WEEK 7: Death & Dying

The inevitable stage of death can be complicated on several levels. There are different types of death, the four described in LIFESMART are: clinical, brain, biological and social. These four are used to physically tell if someone is dead.  Social death, which I didn't know of until I read it, sounds morose and terrifying! To act like someone is dead just to be more efficient in preparation is startling.

With death comes grief and the effects from it. If not properly resolved, grief can have negative physical and mental effects. Delayed grief can trigger depression for almost any reason some time after the death. Distorted grief can result in psychosomatic symptoms that physically affect an individual. Complicated grief can also have physical symptoms but these may be unrelated to the death and may require therapy in order to deal with the grief.

Spirituality is one of the major talking points of death. The reflection of one's life is important to the soul. I think that I agree with Wilson's theory that says that "religion and spirituality are inseparable and that together they grant essential benefits to believers." I guess to me, if you take care of yourself spiritually throughout your life, then your soul will ultimately be fine.

The poem at the end of the chapter was thought provoking. I read it as a 26 year old and if I could live my life again, I would do the things that the poem stated. I know that I have a lot of years ahead of me, I just know that I could have lived better (in my opinion). Perhaps I should take that thought and apply it to my future. That way, at the end of my life, I can say that I would not change my life.

Week 6: Adulthood

Chapter 9 describes the different ways that people pass on into adulthood. There are many rites of passages that we go through, some symbolic while others can be physical or economic. Page 208 in LIFESMART has a list of some of these including having a bat mitzvah, getting a credit card, having sex for the first time. The transition into adulthood signals many things. We are at our physical peak, we stop growing, our bodies begin to react differently to diet and exercise. The consumption of drugs and alcohol can begin to take its toll on the body.This is the time to develop into the habits of taking care of our bodies because what is done at this stage can help in the later stages of life.
Cognitively, people begin to develop and understand their sexual identity and gender role. As stated on page 216, sexual identity is "how we think of ourselves in terms of sexual and romantic attraction." Gender role is an "expected set of behavioral traits for men and women." This all plays into how adults are developing socially. People try and set ourselves up so we can get validation through our peers and life partners.

Chapter 10 was a little scary for me. If i had to put myself in a certain stage, I would say I am a 26 year old right in the early adulthood stage. Which means that I have the signs of aging, serious worries about my health, and physical decline to look forward to. I do not find it all negative though, it will be nice to be settled and not have the turmoil that is adjusting in adulthood now. I just see midlife as milestone that is virtually unknown to me. I see my mom that is right in the middle of a midlife transition and I have no idea how I would be able to handle it. She has gone through divorce, changes in her social life and her job. It kind of helps me appreciate my stage.

WEEK 5: The Adolescent Years

Chapter 8 dives into the characteristics of adolescence. It begins by giving us a list, on page 186 and 187, of signals that can show us when this period of growth begins. The physical developments include the menstrual cycle, pubic hair, growth spurts and a change in in hormones. Aside from the body developing, the brain is developing cognitively. As stated on page 191, adolescents begin to enter and master Piaget's formal operational stage. They begin to "think abstractly, reason logically, exhibit hypothetical thinking and combine groups if concrete operations." This means that adolescents can think on a larger scale and into abstract thoughts about themselves and their environments.

 Socially, they begin to form relationships with other people, that are not family members. This goes in hand with developing a self-identity. They begin to distance themselves from their parents and try and become more independent. Peer relationships can have both positive and adverse effects on a growing preteen /teen.

I feel like this chapter has a lot of overlapping ideas. Adolescents develop on all fronts, nearly at the same time. As they develop physically and cognitively, they are also building friendships and relationships. At teh same time, they are trying to figure out who they are and how to act in their environment. Sexual development is also big. They are developing physical characteristics and one of the signals was that kids begin to think about sex. If this is complicated just learning about it, remember the time when we were living it and how confused we were then.

WEEK 4: A Growing Child

Chapter 6 continued in describing what happens to a child as they grow. This covered ages 2-6 and what developments happen during this time. Whereas before, babies were literally getting their feet underneath them, around the age of 2, they start exploring the world around them. They also make leaps and bounds in terms of cognitive ability. They can plan and remember things. My first memory is of me scraping my elbow on a wall in Mexico and crying until my mom consoled me. I was 2 or 3 years old at that time.
Young children begin having muscular coordination and fine motor skills as they get older.The table on page 132 says a lot, it starts at kicking and running at the age of 2 and tying their shoes and using scissors.
The sibling section of this chapter made me think of my brother and sister. Page 144 had a lot of information that was true about my family dynamic. As the oldest, I was the sounding board for them growing up. There was a sibling underworld in our family and we didn't even know it existed.

Chapter 7 covered ages 6-12 in what is called middle childhood. Here children are still growing physically as well as cognitively. The beginning of the chapter on page 157 states, "memory improves, attention sharpens, judgment becomes more mature, and problem solving progresses." The chapter goes into detail about what different things can happen to a growing body. Children can become overweight, get a medical disorder such as asthma or become diagnosed with a mental, emotional or physical disability.
Another section that interested is me is the moral development in children during this age. Morality in children is seen that they are innocent and completely honest. This is not the case when children are around the ages of 4-11. I was excited to learn about heteronomous and autonomous morality. That rules sink in around the age of 4 and kids follow them because they feel like they have to. Consequences have an impact to the action the child will take (heteronomous). Then around age 11, children begin to understand that their actions affect others (autonomous morality). I agreed with Kohlberg's theory and the 6 stages that are described on 168. Her idea, "children must overcome their egocentrism before they can make true moral judgements" means that kids have to understand others to truly understand their behavior.