Observation Journal - Child Between Ages 2 & 9

This observation journal is my personal recollections of observations I have made over the course of my 5 week class in human lifespan development. The observations I have conducted are categorized by ages in different stages of development. The aspects of each observation include the areas of biological views, cognitive views, and psychosocial views which have been summarized to reflect my own interpretations of each individual durring each phase of development.

CHILD BETWEEN AGES 2 & 9

My stepson is going to be 9 years old in one month his name is Iokua and he is a very intelligent, energetic, caring, open minded, adventurous, outgoing young boy who is very eager to get involved and learn every day. As I look and observe Iokua from a biological point of view I take my observation in one of the four stages of the cognitive development theory the concrete operations stage. Iokua is observed as being a productive 9 year old boy where he actively shows signs of learning by what he does what he chooses to use in the environment to stimulate he's thinking. I watch him play with his lego toy's and I notice that he chooses his lego pieces carefully which activates his thought process on where to place the legos in order to create a specific design he wants to build. Iokua is using concrete operations in this stage of his life because he chooses to think rational about what he is doing, what he uses to stimulate himself to maintain comprehension of his creative mind.

In a cognitive point of view Iokua is very curious about life and what is going on in the world. He enjoys asking questions about everything and I notice during my observing time while he was watching animal planet with his father Iokua enjoyed conversing with his father about what they were watching. Iokua asked specific questions in regards to understanding why tigers protect their pride and fight with other tigers to maintain security as he stated. I realized from this time with his father his ability to form his own understanding and opinion about the tigers were very important to him and he enjoyed how his curiosity brought him knew knowledge and understanding.

As my observing continued I focused my attention to the psychosocial aspects of Iokua while at the park with his friends. The impact of peer support while playing football brought enjoyment to his body movements, his facial expressions, and his overall sense of belonging. In the later part of the day I again observed Iokua fishing with his father at the beach and again the identification of socially taking part in an activity with his father brought enjoyment and valuable assurances of inclusion with another person in a social setting.

CHILD BETWEEN AGES 10 & 17

My observations this week happened at my nephew's party where I observed him interact with family, friends, and others around him. My nephew is 15 years old his name is Keli'i and he is very outgoing, active, loves attention, and believes he is number one in any sports activity known to man. I observed from a biological viewpoint first where I recognized my nephew being in the first stages of his puberty phase, he is trying to grow a little mustache and his body is filling out to be more masculine, which he likes to show off to all the girls by wearing no shirts often. I have noticed that his voice is deeper in tone and at times as he talks he will sound scratchy.

The cognitive observations I made by observing my nephew were that he has formal operational thoughts where he shows signs of being an abstract thinker where he is able to logically make sense of things. He also is very much in to himself and believes that others are just as into him as he is. My understanding is that is called social cognition and it is a type of egocentrism that is characterized by either imaginary audiences or the personal fable. I notice with my nephew that he truly believes that others around him are just as preoccupied with him as he is. He is also in the personal uniqueness stage of life where he believes older adult figures in his life do not understand him at all, and this is why he has issues at times with his parents about life.

Social development for my nephew is clearly one that he has a lot of happiness with, because he is so outgoing and very athletic that he quickly made friends in school. My nephew does push autonomy and responsibility and this is why I believe he has conflict also with his parents, and why he comes to me his aunty for advice most of the time. He has a lot of friends and in Hawaii growing up peer relationships become like family if they are already not a family member. For Keli'i he enjoys surfing, fishing, playing ball and hanging out at the beach with all of his friends, and he can always be found at the surf spots all over the island on the weekends.

ADULT & MIDDLE-ADULT STAGE OF LIFE

Adult and middle-adult stages of life are the years of 40 to 65 and the individual I chose to observe for these stages of development was my best friend Pupu'lei'nani'oka'aina but we can call her Pupu for short as this how most people refer to her. Pupu is 43 years old so basically she is just starting this phase of her life where she has left the developmental stage of adulthood per say and entered middle-adult life. She is a mother, wife, and a grandmother who enjoys her family unit and is very active in supporting and being the role model for her children to look up to as they grow and develop. Pupu is a Hawaiian language