Toddler Autonomy Observation

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I chose to observe children playing at a friend’s home. One toddler, Deliah, is a 24 month old female and the other, Felix, is a 26 month old male. One child, Felix, is Caucasian and belongs to a middle class family. Deliah’s mother is Caucasian and her father is Ghanian. They are also middle class. Felix spends most of his time home with his mother, but plays at a friend’s house while she attends work 15 hours a week. Felix has one sibling, an 8 month old girl. Deliah lives with both of her parents and does not attend daycare. She stays home with her mother during the days while her father works. Deliah has 3 siblings in the home, two older (one male and one female) and one younger (a female). The children were observed playing at the home Deliah’s family lives in. For most of the observation period, the children were playing together outdoors in the backyard. The backyard has trees, a picnic table, play area with a sandbox and playhouse, a bin containing balls and a Frisbee and several tricycles. Both toddlers seemed to be comfortable with their surroundings and one another. I know the children’s mothers from my neighborhood and know that the families get together often on weekdays so that the children can play together. The first struggle for autonomy that I observed was when Felix wanted to play with the ash in the outdoor fire pit. His mother walked over and said “Felix, this is not safe. Please play somewhere else. I am going to take your hands out of the ashes.” Felix pulled his hands away from his mother and turned around to put his hands back in the ashes. Felix’s mother held his hands again and said “Felix, this is not safe. You can go play in the sandbox or with the balls. Please choose something else.” Felix picked up a stick, threw it into the fire pit and ran away to a tricycle where he climbed on and started pedaling around

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