Parenting is a complex yet exciting adventure for many parents because of the multifaceted experience of raising a child. The virtual child program in this course has given the opportunity to experience this journey of parenting and develop my skills. This adventure of raising a virtual child has given me the opportunity to utilize conceptual knowledge gained in the classroom. I started my journey in the virtual child program by raising a boy named Mason from 2 to 6 years old. This experience is substantially different from raising an infant who expresses himself through crying, especially at night.

At 2 years of age, Mason would play a lot with his peers and share his toys. Mason would occasionally cry when interrupted from playing with his peers or when something wrong/unpleasant would happen. Mason seemingly used play as a means of creating relationships and emotional attachments with his peers. This is a reflection of one of the concepts learned in the classroom and textbook regarding children aged 2 years. Brooks (2013) states that two-year-olds tend to play with their peers as a means of forming stable relationships that can last for more than a year. These friendships are crucial emotional attachments that enable the child to adopt to new environments at preschool or day care. While at home, Mason would also spend time playing with me and his older siblings. This helped to develop his social competence as well as foster integration into the family.

As a preschooler aged 3-4 years, Mason engaged in more sociodramatic plays and verbal interactions at home and with his peers. He enjoyed more engaging activities like drawing and building. By the time he turned 6 years old, Mason had developed stable friendships and emotional attachments with his peers, siblings and parents. He would also quarrel and get angry at his peers, but find ways of resolving the fights through either disengaging or settling scores.

Reference

Brooks, J. J. B. (2013). The process of parenting (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.