Developments During Middle Age: Case Study

Developments During Middle Age: Case Study Cynthia Lane One of my interviewees is a 66 year old male by the name of Greg Williams, who was a single parent until his three sons left home and periodically returned home. Mr. Williams started his own business with an 18 wheeler but when the fuel became unaffordable he started a landscaping business, he now has 12 homes he landscapes. Mr. Williams feels his contributions to society is vital because he takes lunches to seniors, run errands for seniors, takes them to their appointments and spends time with them. Mr. Williams volunteers helping seniors and others to register to vote during election sea son. The most significant invention Mr. Williams has had in his lifetime was when he and his wife remodeled their home by replacing the living room ceiling, replaced the floors with natural wood, plastered the walls and painted. This project would have cost more money they had and it was perfect after completion. Mr. Williams best accomplishment was when he had a towing company he contracted himself out with Triple AAA. He said, â€Å"He had to do a lot of growing to do; what he thought he didn’t and the teachings helped him to be who he is today†. Mr. Williams’s goal he would like to achieve in five years would be to become the Director of the Senior Citizens Center. There are so many seniors falling through the cracks and are not being services or get recognize and are being turned away. Mr. Williams would tell someone younger than him â€Å"Get on the right path to get your education and everything else will fall into place†. Life as a teen in my day, there were no distractions like computers, cellphones, WiFi, kids now a days play video games; I had chores to do in my time, they do not know what work is all about. I was punished when I did wrong and my parents meant what they said for me to do. Kids today get away with doing wrong and run their parents. Mr. Williams replied, â€Å"No, I was taught discipline, morals, and standards; love thy neighbor and do onto others as you would want them to do onto you. â€Å"No I did not attend college I didn’t think I had time since I had three boys to raise without a mother; I had to be both parents. It was a no brainer for me to pick-up where my kid’s mother left off and takes care of my boys. Mr. Williams explained, he had no choice of the matter; my parents did not throw me away and I was not going to throw my boys away either. In his 20’s Mr. Williams remembers how dumb he was, 30’s how life changes started, he seen things for what they were, 40’s he began to be more settled in life and his self, 50’s he had life by the horn, understanding his foundation, my 40’s help me build on my life, 60’s he said, â€Å"he was proud of where he came from, what his parents gave him to build on†. An event of all the hurdles, some he didn’t think of how to deal with, the unexpected, some good and some not so good. The difference in ages are 20’s existing, 30’s foundation took shape, 40’s foundation came together, 50’s close to completion, and 60’s finally completed. What Mr. Williams remember on Christmas there would be oranges, apples, fruit cake and good home cooked meals not like every day meals, one the 4th of July, 1969. We dug a pit and had a pig roast and Barbequed it under the ground. Raising my kids was a struggle, as a single parent with the help of my mother and sisters I learned to become both parents. The best part Mr. Williams said, â€Å"Knowing he had three sons  that needed him and looked up to him through the struggle. The hardest part was to see them grow up and not need he like before. In other words, it was hard to let go, he felt his life had fell apart. Mr. Williams is proud his boys grew up to become grown men, with values of life; knowing what’s important and what’s not, knowing when to stand and not to stand. From Mr. Williams’s interview I would place him in Erikson’s theory. Mr. Williams has started and stopped careers in his lifetime, strived to raise his boys as a single parent and succeeded. Mr. Williams’s personality changed throughout his life from happy, sad, disappointed, discouraged, to content. The next interviewee is a woman in her 50’s she is a widower with two children. Her name is Ms. Pennington. Ms. Pennington is a mother and grandmother twice, her husband died of an asthma attack. Ms. Pennington’s accomplishment she’s proud of was going to school to become a beautician it was her dream. She felt she was making a contribution to society because she felt every woman should look their best at being beautiful and their hair is the first thing people would notice. Ms. Pennington feels her family is very important to her she would do whatever she could to make things better. Ms. Pennington had a good heart and she cared for her family very much. Ms. Pennington as a child could remember playing with her sisters as a beautician she would help her mother out by doing their hair while her mom does other things. One thing Ms. Pennington could remember is creating a wig on her own. The style of wigs at the beauty stores was expensive and she felt she could make a wig the way she wants. Her best accomplishment would be becoming a mother she felt she was not going to have any children in her future. A goal Ms. Pennington would like to accomplish is to return back to school and become a paralegal. Ms. Pennington loves legal opportunities and she wants to be working with a lawyer. Life being a teen in Ms. Pennington day was more of a restricted life. Her parents were very protective and she and her sisters stayed home and did house work, learned to cook maintain the house, learn to wash clothes. She was not allowed to watch TV any time of the day, she had chores to complete, kids today if the parent does not have anything for them to do they do nothing, they are not learning how to maintain a home learn to cook, wash clothes do other chores and disobeying their parents. Ms. Pennington felt the way she grew up was the best life she had, she was taught how to respect others, manners, how to be truthful and not lie. There was no technology like today, she would be able to manage how to lie without technology if need be. Teenagers these days are not told the old ways of living, it would be difficult for them to survive in drastic situations. Ms. Pennington went to a vocational school; she applied to fulfill her long life dream to become a beautician. She would buy magazines on different hair styles and became interested in learning how to replicate the same hair styles. Ms. Pennington really had two dreams the other dream was to become a model, she loved fashion everything about it, you have to have great hair to be a model so she became a beautician first and a model second. Ms. Pennington was asked about her holiday celebrations, she could remember how her parents did not have a lot of money to buy toys but they would by cases of fruits, apples, oranges, pears, and cases of assorted nuts. Her mother would bake something special for everyone and the dinners were limitless with food. All the holidays were the best since, there was a lot of us kids we were just thankful to have parents who showed us love and was able to have food with a large family. Ms. Pennington dedicates her life raising her children, her daughter is the oldest and she has a daughter, than her son who also has a son. The best part of raising her kids was being together, shopping and playing and watching them grow; the hardest part was when they became sick and I didn’t like it when they were sick. When their father died was another hard part for them to struggle with. My kids makes me proud every day, I can count on them to be there for me when I need them and they are good kids. As a mother and grandmother I would like to leave a legacy to my kids and grandkids to let them know how much I love them and would do anything for them. Love yourself and God don’t get into trouble you cannot get out of. Help those who need your help. Ms. Pennington would fit under Levinson’s theory because even though it was not mentioned, Ms. Pennington went through many midlife crisis in her lifetime. My interview with her was almost emotional, when her husband died her whole life changed, Her children changed and it was a hard situation to overcome. Adulthood is different for everyone, no one adult is the same, we all go through life changes at a different time in our lives and we also handle life problems differently, eventually we all will come to together to understand we all are the same but different. References Grand Canyon University –PSY 102-Lecture 7 Santrock, J. W. (2012). Life-span development (14th ed,). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill