Psychology

Children are a joy to observe, they are spontaneous and candid, and they usually do not mind being watched or asked questions. Children are rapidly developing individuals, they are discovering and exploring their environment, and are slowly gaining a sense of themselves as an individual, a separate entity from his or her parents and caretakers. This paper reports on the observation of a young child in a day care center and an analysis of the childs behavior and the indicators of physical, psychosocial, cognitive, emotional and moral development.

The observation was carried out in a local daycare center where most of the children in the community are left by their working parents. The daycare center has been known for its excellent facilities and teachers despite the limited budget of the center. The daycare is in a one storey building, with its own mini-library, reading center, sleeping room, activity rooms and a small playground is found at the back of the building. The front area is a small receiving room where parents drop-off their children and are welcomed by the centers staff and teachers. On an average day, there are about 30 children in the center some are in the center for the whole week, while others come thrice a week, while others spend only half of the day. Thus, there is a constant influx of children during the week, only a handful does stay in the center the whole day.

The observation was conducted during the play and learning activities of the children. The children were grouped according to their age in the learning activities while the play period was unstructured and the children were allowed to play alone or with other children. A daycare teacher and an assistant were present in the learning activities while another one supervised the play period. There were also a number of volunteers in the center thus the children were accustomed to interacting with a number of people aside from their teachers.

Observation
JEA (initials) was a three year old girl, with Chinese features and she was skinny and looked frail. She had black short hair, and her skin was pale yellow. She was tall for her age, she was 38 inches, and weighed at 28 lbs and she had sweet little eyes. She had been going to the center just this year when she turned three because her mother had to go back to work. She is an only child, and her parents are both college professors. Her mother took time from work to care for her until she turned three and had to resume teaching in the local college.

The observation was focused on JEA (initials) during their learning activity session, a little girl who was seated in a round table with 2 other girls she was alternating between listening to the teacher and doodling with her colors and activity book. She was clearly friends with the two other girls, and they exchanged smirks and a little laugh but quickly quieted when they noticed that the teacher was looking at them. JEA was comfortably seated and stood up thrice to pick up her crayons and a rubber toy she kept holding with her right hand.

The learning session lasted for about 25 minutes, they were asked to work on their coloring books and writing sheets. JEA took a longer time coloring than in completing the writing activity sheets. She asked the teacher for help on what color to use a couple of times, while she also helped the other girls seated with her on their coloring books. She was focused and paid attention to her colors and was careful to make the colors even and not go out of the line. Although, her work was far from being excellent and clean, she did well because her teacher gave her a blue star after the activity. She proudly showed the star to her friends and kept saying mommy is happy with this and pointing at the star.

The observation followed her through the play period. The play period was unstructured, children were allowed to play with the toys they liked and were interested in, however, if a particular toy or playing station is used by another child, it is up to the child to approach and play with the other child. The teachers constantly reminded the children to share and play with others. If a child refused to play with another child, the teacher was quick to remove the other child and to divert his or her attention.
JEA at first went to the reading station where she picked up a large book and sat down and opened the pages of the book. She opened it to a particular page and kept giggling at the picture and pointing her finger at the picture. She then called another child and told her to look at the picture too. When the other girl did not looked at the picture, JEA brought the book over and said look and pointed at it. But the other child was not interested and instead went to the other end of the room. JEA went back and looked at the book for a few seconds and then closed and left it at the station.

Then JEA went to the blocks and started putting the blocks to make a tower, no other child was playing, and she seemed content with piling the blocks and then letting it fall when it became too tall for her to reach. The falling blocks made a lot of noise, but she was not bothered by it. She continued to play for about 4 minutes, and then went to the reading station again and lay on the pillows and said she was tired. One of the volunteers came and asked her if she wanted to sleep and she nodded her head. She was then led to the sleeping area.

Analysis
The following discussion presents an analysis of the physical, psychosocial, emotional, moral, and cognitive development of JEA. The objective of this analysis is to apply the developmental theories and concepts to an actual field observation exercise. The analysis will also come up with a profile of the observed child based on whether she demonstrates the developmental markers and milestones at her given age and stage of development.

Physical
JEA was obviously tall for her age, she was assigned in a group for three to four years old, and she clearly was taller than most of those in the group. According to developmental growth charts, a 3 year old childs height is around 33 inches (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004), and JEA according to her records was already 38 inches. However, she was skinny and looked frail. She had pale skin but this could be attributed to her Asian genes.  Aside from her skinny body, JEA was a normal three year old in terms of physical development. She was able to run and hop without falling, she also had good muscle control in that she was able to color her books and write circles in her writing book (Crain, 2000). She was energetic and active, had a pleasing disposition and laughed a lot.

It was observed that JEA was tall for her age and is considered a developmental spurt there was no observed declining ability or delays. She used complete sentences when she interacted with the teachers and other children. She also was able to work satisfactorily on the tasks assigned to her.  She also maintained eye contact when interacting with others, and she had a limited attention span like most children her age (Crain, 2000).

JEA was observed to be actively participating in the activities in the learning session and she was also actively engaged during the play period. However, she seemed to prefer reading, she does engage in group play but also is comfortable with being alone. However, it was observed that she got tired more readily than other children, and she became sleepy after playing. This could be attributed to her being thin or it could be that she woke up early and she had a nap routine.

