Development Analysis Report

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 Development Analysis Report

Immediately after a child is born, the parent envisions a lifetime of happiness while

caring for the baby. Usually, a child is considered the source of joy and happiness for the parents.

Prior to delivery, many unprecedented things could take place to warrant an unsuccessful

delivery of the baby, as it is not unusual. After nine months of pregnancy and successful delivery,

a mother views the baby as the most important. At that moment, in that room, the feelings of

both parents are indescribable. After a rollercoaster of emotions, parents hold that baby and vow

to guide, protect, educate, and provide for it as much as possible. Essentially, one can notice how

parents react after delivering their first baby. It is a feeling out of this world; you get to hold it,

picture it as a smaller version of yourself, and to many, for the first time, have something they

can go to the world’s end to serve and protect.

Many parents hold celebrations after the birth of their first child; in essence, it is a

victory. The hard part comes when the child starts to grow when the parent is needed most to

deliver on the promises they made to themselves. The promise to lead and the child to follow in

the parent’s footsteps is where it all matters, where the parent is mandated to do as much as

possible not to lead the child astray, the child they once viewed as the ‘best thing’ to happen to

them. Parenthood becomes tricky at some point, but the parent's character, dedication, and

leadership at a young age mainly determine how the child will grow up. At other times, a parent

might do their best to raise their child, but other factors too will contribute to the child's

development. Usually, a child will have to socialize, try to meet other children, and develop

friendships. Parents will sometimes determine whom their children will interact with by setting

up playdates with other parents, advising their children on whom to play with, and instructing

them on places not to go to maintain their social morals. At other times, when children attain the
appropriate age for school, it reduces the parents’ control of their environment. Children will

connect at school and develop friendships without their parent’s knowledge. Furthermore, the

school environment will also play a significant role in the child’s development. To some extent,

some children develop new behavior when and if they interact with people out of their parents’

reach.

This paper will project the significant theories of child development into some of the

major development stages of my life and how they all shaped me to be who I am today. It will

also describe, in detail, how these theories came about and how they are applied to date.

Early Stages of Development

I never really knew my father; I was raised in a single-parent home and grew up with my

mother alone. Before she died, she always narrated to me how my childhood was. I remember

how she talked about my birth and gleamed with joy and happiness. I could sense that I meant a

lot to her with how tears of joy streamed down her cheeks back then. According to her, she never

had any complications before and after delivery. I was practically delivered in healthy conditions

and grew up in healthier conditions. At 3.8kg of weight at birth, my mother knew I would turn

out okay. Like a duck to water, I adapted instantly to the new ‘harsh’ environs. Friends and

family all welcomed me to the new setup. Ideally, as a mother would want, I always had the

hunger and passion to want to try out new things, even after a few months after birth. In

retrospect to some of our extended family’s historical births, I matured somewhat earlier than

expected, I showed signs of wanting to walk and maneuver around the house, and anywhere

nearby I could get by quickly. At ten months, I made my first steps; not only that, but I also made

my mother very proud. As earlier anticipated, she had managed to get the best out of me for a

relatively short period. Additionally, my mother liked the idea that I was a rather enthusiastic
child in my daily endeavors of child development. Before attaining the age of two years, I could

practically describe and identify several objects in real-time. I would say that is a rather

significant milestone at such a young age. As stated above, my earlier development aligns

somewhat with some of the theories developed over the past few decades.

According to Sanghvi 2020, a certain Jean Piaget was employed at the Binet Institute,

where he was tasked with translating and structuring English questions into French. During his

study, Jean became curious about how the children answered several questions. He based his

research on the wrong answers that the children gave. He concluded that children think

differently as compared to adults. Furthermore, he mentions that children have their versions of

the world in their heads and that to understand them, one must view the world from their point of

view. Hence, he developed the cognitive theory of development, which states that a child must

develop a mental construct of the world that enables it to relate to the world with others and

develop knowledge as they grow daily. He further mentions that the development of children

takes place in various stages.

The sensorimotor stage- Jean Piaget suggested that babies are tasked with acknowledging their

surroundings and maneuvering through any physical obstacles they encounter during this stage.

He further suggests that children can notice and recognize several physical objects at this stage.

