Virtual Child Assignment

How would you characterize your parenting style? Refer to the book or lecture descriptions to justify your classification.

Monitoring the development of my little boy Jonnie has been quite an experience. After closely following the early research by Diana Baumrind of 1960, I decided that choosing authoritative parenting style would be the best during Johnnies early life and would ultimately determine his future as the one of a responsible citizen. I made this informed choice after having examined the four typologies that, according to this researcher, are a determinant of the child outcome. My decision to apply an authoritative parenting style in parenting relied greatly on the researchers take on this approach. According to Baumrind, the outcomes from authoritative parents are expressed as the most socially and academically proficient (O'Connor & Scott, 2007).

When at home, I have ensured that Johnnie felt my presence. To achieve this, I set a time table for him that clearly reflected his lineup for various activities expected from him. For example, during the day, Johnnie had his mind fully occupied by light duties within the house like dusting his toys and arranging them in the shelves.

I would insist on prior preparation on his evening tuition a few hours before a private tutor arrives. This entailed preparing paints, books and flow charts, which would be done under my supervision.

How would you characterize your childs personality and temperament (easy, slow-to-warm-up, difficult)? Refer to the book or lecture descriptions to justify your classification. How did your childs personality change or remain the same as he/she aged?

Johnnie was naturally a shy boy. The characteristics he possessed clearly indicated him as a slow to warm up kid. A child approach to a new environment and unfamiliar people is an important temperament characteristic, and this invites an adult to support a child to feel comfortable in an unfamiliar environment (Halpenny, Nixon, & Watson, 2010).

This was evident whenever my workmates visited me. He was always uneasy and would remain quite until my visitors are gone. In his early age, he would only accept to be held by people who were familiar to him. Whenever we hired a new babysitter, it would take her a few days to get accepted by Johnnie. When he went out to play with children from the neighborhood, he would hesitate for a while before joining them. As Johnnie grew up, his temperament changed, and he started gathering the courage to face the new situations. This was achieved through my advice and directions.

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Describe one specific way in which you think your parenting mattered for your childs development.

Johnnie grew up and increased in size. This gave him an advantage over the other boys of his age. At the age of 13, during their holiday recess, he engaged in a fight with boys from the neighboring estate. He even inflicted minor injuries to one of them. This caused a conflict where I was required to pay the medical bill for the injured to quell the situation. In relation to the aftermath of the incident, I had invited Johnnie for a closed door counseling that entailed explaining him the implications concerning juveniles conflicting with the law. Equally important was the need to make him understand that a fight was not the best way of solving conflicts. In addition, the fact that I agreed to pay the medical bill was a demonstration of restraint which he ought to embrace.

Describe one specific way in which your child developed that appeared to be influenced by factors outside of your control.

At mid teen age, while Johnnie was in high school, peer pressure became that strong that it diverted his academic concentration. According to research, peer pressure is tipped to be the leading influence to teen smoking. Direct influence among boys, where explicit offers of cigarettes are made, results to most teens inability to resist. A feeling of being recognized as a member of a group and self-realization when meeting its expectations lure children into smoking. I was caught by surprise at the revelation that Johnnie was smoking at his early age. The fact of underage smoking is common among high school children and involves a chain of participants to stop this; therefore, an excuse that he developed this culture without my knowledge is understandable. It was outside my control, but upon the revelation, I took the initiative to expose to him the dangers of smoking and the need to stop earlier before he got addicted.

Describe one event during your parenting that you now see as a mistake. What would you do differently?

Accepting responsibility has always been my principle. When Johnnie was growing up, he found me a smoking. The fact that I used to smoke made him easily embrace the smoking culture. Children in, most instances, copy what their parents do and hold them dear. A high percentage of their behavior is influenced by the culture of their parents and; therefore, parents ought to check on their way of doing things because it translates back to their kids. Parents should not demonize behaviors of their kids before reexamining themselves to understand how they had contributed to this.

Describe one event during your parenting that you believe you did well.

Technological advancement is one of the features of the modern life. As a young teen, Johnnie had embraced it as well, not as a choice, but as one of the requirements of his education system. It exposed him to a mixture of virtues and vices. Possessing the same experience, I took him through the virtues and helped him to set goals and objectives he ought to achieve amid the technological advancement. I encouraged him to use media to understand the cultural diversities and equip him with the ability to tolerate people from different cultural settings. In my opinion, such education was necessary for him to become socially adapted and tolerant, or should he settle in a foreign country, he would be better positioned. On the vice side of the technology, I enlightened him on junk information and pornography in the Internet and the dangers they posed to his personality. I informed him about drug abuse and they ways he can be get exposed to it through the Internet and in the real life situations. On the same note, cybercrime is rampant and; therefore, I had to caution him in order to avoid losses that would come as a result of this.

What have you learned about parenting that you can use when you raise a real child?

The information collected prepares me for parenting in the real life situation. In my opinion, the authoritative parenting style is the best choice as exercising control on children helps to form a good personality in children. Children in the early stages portray weaknesses that, if not dealt with at a young age, can negatively influence their behavioral patterns in their adulthood. Training children to be responsible during their early life prepares them for difficult tasks they will face as adults. My behaviors as a parent are key in shaping a childs behavior. Therefore, there are certain habits that I had developed and will hold them secret to avoid my childs copying them. Training a child to be social and tolerant is my duty, and I can achieve this through encouraging interactions with other children. Concerning the behaviors that might be beyond my control, I will monitor extensively to the behavior of my child to prevent him/her in advance on the dangers and repercussions they may cause. This way, I will be in a position to align my childs behavior when in or out of the house.

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