Leah Lim

Professor Pamela Lemons

PSY1100

26 March 2017

Section 1: Person Paper

 The parents were born in Cambodia. Both parent, as a child, were placed in

concentration camps during the time of the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979). As the mother

and her family escaped, they traveled to Thailand and were sponsored to the United

States. The parent meet through soccer, the grandpa (the mother side) was playing at

soccer tournaments against her future husband. The grandma abused the father during his

childhood, his mother died in Cambodia after giving birth to him and his father ran off

with another woman. They soon became High School sweethearts; they got married and

had their first child two years later. The mother worked at a taffy factory while the father

worked at the airport. The mother and father were very healthy and had made planned to

have a child. The mother had chosen to give a natural birth, the only problem during the

birth was after; the child umbilical cord was wrapped around the child head result having

to induce the pregnancy early. About the 38th weeks after conception, the fetal brain

signals the release of hormones to start labor. (Berger 2016, Chapter 2: From

Conception to Birth pg. 61.) As the birthing was taking place the mother experienced the

severe pain she decided to have the epidural to ease the pain, while they were placing the

epidural the husband fainted because of his fear of needles. The mother experienced

vaginal tearing during labor. The average baby born is after about 12 hours of active labor

for the first birth. The average baby born is after about 12 hours of active labor for the

first birth. (Berger 2016, Chapter 2 The Beginning: From Conception to Birth pg. 62.)

They lived in Utah, travel from house to house of church members then finally invested

in their own home by using their child college saving. The mother stopped working after

pregnancy to spend more time with her first-born and her father found a new job that had

a higher paid.
 During the prenatal development, the fetus developed and grew to be very

healthy. The mother listened to her doctor and made sure to take her prenatal vitamins

and protect her baby from her surrounding of the environment. (Berger 2016, Chapter 2

The Beginning: From Conception to Birth Table 2.4 pg. 74.) She gave birth to a healthy

baby girl on September 6, 1997. Her parents named her Lily because in the bible lily is

the flower that symbolizes rebirth, purity, and innocence. They named her Lily because

they wanted to be reborn from their past and to provide protection for their child from the

haunted images they received when they were young. Lily was the first grandchild of the

church, she brought joy and happiness to everyone; she was also very spoiled. Lily was

very clingy to her mother, whenever someone would try to hold her she would scream

and cry. Separation anxiety is normal at age 1, intensifies by age 2, and usually subsides

after that. (Berger 2016, Chapter 4 The First Two Years: The Social World pg. 130-

131.) Her mother signed up Lily to learn how to dance; through a dance studio, she

learned ballet, jazz, and hip-hop. On April 12, 999, her parents gave birth to a boy named

Hoeut, named after his grandpa on his father side. Through the same care as Lily, he

became a very healthy child. As the same as his sister, he was clingy to his mother but

more to his father, whenever his father would go to work he would cry and scream until

he fell asleep. He followed his father and grandpa steps as a soccer player, then a

baseball player, next to a basketball player. He became an athlete who soon developed

sports asthma whenever he ran for a long time he would get an asthma attack. Lily and

Hoeut were one to two years apart from each other. And because Lily was born in

September her birthdate was pushed back because of the time zones. Lily went to
preschool three times, each time her brother or cousins were there. Lily, Hoeut, and their

cousins were really close to each other because of the one-year differences.

During the year of 2002, Lilys mother was diagnosed with cancer (Hodgkin

lymphoma or Hodgkins disease) and three months into her diagnosed and radiation

treatment they found that she was also pregnant. The physicians told the parents to abort

the child because of cancer. On July 3, 2002, Lilys mother gave birth a baby boy and

named him Phil (from her dream) surprisingly he was a very healthy baby. After the

mother had given birth to her third child, she decided to have her tube.

Through the radiation and chemotherapy process, their mother became very busy;

she had to go back and forth to the hospital. Her husband was the only able person to

work and provide for the family. He had to ask for more overtime so he could pay the

medical bills and to provide for the family. During his break, he would either go check on

the kids and his wife or take his wife to the hospital. Fathers and mothers often work

together to raise the children; they touched, looked, vocalized, rocked, and kissed their

newborns equally. (Berger 2016, Chapter 4: The First Two Years: The Social World

pg. 148.) Because the wife didnt have enough strength to take care of their child, her

sister and brother-in-law moved back from California to Utah to help take care of her

kids. Their aunt and uncle were always there for them and cared for them every day; they

