claire

by Maria Manalang

curious

Claire was a curious little girl. Through her eyes, babies magically transformed into children. Children magically trans-formed into teenagers. And then those teenagers magically became adults. “How does growing up work?” she asked. “Well Claire, it’s kind of a long story...” “I want to hear it!” “If you say so. You asked for it.” “Yay!” she exclaimed. And so we begin our magical story of the how little babies become grown ups.

”Once upon a time, a mommy and a daddy fell in love. And when they put their love together, you were conceived. This is where it all begins. You were in your mommy’s tummy and were super tiny clump of cells. You were called a zygote. Then as the cells multiplied and you made yourself cozy, you became an embryo. As time passed, your organs began developing and functioning on their own. This is when your heart starts to beat. After about nine weeks, those cells finally heart starts to beat. After about nine weeks, those cells finally look like a baby. During this period, you were called a fetus. You stayed in your mother’s tummy for nine months and even-tually you were born.” “I think I was cute as a baby. Even Mommy says so.”

Chapter 1prenatal &Newborn

“As a baby you were naturally afraid of strangers. That was called stranger anxiety. You also didn’t have a thing called object permanence.” “What’s that?” Claire asked. “It’s kind of like when your mommy would play peek-a-boo with you and would really think she would disap-pear and reappear again and again.” “I guess that makes sense,” she confidently exclaimed.

“During those early years, you learn to trust the world.” “Wait. How do babies do that if they can’t talk?” “Well, they learn to trust well if they are given lots of love and food!”

“Now after you’re a baby, what do you think you would grow into?” “A kid!” “That’s right! You grow into a child. During these ages, you pretend play and simple see the world through your own eyes. You can only focus on yourself and don’t really think of what others are thinking.” “This is the age I’m in, isn’t it?” “Yeah, how did you guess?” “I like playing pretend…” “At your age, you also probably can’t reason between how big or small or how many certain things are.”

Chapter 2infancy &Childhood

“When you’re first a toddler, you finally start to do things by yourself. This is when you learn to be independent. Do you remember what you learned to do by yourself during this age?” “Potty training!” “That’s right! And once you hit preschool, you finally began to learn how to act respectfully and explore. Then once you entered elementary school, you learn about all of things that you can do and—“ “I can spell so many words now! Do you wanna see?” “Maybe afterwards Claire; we should continue on…” “Okay!”

“Because you’re young, you only have the ability to think about yourself and what makes you happy. That’s what helps you make decisions. For example, if someone offered you a cookie, you would take it because you like cookies. You couldn’t understand that it was someone else’s cookie and that you were taking it away from them.” “But cookies are good…”

“What do you think happens after you’re a kid?” “I become a teenager!” “That’s right! And once you’re this age, you hit what’s called puberty, where you start to become a grown up but aren’t quite there yet. You begin to develop grown up charac-teristics like height and more hair.” “Ew. That doesn’t sound like fun…”

Chapter 3Adolescence

“Once you are a bit older, you can do think abstractly. That means your imagination simply becomes even better!” “Really? That’s possible?” “Yeah, and along with that you become a nicer person and are able to better think of others.”

“During these ages, many people go through, what is called, finding themselves. That’s basically when you figure out what you really like and what you don’t. You finally reach an understanding of who you really are.” “And how does that happen? That seems really hard.” “Well it usually depends on who your friends are.” “Well my friends are great so I won’t have to worry about a thing! Like Victoria is really nice and so is Lily!”

“As a teenager, you finally realize the general rules that people follow. For example, like returning money you find in the streets and not keeping it for yourself.” “But why can’t you keep it the money?” “You’ll learn soon enough…”

“Finally, once puberty is over and you’re done maturing, you reach adulthood!” “I can’t wait to be an adult!”

Chapter 4Adulthood

“During the earlier years of adulthood, you’ll end up try to create lasting relationships. That’s why people get married during this period of their life. Once you hit your forties, you will probably have a stable job and have kids yourself. This will be a time when you try to give your life meaning and make as much of an impact as you can. Lastly, once you become a grandparent, that’s when you begin to look back on your to see if you are satisfied with all of this things you did.”see if you are satisfied with all of this things you did.”

“As an adult, will have the ability to be able to go beyond the usual role of a good person and have your own set of rules you go by.” “Rules?” “Yes, like your own personal list of good things to do that you write yourself.” “Wow, that sounds like a lot of work…” “I’m sure you’ll be able to do it, Claire!”

Claire loves to ask questions. Curious Claire explores the different stages of de-velopment: prenatal and newborn, infancy and childhood, adolescence, and finally, adulthood. It shows how you don’t only grow up and get bigger; you become smarter and learn to make good decisions along the way as intelligence, moralitalong the way as intelligence, morality, and social skills improve over time through life experiences.