Dear all,
I am currently in my final year at university and as part of my playwork/counselling assignment I have been asked to observe a child.
I would be grateful if you could spare the time to read my case study and share any suggestions/theory and or thoughts you might have on the subject matter.
I observed a 14 year old girl in her own home. She is quite a young fourteen and doesn't socialise much outside of school. In the past 3 years she has been a victim of bullying at school.
She is the youngest of 4 siblings and despite being the only child out of all four she still doesn't seem to get as much attention. Recently she has become an auntie and so now much of her mothers attention is now focused on the baby.
Her niece spends a lot of time at her house and so through the observations that I have made I have noticed that she tends to focus a lot of her energy and time on the baby. She always wants to be near her, pick her up and feed her.
I have often observed the baby cry because she has been held and picked up when she doesn't want to be.
The mother of the 14 year old on most days would often then end up shouting at her and telling her to leave the baby alone or put her down.
One may theorise that the 14 year old may be 'acting out' and simply consistantly wanting to be with the child to gain attention from her mother whether it be good or bad attention.
However, I would think that the main reason for this behaviour is her wanting to get away from being the baby of the family and wanting to step up to the next level of maturity.
I acknowledge that she is an adolescent and although a very young 14 is going through puberty and so the need to be loved and to love something/one is going to be present. She may feel that the baby is the only one that can give her unconditional positive regard and smile and laugh at her without judgement.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and look forward to hearing from you.
Christie Walker
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