Essentially, a baby can recognize the presence of others and distinctively note that he is an

individual on his own. Babies also can identify objects when they see them, even though they do

not retain the memory of the objects in question. The presence of the object signifies to the baby

its existence and vice-versa. In my case, according to my mother, I was well versant with my

surrounding, with the objects and people in my surrounding, at the age of one.
The preoperational stage- This stage focuses on the intellectual capacity of children. Usually, it

occurs between the ages of two to seven years. In this stage, children will operate without logical

reasoning but rather use appearance to deduce the sense and meaning of things. So essentially,

children will envision the world as it appears but cannot confer logical reasoning and intellectual

thought. They will also decipher world meaning through language and mental imagery. By age

two, I could hold my playdates with the several dolls my mother had bought me. In the evening,

before bed, I would hold a tea party with barbie dolls and policeman dolls that I had.

Furthermore, I could demonstrate animism with my dolls. I recognized, just as suggested by Jean

that my dolls had feelings, and it was up to me to treat them with respect and emotional

tolerance, just as I would another human being.

The concrete operational stage- Oogarah et al., 2020 describe this stage as a stage where even

though children have problems with abstract thinking, they can operate under specific rules.

Children at this stage note that the world is different from their point of view, and they start

developing concrete thinking. According to Jean, this is the most significant stage of a child

transforming and becoming a better version of themselves. This is so because, at this age, they

begin to decipher things logically as opposed to previous stages. Usually, this is possible as it

happens at the ages of seven to eleven years.

When I was growing up, my mother was always there through every significant event in

my life. She took me to school at a tender age. It was intriguing as I made friends quickly and

related with the rest of the students. Considering that I was raised in a single-parent household, it

was unexpected that I would so easily blend in with the rest of the students. I was often enrolled

in piano lessons as it was quickly my hobby. At school, I practised ballet dance and joined the

girl scouts. My social life would be even better, as others would not have imagined. Evans 2023
explains Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and says that a child’s development is

directly affected by the immediate surrounding and the relationships that govern the child’s

existence in those surroundings. My mother was a staunch Christian woman who believed in

attending church services. She would march me out of bed every Sunday morning to prepare for

church service. The church teachings immensely impacted me as I gained faith and practiced the

Christian teachings daily. My mother was the head of the PTA (Parents Teachers Association)

when I was in grades three to six. Moreover, she practically loved her role and insisted that I

concentrate on my academics to build myself a better later in future; Needless to say, it was no

coincidence that I could carry out myself in an orderly fashion whenever in school.

According to Bronfenbrenner, the first level of child development is the Microsystem.

This level states that the immediate people directly influence a child's development in contact

with him, such as parents, teachers, peers, and even siblings (Crawford, 2020). In my case, my

mother and teachers immensely impacted my existence. With the careful upbringing my mother

had accustomed me to, I could very well interact with my peers, other students, and teachers in a

respectful, enjoyable, and kind way, just as I was taught.

Teenage and college years

High school life was challenging at first. I remember that age when I would wake up and

notice changes in my body. Initially, I was embarrassed by the ‘strange’ changes I was not

accustomed to. The teenage years are never easy to get through, especially when you are a nerd

not used to the social demands of every other teen in high school. I never had it easy. I could

sense the dopamine in the air. Every student experiencing several bursts of sexual tension and

emotions. The hallways were marked by students who freely expressed themselves in their

preferred ways. To some extent, I felt the urge to have someone to fool around with. However,
my social anxiety, mainly since a single mother raised me in her strict ways, prevented me from

making any mistakes. I resorted to staying out of trouble and concentrating on my studies.

Despite my effort, I found it in me to have fun with some of my high school friends.

Long story short, I got pregnant in high school. If someone had told me years back that that is

how my life would have turned out, I would have laughed them off. There is no way I would

have allowed that to happen, let alone my mother. As expected, she was very displeased with me.

She could not believe that all her efforts to make me successful were somehow about to fall

through. She was disappointed but never gave up on me. I put school on pause, and she stood by

my side till I conceived.

From my case above, not everything that happened was out of my pure intentions.

According to El Zaatari & Maalouf 2022, Bronfenbrenner developed the last level of

development, The Chronosystem, which he reiterates involves the environmental changes that

occur within an individual's life. He further states that significant events like changing or

attending a higher level of education have the effect of influencing the development of someone.

