Week 8: Jones: The Final Word

The final chapter of the LifeSmart book was rather bland in my opinion. Entitled, “Putting It All Together,” I expected it to be more of a concluding, culmination of the book. Rather, it was directed more towards psychology rooted careers, federal funding, and political policies. I understand and agree that lifespan development is a big part of the future of our world. It is important that leaders and voters alike understand the importance and need for appropriate attention and action as it pertains to lifespan development.

As we have learned from completing the LifeSmart text, lifespan development is ever changing, bringing about the need for new theories and policies, while also revising and reviewing established theories. In the Mooney text we get a great second look at the 5 theorists: Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky. We not only see what their theories are, but Mooney gives a little more back story to each theorist, which really helped me understand the why and how some of them arrived at the conclusions that they did.

Having studied these 5 people in Educational Psychology, I did not really come across new information, but rather a fresh review and more concrete understanding their theories and ideas.

            Ultimately, I am glad I had the opportunity to take this course. I support the requirement of this course to all undergraduate college students. This course has definitely given me a fresh outlook on my approach to the students that step into my classroom everyday. As mentioned in this final chapter, it is imperative for many professional professions to understand human lifespan development such as teachers, lawyers, healthcare personnel, human resources, public service employees, etc. These specific professions are expected to service and help other people. It is imperative that individuals in these positions understand the development of human beings in all facets: cognitively, socially, emotionally, physically, spiritually etc.

 Furthermore, I think it important for all people to have some understanding of human lifespan development. The future of our state, our nation, and our world is in the hands of the youth. To take that a step further, the future of humankind is in the hands of the youth. 

Week 7: Jones: Death

Chapter 12 was quite an interesting read. I myself am definitely a product of the 21^st century United States culture when it comes to death. I try not to think about or discuss it. This chapter manages to blast the topic of death wide open. The text discusses what death is and the four different types of death: clinical, brain, biological, and social. I never really thought of there being more than one kind of death. Not to sound insensitive but I always thought that dead was dead. When a person’s heart stops beating for an extended amount of time, and all medical attempts at reviving the person have failed, they are dead.

            I found the section on grieving very interesting. I have always found grief to be a very complex emotion. The text talks about 3 specific types of grief: anticipatory, delayed, and distorted. Each sounds just as painful and difficult as the other. When I think about death/dying, I for some reason always think of my father and his family. My father is from a family of 6 children and his two parents. His parents passed away when I was very young. However since then, I have watched my father bury 4 of his 5 siblings. In this time I have watched my father and wondered about his grieving process. He always seemed to take it much better than I would expect. After reading, I wonder if he perhaps may have delayed grief. To be clear, my father genuinely mourned the passing of each of his siblings, however not to the extent I expected.

            I fear that my father’s delayed grief may be released in the unfortunate event of his eldest brother, and last surviving sibling passing. I take comfort in knowing my father is a very religious person. He is a God-fearing man, who lives each day for his faith and his family. In the reading, I found that religion and spirituality, whichever you chose, could serve as a comforting refuge for those who seek it. It gives us a sense that there is a greater plan of a higher being.

            I think I avoid the thought of death because I am still young. I have so many things in life I want to accomplish an experience before even thinking about death. However, I know that the time will come when my loved ones will pass away. Still… Not ready to think about that yet.

Week 6: Jones: ADULTHOOD!

Chapters 9 and 10 this week discussed early and middle adulthood. In some ways I feel like many of us, since we are currently in these stages, would consider much of the information shared in the text as prior knowledge. Personally, the chapter on early adulthood functioned more as a confirmation of knowledge I already had due to personal experience and observation of the experiences of my peers. However, many of the supporting statistics and visual representations of the information given by the text served to be very helpful in expanding my understanding of the early adulthood demographic.

            For example, consumption of alcohol among young adults is very common, and quite frequent in my opinion. The text supports this on p. 213 stating, “binge drinking among young adults remains at a high level.” The graph on this page is a great visual support to the statistics about young adult male binge alcohol consumption. It is no secret that the “night life” or “bar scene” is very popular amongst young adults. It is a casual social setting that many of us engage in on any given night of the week… Unless you are enrolled as a Trinity student… Then you are tabling those cocktails until after graduation. (Light humor)

I can personally relate to this chapter in many ways, obviously because it is my current stage of development. However, I was struggling severely with young adulthood in my early twenties. I graduated from a four-year university with a music degree. I was cast into the real world with no real plan or identity. Soon I found myself searching for validation, identity, and friendship, which according to the text is absolutely normal. However I was searching in all the wrong places. After a few long years of struggling with alcohol, I found myself completely lost: Emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. December 22^nd, 2010 I admitted myself into a program that saved my life. Since then I have defeated many odds with alcohol and tobacco. This is a very prevalent issue among young adults. It is a social act, a stress reliever, but above all it is and/or can be an addiction that can greatly alter the future stages of one’s development.

I am forever grateful for my sobriety. It has allowed my early adulthood development to continue to great lengths. I did not chose to share this story for pretentious or prideful reasons, rather I feel that so many young adults confide in and mask their true selves with these substances, which can severely delay or even prevent other important developmental elements to take place. I tell my story in hopes to inform and inspire others who may have a similar situation.

With all that being said, chapter 10 freaks me out. I am terrified of getting older. In my young naïve mind, many of the changes that take place from young adulthood to middle adulthood are just a preview of what is to come. Health risks increase while sexuality begins to slowly decline, and relationships become fewer but more significant.

I have recently watched my parents experience “empty nest syndrome”. My youngest brother moved away to college 2 years ago and in that time I have witnessed a great deal of change in my parents relationship not only with each other but with us boys too. It was just like the text discussed on p. 247, “it allowed time to rediscover the positive aspects of their relationship.” They go on weekend get-away trips, and set up dinner dates with us boys. While it is evident that they miss the 3 of us dearly, they seem to be having a little more fun these days. So I guess with that being said, it isn’t ALL down hill from here!