I met Om through one of my mom's friends. She works with my mom and had no problem with me conducting the observation. The family lives in South Hayward, about a fifteen minute drive from my house. Om is very close to his family and is always looking for a playmate. He is very friendly to strangers and shows no fear to strike up a conversation with anyone. Om is a moderately well behaved child. He tends to be more irritating when he's sleepy. Om's temperament is pretty consistent whether he is with his family and friends. The most dominant character over Om in the family is his Dad. It seems that Om is only going to listen when his dad tells him not to do something. Om also has a brother whose name is Ojas; he is 8 years old, is always playing with Om and is very fond of him. It felt like Om was sometimes more comfortable with his brother rather than his mom! Om seems to take advantage of his mom and sees that he can get away with things by crying. Om's relationship with all three of his family members is strong and a positive one.
Om is four years old and Arnav is seven years old. According to Piaget's stages of cognitive development, Om is in the pre-operational stage; he can represent things with words but lacks logical reasoning and understand pretend play and exhibits egocentrism and language development. Arnav is in the concrete operational stage; he can think logically about concrete events, grasp concrete analogies, and understand conservation and mathematical transformations. .
Observation 1.
Arnav is the dominant child. Arnav is the alpha animal. Even though Om shouts much more than Arnav, Arnav exhibits more of an authoritarian control over the situation. For example, doing their playtime, Arnav would be directing Om what to do and Om would follow along without much hesitation. Arnav can persuade Om to follow his actions more quickly and doesn't always listen to what Om says.
