Brynn Hamblin

PSY 1100

Pamela Lemons

March 24, 2017

Section 1 Paper

It was the middle of a hot summer day, June 4, 1992, in Mesa, Arizona when a little baby

boy was born to Lance and Sharee Hamblin. Sharee is 61 and very petite and with all her

pregnancies, she did not gain very much weight and tended to carry most of her belly in her

back. So, it was very typical that when she went to the hospital to deliver her baby, the staff

would not believe her and would not pay much attention to her. With her second sons birth, it

was a very quick delivery, so when she got to the hospital and asked to be roomed, they told her

she would have to wait. She tried to explain to them that she was having this baby NOW, but

they still would not believe her. Finally, her husband Lance demanded that they get a room right

away. The hospital staff finally listened and roomed her. Not too long after she was roomed and

prepped, she delivered her second little boy, Jake Sherwood Hamblin. He weighed 6 pounds, 7

ounces and was 21 inches long. Sharees pregnancy with Jake was a relatively easy one, despite

her not having time for an epidural and delivering naturally. There were never any concerns with

Jake, when Sharee was pregnant with him, so it was no surprise when Jake was born a healthy

baby with no abnormalities and happy as could be.

Jake has an older brother Justin, who at the time of his birth was 2.5 years old. Justin and

Jake grew to love each other as they grew up and they especially loved getting into mischief with

one another. Everyone in the neighborhood knew who the Hamblin boys were, because of the
mischief they always caused. As the years passed, two more boys were added into their group

and the amount of mischief the Hamblin boys got into, continued to grow.

At the time of Jakes birth, his parents were 22 years old and had been married for three

years. Jakes older brother was what one would refer to as an accident baby, however Jake was

a planned baby, so his parents were delighted to find out they were pregnant with a second

little boy.

Jake is of the Caucasian decent and in his toddler years his family was considered to be

in the lower class, however they never received any social support. His parents worked many

hours, went to school and lived in a very small duplex apartment, but they were happy and thats

all that mattered to them. Eating healthy and working out were not at the top of Jakes parents

priority list, especially since they were always so busy, however they were always in good

health. During Jakes younger years, his mom worked a couple hours a week as a waitress at a

restaurant and she was also in her first semester of the nursing program at the local community

college in Mesa, Arizona. His father, Lance was a framer for a construction company and

worked long hours every day. Jakes grandma Peggy was always a big help to Lance and Sharee

as they worked and went to school many hours a week. Quite frequently, she watched the boys

while Lance and Sharee were at work or school. This is an example of allocare. The book defines

allocare by, the care of children by people other than the biological parents (Berger, 2014,

chapter 4, page 156). Sharee chose her mother to watch the boys while her and Lance were at

school and work, not because she did not trust anyone else, but because her mom did not charge

her, and at the time they did not have extra money to pay someone for daycare.

One thing that Sharee struggled with when Jake was an infant was breastfeeding. She

wanted to breastfeed her little boy, especially because of all the great benefits such as: getting
sick less often, provides nutrients for the brain and body, and they say that babies who

breastfeed for at least six months are less likely to become obese or develop diabetes or heart

disease (Berger, 2014, chapter 3, pages 109-110). However, due to complications, Sharee was

not able to breastfeed Jake for very long. Once he was a few months old, she transitioned him

over to formula. This was a very difficult situation for her, especially because of the breast is

best idea, but it was in the best interest of her as well as her baby.

From the beginning of his life, Jake was a very intelligent child. He crawled, walked and

started talking before most of the other children his age. There are three different theories as to

how children learn how to speak. The first theory is that infants need to be taught, the second is

that culture fosters infant language and the last theory is that infants teach themselves. Not only

did Jake learn to talk before most children, he also knew how to converse with his parents,

siblings and other adults. Jakes parents never used the baby talk when talking to Jake. They

always made sure to converse normally with him. Another reason Jake knew how to talk and

converse at such a young age is because he was always around older people. The book explains

how the amount of language a child has heard correlates with the elaboration of a childs

sentences and conversations (Berger, 2014, chapter 3, pages 124-125).

Jake was just like any other young boy - full of energy, loud, and full of life. As Jake got

a little older, right before he entered Kindergarten, his parents started to notice something was

wrong with Jake. They found themselves constantly repeating themselves and they started to

notice that when they would ask Jake to do something, he would not always do the right thing or

do what they asked correctly. At first his parents seemed to think that he did not understand or

just chose not to listen, so consequently, they would discipline him. However, it never got better.

