My Virtual Child Is A Very Talented 12 Year Old Boy

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.

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.

Physical Development: Kneels to play, throw and kick a ball, builds larger brick towers, pour liquids and uses pencils to make marks and circular scribbles.

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.

From 3 to 7 years the child’s movements will be more coordinated. They will learn to balance when hopping, skipping and playing with balls. The fine pincer grip when holding pens, pant brushes will be more defined.

From seven to twelve years old, a child can run, jump, skip, hit a ball, climb and swing. They begin to enjoy playing games in teams, although before the age of nine they may misjudge their ability.

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

Adolescence is defined as the transition between childhood and adulthood. Many changes happen at this stage. Adolescence involves things such as puberty, greater independence, and a time when someone begins to construct their identity. Identity means their life value and goals including a secure sense of who they are in terms of sexual, vocational, and moral ethics. In the next few paragraphs I will be discussing my Virtual Child, Maeve as she went through adolescence (ages 11- 16). I am going to delve into the different changes I saw in her and how they relate to theories proposed by Piaget, Erikson, Marcia, and Gardner. Each

My Virtual Child program basically covers physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development at several age levels. Various personalized questions were asked and given scenarios that would shape my child’s physical development, cognitive development, and affect his personality. My Virtual Child has a unique set of characteristics at birth, some of which were influenced by how I answered and completed the assessment when I first logged into My Virtual Child. These characteristics gradually emerged and affected his behavior and development. When it was time, our precious baby boy was born and we decided to name him Noah. Noah as a newborn was fussy and often wanted to be held. Breastfeeding time seemed to be the perfect soothing method. I enjoyed breastfeeding because it builds up his immune system. At this point Noah recognized me as his primary care giver because I was the one always attending to his needs. According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment “The infant knows that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to then explore the world”. As a result, Noah was more attached to me than he was to my husband. As time transcurred, he was able to bond to my husband by spending more quality time together.

Children between the ages of 3-5 start to gain at least 4-5 pounds (in weight) and grow about 2-3 inches taller per year. Younger children are still developing their motor skills, for example using their arms and legs to play and by doing arts and crafts, puzzles and painting. By the age of 5 children are usually able to hop on one foot and are learning how to skip. Playing becomes very imaginative for them as they bring in fantasy and book characters into their games.

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

I was asked to create and answer questions about a virtual child. When I was told this was an assignment I thought “this should be easy”. Boy was I wrong! I found many things can affect the outcome of my child. If I am too strict or too easy, the child’s behavior will show this. Over time, this will also affect the child’s temperament. I have learned that some of my classmates’ virtual children are harder to get along with and require more discipline then others. I decided to just trust my instinct and answer the questions as if they were for a real child. In this report you will see how my answers affected my virtual daughter Alexis and, my experience throughout the duration of the assignment.

A child’s physical development is likely to be affected as they will not grow and thrive at the appropriate rate, becoming under developed as well as under nourished.

Alexander, Enrique, and Alexis are the names of the children I observed. They have different gross motor skills and fine motor skills. However, their differences are in the sophistication of each ability. Alexander, who is 7 years old is very active. He was jumping and trying to count by jumping on the tile floors to see how many there were across the living room. He is developing typically to his age. What has influenced this level of physical development is the amount of myelin in the brain increases and raises the speed at which electrical impulses travel between neuron. Which, makes massages reach muscles more rapidly and control them better. Enrique, in the other hand, his physical development is more sophisticated than Alexander’s.

In terms of physical characteristics, the average height and weight for a two year old is thirty-four inches tall and twenty –eight pounds. Over time, their head growth will slow, from 3⁄4 inch (2 cm) in their second year alone to 3⁄4 to 1 1⁄4 inches (2–3 cm) over the next ten years. The child’s posture will change as well during the toddler years. These physical changes are due to improved muscle tone, which is cause for a more erect posture, thus giving the child a taller, and more lean appearance (“Physical Appearance,” 2013).