Running Head: MY VIRTUAL CHILD REPORT THREE
My Virtual Child Report Three
Martin Dankert
Ivy Tech Community College
MY VIRTUAL CHILD REPORT THREE
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My virtual child, Anne, has been developing quite well for her age. She shows
signs of intelligence and various capabilities. There has never been any extreme
situations or problems that have had to be dealt with. Any problems that have arisen
have encountered smooth transitions. Otherwise, she seems to be a healthy, happy girl.
From what I gathered for Anne’s experiences when she was six to eight years old
is that Anne has adapted to her school and social environments extremely well, to the
point that she is excelling. Why Anne is adapting very well is because of the
socialization and being able to do so well with different groups. She played with some of
the children at school and my partner and I encouraged her to have some friends in the
neighborhood. We later found out that the dynamics of each group change due to the
environment. Girls play with girls and boys play with boys when the kids are at the
school. Whereas when the kids are playing at home the genders mix and play together.
Another reason why Anne is doing so well is because my partner and I try to remain as
gender neutral as possible. By tearing down that barrier it allows Anne to explore her
potential without limitations. The real reason why is so adaptive is because as parents we
provide a stable home.
What Anne’s report card at age six says is the following:
Anne demonstrates strength in reading and writing. Demonstrates strength in
speaking, listening, knowledge of all content, social studies, and science.
She is also strong in mathematical data, number concepts, understands spatial
understanding and visual arts. When Anne turned eight her scores were above average in
word reading, reading fluency, phonological awareness, and spelling. Her scores were
information(15), vocabulary (17), similarities (16), and comprehension(16). Her
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mathematical skills are in the gifted range. Anne’s visual-spatial ability was placed
above average. These scores are identical to the “Nine intelligences in Gardner’s Theory
of Multiple Intelligences” shown in Children and Their Development. Anne has been
showing linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence,
bodily-kinesthetic (she is enrolled for dance lesson), interpersonal, intrapersonal, and
naturalistic intelligence. Most of the reasons why Anne is above average is because my
partner and I read to her and answer her questions when she has any. My partner and I
try to develop Anne’s creative ability so that she may adapt to new situations and not
become frustrated when problem solving.
My partner and I are nontraditional when it comes to gender roles. And since
Anne is a girl I would think that it would be more of a nurturing environment for her to
develop. Anne has started showing expressive traits such as; kindness, considerate, and
gentle. One thing that we did do that may look like a gender stereotype is that we
enrolled Anne into dance and gymnastics. But we chose these activities, not because
Anne is a girl, but because those activities require body and mind discipline. On
occasion Anne would copy my partner and imitate what she is doing time to time. By
Anne imitating and acting like her mother we are enabling her behavior to be more
feminine. At the same time we encourage her to try some masculine activities and have
her mother do them with her so that Anne may learn that even though she is a girl it does
not mean she has to play with dolls. Anne is a bit of a tomboy but she is quite happy
playing with both boys and girls just fine.
Watching Anne develop in to a bright, young girl was a very smooth transition.
She has been very successful as to reaching a high level in her academic skills. The one
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problem that Anne has development is Asthma, but it never got into the emergency room.
Currently, Anne is put into the advanced classes. My partner and I prepared her to be
academically competent by challenging her in everything. For reading and writing we
read books to her every night and when she got bored with it we changed to magazines
and newspaper articles to topics that she finds interesting to her. When she felt like
writing we would encourage her by getting her the tools to explore further in the subject.
For her mathematical ability we challenged her and made the problems into puzzles. She
remains interested because we made it fun to solve the problems. When it came to her
scientific ability, she developed by exploration. When Anne had questions we would
find the answer for her. We took her out to museums and provided the tools to help her
find the answers on her own. A majority of the time she would bring up scientific topics
to explore. Those are some of the things my partner and I have done to help Anne
become prepared for academics.
Anne has been very adaptive to many situations. Inside the home she is an older
sister and she is a very active part of the house. Outside the home she is in advance
dance classes, a part of a few social groups, and is placed in advanced classes in school.
She has had some moments but they rarely ever become something to become alarmed
about. Nor has she ever shown signs of stress. We provide a loving home so if she has
any issues we would respond appropriately.
My parenting style has been consistent. It may seem to evolve from an instructor
to a guide to where I do not have to constantly tell her to do things. Instead I just give her
the boundaries and she takes care of the rest. Those are the few changes that I have seen
in my parenting style.
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Anne’s personality has not changed much. She may show similar interests but
she has none of my traits. I do believe my consistent parenting is what has formed my
child’s personality, not my genetics. When I was given an opportunity to enrich Anne I
would take it while at the same time providing support. Anne is a social girl but that was
because my partner and I would provide opportunities to be social during her growth.
That is why I feel that it is consistent direction that shaped my daughter’s personality, not
my genes.
Anne’s microsystem does not affect her like her friends from school and her
friends in the neighborhood. Her exosystem does not affect her as much either. Both of
her parents work full-time jobs and Anne is very secure. What seems to affect Anne the
most would be her mesosystem because she seeks the approval and she admires her
parents. For example, when Anne was picking up my partner’s mannerisms. The
consistency she has with her parents is what has made her successful.
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References
Retrived from TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 (Biret Concerto
Edition, Vol. 2
Retrived from TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Concert Fantasia / Piano Concerto No. 2
(Biret Concerto Edition, Vol. 5)
Retrieved from TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Symphony No. 6 (NHK Symphony,
Karajan) (1954)
Retrieved from MOZART, W.A.: Symphonies, Vol. 1 (A. Fischer) - Nos. 1, 4, 5,
43
Retrived from MOZART, W.A.: Symphonies, Vol. 4 (A. Fischer) - Nos. 12-14 / K.
96