Only through observation do we really learn who a child really is. “Education must have
an impact on the learner or it serves no purpose” (Graham, 2009, p.73) There is a lot to learn
from children if we just sit back and observe. I had two candidates that I have had the privilege
of observing off and on over the past six weeks. One is an Early Childhood Male, when we who
was five and is currently in Kindergarten. The other is a Middle Childhood female who is Ten.
The Early Childhood candidate attended a Montessori Preschool from the ages of two
until 3. He also began a public federal pre-kindergarten program at the age of four. His mother
had a typical pregnancy with him, she conceived him and gave birth to him at the age of twenty-
one, his dad was twenty-five. She carried him full-term. When he was born, via caesarian, he
weighed a healthy weight of seven pounds four ounces. He had mild jaundice and was advised to
sit in the sunlight sporadically to help his “color.” His mother attempted to breast-feed; however,
she produced an abnormally low amount of milk, thus had to turn to formula during his infancy.
He was able to obtain the colostrum that she produced, and was able to nurse one bottle of two
ounces of breast milk a day, for approximately three weeks. His other bottles were Similac
formula. He always slept thoroughly through the night, as early as three months old, he would
sleep six consecutive hours! Once he turned the age of two, he began schooling at the small
Montessori Preschool. In the beginning he suffered severe separation anxiety. It would be
nearly impossible for his mother to have to leave the classroom, or even leave him with a
relative.
Thankfully, to his mother’s gratitude, through social engagement, and developing a love
for school and play time with his peers, he grew out of it. “Early childhood is a period of
incredible creativity, fantasy, and play. Preschool-aged children see life as a form for imagination
and drama: They reinvent the world, try on new roles, and work hard to play their parts in
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harmony” (McDevitt & Ormrod, p. 22). Fast-forwarding to current times, completed his year of
public pre-kindergarten, and half of a year in public Kindergarten. The public elementary school
that he attends is diverse socially, economically, and ethnically. There are approximately 9 males
in his classroom, five that are African American, three that are white, and one that is Hispanic.
There are eight females in his class, six African American girls, and two white. Some of the
children in his classroom he was familiar with due to attending preschool and playing
community baseball and basketball.
He enjoys the quality time with his parents. With his mother, he enjoys reading books
with her and coloring. He loves to stop and describe what is going on in the pictures of picture
books. She has often overheard him playing fantasy based off of the characters that they have
read about in the books. He especially enjoys nonfiction texts about sharks, dinosaurs, and
strangely-the Titanic! His mother professes that she has always been advocate for play. She
claims that she has never really allowed him to engage in excessive television time or electronics
exposure. Some studies would agree with her. “Research demonstrates that play contributes to
language development, self-regulation, attention, creativity, problem solving, and social and
emotional skills” (Bredekamp, 2017, p.132.)
With his father, they tend to do more active activities. They tend to go outside and play
catch, shoot basketball, and play nerf gun battles. Although, he appears to spend an appropriate
amount of time with his parents, he can be surprisingly emotional, and even display a “negative”
attitude. An example of this is how easily discouraged he is when it comes to sports, or how
angry he becomes when his allotted amount of television time is up.
His mother claims that she noticed more changes this year than normal, he was a little
moodier, and I identified this with him developing self-regulation skills. I have known this early
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childhood student since birth, I noticed that his physical appearance has changed drastically
within the last two years. His face is becoming more defined and slender. He seems a good
height for his age; however, upon seeing him with peers his own age at a Vacation Bible School
that he participated in this summer, he is actually a little shorter than his peers. He has developed
into a very picky eater, like most children do. His self-lack-nutrition needs do not seem to affect
him cognitively or with his gross and fine motor skills. He runs, almost faster than anyone in his
class, he is able to properly hold a pencil and write his name and loves to lie in the floor pushing
small hot wheels and matchbox cars.
It was previously mentioned that during his infant years that the early childhood
candidate was very separation-anxious. “Social Development refers to the process by which
children learn to form and sustain positive relationships with adults and other children.”
(Bredekamp, 2016, p. 467) Although, that was the case, socially and emotionally he seems
adequate. He lives at home with both his mother and father whom are married. His father has
mentioned that he and his wife do tend to “fight like cats and dogs” and that the candidate will
get very upset. One, thing that I have noticed is that this candidate likes to be cuddled, hugged,
hold-hands, not only with his parents, but his grandmother, as well. The one thing that I feel may
be a little atypical, is that he does seem mildly insecure and helpless. I feel that living with his
co-parents, should help to limit this, but if the father is, in fact, sincere and marital stress in the
home, this could be causing this insecurity with the candidate. In Chapter One of McDevitt and
Ormrod 2016) the topic of Nature and Nurture are addressed greatly amongst the childhood
setting. It is stated that Nature and Nurture are the biological and social factors that impact
development. In the text that was provided it is addressed by theorists that coping skills must
developed. Coping skills are “personal mechanisms for managing distress, the unfortunate
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outcome can be anxiety, depression, and other problematic, emotional conditions.” (McDevitt &
Ormrod, 2016 p. 408)
My second candidate provided a bit of a challenge for me, she is a sassy ten-year-old
female. She is half-way through her fourth-grade year of the same public elementary school as
candidate one. Thus, has the same diversity as candidate one. In her grade-level students switch
classes, going to one teacher for Math and Science, and the other teacher for Englsih/Language
Arts. She makes honor roll and keeps a busy schedule with taking private dance classes. Her
living arrangements are very different from the first candidate. She has a single mother,
“Children with single parents tend to view-less conflict amongst parents, observe strong coping
skills, and seem to enjoy intimacy in small families.” (McDevitt & Omrod, p. 74) She and her
mother also live with her grandmother, and her great-grandmother. Yes, that is four generations
of women in one house! The grandmother tries to fill the physical needs, but she does have her
hands full with her own mother whom has full-blown Alzheimer ’s disease. The candidate’s
mother works long hours at work, and is still concerned with her social life.