Having to advance to high school and experience all the pressures of being a teenager

significantly impacted my social life. There was always the need to seek approval from

everyone. Similarly, every teenager wants a place where they can belong, a place where they can

relate to people and someone with whom they can share the moments and experiences of high

school. I was no different; I craved that because it was the normal thing to do.

Marie 2022 states that Erik Erikson has a theory that personality develops from infancy to

childhood through eight predetermined stages of social development. He further states in his

theory that in each stage, a person experiences a social crisis that alters their development

positively or negatively. Erik labels the fifth stage as the Identity vs Role Confusion stage. This
stage occurs between the ages of twelve to eighteen. Adolescents experience a tough time trying

to figure out their sense of personal identity while exploring various social lives. All this happens

by testing their personal beliefs, values, and goals. The conflict of this stage of development is

when adolescents are given the freedom to explore who they are. They usually have a strong

sense of independence and self-worth. In the long run, they find their identity, which helps them

build themselves better in their stages of development. Likewise, when they are shielded and

restricted from experiencing and expressing their true selves, they struggle to find their purpose

in life, leading to confusion about their identity. As loving as she was, my mother was rigorous

and always precise in following protocol, rules and sticking to the apparent path of achieving

good academic grades. According to her, education was the epitome of a fine and well-respected

woman. To achieve that, she insisted that I follow in her footsteps and become more significant

than she was. She shielded me from all that she considered ‘bad’ for me. As a Christian, she

strained to make my life as religious and worthy as possible. It is unclear if her strictness

prompted my actions or if I was just too indulged in pursuing my true self that I got pregnant.

According to Freud, the last stage of psychosexual development is The Genital Stage

(Lantz & Ray, 2020). Sigmund Freud suggests that this is the final stage of psychosexual

development. Usually, this stage starts at puberty and lags into adulthood. When one is between

puberty ages, libido re-emerges, and one is attracted to the opposite gender. This marks the onset

of adult sexuality. Furthermore, it engraves itself in sexual emotions and urges toward the

opposite gender as someone notices the need and urge to express their sexual desires to their

significant other. With reference to this theory, it is safe to say that maybe I was going through a

challenging stage that needed maturity and control to understand and learn about the feelings that

engulfed me. Janssen 2021 also mentions that in this stage, individuals tend to develop strong
sexual emotions that might generate feelings for a much stronger relationship. Teenagers also get

to learn about sexual education as their curiosity deepens. Through this, they learn about safe sex

practices and how to form healthy and long-lasting sexual relationships. With all that happened, I

forgave myself for my guilt and resumed school.

In my senior year, I worked as hard as possible to make my mother proud. I graduated

high school and joined several pre-college programs that kept me busy. In my mind, I was hell-

bent on enrolling for a college degree and making myself and my mother proud. I was

determined to prove that she raised a well-mannered and hardworking woman. Moreover, I

wanted to train myself to become the woman she always prepared me to be. Unfortunately, my

mother passed on before I could finish my degree and left me to care for two children. It felt like

a harsh world, but I fought and attained that degree in her memory. Deep down, I wanted her to

be there for me. To be in the moment with me.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I still see my mother in me. In everything that I do, I always do it with her

in mind. I picture what she would have wanted me to do in every situation, what she would have

done in that situation. I raise my children the same way my mother raised me, the faithful way,

seeing the good in others and being empathetic with others. Ideally, I implement my mother’s

techniques in raising my children. In whatever I do, I always prioritize faith and education, as my

mother did. It is only with faith that things will get done. Education is a priority as it promises a

better life in the future. As I age, I notice that the more faith I have, the better my life becomes. I

have instilled the same saying to my children. They follow my guidelines and adhere to every

protocol that we agree on. In times of difficulty, I encourage my children to open up to me and

seek my counselling because it is that way that they will only find their true selves, with
guidance from their trusted friend, me. Essentially, there is no better person to nourish a child

than the parent.

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explains the development of students’ sense of belonging to school? SAGE Open, 12(4),

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Evans, O. (2023, June 9). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Simply Psychology.

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Janssen, D. F. (2021). Toward Psychosexual Development: Preliminaries to Queer Youth

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Lantz, S. E., & Ray, S. (2020). Freud Developmental Theory.

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