Psychology Child Development across Cultures and Ways to Ensure a Healthy Lifespan Essau

BB 6: Child Development Across Cultures & Ways to Ensure A Healthy Lifespan

• Read textbook Chapter 8: Child Development
• Spend some time exploring the 2021 State of Babies Yearbook. Look at the data and let’s talk about our babies in the US! Our tiniest friends face the biggest challenges! The State of Babies Yearbook was inaugurated in 2019 and showed that it mattered in which state a baby was born. Here is the link to The State of Babies Yearbook: https://stateofbabies.org/ (Just a side note: If you want to improve the life of our babies, you can take action here: https://www.zerotothree.org/advocate. Every child deserves the best quality of care and education.)
• Watch the Ted Talk by distinguished professor Tom Weisner, “What is the Most Important Influence on Child Development” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIZ8PkLMMUo

TED Description: If you could do one thing – the most important thing – to influence the life of a young child, what would that be (it’s likely not what you first bring to mind)? We want to improve the wellbeing of children – our own, in our community, and in the world, so thinking globally about this question is vital. Tom Weisner is an emeritus professor of anthropology and psychiatry at UCLA. He studies and teaches about culture and human development; families and children at risk; and evidence-informed policies to improve the lives of children and families. He has done research in Kenya on the effects on children and parents of rural-urban migration; in Delhi, India on families and children with autism; supports for working poor families in Wisconsin; families with children with disabilities in Los Angeles; hippie and countercultural families and children in California; sibling caretaking and education in Hawaii; non-parental and sibling caretaking around the world; and gratitude and school achievement among Latino adolescents and families in Los Angeles. He has served on the Board of the NGO ChildFund International. He went to Reed College (BA) and Harvard (PhD). He is married to Susan Meade Weisner, and has two sons and four beautiful grandchildren.

INSTRUCTIONS

Big Question: How can we improve the life of a developing child to ensure a long healthy lifespan?

In your well-structured blog use all sources provided (textbook, state of babies yearbook, ted talk) to focus on a specific topic that has sparked your interest while reading this week’s topic on human development. Make connections between the chapter, the recorded talk, and the current 2020 data in the State of Babies Yearbook. The questions below will help you to structure your blog:

• Intro to Topic/Problem: Which US state were you born in? Does it matter where you are born? Why? Use developmental theory knowledge acquired this week and link to TED Talk by Weissner. Provide a brief summary of the text and talk.
• Connection: Which state would you like to raise your children in according to the 2020 data? Why? Does it matter in which zip code you would like to raise your future children? Provide examples, for your reasoning and closely work with the provided data.
• Focus: Detail ways that ensure healthy outcomes across the lifespan. Show studies and theories listed from the textbook.
• Dilemma: What is our societal dilemma in our current society? What are some risk factors and protective or preventive factors for healthy developmental outcomes throughout the lifespan? What makes humans age healthy and happy to lead a quality of life?
• Solution: How can we ensure that all our children deserve to be raised in thriving environments? (e.g., How might a post-pandemic society look like?) List programs/approaches that work despite all odds. Use the science to back up your perspective on validated community outreach programs.
• Conclusion: Finally, how are you expanding your knowledge on human development, and what are your overall thoughts this week? Pose a critical question for your peers to further discuss and explore. Do not forget to respond to at least two peer-posts!