FCS 105 Final

Physical Development
During this stage, I grew significantly. I started out as an embryo and ended as an eight pound baby girl. There are three main prenatal periods: the germinal stage, the embryonic stage, and the fetal stage. The germinal stage is the shortest and lasts only 2 weeks. The embryonic stage is where my brain and head grew rapidly. Lastly, the fetal stage is where I mostly developed and became more recognizable. At around 9 months, my mom went to the hospital when she was experiencing contractions. I was born on February 12, 1998 after a long 24 hour labor. Sorry mom!

Cognitive Development
During the fetal stage my brain became more complex. The left and right side began to communicate with each other through neurons. The neurons were coated with myelin which sped up “the transmission of messages from the brain to the rest of the body”. Once the brain was nearly developed, I was able to listen to my parents talk and recognize their rhythms/voices.

Social-emotional/personality Development
My parents would constantly read and sing to me while I was in the womb. This created a connection between us. Once I was born, their voices helped calm and soothe me when I was upset. In addition, I believe I inherited basic traits of my mother's personality. This is why we have always had a strong connect.

Physical Development:
During this stage of development, my brain, nervous system, sensory capabilities and motor skills where developing at a rapid pace. My nervous system was working hard establishing billions of new connections between neurons. My mom, dad, and grandparents were constantly talking, cuddling, and singing with me which helped enrich my environment. They also fed me a lot of nutritious meals. I was very healthy with lots of arm and leg rolls. My basic reflex and motor skills were also developing very quickly. This is where I like to believe I got my athletic capabilities from. Finally by the age of 1, I was walking and trying to play with soccer balls.

Cognitive Development:
As a child I was constantly building my schemes by touching and placing everything in my mouth. I remember to this day, getting in trouble by my dad for always touching items at the store. I have always been very curious. I went through the six substages of the sensorimotor stage. For instance, I always had to have my pacifier. It came to a point where I recognized my pacifier and grabbed it when I saw it. I also loved sitting in those walkers that had a variety of rattles and buttons to press. According to my mom, I was 7 months when I spoke my first word: “clock”. My grandma would always watch me when my parents went to work. She constantly spoke and pointed out objects around the house. She was a huge influence in my speech development.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
As an infant, I experienced separation anxiety from my mother because we had a secure attachment. I was very reliant on my parents and when they left, I would get flustered and scared. However, when I was with my parents, I was a very happy, calm baby. This makes me think my social smiles and laughs probably occurred before the normal development period. In addition, this also makes me believe I was an “easy baby”. Furthermore, my mom would organize play dates with my cousins who were also the same age as me. To this day, we still have a strong friendship and bond.

Physical Development:
During this stage, my body was going through tremendous changes. I was losing my rolls and gaining more muscle. I was becoming a fit 5 year old. My brain was undergoing lateralization. I believe that is when I became right brain dominant. I loved music and drawing but struggled with reading and writing. In addition, my gross motor skills also developed which were displayed on the playground. I loved playgrounds. The balance beams, monkey bars, stairs, slides, etc. Even when I couldn't complete the monkey bars by myself, my parents would assist me. Lastly, my fine motor skills also improved. I was able to complete simple puzzled and feed myself.

Cognitive Development:
During this cognitive stage, I was learning symbols which is known as the pre-operational stage. I was able to understand that when my dad grabbed the dog leash, he was taking our dog for a walk. I also mastered egocentric thought. I would talk myself through new activities. I remember to this day trying to tie my shoe for the first time and talking myself through it. I still talk myself through new skills. In addition, I went through the zone of proximal development. For instance, my favorite snack was cereal and my parents told me that they would help me pour the milk when it was too heavy for me to carry. Lastly, my language improved in all aspects.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
During this stage, I learned how to make friends. My friends and I would play with cars and barbies which is known as functional play. In addition, we would play with blocks and build houses which is known as constructive play. I was a very active preschooler who loved to play tag and simon says. Furthermore, my parents were authoritative parents. This was very beneficial for me because they encouraged me to be independent and taught me how to properly communicate with others.

