Extra Credit Assignment

1. Are there any issues you had with your parents, school work, friends, or romantic involvements in the last two years of high school that continued to be issues for you in college?
I had many issues with friends, parents, and romantic involvements as normal high schoolers do. None of them however lasted into college. Once I left for school the relationship between my friends and my parents became a lot closer, better, and stronger. Even my relationship with my sibilings got better because we stopped seeing each other on a daily basis.

2. I was very outgoing and I knew exactly what I wanted out of life. My personality is still the same even though my major changed I still know what I want and I am working very hard to get there. I was interested in my friends, family, and sports in high school. During my junior year of high school I was injured so now I am no longer able to play sports but I still maintain an interest in them. I don't go to all the school's sporting events like I did in high school though. I think my cognitive abilities have approved since being in college because I have expanded some of my skills from high school. For example my essay writing is better, my math skills are better, and my time management skills are better as well.

Final Reflections

1. Ryann has been having difficulties with her friends at school which is causing some emotional problems. Instead of going out on weekends like she usually does she hangs out at home and goes to bed early. Hopefully this fight will pass like all the others and she will be fine and get over her "depression". When she was younger she only hung out with a few kids and was pretty quiet with all the others. I guess you could say because of this I always thought she wouldn't be a partier like she used to before the fighting started. Morally, Ryann is experimenting with her own ideas. She does have opinions of her own but when she was a little younger she tended to agree with some of my morals. I have strong morals and I have done my best to express them to her and teach her so after her experimenting is done, like with alcohol and marijuana, she will have strong morals. She is planning on going to a state school and work part-time so cognitively she is heading in the right direction. Her grades were never the best growing up so I didn't exactly have the highest expectations with her getting into a private school or a UC, but I am happy she is atleast going to a state school.

2. I think that when Ryann was an infant my parenting mattered because that's when her cognitive and speach development was beginning. I made sure to read to her and always tried to help stimulate her mind as young as possible. Another aspect is with her physical health. I encouraged her from a young age that exercise is important. I took her hiking and to the park, went on walks with her during middle school and high school, and got her involved in sports. Also, behaviorally, I always tried to maintain an authoritative parenting style with her; I was loving and had the right amount of discipline. She has gone throuh the normal teenage experiences but she is very well behaved and we have a great relationship. I know that Ryann has a good head on her shoulders and will make the right decisions for her future.

3. Because our family falls into the middle-class, I had to work when Ryann was a baby and I was not able to be home with her. This did however help her to be more outgoing and accepting of strangers when she was younger. She has always had a good temperament and was always very friendly with everyone. One random event that did affect her cognitive skills was when she got in an accident and had some brain damage. She was able to recover almost fully and didn't have too many problems with school but I do believe that her grades could have been stronger if that did not happen. Also, Ryann had to give up some her after-school events that were too expensive because the economy dropped and I couldn't afford everything her and her sister were doing.

16 years 11 months

1. Honestly, Ryann's grades are average, not the best by any means, but they could be worse. She seems to enjoy physics and math so a career based on those subjects would be good for her. She also enjoys music and learning about it but she's not very interested in actually playing an instrument, so that won't work for her. She has a B average and has yet to receive an A in any of her high school classes. As a straight-A high school student I'm a little bummed but hey, she's not me. Her weakness is still English, and I also think maybe Spanish and American History according to her report card.

2. She's been going out to parties lately and coming home smelling of illegal substances like alcohol and marijuana, while she swears she is not smoking marijuana she is going through the partying phase with alcohol use. Not too excited about that one...She has had a boyfriend for the past few months and he is a bad influence on her in my opinion. She went off to get matching tattoo's and thinks she might be in love. All of her friends are very influential to her social development but not for her emotional well-being. I have a feeling that when they break up, things in her world will not be too pleasant. Her peers aren't really influencing her school achievement though.

3. Ryann is experiencing the normal adolescent issues. She has been going out with friends on the weekends and she did come home one night smelling like marijuana but she sware she didn't do it and it was just because one of her friends was smoking outside. I told her that I trusted her enough to tell me the truth but I still told her about all of the negative effects of drugs. Another night out with friends she called me to come and pick her from a party. I acknowledged the fact that she called me to come get her instead of driving drunk or getting in the car with a drunk driver. Ryann has expressed that she is "in love" with her current boyfriend so I'm afraid she might engage in sexual activities with im. I talk to her about how she should make sure she is ready and maybe wait until they both mature a little bit, that way she will know if it is worth it or not. I also gave her "the talk" about safe sex. I think the risk taking behavior could be the fact that she has gotten into two accidents already since getting her license. She thinks that nothing can go wrong, and she thinks that there will be no consequences. I am making her pay for the insurance deductables and I did restrict her driving priveledges.

15 years old

1. The internet has started to be more of an influence in Ryann's life. She has already experienced multiple online messaging fights. I have to ground her from the computer in order to keep from going on and helping keep her behavior in check. She started using words I didn't know she used while engaging in these online fights. Some positive activities that she has been benefiting from has been her involvement in softball. Recently Ryann made the high school softball team and we are all very excited to see what happens. She is very active, as she has always been, and being on the softball team will help her to stay physically fit as well as help with her changing behavior.

2. Ryann's behavior has been changing a lot for the past few years. This of course is because of the fact that she is going through puberty. She has her ups and downs with my partner and I and we are slowly adapting to her new self. She often gives me the silent treatment when we have discusions about curfew and chores, simple things like that, and instead of yelling at her or letting the conversation get out of hand I just drop the subject and let her cool down. She is experiencing normal behaviors for her age such as an increase in attitude, giving me the silent treatment, and picking fights with me over trivial things. However she is getting closer to me and starting to talk with me about more things than she did when she was in middle school. We go on walks together, especially when she comes home upset from school, and she can not stop talking, which is a good thing for me. I like that she is starting to come around and not be such an angry, rebellious person like she was in middle school.

3. Ryann's body has begun to change and develop further into a young women. She is starting to pay more attention to the way she looks and I think that this is contributing to her increase infatuation with boys. She has a solid group of friends and I think that this is because she is understanding what aspects she wants in a friend and she knows that they should have similar morals and values. Because of this she doesn't get into trouble for doing things she shouldn't be doing with her friends. Mostly I have noticed the fact that she is starting to have an interest in boys and becoming more popular at school because she is aware of her physical changes. She comes home from upset sometimes because the kids at school tease her for being flat chested, so I just explain to her that people develop on their own time and her time will come soon.