We live our life at the moment. But have
we ever wandered, how do we develop from a little baby, to an adolescent, to an
adult? There are stages to our life that we will all go through and that will
someday end. Also do we think differently in all of these stages or is it
always the same mentality? Our lives pass in front of us in the blink of an eye.
So the best is to enjoy every single one of these next stages.
We start our life in our infant days. Then
we move on to our sweet and dearly remembered childhood years. Specifically
during these stages of life we experience maturation. This is the
automatic and sequential process of development. For example, the older we grow
we experience maturation in height and weight. We also have reflexes as motor
skills. A reflex is an involuntary reaction. Babies for example have the
Babinski reflex which makes their feet fan out when their soles are touched. Other
than physical development, children go through social development. Here they
learn to relate to other people. For example, a toddler is able to play by himself
even when there are other children around. But as he grows, he develops social
skills and starts playing with other kids. In addition to social development
there is also cognitive development. Piaget’s theory if cognitive development
was inspired by the wrong answers given by children. He theorized that children’s
thinking developed in stages. The first is the Sensorimotor stage, in
which infants learn to coordinate sensation and perception with motor activity.
The second is the Preoperational stage here children start learning
symbols and language. Then they enter the concrete-operational thinking.
Here they start showing signs of adult thinking, yet they are only logical
about specific objects. At this stage they cannot understand abstract concepts.
Then in the last stage, which they hit in about puberty, they can finally think
abstractly. This stage is called the formal-operational stage. Other
than Piaget there is also Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development. The first
level is the preconventional level in which what they believe is “good”
is what helps them avoid punishment. Next is the conventional moral reasoning
level, here moral values are made by acts of conformity or what the society
deems as good. Then there is postconventional reasoning in which the
moral judgments of a person are reflected by their own personal values.
Adolescence can be the most joyful or
the most miserable days of our lives. Here we experience sudden growth
spurts and reach the point where we develop sexually or hit puberty.
Not only are there biological changes but also changes in the home and
psychological changes as well. The teens have more adult-like responsibilities
but are still dependent and are not fully responsible. Parents are usually
afraid that peer influences may lead their child into delinquency or drug abuse
but in reality peer influence usually leads to more positive aspects like good
grades. In this time of their lives, teens reach an identity crisis in
which he or she examines his or her values. To add to the list of changes
adolescents face there are also many challenges like eating disorders,
substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and sexuality.
Finally we reach adulthood, but do all
of our troubles vanish from here? No, there are still challenges that individuals
have to face in their young, middle or late adulthood. First in young adulthood
there are many things that one needs to adjust to. There are more
responsibilities. One has to learn to live with someone else, maybe to marriage
and even parenthood. Then we have middle adulthood. This is where the famous midlife
crisis kicks in. this is a period of reassessment that someone reaches in
their early 40s. This is a time where one becomes an “expert” at what they do
and it is considered a period of creativity. Finally one reaches late
adulthood. Here, like in young adulthood, one has to adjust to many things. One
is the fact that one is aging and another is accepting the fact that one is going
to die. When one is at this stage they are more prone to disorders like Alzheimer’s
which a condition of slow deterioration of mental processes is.
Young and old adult.
Our lives pass our eyes at an incredible
speed. One day we are a young teenager and the next and old man. And then
someday we realize that we are not immortal and that someday we will die. And
finally that day comes.
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