Skyler Vanderhoof

Section 1 Person Paper

PSY 1100-Lemons
10/26/14

When Patty and David first met in 1990 they were both somewhat successful in their careers.
Patty was a trauma nurse that worked somewhat odd hours and David was an accountant at a
successful accounting firm. After dating for two years they had decided to get married and start
a family since they were in a good place financially. Patty was 26 and David was 29 years of
age. With a combined income they made around $160,000 dollars per year. They owned their
home with a mortgage and two car payments, yet still had the financial means to save and plan
for the future. With David being an accountant they had always been smart with their money
and knew how to plan for the future or life altering events.
Within 5 months of being married they started to try for a baby. They had no difficulty with
conceiving a child and announced they were due in June of 1993. When meeting with their
OBGYN they found no problems with the pregnancy and everything was going according to
plan. With Patty being a nurse she was well versed in the clinical aspect of a birth. Patty had a
family history of having twins, but she knew that only about 1 in every 250 conceptions result in
twins (Berger, Pg. 46).
By the third month of pregnancy Patty knew that sex organs were developing and it would soon
be time for a sonogram to find out the sex of the baby (Berger, Pg. 61). When meeting with their
doctor they discovered they would be giving birth to a boy named Scott. From what their doctor
could see, everything looked normal. From that point they met with their doctor on a monthly

basis until it was time for birth. Patty was somewhat worried that they may have to deliver Scott
cesarean section due to him being breeched unless he changes positions before labor hits (Berger
Pg. 63).
Fortunately Scott did move to a position that he could be delivered naturally with no
complications. Scott was right in a healthy range of 7 lbs at birth which was not below the low
birth weight of 5.5 lbs (Berger, Pg. 67).
When it came to communication during infant ages, Patty knew that infants preferred hearing
speech over any other sounds. She knew from working in the healthcare industry that infants
could learn speech much faster when being spoken to as an infant (Berger, Pg. 112). David was
not very interested in baby talk which he admits that he is not good at the type of talk infants
want and need. This was something Patty was trying to teach David that has to happen and they
are working on as parents.
Scott continued to grow as a healthy child. However marital problems started to arise between
Patty and David. Patty did not feel that David was involved enough in Scotts life. It started
with the baby talk, then moved to not wanting to watch Scott while Patty could run errands, next
she just felt that he was not wanting to be involved at all as family. This obviously took a toll on
Scott seeing his parents fighting and yelling at one another. When a child is exposed to
something like this it affects their ability to process and manage emotions (Berger, Pg. 169).
When Scott reached the age of three is when his parents started to have some serious discipline
problems. Whenever they would try to discipline him for acting out in some way, he would push
back harder. They both knew that children wanted structure and discipline. It was a human
reaction that showed a child you care about them. They found that positive reinforcement was

what worked best for Scott. Expecting that he would have outbursts, but knowing how to react
and bounce back from them (Berger, Pg. 216).
By age six Scott had gained an interested in sports. His favorite sport was soccer which took up
a lot of his time outside of school. One problem that his parents noticed early on was that Scott
was not the average size boy. He was visibly bigger than the other kids his age. They took him
to his pediatrician where his BMI was looked at and Scott was put into the eighty fifth percentile
for someone his age which put him into the overweight category (Berger, Pg. 236). His parents
quickly made it a family affair to eat better within the household. Scott was getting plenty of
exercise, but it was clear that they did not have a healthy eating habit.
Once Scott had reached Jr. High School his parents had decided to divorce. They felt that they
have reached the point that they need to go their separate ways and not put Scott through any
more than he has already been through. When talking to Scott about this he was clearly upset,
but he was old enough to understand that it was for the best. Patty was clearly concerned about
this due to the fact that living in a single parent household puts a child at greater risk for things
such as academic levels (Berger, Pg. 285).
During the divorce Patty and David were very civil with one another which helped with Scotts
anxiety about the whole thing. He clearly had a difficult time with it because it was the only
thing he knew, however he knew it was for the best.
Within about a year, David had met someone and fell in love with another woman. Scott was to
the age that he really just wanted to be with his friends and not so much with his dad. David
introduced his new relationship to Scott and told him that she had children of her own. Scott was
a little thrown by this because he realized that he may or may not have step brothers and sisters.
Although this is not ideal for children when they are young in their minds it actually has more

benefits than disadvantages. Children that have a mixed family tend to do better in school and
feel they have a better support system than in a single family home (Berger, Pg. 284).
With his mother being on her own she had not met another man yet. She was living in low
income housing which can cause a family to not be able to provide the five family functions:
Harmony and stability, nurturing peer relationships, instill self-respect, provide necessities, and
encourage learning (Berger, Pg. 281).

Even though Scott had a great support system between

both of his parents he did lack in peer relationships. He had a hard time making friends at
school. When you are at the age of middle school and high school friends are so important to
you at that age it took its toll on him. He was a good student and Patty always made sure he was
provided for, that was something that she felt she could not help with because it was not
something that she could give him directly.
Once Scott reached High School puberty started which is unusual for someone that has been
through something such as divorce. Typically adolescents that are put into high stress situations
start early (Berger, Pg. 314). Although his parents did a great job at being positive about their
separation, it will always take a toll on a child in some way shape or form. Scott did not have a
lot of friends due to his parents divorce. He tends to shut people out because he does not want
to lose someone so it is easier for him to just shut them out completely. With him not reaching
puberty at the normal age of an adolescent he felt out of place in certain situations because he felt
different than other boys.
He started getting the typically acne that teenagers get which did not help with his inability to
make friends. With puberty roaring through his system he started to notice more aggression as
time grew on (Berger, Pg. 311). He never acted out too much in school, but at home he started
the typical teenage attitude. Never wanting to open up to his parents, never wanting to show

emotions, etc. when in reality he was going through a lot that he probably should have talked
about it. His Father was getting married, step siblings were moving into his house, his mother
was not in the best place which made Scott worry for her, and he was still trying to figure out his
own identity with being in high school.

References
Berger, K. (2010). Invitation to the life span. New York: Worth.