-
Birth
At four in the morning, my mother felt the contractions and they only hurried to the hospital two hours later. I was born at eight in the morning. Mom had already reached the Dilation Stage in the taxi. She was reaching the early stages of Expulsion Stage in the taxi but thankfully reached the hospital in time. I was born in Mandaluyong Hospital. -
Learning how to walk
I learned how to walk at thirteen months. My mother told me that I was able to walk even beforehand but I refused to walk on my own and would sit down when my parents let go of my hands. According to the FIlipino Norms, walking alone and rarely falling is usually learned at 18 months. While I was able to stand with minimum support at 12 months, I was able to walk alone and learned how to run afterwards. My learning curve became steeper once I became confident in myself. -
Learning how to talk
At one year and four months, a vendor selling Batutoy who was passing by the past few days shouted "Batutoy" and I repeated what he said. That was my first word. My mom was aware that I could understand their language, Receptive language was well developed in my brain. I would respond to one step two step commands and was aware to voices and sounds but this kickstarted my expressive language. -
Getting UTI
Every week when my dad came home, he would bring junk food and feed them to us. This continued for several months until my body couldn't take all the sodium and I got UTI. Through this event, I learned to have an aversion for junk food and my mom also stopped feeding me junk food even as snacks. This is a classical example of classical conditioning. Junk food meant that dad was home and I kept eating it. However, soon junk food meant pain so I soon created an aversion for it. -
First Crush
When I ented kindergarden, I was introduced to kids of the same age group. One of them became my crush. His name was Kevin. Through this experience, my realization of the differences between males and females started. I learned all about gender identities and gender roles. I learned the traditional roles of men and women through family, peers, and media. This highly supports the Social Cognitive Theory for gender development. -
First Book
During my fifth Christmas, my dad's coworkers bought me my first book, The Velveteen Rabbit and it started my love for reading books. The book was a pretty simple story about a stuffed toy bunny coming to life after being given love by a boy. By this point, my cognitive development was properly happening. My attention span was increasing and so was the efficiency of my memory processing, allowing me to appreciate the story and the happenings in the book. -
Starting Piano
When I was seven years old, I insisted to my mom that I wanted to play piano and she let me have my lessons. This started my flexibility in my fingers. My fine motor skills developed well and rapidly. According to Erickson's theory of development, I was able to develop my initiative instead of guilt, by allowing me the autonomy on what to study, my mom developed a sense of initiative in me. -
Getting my first pet dog
When I was eight years old, my dad got us a pet dog. It was a mix between a labrador and a dalmatian. I got to name the dog Pochichay. We almost lost her as she was a puppy because we didn't get her the vaccinations on time. Through getting a dog, my emotional intelligence increased. I developed a sense of handling and managing emotions in the situation wherein panic and stress had overcome my being. We had only gotten Pochi for a few months and I was already quite attached. -
Fight with best friend
When I was eight years old, my best friend and I got into a huge fight that the entire school knew about. We were screaming at each other the whole time. At the end of the day, however, we made up and cried and hugged each other. Through this experience, my emotional development progressed quickly. I learned how to express my emotions, and understand emotions, and regulate them as well. Guilt for my actions and empathy for my best friend occurred to me and I learned my lesson properly. -
First time away from parents
When I was nine years old in fourth grade, our school was invited to be part of a leadership conference for children in Baguio. My parents allowed me to go because my classmates were also coming to the conference. At the end of the conference, my friends' parents came to pick them up and surprise them. My parents weren't there. Through this experience, I was able to raise my self-esteem and self-efficacy through coping being alone for the first time and learning how to be independent. -
Distancing self from friends since first grade
When I was in fifth grade a part of my group of friends revealed that I had a crush on one of my close guy friends back then even though we promised it was just a secret. I slowly removed myself from their party as I realized they couldn’t be trusted. Through this, I developed a sense of self understanding. I realized I preferred people who didn't tell people my secrets. I also realized I'm a very private person and removed myself from a social membership I didn't agree with, -
Getting my period for the first time
When I came home from school one day, I discovered that I had blood in my underwear. I hid it in the trash because I thought I was dying. My mom discovered it and explained to me the concept of periods. This started my journey onto puberty and later on, adolescence. Physical maturation rapidly happened, involving hormonal and bodily changes. I had to start wearing baby bras and learned all about the birds and the bees. -
Getting into high school
I entered high school after six years of having the same classmates, friends, and teachers. It was a new environment and it changed my life. Here we can see the top dog phenomenon, from being on top of the food chain to being an unknown and at the bottom of the food chain in high school once more. -
Getting board with studies
When I was thirteen years old in my second year of high school, I realized I could get by in high school without giving it my best and pass without studying. This paved the way to me searching for what I wanted to study in college. I realized I wanted psychology. I also didn't eat a lot and didn't exercise, so I was very unhealthy in the physical averages of an adolescent. My cognitive development had increased enough for me to learn critical thinking. -
Living on my own for the first time
I lived on my own for the first time when I entered college. I had to learn how to wash the dishes, do my laundry, wake myself up for class, and be responsible for my own well being. While I had been away from parents for before, this was a long term thing. I learned autonomy and responsibility for myself. I learned to make friends that would help support me in my time of need and let me mature into a better person. I relied on friends more than I did on parents, as is the norm in adolescence. -
Period: to
Going to Brazil for two months
I went on exchange and chose Brazil as my place to travel, explore, and learn about. I was confused about my life and needed a break to know who I was, as a person and as a Filipino. Here I reevaluated myself and figured it out. In this experience is a "crisis". I wanted to explore my options and learn about the world and the other alternatives that I could push through. Two months was a short time and I didn't have to commit to anything except to my project, I experienced Identity Moratorium. -
Going on a date for the first time
I got asked out on a date and I said yes but I didn't realize it was a date until the end of it when he kissed me on the cheek. This started my love life that I never expected to happen. Here we can see that the romantic relationship made me explore how "attractive" I am and made me learn how to romantically interact with someone. It didn't have much effect on the peer group other than them teasing me. In the sociocultural context, 19 is an average age of dating due to the conservative context. -
Getting drunk for the first time
On the weekend of my nineteenth birthday, my friends and I went drinking. I don't remember how many shots I took but I got super drunk and blacked out. I vowed never to drink that much again. I didn't really want to go drinking but here we can see that I conformed to per pressure to my crowd. While my clique is usually a good influence, in this example they are a negative influence on me. -
Period: to
Internship at Child Development Clinic
I took up an internship in a child development clinic and it made me realize that children are much more complicated and interesting and that a lot of problems we encounter later in life could have been solved had we pushed through with a strong developmental base as children. This made me want to pursue developmental psychology. Here we can see the MAMA cycle, as I was sure I wanted to take up psychology but I didn't know which area, but through this short term internship I am able to find out