ADOLESCENT AND ADULTHOOD: POSITIVE JOURNEY

October 6, 2018, I attended a seminar and our first speaker was Dr. Ma. Angelli Lorbes-
morito. Her topic was about Adolescent and Adulthood. Development is a lifelong affair, which
does not stop when we reach adulthood. I remember our speaker asked one of the audiences
what is her purpose in life, and I figured out asking myself what is really my purpose in life? And
I can`t answer it because I still don`t know my purpose in life then I thought my family and the
course that I choose which is Education, my family is my inspiration in every decision that I
made. And I think that my purpose in life is to make my family proud and happy and of course
inspire every child to learn. Her topic was about adolescent, she said that Adolescence marks
the transition from childhood into adulthood. It is characterized by cognitive, psychosocial, and
emotional development. The young person is becoming capable of thinking about the world, and
dealing with the challenges it presents in new and more powerful ways.

I heard that during adolescent and adulthood, mental health is at risk, according to WHO
it is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with
the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a
contribution to his or her community”. Reference to this definition makes it clear that mental or
psychological well-being is influenced not only by individual characteristics or attributes, but also
by the socioeconomic circumstances in which persons find themselves and the broader
environment in which they live specially during adolescent and adulthood. The adverse
experiences, conditions or environments that affect the mental well-being of younger children
apply equally to adolescents. In addition, there are a number of other significant risks that have
particular pertinence to this life stage. Adolescents are also susceptible to peer pressure and,
increasingly, media influences that may encourage substance use. In addition to these risks to
health, substance use in adolescence is linked to lowered educational outcomes, more risky
sexual behavior and heightened violence. Individuals who have a secure and supportive period
of adolescence and childhood behind them, and who are able to exercise emotional control and
social aptitudes, are better equipped to deal with the set of choices and challenges that
inevitably present themselves in adulthood.

Our second speaker was Dr. Jeremy Cruz. Her topic was all about Holistic Education.
Holistic education is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds
identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural
world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace. Every child is unique, all
children are different no child is the same so this means that all children will grow and develop
at different speeds and different rates. Meggitt (2006 p1) states “developmental norms are
sometimes called milestones – they describe the recognised pattern of development that
children are expected to follow. Each child will develop in a unique way”. Holistic development
sees a child as a whole person it sees all the child’s areas of development.

There are also many things that will have influence on a child’s development, teachers,
parents, observations and the environment. A teacher has a major role of a child holistic
development. They will help all the children in there care with all areas of their development. A
teacher can help children with any part of their development. Parents are probably the most
important people in a child life meaning they are the ones who majorly help their children with
their development. The parents are the ones who start children off with their development, from
the day they are born they help them to hold their head up, walk and learn to talk etc. Parents
help their children with all the areas of development more than others. Parents will know the
major mile stones in a child’s development like walking and talking but sometimes parents do
not know the little bits of a child’s development, like there mental development, social skills,
gaining knowledge and understanding of the world and this can sometimes be the most
important. Then this is where a teacher parent relationship can be very important so that they
can communicate with each other about their child’s development. It is important that the
parents are involved in their child learning and development at school as well as at home for the
child’s wellbeing. Parents will help their children to develop in all the different five areas of
development which are language development, physical development, cognitive development
and social and emotional development. A classroom environment can have also have an effect
on a child’s holistic development, by the teacher knowing the children they will be able to set up
and environment that the children will like and enjoy and feel welcome in the teachers can do
this by asking the children what they would like in their classroom as using a few of the children
ideas around the classroom, this will make the children feel a lot more welcome as they will feel
that they have made a contribution to the classroom area. This will have an effect on a child’s
development (National Strategies 2008) states “Create an indoor environment that is reassuring
and comforting for all children, while providing interest through novelty from time to time”. By
creating an enabling environment where children feel welcomed they are more likely to use it
and develop within it. It’s not just the class room where teachers can create this, the outdoors is
where children learn and develop and explore when there young so by bringing the children’s
interests outside too it will help them develop a whole lot more.

Observations will mainly be done by the teachers in schools as they have to do them as
teachers but parents will also do observations of their children. Teachers do observations so
that they can see where a child is with their development by doing this they will be able to see if
there ahead, at the right level or behind with their development. They can then help the child to
progress in a way that suits that child as every child is different and are at different stages of
development. When you have done an observation you can then see how affective that
observation has been to you and to the child. You will be able to see how affective the
observation has been by looking at the results of the observation and again comparing them to
what you were observing the child for. A teacher can then see what they can do to help the
child; they can then make a judgment on what to do next for the child to help them if they need it
in anyway. There are many implications when undertaking observations on a child because they
behaviour of the child that day may be different to any other day because something has
happened. Another reason could be that the child is tired there are many reasons that a child
may behave different that day. This is why teachers with normally do two to three observations
of a child on different days at different times to make sure something that have seen that day is
nothing out of the ordinary for the child. Doing professional observations does take practice to
do them properly.