Naturalistic Understanding (Essay Sample)

In order to complete this assignment, I did observe my sister’s last-born daughter, who is about four years old. I went to my sister’s house after work in order to have the chance to observe my niece. Therefore, the setting for this task was my sister’s sitting room, and the time was about 6 PM.
* She was happy to see me when I arrived. She came running and hugged me. 
* As soon as I settled down, she started reporting those people who had offended her during the day. 
* She also asked for the whereabouts of one of my friends. 
* She did not keep the conversation for long as she easily got distracted by her brother playing with her toys. 
* She got mad when her brother played with her toys and even started crying. 
* However, when I told her that she could share the toys with her brother, she became relaxed and allowed him to play with the toys. 
* However, she was not as happy as she was before. 
* She immediately got disinterested in playing with her brother and took the TV remote. She went to YouTube and started watching her favourite cartoon. 
* As soon as she found the cartoon, she called his brother so that they could watch it together. 
* When she saw a cake on television, she told me about her birthday, which was due in about two weeks. She asked me to buy her a big cake like the one she had seen. 
* Then she wanted her father to buy her a big birthday gift. 
* When I asked which gift she wanted, she had no idea. All she said was, “I want a big gift.”
* As they watched with the brother, they started playing and jumping up and down, making noise. When I asked her to settle down, she said they were playing. I insisted and told her to settle down and stop making noise, and she finally stopped making noise but continued playing. 
* For some reason, she slapped the brother, and when I intervened and told her she could not be violent, she felt guilty and pleaded with the brother to forgive her. 
* She repeatedly asked the brother if he would play with him again. 
* She then became bored and just lay on the couch. Her mood completely changed after the incident, and my efforts to cheer her up were in vain. 
* However, she became cheerful when her father stepped into the house. 
She enjoys a cordial relationship with the father as she never sat far away from him the entire period I was there. 
She is talkative under normal circumstances and easily gets annoyed when things don’t work as she imagines.
One of the behaviors I picked from my niece was her friendliness and attachment to her father, and I. Crouch (2015) states that attachment is the emotional connection that develops between an infant and their caregiver. Attachment is critical in a child’s development process because it influences their cognitive, neurological, and psychological development (Granqvist, 2021). Bowlby described attachment as an emotional and affectionate bond that is strong and enduring and often develops between an infant and significant people in their lives (Gillibrand et al., 2013). My niece was happy when I entered the house because I had been taking care of her when her parents weren’t around. I have spent more time with her than either of her parents. And this is the reason why she was happy to see me. She also felt that she could report anyone who had wronged her because she felt safe around me.
The infant's attachment to a primary caregiver enables the child to develop trust or mistrust. It also shapes how the child relates to the world and forms relationships through life. Bowlby also states that the tendency to form attachments is an evolved biological given that is critical for survival and adaptation (Gillibrand et al., 2013). Granqvist (2021) states that attachment often starts with the mother or someone responsible for feeding and day-to-day care of the baby, and it acts to maintain nurturance and protection from the caregiver. And this could explain why my niece was very comfortable around her father.
One unique thing I noticed is that my niece always came to her father when either of her demands was not met. It's like her father was her "savior," and she knows that her needs will be met with no objection if she tells her father. Therefore, the attachment between the child and their caregivers is important not only for the physiological needs but also for comfort and the child's safety (Gillibrand et al., 2013).
Another behavior I observed in my niece was her expression of emotions. She seemed temperamental on various occasions. A child’s temper is mostly described under social-emotional development, which includes the child’s expression and management of emotions (Shaffer & Kipp, 2014). Social-emotional development of children also takes into consideration the child’s ability to establish good relationships with others (Shaffer & Kipp, 2014). The fundamental principle of emotional development is the ability to identify and understand one’s feelings and comprehend the emotions of others (Shaffer & Kipp, 2014). My niece responded with anger when her brother started playing with her toys. She got angry to the point that she almost cried. But after a little persuasion, she allowed her brother to play with the toys.
Her emotions were also expressed in the form of guilt and embarrassment. Guilt, embarrassment, envy, and pride are considered complex emotions and are sometimes called self-conscious emotions because they involve enhancing or damaging one’s sense of self (Shaffer & Kipp, 2014). According to Zaporozhets (2020), embarrassment usually emerges when a child is able to recognize themselves in the mirror or in a photograph. And this is true because my nieces call herself a princess, and she knows that she is the last born.