Title
Behavioral Observation: The Amouri Family
Objective
The primary goal of conducting this experiment was to garner insight about the problems that befall families where parents fail to work together as a team in upbringing their children and also to observe the poor children rearing practices that parents apply and which may harm the kids.
Introduction
The centre of my focus was the Tamara Amouri and Michael’s family. The observation took place in their home. The arrival at the Amouri family’s home is met by Tamara (Michael’s wife) and four of their kids. The first born is a girl aged four going by the name Hailey. Second born were twin brothers by the names Jianni and Juliani while at the end of the list is Ashton aged one year. A characteristic behavior that comes when I observe this family is the constant pressure of Tamara created by the stubbornness of the kids in general. Their mum keeps yelling stops and no’s that fell into deaf years of the young children. For instance, Hailey’s stubbornness makes her bossy towards her parents. She screams at her mother and clings to an MP3 player that her mother tries to snatch away from her. Her antics is therefore not humorous for her mom though not much she can do. From hitting her Mom and Dad, Hailey to being “Daddy’s Little Princess,” Hailey feels like she’s the one running the show. The twins are not an exceptional in adding the chaos to their mom. They get into everything in the house, from the light switch, the food to the electronics endangering their lives. Besides, every time their mother turns away her eyes from them, they cleverly execute an escape plan getting out of the house and even past the child-proof latch when unsupervised. Rounding up the fearless foursome is the baby Ashton (barely one-year-old), who accesses the electric switches in the house.
With respect to that, one observes the low safety of the house for the kids. Switches are unprotected, sharp objects and plates placed at their level of reach while cupboards and kitchen shelves are left open. To add on that is the observation that Tamara spends most of her day cleaning the house rather than supervising, playing with them or tentatively attending to their needs. She takes nearly eight hours of her daytime trying to keep the house tidy though the clumsy kids constantly undo her doings. It is evident that Tamara’s effort to control the movement of her small kids is in most time fruitless. Of surprise is the observation that there is very little teamwork between the two parents. Looking at Hailey, I observe her attachment and engagement to music as she constantly connects her mother’s music player. However, it is shocking to discover that the music she listens to is not to her age-appropriate. The music is too much explicit.
Observations
Mum (Tamara) is left alone as the husband (Michael) goes out for job. Tamara is entirely busy and in many times, she leaves the kids with the access of several dives. Hailey listens to mum’s MP3 player and appears aggressive when her mum threatens to take them away from her. Tamara is consistently seen to try best to keep her house clean though kids untidy the floor every time. However, I observed that it took the mother of the four children takes about 80% of the time cleaning the house with only the 20% of her time left for other duties including her time for kids. I observed that she took more time cleaning rather than with her kids tentatively attending to their needs. Capping off the observations is Michael’s late arrival every night. He works long hours and fails to appear home in time appropriate to help Tamara with their kids. As such, Tamara is left all alone with the responsibility of the home and manning the hard-to-control children. I, therefore, observed that this family has a lot of problems, though solvable. In a chat with Michael, nevertheless he promises to change his schedule and appear earlier at home though fails to heed by this pledge. Secondly, the kids’ mum engages in other activities rather than the kids. A change is observed when a painting game is conducted with the children. That made them happy and kept them engaged with minimum movements around the house. When finally he is a day full time with the kids, Tamara is excused, and Michael’s ability to cater to the children alone without Tamara is put to test. A little time alone with the kids says it all; he is confused by the kids’ mischief and requires directions. Nevertheless, the outcome of this exercise proofs his potential to control the children, implying that a combined effort with his wife would make all the ends meet.
Method
Participants
Two categories of participants were employed in this study. These were the kids and their parents. As earlier said, the kids who made the fundamental participants of this study were four in number. That included Hailey, Jianni, Juliani and Ashton. Apparently Jianni and Juliani were twins. These children were aged four, two and one respectively. Being in such meager ages, these kids get involved in constant movements and touching due to their unfailing need and motivation to play and know their environment. The other groups focused in this study were the parents of the four kids who were Tamara and Michael. Though the two did not give their exact ages, they seem to be in their middle ages. Michael works some distance away from home to earn the daily bread for the large family he has. He takes long hours at works that show his industriousness and high level of love he has for his family that he does not wish them to go lacking. Tamara, on the other hand, is a housewife. She spends the whole day at home nursing the four children, a task that is not easy. She is seen to be equally hard working and spends most of her time in her house chores rather than relaxing. She regularly cleans the floor of the whole house to ensure it remains tidy to the benefits of the crawling kids.
Materials and Procedure
In this study, observation method was applied. An observational method refers to a type of research method whereby a researcher goes to the field and personally observes and records the ongoing behavior rather than asking questions to a selected group of a survey method could do. Apparently, this study was carried out in a naturalistic setting being the home of Michael and Tamara Amouri. The essence of conducting this study at a home was to be able to identify kids integration with their parents in a small controlled area closed. A home was thus efficient as it constituted a closed down setup where the researcher or observer did not have to move around observing. Four behaviors were observed in this study. The first observation of interest was the number of times parental teamwork was evidenced between Tamara and Michael in catering for the needs of their children. This objective was of interest as it is typically measured the levels of parental sharing and its significance when it comes to the rearing of kids. Second to be observed was how often the parents engage their small children at home to minimize their movements. Kids’ minds always wander and as such end up drifted to being attracted to shining objects in the house unaware that it could be harmful.
To limit and contain this, parents require to positively manipulating their little minds through engaging them in play to keep their minds off of objects in the house. The third was the number of time the father stayed with the kids alone at home with the absence of the mother. It is beyond facts that though the parenting role is supposed to be equally shared whenever possible, women are shifted more of the burden. The father is mostly preoccupied and in most cases may not have quality time to interact with the children. Last to be observed was how frequent parents spent their time with the kids playing rather than staying long concentrating on other duties. Play is a very important activity in child development. However, it makes sense to and is also safer to the kid when the parents are involved in the controlling of the game. The strengths of the above behaviors with respect to their importance in successful child upbringing were the center of the above observations. A frequency table was utilized in recording the above four behaviors. In this context, a frequency table recorded the number of times a participant engaged in a behavior of interest.
Operational Definitions
The main variables for this study include the following. The independent variables were teamwork of parents during child upbringing and time or availability of each of them on a daily basis to cater for the needs of the child. Next was the means used by a parent to engage the child to avoid his/her clumsy movements. The dependent variable was child good behavior. In this context, the term teamwork was used to mean or imply the ability of both parents to help each other in the child rearing process equally and mindfully. Availability is the quantity of time the parent believes himself/herself from other duties and takes the time to concentrate on the children at home. At this context, it implied the amount of time that Michael and Tamara gave to the children rather than concentrate on other duties.
Results
As per the observations made by the researcher in the 45 minutes study, the following were the prevailing facts.
Table 1: Frequency Table for The Observations Made
| Observation | Frequency |
| Team work in catering of children as observed | 1 |
| Successful engagement of children to minimize their movement | 2 |
| Father remaining alone at home full time to cater for children needs | 1 |
| Parents concentrated in playing with kids rather than attending their own duties | 2 |
Figure 1: A Graph of the Basic Observations Made Based on the Above Frequencies
According to the above results, it can be seen that teamwork was limited to the parents observed. In many cases, Tamara, the mother was left at home catering for her kids and trying best to make them comfortable. At very few instances did Michael turn home early enough to be with his family and help Tamara with the kids. Though this is just a single case, it is representative of several others where the man of the family surpasses his responsibility and always comes late to their home. In the second observation, the kids were observed to have a lot of free movements in and sometimes outside the house due to low engagement indoors that made them always feel tempted to move around. It is only in two cases that Tamara (who constantly) was with the kids successfully engaged them in some activities that kept them busy in the house, thereby limiting their movement. The first of these occasions is when she engages them in painting, an activity that appeared to them fun and enjoyable. The second time is when the two parents engaged heir kids in a listening game that kept them intact. It could also be observed that the father was only in rare times available in the house, judging by the number of times he could afford to b alone with his kids.
Discussion
This study was a fascinating, and the researcher was indeed intrigued. In conducting this research, I tried best in containing my observation within my defined scope but in may times ended up going beyond this scope and recorded even more data than had anticipated. For instance, I had not intended to record Michaels homecoming time in the evening though was forced by circumstances. In determining whether teamwork was an issue of concern in the Amouri, family required such information though this was not part of the study issues. All the same, I in many times, though, I maintained a bias-free consideration and attention to the two sets of participants. However, I was not all free from focusing so much on the kids’ behavior that was more intriguing. The movements of these children in the house were too absorbing and attracted much of my attention and, in that case, ended up paying more than equal attention to their parents. Sometimes the children climbed on furniture, touched electric switches and tried to haul the flat screen of their parents. In of these instances, I could not continue observing but a responsible adult could not hesitate to rescue the kids when they exposed themselves to dangerous situations that could lead to accidents like electricity shocks without the attention of the mother. Apparently, after several fall-outs of kids, I took the role of an adviser rather than an observer. I realized that Tamara somewhat was more focused on chores than the welfare of her children. That led me to intervene and begin coaching her about the issue. Though non-regrettable, that all together took much of my time. Nevertheless, this setup was all optimum for my study. In any case, I could not have chosen another better home for my study. All the same, I could not have reported better time if I allowed myself observe the small kids falling from furniture heights without intervening.
Reaction and Response
In my observation, I noted a lot of mishaps in the behavior of parents that led me to feel like they left a large gap of their ought-to-be duties to the family. I observed sharp objects at kids’ level of reach. In that case, I imagined how the environment could have been made safer for these children at their home. Like a good nanny or good counselor could do, I advised Michael and Tamara to keep everything reachable and harmful to children beyond their reach. I helped in collecting everything not needed away into cupboards or high shelves. I also advised Michael to keep the stairway off the bounds of the children. The covering or electric sockets sealed from their direct touch and shelves locking of small cupboards was also part of saving the kids from accessing harmful objects. In reaction to the fact that Tamara’s involvement in engaging her kids in play activities was unmet, I advised her to try a painting exercise. In response to these activities, the kids were for once intact, happy and engaged.
Secondly, when Michael was home in one of the days, I advised he takes the role of the mum and feel it. I could observe confusion all written on his face dealing with the endeavors to control the constantly stubborn kids. Nevertheless, due to his voice command that was better than Tamara, with a little help, Michael calmed down the kids. With regards to that, it can be observed that kid rearing and control would be much easier if both parents were present and collaborative.
Though this was just a single case, it is representative of many homes where the mother of the kids is the sole person who is left with the responsibility of the kids. Like Michael, several of the men defy their role coming late at night to avoid helping in house chores and playing with the kids. Though sometimes may not be possible, both the parents ought to support each other in taking responsibilities for the children, which become an easier task when joined hands in this exercise. Another observation that was made though not among the objective goals was that is that kids love listening to musical sounds. As observed, parents should be attentive which music is on their phones of radio as the content of the lyrics matters to the kids. Apparently one may conclude that kids require just our little time and simple crafting creativity to keep them engaged and stimulated.
Conclusion
Kids are always in the mood to play and thus require the help of their parents who provide and maintain a safe environment for them to play from. Additionally, some parents take a lot of time concentrating on other duties that to them appear essential and unavoidable and may not be enough to focus on the welfare of the child in terms of her/his needs to play with the parent. Tamara is observed taking an average of 80% of her time concentrating on cleaning the house rather than the kids. Also, parents should assume the responsibility of guarding the morals of the children with respect to music. The lyrics to the music that Hailey listens were found not to be suitable for kids. All in all, if parents can support each other in the performance of this duty, the outcome is to the benefit of the whole family; the kids and themselves.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in graduate paper writing service if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom research paper writing service.
