Vida Mia Reports

1. Reports
W1hen Vida Mia was 3 months old: The lack of sleep during the work-week has been getting on
everyone's nerves, and recently you and your partner had
some uncustomary arguments. You try getting to bed earlier
on weeknights and sleeping in more on weekends.
You processed this event on: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 at 7:31:26 PM
When Vida Mia was 3 months old: Vida Mia is able to focus her eyes on you. She spends a lot of
time studying your face and the faces of anyone who comes
close to her.
You processed this event on: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 at 7:33:28 PM
When Vida Mia was 3 months old: At 3 months of age, Vida Mia is showing more intense interest
in her surroundings. Vida Mia smiles at familiar people and toys,
is able to laugh at surprising or funny things (such as a little dog),
and is developing lots of cute little habits.
You processed this event on: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 at 7:40:28 PM
When Vida Mia was 8 months old: You try the object permanence test. Vida Mia is able to find a
hidden object, as long as you don't wait too long or distract her in
the middle of the search. Vida Mia really likes this hiding game
and shows by her interest that she wants it repeated. However, if
you hide the object in the same place repeatedly, and then change
the hiding place, Vida Mia has a strong tendency to look in the
old hiding place, and then get confused about where the object is,
or forget about it. This curious error was first discovered by
Piaget, but researchers have some new explanations for the error.
You processed this event on: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 at 6:47:37 PM
When Vida Mia was 8 months: As Vida Mia turns 9 months, the pediatrician has the following to say
after a routine physical exam, a few items administered from the
Bayley Scales of Infant Intelligence, and some observations of Vida
Mia in the playroom: Vida Mia has an obvious attachment to you and
prefers you over other people, but seems to have fun playing with your
partner. She was cautious at first with the nurse and doctor, a normal
reaction to strangers at this age. Based on your report, Vida Mia is
physically healthy. The doctor recommends a greater variety of baby
food and ground up fruits and vegetables. Vida Mia is cautious and shy
in most new situations or with new people. With you present, she will
eventually explore, but rarely warms up completely to the strange
situation or person. Vida Mia has typical emotional reactions for her
age, such as fear of total strangers, separation anxiety and a quick, loud
cry when upset or in pain. Vida Mia is advanced in her gross and fine
motor skills and enjoys crawling, pulling up to stand and manipulating
objects.

2. When Vida Mia was 12 months old: Virtual Child uses five dimensions of temperament to describe
the child's behavior in the first 30 months. These dimensions are random at birth, are influenced by your
questionnaire responses, and change gradually over time in response to events and parenting decisions.
The five dimensions are activity, sociability, emotionality, aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self
control. There is behavior genetic and longitudinal evidence for varying numbers of temperamental traits
and the five traits used in the program are on a lot of lists. Studies also show that temperament changes in
response to strong environmental pressures.
ACTIVITY refers to the physical and mental energy level of the child. Highly active children may sleep
less, be more restless, and engage in more physical activity. Less active children may sleep more, enjoy
quiet pastimes, and show less interest in vigorous physical activity.
SOCIABILITY refers to the child's friendliness and desire for social interaction. Highly sociable children
are sometimes given the label "extroverted" and less sociable children the label "introverted."
EMOTIONALITY refers to the intensity of emotion experienced by the child. Highly emotional children
may show more of everything (anger, joy, sadness) and more fluctuation in moods. Less emotional
children may show less extreme emotions and less fluctuation over periods of time.
AGGRESSIVENESS VS. COOPERATIVENESS refers to the tendency of the child to be aggressive in
social situations with the parent, day-care provider or other children. Highly aggressive children may be
quite resistant to parental demands and throw tantrums or even lash out at the parent or other children.
Less aggressive children tend to be more cooperative, or to whine and fuss rather than actively resist the
parent. Research indicates that boys are somewhat more aggressive than girls, but there is a great deal of
overlap between the sexes, and this is reflected in Virtual Child.
SELF CONTROL refers to the child's ability to control his or her behavior, delay gratification, plan out a
course of action, or inhibit responses to a typical situations. This is not exactly the same thing as
aggressiveness or emotionality. For example, a child with low self control might take a cookie when
asked to wait, not out of a spirit of lack of cooperation, but just due to low impulse control. Children who
are extreme on this dimension may fit typical criteria for attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. The
Virtual Child has a 5% chance of having moderate to severe hyperactivity and a 5% chance of having
mild hyperactivity.
GOODNESS OF FIT is a concept that is closely related to temperament. It refers to the tendency of the
parent to adapt his/her behavior to the child's temperament. For example, suppose you have a very active
child, and you are trying to promote exploration and learning. Rather than "going against the grain" and
attempting to quiet the child down to look at a book about bugs, you might appeal to the child's active
nature and choose to go on a walk and talk about the bugs you see. Goodness of fit also applies to
developmental level. For example, at 6-8 months most infants are at least somewhat anxious around
strangers, so you would want to introduce the child to a new person gradually rather than thrusting the
child into the person's arms. Parents desiring to change their child's temperament, or help their child
develop a particular skill, can benefit from the principle of goodness of fit, and the related concept of
moderate novelty. Parents desiring to encourage growth in their child should introduce moderately novel
activities and experiences, because children are more likely to pay attention to and profit from such
experiences.
You processed this event on: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 at 7:02:53 PM
When Vida was 2 years old: Your partner is spending more time with Vida Mia lately. Money is
tight, because you are saving to buy a house, but your partner and Vida Mia have fun in inexpensive
activities like going to the zoo, the petting farm, museums and the park.
You processed this event on: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 at 7:21:52 PM