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"The Exploration of my Lifespan Development"
"The Exploration of my Lifespan Development"
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ReferencesHockenbury, D. (2011). Discovering Psychology + Study Guide. Worth Pub.infed.org | Lifespan development and lifelong learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/life-span-development-and-lifelong-learning/IntroductionA life is a funny thing to live. Consistently we learn, grow, and morph into what we will become through a series of psychological stages. From the time we are born the saga begins. Our environment, our relationships and a magnitude of experiences impact the development of our character and personality. A brief glance at my life story will give a great deal ...view middle of the document...
Moving her two young children in with her mother was far from ideal it was however the most secure and well-adjusted environment she could provide for us at the time. My grandmother was somewhat strict. She had little tolerance for childish behavior, even from children. There was a great deal of love and support that we received from this family dynamic however. My grandmother and my Aunt Pam and Uncle Bob, who did not live far from us, made up an amazing network of love and support for my mom, my brother and I. We were a very tight-knit extended family; my aunt and uncle also had two young children who were born right after my brother and I. Nine months after I was born my cousin Donald arrived, and just sixteen months after that his sister Amanda was born. The four of us were raised like siblings rather than cousins and I am very grateful for that!When I was six my mother, feeling somewhat smothered by the family, decided to move my brother and I about 100 miles north to a very small community in the Adirondack mountain region. It was a serious adjustment for our family. My mother's independence and forceful determination resulted in the establishment of a nice life for us. We did not have a car for the first few years we lived in Lake George. This presented some unique challenges. Unlike the city where public transportation was readily available this rural area provided few options for alternate transportation. Our family did things like walk across the frozen lake with our dirty laundry on a sled to get to and from the laundry mat; the same process was necessary for grocery shopping. It was not always fun but I believe those experiences were character builders and also bonded my mom, my brother and I in a way a family only bonds through hardship. There was, however, another member in our household. My mom's boyfriend Scott lived with us most of my childhood, over the years we established a bond with him as well. There was some discord in this dynamic though, like my father, Scott suffered from severe alcoholism and an array of psychological dysfunction all his own. What I experienced as a child was a blend of hardship and happiness. Scott's alcoholism caused a great deal of problems for our family, however, I cannot imagine my past not including him. My mother and he definitely shared a love and some of the time things were simple and manageable. There were other times that anger and resentment fueled high levels of anxiety in our home. Some nights my brother and I endured relentless yelling and sometimes-even violence between the two of them. I remember going to school some mornings feeling ashamed of my home life and wishing I had the simplicity my classmates seemed to experience. -In life I suppose we play the cards we are dealt though, and somewhere along the line I we develop our "poker face".- My mother and Scott stayed together well into my adolescent years I was about sixteen when they finally parted ways.Academically I was v...
