which the women are getting married. Instead of majority getting married and starting their families during their young adulthood age as was the trend in the past; they now do so in their middle adulthood age. The young adulthood is left for people to engage fully in career including constant career change and job shift until they get the ultimate one before now moving on to the family chapter in their lives, a trend that was not previously seen. 5. What psychological adjustments are made during early and middle adulthood to adapt to aging and changes in life style? How does this affect development? As people move from teenagers to early adulthood, they have to deal with issues of careers and the psychological issues that accompany this including which is the best career to an individual according to the lifestyle, the education ability, the financial availability among other issues. As people move from young adulthood towards middle adulthood, they have to tackle issues of family. It is at this point that people get married and think of children. Some of the psychological issues accompanying marriage include choice of marriage partner, the qualities of the partner, whether on can tolerate the bad habits that come with living with another individual and the compromises one can and should make. As for children there is the number of children to have, who will raise them if both parents are working, which partner to handle what parental responsibilities, the needs of children, the schools to take them and the challenges such as when they become sick or throwing tantrums. Relationships have their ups and downs and this comes with psychological issues such as what to do during an argument, how long one can continue in a relationship that is giving or not or even abusive and the options including divorce and what that will mean to the children. During the middle adulthood, there is the issue of midlife crisis to think about, the care of the aged parents or even siblings as well as the need to have an identity of one’s own and how that can be achieved (Guest, 2010). References Guest, A. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Life-Span Development. New York: McGraw- Hill Companies, Incorporated. Hirshman, L. (November 21st, 2005). “Homeward Bound.” The AmericanProspect Online. Retrieved from: http://prospect.org/article/homeward-bound-0 Stone, P. (Fall 2007). “The Rhetoric and Reality of ‘Opting Out’.” Contexts, vol. 6(4), pp. 14- 19. Read More