Childhood

1.        From what I can remember I really enjoyed my childhood. My parents were very involved in what I was doing and both my mom and dad were always around. We did a lot of traveling as I was growing up and I feel like I grew to appreciate a lot of different things. My brothers and I got along well when we were growing up and still get along to this day, of course there have been small conflicts here and there but over all I had a lot of fun as a child.

2.       My mom had the greatest influence on a positive way although I may not have thought of it that way then. She was strict but very authoritative. She did not let me get away for doing wrong things and she spent a lot of time with me and my brothers but working part time until we finished middle school so that she could always be home when were out of school. My mom also taught me a lot and she is a strong woman so she taught me to never let myself get taken advantage of.

3.       For the most part I agree with the decisions my parents made. I thought that some of the discipline may have been too strict by taking away a ton of privileges and limiting my time with television or other such things but now I realize that each child needs a different form of discipline and some need a more structured schedule so I now understand what they were doing 

4.       I am not sure how my life compares to many in the U.S, however my parents were very involved in my life and I know not everyone has the luxury of having very supportive parents. My parents also held very high expectations, but also knew that the things they expected were reasonable and I’m not sure if a lot of people have that either. 

5.       Compared to other countries I’d say my childhood may be very simple compared to others or very busy depending on what culture we are talking about. Compared to other Asian families we are pretty American although my parents instill a lot of cultural values as well.

I understand environment can affect child development. I understand that each child is unique and all cannot be parented the same. I understand that the way you talk to a child can affect how you get through to them. I understand that children can pick up how you feel more then you may know and it is important to be careful how you act around them

Family

1.    I would describe my family as a diverse Asian family. My mom is Korean and Japanese, my dad is Chinese and I have two brothers but I was adopted and I am Cambodian, so I like to think of our family as pretty diverse.

2.       Family connections are very important in my family so growing up my brothers and I was very close with our aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides and saw them often.

3.       I find my family relationships to be first priority; however my parents do not hold it against me when I sometimes put my friends first and especially school and work since I am in an entirely different state. They know that I always consider family first, but there are other priorities as well.

4.      For the most part I am satisfied with my family relationships but being that I only go home during winter break and 2 weeks in summer I barely get to see my family. I do however keep in contact through calls and e-mail though everyone has a busy schedule so sometimes it is hard to get a hold of some people.

5.      I think there are some very big similarities with family dynamics with close friends and coworkers. I tend to be more drawn to people who are family oriented although I do have friends that have family relations that are very different then mine. I respect differences and am open to different family dynamics.

6.       Compared to families in other countries my family probably seems very Americanized for an Asian family. Nobody in my family speaks a fluent language besides English and we have a wide variety of family friends and tend branch out from only being around other Asian families.

I understand the importance of diversity and understanding, education and the use of technology; I also understand that although there is poverty all over the world there is a massive population of children here in the states that are living well below the poverty line. I also understand that there are many cultures that see education and raising children in all different aspects.

Countries of the World

For the Countries of the world quiz I got 103 countries out of 197 countries correct. After doing the quiz I realized that I had a pretty good spread of which countries were where and that I had a good variety of  countries that I knew rather then knowing more Asian countries or European countries. When looking at the map afterwards it made me wonder, why are there so many countries that I have never heard of, then it made me also wonder what it is like in those countries and how do the people there go about their lives. This quiz made me realize that there are so many places around the world and so many different cultures and people that live life differently and raise their children within their own means. Looking at the huge spread of culture and the variety of countries also made me realize that there is so much I do not  know and it makes me curious to learn about the dynamics of different societies.