Family Observation Paper

Observation Paper: Children in Childcare or Family Settings

Section 2: Description of Family Observation James Egins the 3rd is a rather rambunctious 5-year-old boy who has a great love for video games. James currently lives with his 27-year-old Filipino mother, 46-year-old African American father, and baby sister Princess who is only 1. Although James is the older brother in the household, he does have an older half sister who is 25 years old. James would definitely fall under the category of “slow to warm up”, he needs to be around someone for awhile to get adjusted to them. As for both parents, they can be described as residing on the “permissive” end of the spectrum when it comes to parenting styles (Lewin, 2016a). The observation started in the afternoon around 2:30 and ended around 5:30. James was at his grandmother’s house going from basement
Once James got situated and warmed up, he was completely ready to explore the entire house and play around with his niece. The interaction between him and his parents seemed to be full of love and comforting for James. Often, he would go over to his parents seemingly, just to quickly get their attention but go back to playing video games right after. He was comfortable with asking other family members like his grandmother for assistance when he needed it as well. A strong suit for this family is the love and affection that they show for one another and seemingly get along very well. The family as a whole is also providing James with a secure attachment and is fostering exploration and self-regulation. The main thing the family needs to work towards is a more “authoritative” parenting style (Lewin, 2016a). Working towards an authoritative parenting style will help James learn to be more emotionally responsive to his peers and set firm limits on how he should and should not