Physical Development:
During elementary school, I had many growth spurts and I was always the tallest in my class. I grew so fast I often suffered from growing pains in my feet. I received a sufficient amount of nutrients to support my growth. My dad would make my sister and I egg burritos every morning while my mom would make our lunches. My gross motor skills continued to develop. When I was 7, I started playing soccer which required a lot of muscle and foot-eye coordination. Lastly, I was blessed to have good eyesight and hearing, so I did not need to wear glasses or hearing aids.

Cognitive Development:
During this stage, I started to develop the use of logic through the concrete operational stage. I most likely used this when learning about science. My language also developed. I had difficulty with reading during these years, so I would get extra help. This enhanced my vocabulary as well as my reading and writing skills. I was very self conscious about getting extra help because I was the only one out of friend group who needed it. This was probably the hardest development stage for me because I had so many insecurities about my reading abilities. All my friends were at higher reading levels and were reading different books than me. I would get anxiety in class when I had to read aloud. Let’s just say I’m glad I got through this stage.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
During these years, I started to make a lot of friends. We would hang out after school, be on the same sports team, make up games, you name it. These friends that I made in elementary school are still some of my best friends today. I also struggled with meeting everyone's expectations. There were so many challenges presented by parents, friends, and teachers. Erkison referred to this as the industry-versus-inferiority stage. For instance, we would get new teachers and classrooms each year and I had to get used to the new environment. My parents expectations kept rising as I got older. Lastly, when my friends and I would get in small fights, we would have to work through them.

Physical Development:
I went through a lot of physical changes during this stage of life. I hit puberty. I started my period. I started to develop. I started shaving my legs and armpits. It was a lot to take in. I was also working out a lot. I became more competitive in soccer and started playing for well established clubs. My muscles started to become more defined and I started to look more “fit”. I had to create healthier eating habits, so my body could property recover from hard training sessions.

Cognitive Development:
During this stage, my brain was able to think more abstractly and I was able to store, use and take in information more efficiently. I was able to use these new skills in school. I was encouraged to think abstractly by my teachers. I was apart of my high school engineering program and we had to solve unique problems that required different forms of thinking. In addition, in other classes, we took unit exams where we had to memorize, store and use the information we had learned. Lastly, I did experience some adolescent egocentrism, imaginary audience, and personal fables throughout this cognitive development stage.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
During this stage I was exposed to social pressures. Everyone was attending parties and participating in drinking and smoking. Unfortunately, I joined the bandwagon during my senior year of high school. I’m very fortunate it did not interfere with my grades and sport performance. Some of friends were not as fortunate. I also became more interested in boys during this stage. I had a boyfriend from sophomore to senior year of high school. This was a great relationship for me as I learned how important it is to love and communicate with your partner. Lastly, I had a pretty positive relationship with my parents during this stage. We did fight, but we were almost always able to create compromises.

Physical Development:
I am currently in the “emerging adulthood” stage which includes late teens and individuals in their twenties. Sometimes one can be in the emerging adulthood stage until they are 30. I have already peaked in terms of physical development which means I have started the aging process, biologically speaking. I have mixed emotions about this because I want to stay young, but I know the aging process will be beautiful. I have already established healthy habits such as regularly exercising, eating clean, and my sleeping pattern; however, I need to work on managing my stress levels. I am glad these healthy habits have already been incorporated into my lifestyle because they will become increasingly important as I grow older.

Cognitive Development:
Throughout the rest of my young adulthood stage, I will move into postformal thought. As I get older, I will have to solve my own problems and they will not be easy. My problems will become more complicated, so there simply won't always be a right or wrong answer. I hope this new type of thinking will allow me to consider all the aspects presented in my problems. In addition, I hope to gain more knowledge and further define my beliefs.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
This may be one of the biggest developments I experience in my life because I will be transitioning from being reliant on my family to starting a family of my own. During this stage, I want to get married, have kids, and be financially independent. I want to find a husband who shares and respects my social, religious, family, financial, and parenting values. Erikson’s theory of intimacy vs isolation is very prominent during this stage as people are searching for partners or friendships to avoid isolation. I can relate to this because I am currently in a long-term relationship with expectations of marriage. I hope I can continue to maintain a healthy balance between my boyfriend and friends. Lastly, I hope I can start my successful career in the accounting field.