even moved into the basement. Lily had to grow up faster, she was only in elementary

during these times, she had to take care of her two brothers; help them get dressed, fed

them, walked her brother Hoeut to school and much more. Lily knew her family was in

trouble; they were always tired and exhausted by the end of the day. Her mother seems to

be always crying on top of the stairway because she was in so much pain. Lily and Hoeut
were attached to their mother, during the chemotherapy their mother wasnt able to care

for them; she had a hard time carrying them as well. Hoeut thought that he wasnt loved,

so he soon became distant from his mother. Lily developed a constant fear whenever her

mother is not around because she knew her mother might not come home. Sometimes she

would wait inside the house and stare at the door until her mother walked in. the

mothers presence acts s a social buffer keeping cortisol levels low and thus fear at bay.

(Berger 2016, Chapter 4 The First Two Years: The Social World pg. 135). This routine

continued on from now till 2008.

The year of 2008,Lilys mother was cancer free. Her mother now had asthma,

painful stomach pain, and menopause in her late 20s. Lily would be the age of 12 this

year, it was her last day in elementary, on her last day she got her first period. The only

timing that matters is their friends schedule, no one wants to be too early. (Berger 2016,

Chapter 9 Adolescence: Body and Mind pg. 321.) Lily knew one day she would get her

period but she never thought she would get it so soon; her mother allowed her to skip the

last day of 11th grade because of this because Lily was too embarrassed to have started

her period very early than her friends. Also, her mother started to tell her friends that,

My daughter started her period!

After the summer ended, Lily was preparing herself for Jr. high. Lily was still a

dancer, she was very talented as a dancer; she was able to become a professional dancer.

But she soon became stressed between dancing and schoolwork. So she decided to let go

off dancing. Her brother, Hoeut, wanted to play football in the little leagues, he became

the star player in our family; we always went to his football games and were very

involved with his status as a football player. Throughout Jr. high, Lily focused on school
and trying to find who she was. She became to noticed that she wasnt skinny or pretty

enough. So she started to wear makeup and her fashion style. As being the only

daughter in the family it was hard for her to have someone's else approve of tastes rather

than her mom; she discovered YouTube and started to follow other YouTubes who did

makeup and were fashionable. Body image dissatisfaction occurs in adolescents of both

sexes and every ethnic group, although each adolescent is troubled by a particular

characteristic that springs from their ancestral genes. (Berger 2016, Chapter 9

Adolescence: Body and Mind pg. 324). Lily felt that she wasnt skinny enough or had

natural beauty around her peers because her Asian culture had high standards regarding

body type and beauty.

Lily was afraid that she wouldnt stay friends with her Jr. high buddies. She knew

after elementary, her elementary friends didnt follow her to Jr. high so she had to start

making new friends. It became very stressful because of the sudden changes. Children

cherish safety and stability; they do not like change. (Turner et al., 2012/ Berger 2016,

Chapter 8 Middle Childhood: The Social World pg. 290.) Lily tried to keep in contact

with her Jr. high friends and made sure that they were all going to the same High school

together. Happily, they all went to the same High school. Lily learned to love herself

during Jr. high but in High school the standards were higher.

Senior year was here. Lily prepared for college by taking concurrent enrollment.

She even took a CNA class (Certified Nursing Assistant) and Pharmacy Technician class

to decided which career to follow. Lily signed up for every scholarship she could.

Working through the complexities of finding ones own identity is the primary task of

adolescence (Erikson 1968/1994.) He said this crisis is resolved with identity

achievement, when adolescents have reconsidered the goals and values of their parents

and culture, accepting some and discarding others, forging their own identity. (Berger

2016, Chapter 10 Adolescence: The Social World pg. 351.) But before thinking about

life after high school she wants to try to experience her senior year. She learned who her

true friends were through Jr. high and high school. With her group of five friends, they

tried to do everything together. They went to the biggest rival football game and Lily

even went to her first prom with her best friend. Graduation was near, she wanted to give

the last gift for her friends before they parted away. So with the help of her mother, they

have made flower leis. Lily wanted to make it extra special by making a personal letter

for them to open before graduation. She wanted to make this last year the best for her

friends because they never wanted all of us to fit in or have the same style; we were all

different from nationality to our own personal preference. Graduation came by like a

shooting star.

Reference:

Berger, Kathleen Stassen. "Chapter 1- Chapter 10." Invitation to the Life Span.

Third ed. N.p.: Worth, 2016. 3-386. Print.