Journal Entry 1

People, Places, Things and Events are significant in a child’s life as it shapes them and influences their lives. Children are influenced by their people, primarily their parents and family, from birth. Parents influence children in three ways “direct interaction, identification, and transmission of family stories.” (Kagan, 1999). Direct interactions with a children involve praising a child for behaving themselves or the loss of a privilege by a father for not behaving, or a parent naming an animal in a book a child is not familiar with. Events like this that happen every day that involve rewards or actions that are ‘good’, discipline of actions that are deemed ‘bad’ and knowledge that is transferred from the parents to the child (Kagan, 1999).  These actions influence a child to learn what is wrong and right and help them to gain knowledge from the people around them. Emotional identification is when a parent or both parents are afraid of something so that child takes on the fear. For example a mother is afraid of spiders so her daughter seeing her mother is afraid takes on that fear herself (Kagan, 1999). This is another way parents and people influence children. The third influence is telling family stories to children about relatives, such as aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins who have accomplished achievements in some domains (Kagan, 1999). Children start to feel pride in these stories and can feel important that they are related to someone who has done something important. They may also notice they are similar to that person and want to achieve similar goals as they have (Kagan, 1999). People all around as are influencing us but the main people who influence us as young children are our parents. For myself I have grown up in household where I have been influenced by my parent’s beliefs and adopted them as my own beliefs. My mother believe highly in further education after school and that she wants my sister and I do get our degrees first before we do anything. From this belief I have also gain a similar belief as I wish to complete my degree as well as my future children having the opportunity to complete tertiary education.

Places influences children depending on the area they live in, high economical or low economical, the type of house they live in, country they live and whether they live in a suburban area, city area or in the country. Children who live in bigger homes and have parents with a higher income their parents are more likely to spend more money on food, eating out and vehicles. Parents are also more likely to spend money on luxury goods that are more child-specific such as computers, better schools, private lessons, travel, and higher quality housing in better (Mayer, 2002). Children who have parents who have a low-income “develop values, norms, and behaviours that are “dysfunctional” for success in the dominant culture.” (Mayer, 2002). Children then adopt these “dysfunctional” behaviours from their parents and as a result the child’s own chances of success decline (Mayer, 2002). Poverty amount parents can cause dysfunctional behaviours by parents, “such as tardiness, laziness, and sloth, with origins unrelated to their poverty” (Mayer, 2002). “If children model their behaviour on their parents they too will develop behaviours that are dysfunctional for escaping poverty” (Mayer, 2002). Children who live in a places that is influenced by poverty it can influence how they feel and can affect them in the long run. If they have parents who don’t display “dysfunctional” behaviours they are more likely to succeed in life.

Things like technology influences children in such a huge way. Especially with how much technology is around us. Children are constantly bombarded with new technology all the time, such as computers, iPads, tablets, mp3 players, and televisions. My personal beliefs is young children already spend too much time on technology such as iPads and their parents smartphones. I think belief has come from my own childhood where my family never owned a computer even though most around us own one. Using a computer was a special treat for my sister and I and we only got to use it when we went to my grandparents’ house as they had always owned one. I personally believe in limited use of technology such as iPads and smartphones with children until they are old enough to buy one themselves. A study found that children who are 2-10 in age a wide range of technology they had access to, such as high speed internet, video game console, smartphones, and educational gaming. While children who are under the age of 5 and have access to the internet at home use it at least once a week. Mostly to play games on a mobile device such as a laptop, tablet, and smartphones. Almost two-thirds of children ages 4-7 use iPhones to play games (Given, et al., 2014). With technology all around them it is difficult for it to be avoided and is a hugely significant part of almost every young child’s life. With technology constant improving and growing we will soon be completely consumed by technology.

Children have certain events or milestones that are typical of them meeting and once they meet them they are able to do new things. Such as walking for the first time which can mean the end of crawling or turning 5 which means starting school. When a young child has a major traumatic event in their life they are unlikely to feel like they have no protection, they are more likely to become “passive and quiet, easily alarmed and less secure about being provided with protection (National Child Traumatic Stress Network, n.a).

Overall People, Places, Things and Events affect and influence children in so many ways. Certain people and they beliefs can either create a new beliefs when a child grows old or confirm a belief they have grown up with. Places can affect children with how easily access to certain things have and how poverty can influence their family which in turn influences them. Things such as technology is around us and will always be here so children are growing in their skills and are using in more and more every day. Events can affect a child mentally as well their future and how they grow. If they have been affected by a traumatic event such as falling from a great height, they may try to avoid that growing up because of the trauma it has caused.

References

Given, L. M., Cantrell Winkler, D., Willson, R., Davidson, C., Danby, S., & Thorpe, K. (2014). Documenting Young Children’s Technology Use: Observations in the Home. Australia: Queensland University of Technology.

Kagan, J. (1999, July). The Role of Parents in Children’s Psychological Development. Pediatrics, 104, 164-167.

Mayer, S. E. (2002). Rasing Children In New Zealand. New Zealand: Social Development.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.a). Understanding Child Traumatic Stress. Retrieved from National Child Traumatic Stress Network: http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/parents-caregivers/understanding-child-traumatic-stress