Matilda

LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE: The life course approach tells us that there are social, economic, and historical period context that must be looked at in order to develop a fuller understanding of a persons life course. The entirety of the person's life must be taken into consideration before any assumptions are made depending on one instance. To lay claim to present circumstances, the entire picture (Life Course Approach) must be looked at.

An example of Life Course Approach in relation to children is absentee fathers. The extent to which an absent father can impact a child and it's development is dependent

of how people around the child (ie: mother and other siblings) are reacting to the situation, whether or not those people are being supportive as a family unit, if there are other men around to set a fatherly example, does the community as a whole experience similar situations? Are there fatherless homes with in the community?

Agency: Involves the principal of having to give children the right to make choices. Agency says that we under rate the extent to which children cam make their own decisions effectively and based on assumptions of adolescence, we automatically have the misconception that children are out of control and as parents, there has to be a preparedness for the wild years ahead. We typically see children as lacking what adults have - inferior to adults - but argues that we need to see the skills children have as being valuable and important.

Agency raises questions about the point at which we can include children into certain processes? (Ie: in the case of divorced parents the question is: Which parent do you want to live with?) Our view of children and their level of competency are questioned under agency. We need to ask children how THEY see the world, ask what's important to them.

Agency says:

1. We need to recognize that children have abilities

2. We need to consider at what point children are competent to make their own decisions.

3. At what point do we take the wishes and concerns of children in to consideration?

4. Children may have a better view of how things should be rather than adults.

5. Children Struggle two worlds: How Do I please other Kids? And how do I please my parents?

Articles Dealing with Life Course Approach and Agency:

"What Children Think About Their Parents Working" by Ellen Galinsky relates to agency by discussing the kind of questions we should ask children when parents work full time and spend less time with them. "How do you feel about your parents working so much?" "Would you like to spend more time with your parents?"

The article focuses on the quality of time parents spend with children versus the quantity of time spent with children. Research is directed toward whether the time is rushed or calm, the kinds of activities that parents do with children, and how this time impacts the development of the child as a whole. Galinsky argues that the quality of time, the activities that are done together as a family, is more important than the amount of time spent together. She uses an ad from the 1990's that portrays the image of a busy working mom trying to get her children ready for school but is deterred by her young daughter who wants to spend time with her mom instead of her mom spending time with clients. The mom decides to take the children to the beach, but still holds a conference call while her children are playing by the shore. A perfect example of the quality vs. the quantity time parents spend with children. The image children get from parents who working full time with little or no time for them, is that they come in second. There is a contrast however, in present day versus two decades ago when parents had a lot less time with their children but that can be due to technology like washing machines, computer and other home appliances that make it a little easier to complete house work and do work from home, but again, this contradicts the quantitative time aspect because time spent doing work at home is not considered actual time spent with children. Just because a parent is in the home, does not mean they are spending a comparable amount of time wit their children versus time spent doing other things. Research Galinsky says, proves that time is more of a constraint for fathers than for mothers and as children go into their teen years, they report to WANT to spend more time with their fathers.

The over all gist that relates to agency is asking the children: "How would YOU like to spend time with mom and dad?" "Do YOU think you spend enough time with your parents?" The findings Galinsky comes up with illustrate very clearly that we need to ask children how they feel about time spent with parents rather than rely on our own assumptions and it seems that fathers are the front and center of discussion as mothers are seen to be spending more time than fathers with children based on the research for this article.

"Staying In Lines with Homework Help" by Lisa Belkin briefly discusses the amount of time children spend doing homework. The main point the article stresses is how the harried child is more and more overwhelmed with school related and extra curricular related activities and has no time for them selves. Parents and educators alike may see this as being good for the child, because they are learning and stating out of trouble and in a broader sense it is preparing them for adulthood.

The article raises awareness of the "Harried Child" a child whose days are filled with activity leaving no time for themselves to have a childhood or adolescence. Seen as good for the child because they are learning, but then raises the question of how much homework is too much? Does the homework actually serve a valid purpose? Are the children learning from the homework? Is it OK to have parents do the homework for children when the workload becomes overbearing and tiresome? Unless the homework is reinforcing the lesson taught in class, unless the homework is actually teaching the child something homework seems to be useless; and extra burden, a hassle. This article ties into Agency because we expect children to be responsible enough to handle the pressures of school and homework and other activities which they enroll in but do not expect that they should be as responsible to make other decisions regarding their life and lifestyle.

"Parents Fret That Dialing Up Interferes with Growing Up" by Mireya Navarro discusses how contemporary