Personal Reflection On Raising My Virtual Child

Raising my virtual child was a very interesting experience for me. I had a little girl and I named her Anna. She was early and had a low birthweight but other than that she was completely healthy. The program made the decisions that I had to make very realistic. There were issues and decisions in everything from development to how I disciplined my child. I think this is a very cool idea for classes like ours. It gives you a hands on approach to the things we were learning in class.
Anna was relatively smart her cognitive abilities were normal for the most part. Anna’s scores throughout most of her life were the same when it came to her different areas of cognition. Her levels on language comprehension and production were average in range and …show more content…
I do believe that there was a goodness to fit between Anna and I, as I am slightly introverted but also enjoy being around people once I get to know them.
My parenting style was definitely authoritarian, even though I told myself that I would never be THAT parent. I believe this influenced the high performance rate with Anna but I also believe that it was the reason in which she acted up. I believe my parenting style was influenced by the household where I grew up. I was raised by authoritarian parents. I tried to take in account what I learned from our developmental class, but I think instinct took over. I used methods that I needed to help her develop correctly but the discipline I believed I learned from my own …show more content…
The first stage is fairly simple. Trust vs. Mistrust is all about the infants need to know if his/her world is safe. In this stage they develop a sense of trust as long as the mother or caregiver provides a safe and affectionate home, but if there is a lack of these things then the infant develops mistrust. Anna developed trust quickly as she was well cared for and loved endlessly within my virtual home. The next stage starts around two years of age and it is known as the Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. In this stage the child normally starts to develop a certain sense of personal control over physical aspects of life. If the child is successful they get the feeling of autonomy if not that is where the shame and doubt come in. Anna did well in this stage she became very dependent very quick. Although, at times she needed help, she was reluctant to ask and was confident in herself. By the time she was in the Industry vs Inferiority stage I had no worries about her development. She was very good and coping with school and situations with her friends. She did excellent in school and that instilled the good feeling instead of one of inferiority. The last one I am discussing is Identity vs. Role Confusion which takes place from twelve to eighteen. The main focus of this stage is social relationships and personal identity. Anna didn’t do too well in this area, she fell off at about the age