Psychosocial
JEA was observed to be in the second psychosocial stage which is autonomy versus shame and doubt which corresponds to the toddler years from 2 to 3 years old (Crain, 2000). JEA just turned three at the start of the year and she manifested all the developmental milestones of a typical three year old (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004). The critical task for this stage is being able to do things on their own without being overly dependent on caregivers or others (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004). JEA was able to do things on her own and is becoming increasingly independent. She seemed familiar with her surroundings and frequented her favorite things like the reading area and playing with blocks.

In terms of her interaction with other children and her teachers, JEA seemed to have attained a certain degree of mastery of her language and motor skills. She asked questions from the teacher, she also interacted with her friends and even helped the other girls in their coloring books. JEA is possibly going to develop autonomy and acquire the virtue of will (Cole et.al, 2005). This would mean she would be able to function effectively on her own and continue exploring and discovering her surroundings through self-sufficient behavior.

Cognitive
JEA is observed to be in the preoperational stage of cognitive development according to Piagets theory (Cole et.al, 2005). JEA is able to represent words and objects through pictures and drawings, she took time in coloring the pictures in her book and had a good idea of the real colors of the objects, like coloring the apple as red, and the girls shoes as blue, which was also the color of the shoes she wore that day. She was still egocentric in her thought process, ash she had difficulty taking the other girls perception of the book she was reading. She could not understand why the other girls did not want to read with her. She eventually gave up and reverted to solitary play. This may be a carryover from the previous sensorimotor stage (Crain, 2000).

Specifically, JEA was in the symbolic function substage which corresponds to 2 to 4 years old (Cole et.al, 2005). At this stage, the child is able to use imaginative and pretend play and this was manifested in JEAs play and interaction with other children. She played with the blocks and built towers and then toppled it down pretending she was an airplane. She also went briefly to the kitchen play area and played with the pots and pans. At her table, JEA seemed to be sharing a joke with her friends when they would look at each other and giggle. She also believed that the pictures in the book were doing something funny as she wanted her friends to see it.

Object Relations
The observed child seem to be quite well adjusted to being separated from her mother, although she had just been in the daycare center early this year. This would indicate that she had already identified herself as a separate person from her mother (Santrock, 2008). Although there was no way of knowing just how able JEA is without her mother, during the time she was observed, she demonstrated positive interaction with others, was not clingy or anxious and enjoyed the company of the other children and teachers indicating that she does not suffer from separation anxiety (Santrock, 2008).  Hierarchy of Needs

JEAs needs are focused more on safety needs her physiologic needs have already been met. She has a family, is provided with food, shelter and clothing and much more. The daycare center also meets some of her physiologic needs, but what the child is concerned at this time is fulfilling safety needs in terms of having a regular source of substitute care and interaction (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004). These needs had been also satisfied by the daycare center and her interaction with other children and the daycare staff. There is also consistency and balance in the daycare center in terms of providing the observed child with emotional and social needs. Moral Development

JEA was observed to be in the preconventional stage of moral development, specifically on the stage of obedience and punishment (Santrock, 2008). This stage is characterized by the perception of actions and behaviors in relation to its consequences. For example, a child would behave according to what is required of her because not doing so would result to punishment. JEA was observed to be giggling and making jokes with her friends while the teacher was giving instructions in their class. However, they quickly became silent and adopted a serious face when the teacher looked their way. She was also careful with her writing book as she wanted to follow the exact patterns she probably did well on the task because she got a blue star. It would also seem that she is starting to exhibit the stage two level of moral development, where self-interest dominates the behavior of the child (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004). She wanted to convince her friends to read and showed them funny pictures so that she would have someone to read with in the play area, but her friends did not join her. She then stopped reading and went over to the blocks. This would show egocentric thought on the childs part indicating that she had difficulty understanding why her friends did not want to join her in reading.

Conclusion
This field observation of a young girl in a daycare center have shown that each one of us undergo the developmental stages and that the developmental theories are indeed precious tools at which normal development can be assessed. Children are fast growing individuals and the growth and development that occurs in the first years of life is so rapid and multifaceted that is mirrored only during adolescence and at no other stage in life (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004). The different aspects of development are clearly manifested in the behavior of the observed child. Physically she seemed well developed except for being skinny, but this could be more of an influence of their lifestyle or maybe she is just a picky eater which does not necessarily mean that the child is underdeveloped. Her physical appearance is typical of a three year old she has good balance, and can run and climb without difficulty. She also has good command of language, and can communicate effectively with others.

Psychosocially, she is about to resolve the task of becoming an independent individual which can take care of herself and her needs such as eating on her own, picking after herself, working with crayons and books without help and much more. She probably has been given the support and the encouragement to explore her surroundings that contributed to her confidence in doing things on her own (Kail  Cavanaugh, 2004). Cognitively, she is still developing and since this is her first time in a class she is not expected to perform on the tasks as well as the other children who had been in daycare for a year or two. But in terms of thought processes, she posses the egocentric mind of a toddler and make use of her imagination and engage in pretend play.

The observed child was also found to have attained individuation from the parent she has a working knowledge of being a separate entity from her mother, teachers, caregiver and friends. She also did not show any anxiety at being separated from her mother, thus she is well adjusted at this point. Children thrive well in an environment that has structure and consistency (Santrock, 2008), and although the child is removed from her parents and their home, the daycare center provides the structure and consistency that she needs. Thus, her safety needs are being met in this center.

Lastly, her moral development is aptly within the preconventional stage where obedience is a primary behavior for fear of punishment (Crain, 2000). The childs actions were basically bounded and followed the rules set by the daycare teachers. She had no difficulty following instructions and was amiable to the directions of the caregivers. She may display some stubbornness in her interaction with her friends but this is expected for children her age (Crain, 2000).