The child development theorist that has the greatest influence on my thinking and practices

The child development theorist that has the greatest influence on my thinking and practices is Erik Erikson. I truly believe that every person must pass through a series of eight interrelated stages over the entire life cycle.  For an example a child who is nurtured and cared for properly will gain trust while a child who does not experience this trust will have mistrust.  I have seen this happen in many children and in each situation things turned out exactly as he explained.  I witnessed hands on the toddler stage with my own children being vulnerable and throwing temper tantrums but yet very sure of themselves because of the care they received.  Working in the class I witnessed that preschool aged children love to copy what they see adults do.  Many of them act out the things they see in the dramatic play area.  If you go into a preschool class and observe you will see that this is one of the most visited areas by all children.  Now take a look at the school aged child and you will see that this is a very social stage of development and if feelings of inferiority are unresolved amongst peers children can have serious problems with self esteem.  You find children doing so many things may they be positive or negative because they want to be accepted by their peers.  At the adolescent age children are trying to find their own identity and to fit in with their peers but some may attempt to delay entering into adulthood and try to withdraw from responsibilities.  I am experiencing this with my 16 year old son.  Now the young adult on the other hand usually seeks companions love and at this stage some people begin to settle down and start families.  This is the age bracket I fell into when I started to love my mate and we had our first child.  Now that I have reached 35 I can relate to the theory of Erikson's stage he considers middle-aged because I am at the stage where my career is very important.  I am working to establish stability and I want to make a difference in society.  Last but not least late adulthood the time when you reflect on your life.  Some can look back a feel a sense of integrity knowing they have lived a meaningful life while others may have a sense of despair reflecting upon their failures and fearing death.  This is the stage I am experiencing with my mom.  She only reflects on her failures and questions whether their was a point to her life.  She also fears death because of the many negative choices she has made in life, she fears that they may cause her to have an early death.