Psychology Poll: Part One of Two

[melwil]

I'm doing a questionnaire for my Human Development class, and as well as normal paper and pen I want to try Live Journal. Please fill it out for me, and the second part which will be my next post. I'm looking for a good sample, regardless of whether you have children or not, how old you are or what country you come from. Please pimp this around for me!



[Poll #330335]



Go to the second part . . .

Comments

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

Well I'll probably be lynched on my answer to the alcohol question. But I'm not totally convinced by the *total avoidance* policy. I'm sure the majority of our grandmothers, and probably mothers consumed some alcohol during pregnancy. Where's the evidence of a large percentage of the population adversely affected?
Please understand that I'm not advocating pregnant women drinking. Just not convinced that a small amount is harmful.

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

I answered "avoid it all," but I'd agree that we're all a bit over-freaked about it. A glass of champagne at a wedding is not, in all likelihood, going to do vast amounts of damage. Oddly enough, babies did live through centuries and centuries without expert medical advice.

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

Relieved I'm not totally alone.
I recall reading an article a while ago which looked at the incredible pressures on pregnant women, with don't do this, don't do that...and they probably end up more stressed which in turn could cause problems.
And for the record, I'm a scientist and I don't drink ;)

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

If there'd been an answer between "avoid it all" and "one a day," I'd have chosen it. A lot of this sort of thing boils down to "Use your brain."

(On the "important for an infant's well-being," I almost checked "teach right from wrong," but for a baby, abstract principles aren't there yet. I'm a little disappointed that this wasn't on the older child questions, though, as it's probably a parent's most important job overall.)

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

*nods* I did consider "low consumption of wine and beer," but then I decided that I'd probably play it safe (though admittedly, as I haven't yet tried an alcoholic drink I liked, this isn't saying much; for me the hard part would be good nutrition with lots of veggies!) and that I had no idea how exactly "low consumption" would be interpreted.

And I was considering "teach right from wrong" myself until I looked back and realized the question said infant. I tried to imagine explaining morality to a week-old baby and giggled.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Nah. I answered "total avoidance" but I think having one or two drinks during the course of pregnancy isn't going to hurt you.

There's scientific evidence that drinking during the first trimester is the worst, and of course that's usually the time when most women drink before they realize they're pregnant, and then: stress. (I can count up and name the drinks I had before I knew I was pregnant, because I did worry a bit -- but then realized that, obviously, if I could count and name them, there weren't that many. I settled down.) And my daughter is fine.

After the first tri, it's up to you. In the US, pregnant women are typically told to avoid it altogether -- perhaps an artifact of US approach to drinking, which is often binge or abstain. This isn't to say there aren't moderate drinkers in the US -- but they don't get the press. ;)

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

There were a couple of them that I'd give different answers than were offered.

When a parent gives a baby new objects or toys, how would you expect the baby to respond?
I'd say "With ambiguity"--attraction/repulsion response. People (from babies on up) are both attracted by and fearful of new things. A baby won't put on the same act as an adult; s/he will indulge both instincts. I don't think this is quite the same as confusion.

What should a parent do when the baby begins to crawl?
On this one, the answer is, for heaven's sake, don't freak. Yes, you might want to remove really valued or unique things at first, but if you have a crawler, some stuff is going to be broken. It's a good time to start teaching the word "No." My cousin had an approach I appreciated when her baby started crawling up stairs around a year old. She said, "No, [name]." (Baby had already made the primal mistake of showing that she knew the word.) If the baby kept crawling, it was "No," again. I tried to pull her down from the stairs, but my cousin said "No" to me as well--"She knows what she's doing."

Finally, with enough firm "No"s and no picking up and cuddling, baby understood that she was not where she was supposed to be, and was not being remotely cute. She stopped and crawled back to the kitchen.

The same goes for touching things that aren't supposed to be touched. Sooner or later, the baby has to learn the word "No."

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

"No" is a good word.
Of course you do get the children like my brother who would wait till mum was looking at him and then touch the powerpoint, knowing full well he wasn't allowed.
A sharp "Ahh!" (can't quite spell that sound) when they're in a situation that is potentially dangerous and needs to be acted on straight away also works wonders.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

When Meg started crawling, we childproofed pretty heavily, but there were some things we couldn't remove -- like the CDs. Those because our "no" teaching items.

Meg understood "no" from a very young age. We tell Meg not to touch the (whatever) in a pleasant voice, and she usually stops (or is redirected). If she doesn't stop, we boom out "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" in a loud, firm voice. She stops. (Sometimes she runs to us for comfort, too.) Most of the time, she's pretty aware that what she's doing isn't appropriate. (She's 1 1/2 now, and the boundaries are set.)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

A few places there you didn't quite have the answer I wanted. A lot of toddlers have temper tantrums because they are trying to work out the difference between what they want and what you want. They'll push over a lamp, not to see it fall (they've learned about gravity) but to watch your face and see how you'll react.

And even normal behaviors like hitting or non-cooperative play can be talked about to small children. They won't absorb the ideas until they're ready for them, but hurtful things can be stopped or prevented with supervision and gentle words can help identify alternatives. (Just as long as you don't expect the child to change behaviors right away!)

[thistlemeg.livejournal.com]

Oh, crap. I kind of rushed through the last 2 questions (it's really to late to be up) and didn't even see the second answer on the one with the TV. I would have picked that had I seen it. :D

And, like other people have said, I don't think absolute abstention is necessary throughout the entire pregnancy, but I think drinking should be rare enough that I didn't feel quite comfortable with the other answers.