Physically, she is like any other dancer of her age. She has very long slender legs. Her
frame is very petite. I have noticed that in her bathing suit she seems to be hitting early stages of
puberty, due to definition of her breasts developing. I have known this candidate since she was
approximately one years old. She has grown rapidly in height since then. Her eating habits are
extremely healthy-like, unrealistically healthy of a child of ten years old. She only eats salads-
without dressing! Fruits, such as strawberries and watermelon-only. If she eats a sandwich, it is
only peanut butter. She will not anything most kids her age eat (i.e., Macaroni and cheese, pizza,
chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, french-fries.) It is wonderful that she has such a healthy life-
style in a world and country that is commonly known for obesity, but it is just a little bit strange,
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due to her age. My biggest physical concern of hers are her sleep patterns. She often will stay up
until 3:00 a.m. and sleep until 1:00 p.m., unless it is a school night, then she is still staying up
until nearly 3:00 a.m. and waking up at 7:00 a.m. for school. Her mother tends to be very
emotionally absent. I have also noticed that this candidate has a very strong temper and displays
mood swings. This could be onset from resentment or lack of sleep. It could also be related to
her infancy, when her mother had a hard time accepting parenthood, and therefore would leave
her with the grandmother continuously. According to Erik Erikson’s theory, this was detrimental
to her as an infant when she was developing her trust versus the mistrust years. During this time,
children typically decide who is trustworthy and who is not. (McDevitt & Ormrod p. 408.)
Cognitively, she is advanced, and was even accepted into the gifted program through her
local elementary school. She is extremely creative and is even an avid liar. I always enjoy
listening to her read, because her fluency is so strong. She does not mind working on sounding
out words or consonants; however, when it is unbearable she will ask what a specific word is.
She has one of the greatest imaginations that I have seen on a child. She will go outside and
create a whole new world. She does seem to be the leaders in her groups and does not respond
well to someone else attempting to take the lead.
Socially she interacts well with her peers, she has several friends in her class and in her dance
group. McDevitt and Ormrod claim that “friendship and companionship is the top priority to
children.” (Chapter 15.) She has outgrown the phase of boys “having cooties” and now has
a “crush” on boys. Emotionally, sometimes brings a cause for concern, due to seemingly
resentment towards her emotionally absent mother. “Adults that promote a child’s success
and are honest about shortcomings with guidance to overcome them will help to cultivate a
sense of self.” (McDevitt & Ormrond.)
I have asked her mother several questions regarding some developmental concerns, her
mother jumped to conclusions and immediately became defensive, whereas candidate one’s
mother was more open-minded to questions. I have overheard her fantasy play, and her often
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“leaving her ‘child’” because she needed some “me time.” There is also very open hostility
between her grandmother and her mother. I fear that is detrimental to her emotional maturation.
This assignment was conducted on two different children, in two different developmental groups;
however, both were ironically cousins! They shared the same grandmother. “Because families
are the most critical setting for children’s development, risk factors affecting families, such as
poverty, single parenthood, and low levels of parental education (which tend to co-occur), are
found to be related to poor outcomes for children” (Bredekamp, 2017, p.210). Overall, it is
important to remember, regardless of other parenting practices, that “Behold, children are a gift
of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalms 127:3.)
Many parents concur, there is no parenting manual. It is important to understand the
emotional, physical, and cognitive needs of their children. Sometimes, it is not as easy or routine
as it is for most. As cliché’ as it is sounds, life is hard. It is a parent’s job to prepare them for
adulthood, in the best way that they are able to. Above all, it is important to remember,
regardless of other parenting practices, that “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of
the womb is a reward” (Psalms 127:3.)
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References:
McDevitt, T.M., & Ormrod, J.E. (2016). Child development and education. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Education.
Bredekamp, S. (2016). Effective practices in early childhood education: Building a
foundation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Holy Bible, New International Version
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (2018). NAEYC early learning
program accreditation standards and assessment items. Retrieved from:
https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/accreditation/early-
learning/standards_and_assessment_web.pdf
Lopez, G. R. (2001). On whose terms? Understanding involvement through the eyes of
migrant parents. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, Seattle, WA.
Setisinger, R. M. J. (1996). Nurturing partnerships between schools and families. In P.
A. Cordiero (Ed.), Boundary crossings: Educational partnerships and school leadership(pp.
15-30). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Byrd, D.L. (2017) Education: A Tool for Life. Liberty University.
Graham, D. L. (2009). Teaching redemptively: Bringing grace and truth into your classroom.
Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications.
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