My Virtual Child

1. Growing up is difficult for everyone; each age comes with new struggles. Teen years come with many social, academic, and even family struggles. Around the age of 14, typically around the time most young adults begin high school, you are growing and developing. You move into a new school maybe with friends maybe without, but each of these kids will be going thought different emotions and experiences with starting their new journey. My virtual child, Esme, had a very fruitful and exciting experience. She embraced the changes and became involved in the school. In the beginning, she decided to join Dance team and a wide variety activist clubs. She enjoyed these throughout her time at the high school.
2. During Esme’s High school experience,
she did have a few typical teenage problems with her father and myself. She was very adamant on wanting to be independence, and had a few arguments about clothes, bedtime, chores, and her musical choices. In the book on page 386 it talks about how conflict is normal in the united states by saying “Nevertheless, studies in western countries also indicate that conflict, compared with middle childhood and remains high for several years before declining substantially in its adolescence. (Arnett, 2016, P.386)
3. During Esme’s high school experience, she was also was able to maintain a good social life. She was able find caring and supportive friends. I worried that Esme might have a hard-social life before she got to high school, the reason being; she had a hard time meeting new people when she was younger and tended to be very quiet. As she matured she developed strong leadership and friendship skills. I believe that high school provided her with a great opportunity to blossom into a more sociable person. This is shown in her virtual life reports when it says, “Esme has several good friends and gets invited to parties fairly often. She seems to be one of the most outgoing and popular seniors at the school.”
4.
My virtual Child could start dating at 14. I felt like I could trust her in decisions for relationships because she hadn’t given me a reason not to. She can go on dates alone but when she first began to go on dates I would be the one providing her with the rides. For instance, if she went to movies, she would be dropped off an hour before the movie, and picked up right when the movie ended. When she was 16, she was in a relationship and I made rules that she had to be home on time at a certain time. She was also responsible for telling me where she was going and who it was she was going with. When the relationship became serious and I was nervous that they were having sex. With that being said I found it my responsibility to have talked to her about sex and the issues that come with it.
5. Not only is Esme doing well in school, and her social life but she is also involved in extracurricular activities. One of the extracurricular activities that Esme is involved in is Dance Team. She tried out for the Dance Team her freshman year and made it in. Every year she has accomplished and learned more. One year she was even able to choreograph one of the dances. This promotes healthy behavior because she can work with others and is also able to participate in physical activity. I try and support her with this activity by going to her performances and providing money for her to advance in
classes.
6. Although Esme does well in most aspects of teenage life, she has engaged in some risk-taking behaviors. For example, one night she went to a party and decided to drink. Thankfully, she ended up calling me to give her a ride home, and did not drink and drive. When she woke up the next morning, I took this into consideration and did not punish her and only discussed with her what she did wrong because I wanted her to be able to come to me, when she made mistakes.
7.
Two theories that I believe are beneficial for parents to understand are Vygotsky’s social – cultural theory of cognitive development and the classifications of temperament. In class we learned that Vygotsky’s social – cultural theory of cognitive development explains how children learn by doing and how they learn by interaction with others. This is beneficial for parents to know because they will know how to teach their children. Classifications of social development are 3 types of temperaments that children can have. The classifications are easy, which is 40 percent of children, difficult which is 10 percent of children and slow to warm up which is 15 percent. The other 35 percent cannot be classified into any distinct type of temperament. I believe these classifications are beneficial for parents to know, so they can understand how their kids react to situations and how to help them relax after a situation or how to better handle those situations to improve their temperament. (Hong,
2017)
Having a virtual child has been great to be able to experience the effects of making decisions for a child and to be able to see the outcomes and effects of the decisions you made. Esme, was a pretty good child, she was good in school, school activities and had a good social life. She also didn’t usually get into trouble. I feel like I was a fair parent, I had rules but also gave her space. She could have privileges but had to follow the rules to keep them. Over all I think Esme ended up becoming a great young lady.