Topic: Interacting with others
This topic relates to myself in real life because a close friend and I were pregnant at the same time and delivered our children 5 days apart, she had a boy, and I had a girl. First hand I was able to identify how much faster her child was developing than my child. In chapter 5.3 it explains the different stages our children went through and was able to put in perspective how each child went through each stage. When our children were infants (prior to 6 months) they did not seem to interact with each other, but were still interested in what the other was doing. Once our children were about 12 months old they began to show interest in what the other child was doing or toys they were playing with. I am now able to understand that our children were going through a stage called “Parallel play”. In the book it also explains how later when they started engaging in play, and being more sociable, this stage is called “Simple social play”. It was during this stage that I noticed our children interacting with each other the most. It was very interesting and fulfilling to see my daughter interacting during this stage because I was able to see her personality traits first hand. By the time our children reached the “Cooperative play” stage (what I call the terrible twos) although they were very temperamental, they were able to play and share together quite well. I did notice that because my daughter was in daycare her social skills and educational skills a bit elevated compared to my fiends son, I believe this is because she was interacting with many children and probably learning at a faster rate because of that. I can definitely see the advantages of my daughter being in daycare and being exposed to many children at a young age compared my friend’s son being at home with mainly mom all day. Also in the gender section of this chapter “Gender differences and play” it states that children prefer to play with children of their own sex, however my daughter preferred to play with boys because she enjoyed playing with what would be considered boy toys, and to this day she does not own a Barbie.
I enjoyed reading your blog about the differences in how children reach different mile stones at different times. As a mother we tend to compare our own children with how our friend’s kids are advancing at certain stages during infancy and childhood. It almost seems to be a competition to a certain extent. I liked reading about the different play stages in chapter 5, you did a nice job relating these stages to real life experiences. I bet it was a bit tough watching your close friend’s son reach certain advancements sooner than your daughter, but it is nice to know not all children reach milestones at the same time and it is perfectly normal. I see that your daughter made leaps and bounds in her own time and now seems to be thriving.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there are benefits to childcare. I have been a stay at home mom with my son who is now 5 years old. I think it just being us most of time slowed down his social skills, because this year when he started preschool, at first he was shy and didn't like to share. I also see that parents with at least 2 children that the second child usually develops much faster because of watching there sibling.
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