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Period: to
My Experiences So Far
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Cognitive Development stage 1 and 2
Through adaptation I learned to suck my thumb, I never really liked my pacifer. I had a stuffed animal puffalove that I always put in my mouth as well. -
Bisocial Development
In the first two years of my birth I went through many changes. My body rapidly grew and Ideveloped sleep patterns. I was a fast learner when it came to talking. By the time I was 6 months old people could already understand the words I was saying. I wouldnt walk until I could do it right, however one day when I was 12 months old I just got up and walked following my grandma from the house to the padio before she even noticed. -
Cognitive Development Stages 3&4
I would anticipate my grandfathers arrival at home. I got so used to being at my grandparents house that I would know when he should be getting home and I would look out the window and wait -
Cognitive Development stages 5&6
When I was about 2 years old I began to immitate my grandmothers behavior. I followed her around outside, trying to plant flowers like she was. -
Psychosocial Development
I developed self awareness. I used to play with my hair looking in the mirror and then after putting bows in my grandfathers hair I would hand him a mirror. -
Oral and Anal Stages
Before I was barely two years old my aunt would try and sit me on a regular toilet not a potty chair for hours. In Freuds theory I should have an anal personality- being an adult with an unusually strong need for regularity in all aspects of life. Now I see how my grandma is with having to have lunch, dinner, snacks, tv time all on a schedule and that drives me nuts. Not to say Freud is wrong, however in my case his theory was not accurate. -
Attachment
I was very attached with both of my grandparents, I spent a lot of my time there and always wanted to be by their side. I believe my attachment with them was secure. -
Artistic Expression
I remember I loved making my grandparents pictures all the time. I still to do this day cant draw anything but a stick figure, but at 4 years old I didnt care much. -
Parenting styles
My parents were the authoritarian type of parents. They spanked me a lot and didnt show much affection. I remember asking my mother why daddy didnt love me. -
Eating Preferences
I remember being about 5 yrs old and making the most gross combinations of food and loving it. I would make what I called mustard and oreo sandwiches. I also was on my own most of the time when I was at my house and I became proud of myself one day when I got myself a pickle for lunch. -
Just Right
I had a strong desire not to wear certain clothes. I liked to wear a lot of skirts and dresses, but even at that age I was aware of the length I didnt want to show anything I wasnt supposed to. -
Injuries
As an impulsive 5 yr old I remember trying to climb from my slide onto my swing and I slide down really fast. I scrapped my leg all the way down on a screw that wasnt covered. I still have a little spot left where you can see the scar. I know I did more things to get myself hurt it is hard to think specifically though. -
Leading behavior
I was always the kid in school that displayed prosocial behavior, I would share crayons with my classmates and try to help them out when I could. -
Gender Schema
This is when I started to have that boys are gross attitude. I remember thinking this guy was cute, but always acted like I wanted nothing to do with them. I recognized the differences between boys and girls.