Physical Development:
During this stage of development, I will definitely experience physical changes. My skin will become wrinkled and saggy. Being from California, my parents always made sure I wore sunscreen because they knew how dangerous sun exposure can be to your skin. I hope all that sunscreen will decrease the amount of sunspots and wrinkles I get. My physical shape will probably deteriorate, but I am going to make a goal to eat clean and exercise daily. I want to travel during these years, so i have to make sure I'm healthy and fit enough to do so. The one stage I am not excited for is menopause. I am not looking forward to this because, from what I learned in class, our nation has negative views towards this change.

Cognitive Development:
I will be an expert in accounting because I will have been working in the field for 20 years. I will gain the experience needed for people to trust in my abilities. People tend to have more trust in those who are experts in their field of work. I may also experience a decline in long-term memory. If I do, I will not be able to recall memories as quickly as I used to. I will also be able to manage my stress in a more efficient way by exercising regularly and using relaxation techniques. Lastly, at some point I will most likely experience agism. The government is constantly updated the accounting principles. Since I will be one of the older staff members, I may not be assigned as much work as the younger staff members. This could be because they believe I am not aware of the current government updates.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
I hope I do not think I am still “cool” and “hip” when it comes to dancing and relating with my kids, but I most likely will. I am excited to not worry about what other people think. Identity security is something I am seeking right now and I can't wait to finally have it. I hope I become more generative rather than stagnate. Helping others and being selfless has always been one of my core values and I hope I do not lose that. I also hope I will retire during this stage, so I can focus more on myself, my husband, and my family. Lastly, Levinson's four tasks for middle adulthood are young-old, destruction-creation, masculine-feminine, and engagement-separateness. I am most excited for engagement-separateness because during this stage I will be able to fulfill my dreams of traveling the world.

Physical Development:
At this stage in life, I expect that I will some have gray hair. Hopefully I will age like my grandma because she is 79 and only has some strands of gray in her hair. I will also become shorter because it is very common due to changes in posture. I hope to still be consuming a healthy amount of calcium because I want to avoid osteoporosis as much as possible. I know it is inevitable that my brain will become smaller and lighter, but I hope I will still be exercising to some extent. I want to prolong the process of my heart aging and blood vessels shrinking. I will also be wearing glasses and hearing aid because my eyesight and hearing will have deteriorated. I know I will struggle with arthritis because I struggle with it right now. Those are the consequences of playing sport your entire life. Lastly, I hope I will not have to worry about Alzhimer’s since I do not have a family history of it.

Cognitive Development:
I hope my cognitive ability does not significantly decline until I reach my 80’s. I look forward to keeping my semantic and implicit memories because according to the textbook those memories are greatly unaffected by age. However I won't be so lucky with my short-term memory. I expect that to decline during this stage of adulthood. There are many factors such as environmental and biological factors that could also affect the rate at which I lose my memory. Ultimately, I am excited to learn and embrace new skills and cultures.

Social-emotional/personality Development:
I want to keep the fundamentals of my personality, but I hope my personality can slightly evolve as I age. I want to be more confident and comfortable in my own skin. I hope to feel satisfied and accomplished with my life during this stage of adulthood, which Ekrison refers to as integrity. I want to be able to look back on my life with no regrets. I also want to have great relationships with my grandchildren and be able to positively affect their lives. In addition, I hope I am still meeting and engaging with my friends. Lastly, I hope I can be healthy enough to live in my house with my husband. I don't want to be placed in a retirement home. I would rather stay with family.

When I pass, I want to go peacefully. I want to be buried next to my parents and husband, so we can be together for the rest of time. I hope my family can throw a party to celebrate my life rather than mourn it. I want my family to remember how much I loved them and that I will be looking over them.