Week 7 relfection

Young adulthood was the main focus of this week. The topic that was of most interest to me was the readings on marriage. Marriage has definitely changed in recent history and divorce is now considered part of the marriage process. With all the thing we have today that can negatively impact a relationships, drugs, alcohol, pornography, and being a couch potato just to name a few things. Some of these are not modern while others are fairly recent but they all can effect a marriage. Expectations is also huge in modern relationships people often have images of the "perfect" relationship and when their relationships do not match their expectations they are often let down and can end the relationship without trying to fix. They feel that they will be happier if the find the "right" person.

Marriage is a team effort both the man and the woman need to work together to make it work. Marriage is a very important relationship in our young adult life. It is also one of the longest most of us will ever have. However, With the high divorce rate marriage has become a more expendable relationship and commitment. Which is unfortunate for america and its youth.

week 6 relfection

We are talking about TEENS or adolescents which is one of the periods in our lives where we experience the largest amount of change in our lives. Where hormones are at high levels and most of us are on a quest of identifying who we are. It makes me wonder how kids growing up in the early 1800s are different than the ones growing up now. I think one of the biggest differences is the influence that our peers have on us especially during those adolescent years. I based a lot of my decisions on what my what my peers were doing and what they would think. Peers strongly influence teens today rather than the parents being the most influential most teens seek approval from their peers therefore basing a lot of their decisions to please them. This is a vicious cycle often changing the teen for the worst.

There was another interesting point about how teens (particularly girls) are developing way earlier than they used to. This can be a little concerning that teens today are already exposed to mature television programs and movies. When teens become sexually mature early they are not prepared to make smart decisions because their brains are not fully developed. This puts them at risk to make poor decisions early that will effect them through out their lives. All children need time to grow and develop into an individual. If they are growing up to fast they might miss important life skills thus affecting their quality of life. 

It also saddens me that in america teens are not eating properly and it is effecting their development. One might think that America would be the healthiest country with all the knowledge we have about nutrition and the abundance of food available. however, America is one of the unhealthiest countries and teens are not getting their essential nutrients which harms their growth and development. This is partly because of junk food companies advertising to teens to consume their products.

week 5 reflection

This week was all about parents and their influences over their children. Parents are very influential to kids especially at a young age. Many behaviors and aggression of the child is a reflection of the parents behavior. I always think of the overly aggressive little league basket ball player who is constantly committing fouls push and knocking over the opposing players. Often this player is being cheered on by a very aggressive parent who is constantly yelling in discuss at the refs and advocating their child's overly aggressive and perhaps violent behavior. The truth is kids are a reflection often times of who parents are at least at a young age. They are constantly watching their parents and are unknowingly influenced by their behavior and how they handle certain situations.
Another influence discussed was TV this is huge it is shocking how much TV the average human watches. It is one of the biggest influences of our modern culture it is also one of greatest hindrances. The article "Parenting the Lost Art" it talks about how marketing companies often target children as potential customers. On one of the websites it stated that children under 2 years old should not watch any television because this impacts their development negatively. Also after 2 years old it should be watched in very limited quantities. Which begs the question why do let our children do something that harms their development. Do we need television or are we so used to it that it has become apart of us and it is like we have a need for it. Television is mostly a waste of time especially the shows that are geared towards kids. They are getting worst and worst as time goes on. They yield little to no educational value but are watched for hours on end. As a person who enjoys watching TV I can attest to the almost addictive qualities of TV and that once you get into a show its hard to stop watching. I also can see how TV is a waste of time and often TV keeps me from getting done what really is important, This also is true for kids. Most kids instead of doing their chores or getting their homework done after getting home from school watch a few hours of television before anything else.

Week 4 reflection

Education and learning were a huge focus during this week. The book explored many factors of learning including environment, parental involvement and culture. The readings went over the various learning disorders the bulk of this concentrated on ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) The podcast along with other articles talked about the various treatment options for these disorders and how the main way to treat these disorders is to prescribe stimulant drugs such as Ritalin. The most disturbing part of the information about these drug prescriptions is that no one knows the long term effects of these drugs. Yet they are being prescribed to thousands if not millions of kids. Is it really a disorder if millions of people have it or is it natural. Or is there a factor of our modern society that causes these behaviors in children.

It also talked about the education system in the U.S. and compared it to other education systems around t this was a particular interest to me because it is interesting the emphasis that other cultures put on education. In the United State kids are in school for 6 hours while kids in asian countries are in school 8 hours and have quite more homework than american kids. It seems that asian cultures are all about education and careers and not living life. Is the United State falling behind or is our system better than theres. Do american student get more satisfaction from their careers or are americans getting lazy. Should america change to longer school days and more homework or is the system that the asian counties have embraced hurting their culture and their child's development.

Lastly, one other topic that interested me was about the children with special gifts. The book talks about how the children all started at a young age but in order for them to become extraordinary their skills need to be nurtured. This is crucial because if a child shows a particular skill at a young age and it is not nurtured it will disappear and the child will not become a prodigy. This brings up yet again nature vs nurture. In this case nature created a special interest in a particular skill but nurture is need to reach natures potential.