So did my neighbor who was a boy and tried to get me to pull my pants down -
Neighborhood games
Although I was never althetic I was still very active. I always played with the children down the street doing a lot of bike riding, jump roping and hide and seek games. -
Asthma
My mother never put down a ciagarette, therefore I have had a hard time breathing since the day I was born. In gym class I struggled to run everytime. My doctor gave me an inhaler. -
Social Acceptance
In school I was always a kind nice person to the people that talked to me, however I was shy and therefore not very popular. -
Social Comparison
I began to socially compare myself to other children, I thought that other girls were more athletic and smarter than me. -
Family Function
My parents functioned in 4 out of the 5 ways they were supposed to, they provided me with food shelter and clothing, they encouraged me to do well in school, they gave me time to establish friendships but never ensured harmony and stability in the house. We never ate dinner even close to the same time, my parents would fight all the time, we barely did things together, there were abusive times, nothing was stable unless I was with my grandparents. -
Body Changes
When I was about 12 and in the sixth grade, I started to become aware of my body changing and felt very awkward about it. I am very self concious and remember being unhappy looking in the mirror. -
Adolescent Egocentrism
I was very concerned with how other people saw me, what they thought of me and how I felt about myself. -
Middle School-less learning
I was one of those kids who actually paid more attetntion to my schoolwork than what everyone else was doing. I wasnt the smartest kid around, but because I wasn't all about who was dating who and who had the best hair, I got teased. I only had a few close friends. -
Starting High School
Staring a new school where I heard the seniors had a freshmen slaughter week made me very stressed. I also felt so out of place and worried about what everyone thought about me I almost become depressed. I was jealous of the pretty popular girls who found their way instantly. -
Parental Monitoring
This is when my mom really started asking who I was going to be with, what I was going to be doing, and telling me exactly what time I had to be home. She made me call her when I got there and before I left. -
Identity Acheivement
About a year after starting high school I started to really get a better sense of how I wanted to look, and who I wanted to be. I remember as a sophmore I really started to wear makeup everyday and actually wear clothes that fit me as opposed to jeans three sizes too big and baggy hooidies. I started talking more to classmates and trying to do more fun things outside of school -
Romances
When I was 16 I met my first love. We actually dated for about two years right up until before I started college. I will never forget him because at that time I had a lot of problems with my mom and he was always there for me, he did anything I ever needed him to. -
Learning about sex
During this time I had already been having sex for awhile. I felt uncomfortable about it because of what my health teacher was saying, she kept discussing how wrong it was to be having sex. However she educated us about protection. -
Postformal thought
This is when I really started to think about situations beforehand. How will I solve the problem of what college I want to go to? I weighed all the variables. I thought about not only how to solve different problems, but what would the consequences, the rewards and or benefits be? -
Effects of College
I havent yet had to take out loans because I am in a community college, however I know that in the fall I will be stressing about money, loans, cost of transportation everyday, limited availability to work and my ability to succeed. When I started college I felt more mature, more healthy and more goal oriented -
Gender and Friendship
At the age of 20 I really started to realize who my "real" friends were. I noticed the differences between my guy friends and my girl friends more. My girlfriends will open up about anything, they come to me for advice and support. My guy friends hint about things but it requires much time and patience to get anything out of them. They try and act like everything is fine when in reality some of them were actually depressed. -
Romance
Currently I feel that I am with the love of my life. We both talk about getting married and having kids one day. I am turning 21 on tuesday and he is 22. We know that we are not ready for all of that right now, and also we are not financially stable enough. When we can both be totally dependent of our parents the time will be right. -
Eating Disorders
I have a feeling within the next couple of years I will be struggling with my friend to help her with an eating disorder. She is on the right path for anorexia nervosa, and I am trying to help her boost her confidence to see that she is perfect the way she is and doesnt need to lose the weight. -
Lack Of exercise
I will be too busy with work and household chores to get exercise. I realize there is always time to exercise but Im always so tired. -
Fertility
I plan to have my first kid by the age of 28. I would like to have kids younger this way I can see my grandchildren grow up. -
Fertility
I would like to have my second and final child by the age of 30 when I am still young and able to take great care of him or her. -
Human Relations
I feel by parenting for a few years I will be a much more patient, good humored and consistent person. -
Physical Appearance
As i approach the age of 40 I will start not have perfect vision as I did when I was younger. I will also start to have wrinkles and be more self concience of the way I look. -
Midlife Crisis
I believe I will go through a period of unusual anxiety, radical reeamination and sudden transformation. I feel that all the stress of taking care of a husband, house and kids will get ot me one day. -
menopause
I believe all women suffer through the change and so will I. During this time I will be dealing with disturbances of body temperature, hot flashes and cold sweats. I probably will get moody because I dont deal with issues like this very well. -
Young pregnancy
I have a feeling that my daughter will be having kids by the time shes 20. Therefore at the age of 50 I will be helping raise grandchildren. -
lung cancer
I will find out that I have lung cancer from smoking too many black and milds. -
Stage IIIB Lung Cancer
The cancer has spread to areas such as the heart, blood vessels, trachea and esophagus - all within the chest. I am told I have a 10-15% chance of surving the disease 5 years. -
Death
The cancer spreads to my liver, ultimately causing my death.