Observation Paper #2

Class/Section: FHS 1500--001

Name: Pedro Rico
Assignment: Observation 2
Background Information
Child’s age: Preschooler, 3-5 years of age
Name (alias): John
Location: Canvas Online Daycare Video
Brief Description:

Biological Development
John has a body that is twice the size of most of the children at the daycare which has
given him an advantage i.e. improved gross motor skills (Berger, 2016, p. 163). For instance,
John has the arm length to reach objects that are farther from his body which he demonstrated
while playing with one of his younger peers. They were playing a game where someone on top
of the fort, swang a plastic tube back and forth while the other person underneath attempted to
catch it. John, being as tall as he is, had no trouble completing this task.
One thing to note is that John is displaying normal growth patterns; I’m certain that he
has taken every opportunity to exercise his body, which has helped further develop the gross and
refine motor skills that are needed to complete his daily activities (Berger, 2016, p. 164). John,
from what I can observe seemed pretty thin, which is actually normal for his age. Children start
to grow slower at this age, compared to when they were infants. As a result, their “appetite
decreases between ages 2 and 6” (Berger, 2016, p. 165). At this time I would assume that John is
eating healthy for his age and that his parent(s) have allowed him as much play time, in order for
him to be actively fit so that he can burn off any excess calories (Berger, 2016, p. 165).
Finally, you can see how his “body and mind develop according to powerful epigenetic
forces” meaning “that nature and nurture continually interact: Growth is biologically driven and
socially guided, experience-expectant and experience-dependent.” meaning that even though
John is developing as expected biologically his environment also plays a huge role in his
development. For instance, the brain of a six-year-old "is 90 percent of adult weight" (Berger,
2016, p. 166), during this time of growth, his prefrontal cortex is improving. As a result, his
executive functioning skills have also improved (Berger, 2016, p. 167). As John continues to
grow as expected his experience with the external world will be unique compared to other
children.
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Cognitive Development
The moment the video started to play I could observe that John’s cognitive skills were
developing normally in addition to that, I could observe when he was able to think about what he
will say and do next. John is capable of instantaneously remembering the conversation that he
had with the spectator asking him if he was able to remember the names that he bestowed on
certain creatures. This is a great example of the synergy between the amygdala “that registers
emotions” and the hippocampus that processes memories to trigger activity in the hypothalamus
“which produces hormones that activate the pituitary and other parts of the brain and body”
(Berger, 2016, p. 172).
The spectator then reminds John that he isn’t there to talk but that he is merely there to
observe for that day and that he could share that information with his peers. John slightly
disappointed reflects on the request, he then replays back saying that he would rather keep it a
secret. This demonstrates Johns theory of mind, that states “children gradually realize that other
people do not always know and think what they themselves do” (Berger, 2016, p. 180), this
becomes more apparent during the observation when he interacts with his peers. A good example
of this was when John asked a younger child for a password before he could play with his toy,
John knew that the child didn’t know what he knew and wasn’t willing to give him any hint as to
what the password could be.
Lastly, John is able to communicate with his peers rather easily; during the whole
observation, John was extremely talkative even when no one else was around him (Berger, 2016,
p. 182). Although John is talking a lot more than the other children, he still has difficulty
enunciating his words. For instance, there was a younger girl with him that I spoke clearly which
made it easier for me to understand what she was communicating. I am certain, as time goes on
John will be able to acquire the grammar that is needed to effectively communicate with others
(Berger, 2016, p. 184).

Psychosocial
John is a very expressive child but he's also impulsive, he lacks the emotional maturation
to regulate his expressive behavior when interacting with his caregivers or his peers. Emotional
regulation is “the ability to control when and how emotions are expressed” (Berger, 2016, p.
 Observation Paper #2

201). The reason I say this is because there was an instance when he reacted quickly to a
caregiver when confronted about name calling, his response was to let out a screech and a silly
face. John is also driven by intrinsic motivation (a drive that "arises from within") (Berger, 2016,
p. 204); this behavior is pretty explicit when he is interacting with the other children.
For instance, he plays with a young girl knowing she is too short to ever reach the toy,
which results in her losing every time; he finds the reward of winning self-satisfactory. I believe
his brain maturation (Berger, 2016, p. 203) is a result of permissive parenting which is
“characterized by high nurturance and communication but little discipline, guidance, or control”
(Berger, 2016, p. 211). What led me to this conclusion is that throughout the observation, John
exerted his dominance onto other children by proving he could win or that he was in control. An
example of this was when he became possessive over a toy, claiming that he doesn’t have to
share because he built it first.

I would say that John participated more in associative play, which is when “children
interact, sharing material, but their play is not reciprocal” (Berger, 2016, p. 207). Luckily he
didn’t show any instrumental or reactive aggression towards any of the children but he did show
relational aggression, which is defined as implicit aggression towards another person. Such as,
“insults or social rejection, aimed at harming the social connection between the victim and other
people” (Berger, 2016, p. 220). John is young and as long as he has mentors to guide him in the
right direction he will have the “skills or body of knowledge” that will help him in the long run
(Berger, 2016, p. 176).

Reference
Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers