Child Observation Paper
Barbara A. Shaw
BSHS 361
August 23, 2010
Alma Armendariz

Child Observation Paper Jeremy is an 18-month-old boy of Jemez Pueblo decent. Jeremy currently resides with his mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great grandfather, 3-year-old sister and 2-week-old brother. Jeremy lives on the Jemez reservation that is located about one hour away from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The reservation is very poor. This tribe consists of about 5,000 members and does not receive any type of government support. The house they live in is a two bedroom adobe style home. The mother works as a certified nursing assistant making minimum wage. The great grandfather had a stroke two years ago and requires full time care. The
Cognitive development Cognitive activities (e.g., attention, control, decision making, hypothesis testing, implicit learning, memory, monitoring, planning and problem solving) (Osman, 2010) were all displayed during my observation. The way that Jeremy’s mother handled the situation when Jeremy took the toy from his cousin and made him cry was an excellent example of teaching a child value for human life. I was very impressed by the way she handled the situation and from Jeremy’s reaction, this is the way he is taught every day. Consistency is important when dealing with children.
Psychosocial development Despite significant advances in the field of social neuroscience, much remains to be understood regarding the development and maintenance of social skills across the life span (Beauchamp, 2010). One observation I would like to take note of is that Jeremy’s sister is being raised in the same house with same values as he is. Although I do believe Jeremy has learned socially acceptable behavior, his sister is struggling with bouts of rebellion that Jeremy does not seem to possess. My observation is that children are different and react differently to the same exact situation. This is not to say that Jeremy will grow to be a perfect child and his sister be a nuisance. On the contrary, at times the opposite can occur.
Conclusion
Jeremy