Chapter 12 & 13

Chapter 12; Work and Leisure

Occupational and Lifestyle Issues in Young and Middle Adulthood

This chapter starts out with ” Work- it seems as though that’s all we do sometimes.” In our society today this is the case for most of us. Many of us start off with an idea of what we want to be when we grow up. I personally wanted to be Indiana Jones, traveling all over the world looking for priceless treasures and narrowly escaping danger at ever turn. Childhood dreams are great! unfortunately not many of us end up being what we dreamed of. Choosing an occupation can be difficult. Some of us have family expectations, financial factors and even gender issues to tend with. Holland’s theory of occupational choice argued that “the choice of a vocation is an expression of personality”. Although i still think my personality expresses dangerous adventure, I choose to become a nurse. Where my witty, caring, and compassionate personality shines. Holland’s theory states that people choose occupations to optimize the fit between their individual traits, such as personality, intelligence, skills and abilities, and their occupational interest. I highly agree with this due to the simple fact of if you don’t enjoy what you do, why do it? and most people train for an occupation in a field of interest. However the  flaws in this  theory are, due to limitations that some have, and ethnic and gender factor. s.

Job satisfaction is a necessity in my opinion. I always found that praising and giving my employees a sense of accomplishment gave them the incentive to earn that praise every time they worked. I also feel if one is not satisfied in one work, ones work suffers.

I have for years juggled work and family. When my children were younger I, as millions of other parents, had to rely on my husbands and my ability to organize and mange the work ,household chores, family time and also find time for myself. Although it took many trial and error's, we finally found our way and have found that it benefits not only us but our children to have us able to have our leisure time away from our busy lives.

Chapter 13; Making It in Midlife

The Unique Challenges of Middle Adulthood

This is my chapter. As I am going to be 40 in about as week, I can so relate. I started noticing slight physical changes in my appearance a couple of years ago. I started having more grey hairs emerge, my back and knees would hurt more and more after any physical activity. And with my experience with working with older females the likely hood of developing osteoporosis, i decided to make a huge life change. I began to exercise on a regular basis, my eating habits have changed dramatically, I still sneak my occasionally Big Mac and Fries, but because of the scare of being so debilitated in my “golden years” I realized it was time to take responsibility for my health. And I can honestly say that my stress level has also improved with my physical improvement.  I have always had type A behavior but have focused it in different areas of my life. When I learned to direct it inwards it helped keep me on track. I am not saying that I am hostile or always angry , I just don’t like to fail at anything. i do fear getting older and the future changes , both physically and mentally. Menopause is something that my mother has recently gone through that was very difficult for both her and I to deal with. As women we are often given talks about sex, marriage, child rearing, and parenting. But how many of us can actually say we are given any heads up about this major event that will eventually happen to us all? None I know. I hope now that I have helped my mother with this stage of her life I will better prepared when it happens to me. And I hope that I can pass this knowledge on to my daughter.

Chapter 8 & 9

First, I want to start off with saying, “It is a wonder that any of us make it through adolescence.”

Chapter 8: Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence

Reading through this chapter it reminded me of what a tough time this was for me, and how much I didn’t know about the process. With my son quickly growing up I am grateful to have the chance to have a better understanding. As the text went through the pubertal changes I was quick to note the physical changes that await my son such as; reproductive organs  (primary sex characteristics), facial hair ( secondary sex characteristics) and of course spermarche, which my husband will have the job of dealing with that discussion. Health issues are a big topic in my household , due to how many sports my son is involved in. . Over the past few months he has begun to , on his own, be involved in more physical activity to prepare him for the up coming changes to his body, and being more aware of  his nutritional intake.  He enjoys the competition in sports and also the accomplishment of practice and learning new friends. He has several times been praised for his good sportsmanship, he is one who just enjoys playing. “Winning is great’” he says to me, “but it’s not everything. I just like to have fun.”  As the text states boys need a little extra iron and calcium intake for their developing muscles, I started daily vitamins for him years ago but after reading this I checked the amount of iron and calcium he was receiving and noted that the children’s vit. I give him hardly have any calcium and iron supplements in them. So I called my family MD and he recommended a new one which we have started yesterday. Cognitively I do see him processing information differently, he stops and thinks more often before he answers a question. He has become more diligent about making sure he does his 30 minutes of reading daily to keep his skills improving for next school year, middle school I am very lucky to have such a wonderfully amazing son.

Chapter 9; Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

As I had issues with self-esteem and my identity through these rough stages, I hope that my experience will allow me to give my son the advice to hopefully make the right choices. I remember going through these stages with my daughter where, I knew absolutely nothing about being a teenager and what she was going through, (adolescent egocentrism). We have come to an agreement now that she is a bit older and  married , that I do know a little bit more about life than her. We still butt heads quit a bit but she has grown to be a her own person and I am extremely proud to be her mom. I fortunately did not have to deal with her being into drugs and alcohol. She was and continues to be a part of a youth group, which I feel has helped her deal with many issues dealing with her adolescence. We of course had our dealing with dating and boys, and the breaks up where she swore she would never love another, which she did and was married to that love last Aug. The text discussed working and the effects it can have both positive and negative on an adolescent. My daughter starting working a an NAC at the age of 16, and she did only work 15- 20 hours a week.  She continues to work at the same place today. And although she also went through the make it and spend it phase, I feel that having that sence of accomplishment in making her own money has allowed her to become more financially responsible today. And as for Holland’s personality type theory, my daughter fits her job perfectly. She has always been extraverted and caring, lots of friends. She has always dreamed of a career on the stage as she enjoys expressing herself. I encourage her to follow that dream with hopes of her accomplishing them.

Last, I wanted to discuss the Current Controversies feature regarding , When Juveniles Commit Serious Crimes, Should They Be Tried as Adults? I think it really depends on the individual. We should of course consider the age of the juvenile, do they have the mental cognitive development to understand why they committed the crime and what the consequences are? Some individuals mature sooner than others. The enviroment in which they were raised should also be considered, moderately. Although some one brought up in a poor community can have wonderful caring parents that taught them right from wrong, they maybe forced by other means to commit a crimes, such a Heinz and his aillig wife. On the other end of the spectrum, you can always have the “rich kid” that commits a crime because he/she believes they are above the law.  Should these two individuals be treated the same way???