My chosen
topic for the simulation is parenting and infant sleep. The idea for this came
to me from a conversation I had with the parents of a baby I care for. The
parents were fairly content with putting their daughter in the crib after she
fell asleep, but the father was not quite as sure as the mom. Around that time
I was also reading a book by Magda Gerber. Gerber felt that it was “important
for a child to fall asleep alone in her crib.” That same week I had also talked
to a director of a day care about their infant curriculum. The curriculum was
RIE, a curriculum based on Magda Gerber’s beliefs. This is one reason I was
reading Gerber’s book. I liked many of Gerber’s ideas, but I had never had my
own children fall asleep in a crib, and I had never had problems with my
children going to sleep when they were older. This all made me curious.
This week
for the simulation we are researching three articles. I am curious what a
minimum amount of articles would be for a full literature review. When I looked
at my articles, I realized that the studies I looked at were measuring how parenting
behaviors surrounding infant sleep affected the infants sleep when the infant
was 12 to 18 months old. I am much more interested in how these behaviors
affect a child of six or older. I am much more interested in long range
success. I decided that my research simulation would involve questioning
parents again when their child was six years old.
In
beginning my research chart and from reading the text, I have gathered the idea
that there are many types of research and many views of the process and purpose
of research. This is because there are many different types of people with many
different ideas. I have also been glad to learn that past research can be a
resource for my present simulation.
I would be glad to discuss any
concerns that any of my colleagues has with their simulation, and I would love
some feedback related to my research ideas!
The Magda Gerber book is Your Self Confident Baby, How to Encourage
yourChild’s Natural Abilities—from the very Start
