Virtual Child Needs, Essay Example

How is your child’s attachment to you and your partner developing? What is happening at the 3-month and 8-month periods that might affect attachment security according to Bowlby, Ainsworth, and various research studies?

Ainsworth and Bowlby (1991) formulated the basic tenets of the attachment theory and described the relationship of a child with mother and how this relation is affected due to deprivation, separation and bereavement. The attachment of my child with me and my partner appears to be developing somewhat in line with the natural process of fondness. According to Bowlby attachment is basically characterised by:

• Proximity Maintenance
• Safe Haven
• Secure Base
• Separation Distress (Wagner, 2010).

In case of a virtual situation, the child is not expected to seek comfort from parents when frightened. My virtual child did not feel too close to his father because the father was not within the proximity of the child too often. The child starts recognising the persons in the surrounding by sensing the smell. The touch, sight and smell are important elements to provide comfort to the child. For the mother of course it will be next to impossible to forget the pains with which she is able to have the child. While early on the baby appears confused as the sensory mechanism is not fully developed, at the age of three months, the child is certainly in a position to recognise the parents and mostly feels better in their company, while resisting the efforts of others in taking control. The eight month period is certainly a long period for the child-parent relationship. The child starts uttering few words and indulges in some innocent sign language, which helps the bonding amongst the individuals.

Describe and give examples of changes in your child’s exploratory or problem solving behaviour from 8 through 18 months and categorize them according to Piaget’s theory and information processing theories. Note that 8 months is included, so you’ll need to use the time-line to look back at 8 months for examples.

The period between 8 and 18 months happens to be very crucial in grooming a child as during this period the child starts speaking at around 8 months and till 18 months the child is able to speak smaller decipherable sentences. The tact of communication is therefore formed at this time. These changes take place with active support from parents.  Jean Piaget explained in 1930s that the cognitive development in child passes through four phases (Meadows, 1987). These phases are:

• Sensory-motor stage (first 2 years);
• Pre-operational phase (from 2 to 7);
• Concrete operational  phase (from 7 to 10);
• Formal operational  phase (10 onwards)

In this case the period up to 18 months will be the one where the sensory power will be developed.

Analyze your own parenting philosophy and practices. What principles from social learning theory, Bowlby, Ainsworth, Piaget, Vygotsky, information processing theory, developmental neuroscience and other theories do you appear to have relied on in making your parenting choices or interpreting your child’s behavior? Include three principles/theorists from the above list in your answer.

Mary Ainsworth expanded upon the theory of Bowlby and tried to observe the growth of 12-18 months. The ‘strange situation’ is one of the pioneering works of Ainsworth. Based on this Ainsworth underlined three major styles of attachment, namely, secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment. My parenting approach is based on borrowed from the secure attachment in trying to have the child develop with keen attention to the traits of the parents while at the same time expressing themselves.

Piaget came out with the cognitive theory by analyzing how the minds of children work and develop over the years in view of the surroundings and the style of grooming by parents. He concluded that the development of thinking is not smooth in kids, instead it develops into stages. 18 months, 7 years and 12 years have been found out as three critical stages by Piaget for this purpose. Patient monitoring of a child during the early phase of development and assisting the child throughout process is the main idea borrowed in this stage of development

Vygotsky social development theory underlines the importance of social interaction in the cognitive development of a child. Slightly differing with Piaget, Vygotsky inferred that development follows social learning. Therefore, as per this theory spending quality time with children is very crucial. From this theory, my parenting approach sought to strengthen the other two developmental theories and get close to the child to help them achieve balanced development.

References

Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). ‘An ethological approach to personality development’. American Psychologist, 46, 331-341.

Meadows, S. (1987). Piagets contribution to understanding cognitive development: an assessment for the late 1980s. in Richardson, K. and Sheldon, S. (Eds), Cognitive Development to Adolescence, Psychology Press/Open University, Hove, pp. 19-32.

Wagner, Kendra Van (2010). Attachment Styles.  Available online at http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/ss/attachmentstyle.htm (Feb 1, 2010)