Samantha Armendariz

5/12/16
Sociology 350
The Continuum Concept Personal Experience #2
The Continuum Concept is the idea that children need to be reared in a very specific way

in order to fulfill needs that have adapted over millennia. Fulfilling these needs allows

individuals to later reach optimal physical and mental development. I can observe in my own life

where the lack of these principles may have caused behavioral disruption in my youth. When I

was young my mother had to work and this kept me separate from her for most of the time. My

grandma watched me for the early years of my life. As I got older and my grandma drove me to

and from school, she would often reward me with fast food. I see now that this pattern of

behavior was somewhat perverse. Firstly, I did not have any contact with my mother all day

while she was at work. Secondly, I was told what I could and couldnt do most of the day and

forced to sit still in a classroom. This seems to suggest that my normal impulses could not be

trusted and I had to ask permission to go to the bathroom. Any time spent lingering would get me

in trouble, because I presumably am not wise enough to govern myself appropriately. Fast food

later became associated with seeing loved ones who I was deprived of seeing throughout the day.

The lack of freedom of school and the reinforcement of fast food as it was bought

partially out of guilt and to reward caused an association in my mind that I dont think the

Yequana could possibly imagine. I can see now how important it is to give a child appropriate

human contact. I wish that there was more of a united community in my early life rather than

being hooked to the television. That fulfilled a need which perhaps should have been filled by

actual people instead of fantasy people. That also could have distorted my views about reality

greatly with all of the advertising involved, and the fantasy characters with their imaginary lives
instead of normal community members. It makes me want to advocate a more modest way of

life.