At the time, his mom was the school nurse and when Jake was in his first semester of
Kindergarten they did mandatory hearing and vision tests on each of the children. When they

tested Jake, they realized he cold not hear out of his right ear. His mom felt terrible. They took

him to a specialist and confirmed that he was born deaf in his right ear. In the book it mentions

how newborn hearing is routinely checked because the sense of hearing is quite accurate

(Berger, 2014, chapter 3, page 101). Although this statement is true for more recent years, this

was not true for when Jake was born. The reason his parents never knew he was born deaf is

because they never did the mandatory hearing test on him when he was an infant. Fortunately,

Jakes deafness in his right ear did not affect or delay his speech at all.

Jake finished Kindergarten and first grade and then entered second grade. He started to

notice that he could not see the board at school and other objects, so he told his mom. They took

him to the Optometrist and realized that it was time for Jake to get glasses. Again, Jake was too

stubborn and did not want to wear glasses, however this time, his mom talked him into wearing

them. He put them on and exclaimed Wow! I can see the trees! From that point forward, Jake

wore his glasses.

From the very beginning, Jake always admired his father. Although his father worked

many hours in Jakes younger years, Jake always enjoyed his time with his father. Fathers

enhance their childrens social and emotional development in many ways (Berger, 2014, chapter

4, page 148). He would wait by the door each day for his dad to arrive home from work. This

created a close father-infant relationship. To some, it may have seemed that Jakes dad was too

rough with his little boys by throwing them up in the air, swinging them around and being

playful with them. However, because of these things, Jakes dad helped him become less fearful

(Berger, 2014, chapter 4, page 149).

 As a little boy, Jake demonstrated egocentrism. Egocentrism is a childs tendency to

think about the world entirely from their own personal perspective (Berger, 2014, chapter 5,

page 182). As a little boy Jake absolutely loved playing with little dinosaur figurines. His older

brothers birthday was coming up and Jake thought that by giving his older brother one of his

dinosaur figurines it would be the perfect gift for him. However, his older brother Justin hated

dinosaur figurines. He was out of that phase, but in Jakes mind he would love it, because thats

what Jake loved. He gave it to him for his birthday and was disappointed to find out that Justin

didnt love his gift as much as Jake thought he would.

One of Jakes favorite things to do when he was about six or seven years old was to play

outside with his brothers and friends. During the summertime, the little boys in the

neighborhood, his brothers and Jake would all get on their bikes and play outside from dusk until

dawn. They would ride their bikes down to the wash and play games. Their play was an example

of rough-and-tumble play as well as sociodramatic play. They loved playing games such as

cops and robbers as well as pretending to be farmers (they lived on a farm) and acting out their

jobs and duties as farmers. They loved to build forts, swim in the ditches and cause trouble

amongst the neighborhood. Their playtime was important and played a big role in their

development as physical activity helps develop muscle strength and control (Berger, 2014,

chapter 6, page 214).

There are four different types of parenting styles demonstrated amongst parents:

authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, and neglectful/uninvolved parenting. Jakes parents

demonstrated authoritarian as well as authoritative parenting styles. Although, Jakes parents had

strict rules that were to be followed and if they were not, there were punishments, they were also

somewhat flexible when it came to disciplining their children. They did consider themselves
guides, not authorities and not friends which would exemplify authoritative parenting (Berger,

2014, chapter 6, page 217). Their punishments depended upon their choices that needed to be

disciplined. Also, their parenting differed for each child. Jakes older brother Justin and youngest

brother Colton were much more difficult children and needed more of an authoritarian parenting

style, whereas Jake and his younger brother Jensen needed more of an authoritative parenting

style.

Throughout Jakes infancy, childhood, and adolescent years, he was part of a nuclear

family. His family consisted of his father and mother who were married and his three brothers.

Nuclear families tend to function best; children in the nuclear structure tend to achieve higher

grades in school with fewer psychological problems (Berger, 2014, chapter 8, page 297). This

statement held true for Jake and his brothers. Throughout his middle school and high school

years, Jake earned high grades and was successful in his schooling endeavors. Being from a

nuclear family, Jake was positively influenced as he graduated high school and left home for

college.

Throughout Jakes middle school and high school years, he was always a very

responsible child. Although he was a little wild and liked to be adventurous, he never got into

trouble that involved the law. He always had a great group of friends who influenced him for the

better, even if they may have done some stupid things once in a while.

Overall, Jake was a fairly easy going child who did not seem to struggle with much. He

adapted well to change as his family moved multiple times, switched schools a few times, and

was forced to make new friends. He did not care what others thought about him and dressed how

he wanted, even if it was not considered cool amongst the popular kids. His carefree attitude

helped him not struggle with the pressures of being cool and fitting in with others.
 Reference Page

Berger, K.S. (2014). Invitation to The Life Span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth