Shifting Gears at Half a Dozen Years: My 2010 Bioecological Journal
MODULE 3
Think of yourself at a particular time in your childhood (e.g., age 10). Write a journal entry about your childhood experiences as seen through Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model.
My life as a six-year-old was memorable because I was able to explore new experiences. I consider myself lucky since my family is complete under the same roof. I have my hardworking father who frequently teaches me interesting facts and skills, my caring mother who tends to our daily needs, and my supportive older sister whom I consider as my best friend. My peers were mostly from my former and new school. During this time, my family, friends, and school played significant parts in my development. I was six when I moved to a new school for second grade since being too young, I did not meet their age requirement the year prior. Despite the transfer, I was already familiar with the environment since it is my sister’s alma mater. My family often came to this school even before I was enrolled since she consistently received awards as the valedictorian. Teachers were also already familiar with me, which I found welcoming. In fact, they expressed gladness before and after the transfer because my sister was an achiever, which was why despite me being a new student, high expectations were set early. On the bright side, I was given more opportunities with key roles and was able to perform outstandingly, being on the honor roll. From mistakenly being called by my sister’s name, they came to recognize me for my own personality and skills.
My successes as a student were made possible both through my own efforts and my family’s support through hands-on help with my school work and activities. In some instances of mistreatment, my parents would set meetings with teachers. Aside from checking in on my academic performance, they also check on my friendship with classmates and know them by name. They took pictures of me with my friends during school events and held school parties for my birthday. When it comes to our community, we did not know many neighbors yet and did not have a church during this time because of moving homes, but interactions with acquaintances were civil and polite. Still, we preserved our contacts with previously established communities and our faith in God remained through prayer.
Moving houses became a new major expense for the family, but our quality of life did not change and was still comfortable. This expense was offset by my sister’s university scholarship and our parents’ adequate provision through their professional positions as CEO and chairman. However, the move affected the frequency of our trips to different places. We usually traveled often since I am fond of swimming, but our new house has pools, so we did not see the need to travel that much anymore. Instead, we enjoyed quality time together at home while it was still quiet, with only a few members hailing from similar backgrounds due to the exclusivity in the area at the time. Additionally, we went to malls near our house to watch popular films of that time, such as Iron Man 2 and other Marvel movies that the whole family enjoys, which I believe is rather apparent considering that I am named after the Marvel hero, Phoenix. Other than famous movies, I also enjoyed teen pop music like Justin Bieber’s songs, especially “Baby”, since he was popular on Facebook and Twitter, the two active social media platforms at the time. Personally, I did not use any social networking sites then. I believe my interactions were only with my family, school, and community. I mostly stayed inside my home community since it was only beginning to band together to create a voice for the homeowners in addressing concerns against the developer, such as voting rights.
Looking back, 2010 can be considered as a positively eventful year in society. The late Benigno Aquino III was newly elected as Philippine president, the H1N1 pandemic ended globally, and local typhoons were not particularly strong. Technological advancements such as the presently famous iPad and the widely used Instagram were newly released. 2010 was also recognized as the International Year of Biodiversity, spurring environmental efforts. It was also the International Year of Youth, providing a more encouraging environment for the young to participate in societal matters.
Gradual historical changes also took place, such as being one of the most prosperous economic years of the Philippines so far after the elections. Along with positive changes were adverse ones, like the worsening of the climate change situation with NASA recording this year as the warmest then. There were some major world events as well that I often saw in the news, mainly regarding the Haiti earthquake with approximately 3 million people affected and 200,000 deaths, prompting different countries across the globe to extend aid and foster international community assistance. Similar to these major circumstances in society, I myself also experienced major life transitions, simultaneously transferring schools and homes making me feel uprooted from the environment I was accustomed to since birth. Overall, as I remember my sixth year, I believe I experienced major growth as an individual during this time owing to these different changes in my environment.
