First official blog for the class and I am feeling slightly intimidated. But here goes...
Our focus in the readings this week was conception through delivery and then development in the first couple of years of life. I am really intrigued by this part of development (in part because I have relatively recently experienced the former myself, and am currently observing the latter first hand)..
I think the main point was to become familiar with the concept of temperament and how it is influenced by both genetics and environment. There is a quote on page 50 of the text that summed it up quite nicely I thought: "heredity provides the clay of life and experience does the sculpting." I liked, too, the analogy made that a person's potential is not set in stone, it is like the volume on the TV. There is a set medium level and it can be dialed up or dialed down depending on the accumulated experiences of the individual..
When I was pregnant with my daughter I had nothing to compare it to, but after going through it a second time with my son, I was amazed at how their personalities presented even in utero. My son was much calmer where my daughter was extremely active and assertive (she kicked the crap out of me). Their temperaments have developed along those lines to date - my daughter is stubborn and makes her opinion known, where my son is inquisitive and calm. As babies my daughter resisted going to bed and then awoke screaming for hours while I walked her up and down the hallways, while my son has always been happy to go to sleep and very rarely did he ever cry in the night.
My son is the typical easy baby and my daughter was a more fussy baby. I wonder if it is because I was so much more stressed when I was pregnant with her - it was all new and crazy and despite all the books I read about it I didn't really know what to expect. I felt my body was out of control. Furthermore there was a few stressful months where we were given the news that some of the standard test results indicated there could be a problem with the pregnancy. Plus I had external stress from a medical bill that I thought had been covered, so while I was pregnant I found out I owed a huge amount of money.
Second time around I had a much better understanding of the process and wasn't as nervous. My husband and I had since bought a house and were in a much more stable situation. Of course my reduced stress did not prevent complications (my son decided 30 weeks might be a good time to come forth, so I was put on bed rest - which SOUNDS better than it actually is).
Anyway, this whole section of reading has made me think a lot about the differences in my pregnancies and the differences in their personalities. It is impossible to measure, but it is definitely food for thoughts...
Hi Joanna, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I also like the idea of things not being set in stone and having the possibility of transformation. My daughter is very different from both of my sons and I often wonder how much that has to do with nature or nurture, genetic make-up versus environment and how I might unknowingly influence those characteristics by treating them differently or having different expectations or concers about them. It's always in the forefront of my mind as I attempt to be fair and balanced yet address their own individual needs. It's always and adventure. I think I will have done my job well if we have the kind of relationship in which we can lovingly discuss any mistakes I made after they are grown.
ReplyDeleteHey there Joanna,
ReplyDeleteI just want to comment on the stress you were talking about while you were pregnant. With my second child, I also had some stress. I had a fairly major operation while I was pregnant with her. The doctors weren't sure if I would keep the baby, or if there would be any major problems in her development. This stressed me out to no end. She was came into the world right on time and perfectly healthy, and by far the calmest baby of my two. I was amazed at this, being that with the first I had very little stress and she was a terror from day one. Maybe we get what we get from day one!