My Virtual Child

- While children are influenced by many things, there are no stronger influences that that of their parents as they are usually their child’s first playmates and while the world expands with each passing year, parental influence is still one of the greatest factors in determining the ways in which a child will grow and develop.

A child’s environment, for example, their family or school play a huge part in their development. Some of the main factors that influence a child’s development are their family, where the child lives, and socio-economic status. These factors often cross over and blend as they are related.

1) Q: You are starting to notice that Preslee's crying is rhythmic and moderately loud when she is hungry, wet, or cold. If she is startled, there is a sudden intake of breath and a loud wail, followed by more deep breaths and loud wails. A: You try to respond to the different types of crying by changing, feeding, or soothing little Preslee.

Growing up with varying backgrounds, influence parents to make overprotective decisions for their children. Every parent has a different style of parenting. Some will be overprotective, while others will be more lenient. The environment, and their childhood experiences influence these different styles, as well as their relationship with their child. As each generation grows up, the parenting style will vary based on how the individuals in each generation grew up. A child's past experiences shape their values as an adult.

My virtual child is a male, named Gavin (Manis, 2008). The name Gavin was chosen because it is a personal favorite and it is also similar to my paternal grandmother’s maiden name, Gavaghan. Gavin has one virtual sibling, a younger sister named Chloe. There is a three year age difference between the two siblings. According to the program I had a partner and we were married. Unfortunately, when Gavin was four years old we continued to argue and decided to separate. Two years later, we finally decided that the relationship was over and to get a divorce.

Chapter 5 of Freakonomics, What Makes a Perfect Parent, raises the question, “how much do parents really matter?” This is a very interesting question with a number of different answers. Steven Levitt, the author, goes into great detail to answer this question. Right of the start, Levitt mentions, “Clearly bad parenting matters a great deal” (Levitt, Dubner p.154). He uses the correlation between abortion and crime, making the argument that unwanted children will be worse off in life versus other children who are accepted into their parents’ lives and loved. Levitt raises yet another question asking how influential are those loving and accepting parents on the outcome of their child. Interesting enough, genes are responsible for about fifty percent of a child’s characteristics and personality but what is responsible for the other fifty percent? Judith Harris, author of The Nature Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do, argued that peers are more influential on a child than parents are. Levitt challenges her position and mentions that parents are usually the ones responsible for deciding a children’s peers. For instance, parents are the ones who choose what neighborhood to live, where to send their child to school and strive to find their child the right friend group.

Raising a Virtual Child had been a great experience for me. This assignment made me better understand why adolescents are the way they are. I had my own expectation before the onset of this project, how my virtual child was going to be at age of 18? I was expecting that my child would be a successful and obedient one. She would be nice and polite, follow rules and will be good in education. For me, while raising a child, bonding between child and parents is an important factor to consider. It makes child feel secure and let know that his/her parents are there to look after their needs. Communication between parent and child is important too. It will provide a great scenario for learning and aid in cognitive development. Discussing problem with parents and finding a solution is the best way to go during the childhood. I think parenting is not that much hard as it seems but is absolutely a sensitive and responsible task to raise a child. I had enjoyed raising my virtual child and hope my feedback is going to be a good one too.

While children are influenced by many things, there are no stronger influences than that of their parents. Parents are usually their children’s first playmates, and while there world expands with each passing year, parental influence is still one of the greatest factors in determining the ways in which the child will grow and develop.

A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.

The virtual child stimulation is an online program that offers students a feel of what it is like to raise a child and make parenting-decisions concerning that child. Students also learn about the situations that occur in the three main life stages, and see how their decisions determine how their child will turn out. The focus of this assignment will be on my virtual child, Jason, the problems that occurred in the life stages, and the options I chose when raising Jason.

Once you have raised your virtual child through age 5, respond thoroughly to the following questions.

Would you have come out different if your parents used a different parenting style? If you are considered “cool” now could you have come out a nerd if your parents would have used a different parenting style? “Parenting style is one of the primary determinants of your child’s outcome whether he succeeds, achieves, meets the challenges, flounders, gives up, or runs from or fails in handling life.” (6) The purpose of this paper is to describe the outcomes, processes, labor, and techniques of parenting in a psychological point of view. Parenting styles are defined as the “manner in which parents express their beliefs on how to be a good or bad parent.” (4) Each parenting style has its weaknesses and

With what I have learned from the My Virtual Child program, I now understand the complexities of raising and guiding a child. Mere decisions made during infancy can affect a child long term, physically, cognitively, and even emotionally. To make important developmental decisions cannot simply be classified as a challenge, it is one of the hardest things parents experience. Making decisions for one’s self, as opposed to making decisions for one’s child is so challenging that most people will not understand until they have children. Even with the realistic impression this program has, I would venture to say that even

Being responsible for the life of another human being can be a little frightening or overwhelming. Whether the child is real life or, in this case, a virtual child, every single decision made is crucial for the development of the child’s life. Throughout the journey of raising Everett, my virtual son, I was exposed to a whole new world. I learned so much about the process of teaching and nurturing a child. It not only is about the love and compassion you give a child, but the discipline and leadership a parent demonstrates as well. Though these factors contribute greatly to the development of your child, the way your child behaves and acts is ultimately their decision. Over the virtual life of Everett, I was faced with many troubling and difficult

When I first heard that I would be raising a virtual child, I did not fully understand how this would change my ideology on decision making and critical thinking and how my thoughts and ideas would impact the life of another human being. After I told my parents that I would be raising a child online, they had two reactions. Reaction number one consisted of them laughing because the thought of raising a child online seemed like a joke because I had absolutely no idea how to raise a child. Reaction number two came later and was more of an intrigued attitude than before. My parents watched me click buttons and run through thought processes on making decisions in how to raise my child from birth to 18 years in a matter of weeks.