human growth and develpment
INTRODUCTION The first person I interviewed was my son, Karl W. He is six years old (early childhood). I had to divide the interview with him into two short sessions of about 15-20 minutes each, as he was not very cooperative. The first interview was done in his tree house and lasted about 15 minutes. The second interview was in the van on the way home from school and continued on the patio at home. He was a little more receptive to this interview. I think the fact that we were playing with buttons and play dough had a little something to do with this. The second person I interviewed was Kurt, my brother-in-law. Kurt is 45 years old (middle adulthood). This interview took place over a few beers at home in the yard. I wanted to get to know a little more about how he thinks. The relaxed setting helped to put us at ease. This interview lasted for a couple of hours. The third person I interviewed was Karl T., my father-in-law. Karl T. is 80 years old (late adulthood). This interview lasted for hours and took place in his home around the kitchen table and then moved to the patio. I wanted to find out more about his view of life and death. I wanted to know more about his experiences in life and how he felt about them. INTERVIEW #1 Karl W. six years old (early childhood). The first interview with my son was not very successful. Karl became very agitated at what he considered to be an invasion of his privacy. When I asked him if he liked girls. He said no. I asked why he does not like girls. He would not answer. He just put his head down and said “mommmm.” I asked him if he was ever going to get married when he grew up. He told me that he wanted to grow up and marry Kristen (one of my 17-year-old daughter’s friends). He said that he was going to buy her a big house, buy her a big diamond ring, and give her six babies. This made me laugh and he became very angry. I apologized, but that was the end of the interview. He was not receptive to anymore questions. The second interview with Karl W. was started on the ride home from school and continued at home on the patio with play dough and buttons that I had intended to experiment with and never did because the conversation became very interesting. He is usually pretty social at that time. This interview went much better than the first one had. I asked him if he had a good time with his friends at school. He said he does not have any friends. And then went on to say “My friend Victor wants me to come to his house tonight to be in his band”. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he replied I am going to own a restaurant. He continued to explain “For breakfast we are going to have pancakes and waffles, for lunch we are going to have a choice of hamburger, cheeseburger, double layered cheeseburgers, and double layered hamburgers. For dessert I am going to have pineapple upside down cake, double layered cheesecake, ice cream with sprinkles, M&M’s, and a cherry on top, and the last dessert is jello cherry and orange.