Question 5.

What would have been the ideal family, peer, and school contexts in which you
could have developed as a child? This question asks you to outline the ways in which your
family, school, and peer contexts were ideal or could have been more ideal. This is not an
opportunity to bash or praise the way you were brought up. Rather, it is a chance to reflect on
what was possible in your life, a true scholarly endeavor. Question 4. Jamie and Paul just had a
baby girl -- Susan. They want her to grow up tall, healthy, strong, and rich. They are interested
in her becoming an athlete in hopes that she will receive an athletic scholarship to college and
pursue a lucrative athletic career. They do not necessarily care about the area she excels in, but
they want her to excel athletically at something. They are willing to do anything to promote the
physical and motor development of their child throughout her childhood to sustain her physical
and motor growth in a healthy way. While you do not necessarily approve of what Jamie and
Paul are doing, you know they will listen to your advice about doing what they want to do safely
and not the more dangerous advice of other, less informed friends of theirs. What do you say to
them about promoting healthy physical and motor growth and athletic skill in childhood?
Answering this question offers you an opportunity to integrate 1) our classroom discussions of
the ideal miscrosystems (i.e., family, peer, school contexts) for promoting child development; 2)
the theory and research regarding these contexts presented in lectures, the textbook and readings;
and 3) your own ideas and life experiences. Introduce your answer by very briefly describing
yourself at a particular age from 2 to 11, providing information about personal characteristics at
the time which may be relevant to this discussion and the cultural context in which you grew up
(rural Idaho, suburban Utah, or urban L.A., etc.). Then for each of the three microsystem
contexts (family, peers, schools), write a paragraph outlining the two or three features you
believe were ideal or could have been more ideal given the reality of being a child growing up in
the context you grew up in. Each feature of the ideal context you cite should be fully justified as
ideal by reference to research, theory, or argument. Focus on two or three important ideal
features for each context, but for each one explain why it is ideal. Finally, comment on the ways
in which you think you would be different if you had indeed grown up in the ideal context you
describe.
Question 4. Jamie and Paul just had a baby girl -- Susan. They want her to grow up tall, healthy,
strong, and rich. They are interested in her becoming an athlete in hopes that she will receive an
athletic scholarship to college and pursue a lucrative athletic career. They do not necessarily care
about the area she excels in, but they want her to excel athletically at something. They are
willing to do anything to promote the physical and motor development of their child throughout
her childhood to sustain her physical and motor growth in a healthy way. While you do not
necessarily approve of what Jamie and Paul are doing, you know they will listen to your advice
about doing what they want to do safely and not the more dangerous advice of other, less
informed friends of theirs. What do you say to them about promoting healthy physical and
motor growth and athletic skill in childhood?