Growth and Development of Olive Hoover

Growth and Devolpment of

Olive Hoover

By: Joshua Passehl California State University, San Marcos N332

Meet Olive

Olive Hoover is a Caucasian 7-year-old girl from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She is an elementary school student, going into the 3rd grade, with an interest in beauty pageants, more specifically, winning the title of “Little Miss Sunshine�. She has no known past medical history and appears in good health. Olive requires glasses for vision correction. She is 48 inches (121.9 cm) tall and weighs 64 pounds (29 kg), placing her in the 93rd percentile with a BMI of 19.5 ("CDC Growth Chart," 2000). At this height and weight, Olive is in the overweight category for her age. Olive is a curious and excitable child and is prone to hyperactive fits.

Olive’s Family

Olive lives in a single-family home with her mother Sheryl, father Richard, brother Dwayne, her paternal grandfather Edwin, and as of recently, her uncle Frank. The family structure is defined as extended, which is a nuclear family along with blood relatives (Kaakinen, Padgett Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Harmon Hanson, 2015). The family dynamic is strained primarily due to the two very different parenting styles of Olive’s parents. Sheryl can be classified as using an authoritative parenting style, allowing Olive to participate in decision making and the ultimate goal is to encourage self-esteem.

Richard, on the other hand, uses more of an authoritarian approach, where he knows what is best for his children and expects them to follow. These two parenting styles are in contrast of one other, often causing conflict between the parents. Olive’s grandfather, Edwin, also plays a “parenting” role, but displays a more permissive style.

He would rather let Olive do whatever she wants. He is nurturing and warm, but too passive to establish healthy boundaries (Kaakinen et al., 2015). The family dynamic is further strained by Dwayne’s vow of silence, lasting over 9 months, and his dislike of everyone. Frank’s recent suicide attempt (requiring constant monitoring) forced him to stay with the Hoovers and prompted a heated debate amongst Sheryl and Richard regarding Olive’s inquisitive questions.

Social Networks Olive enjoys dancing and dances for the talent portion of the beauty pageant. She recently placed second place in “Little Miss Chili Pepper,� a regional pageant in Albuquerque. Olive’s family is the cornerstone of her life. Although dysfunctional, the family unifies around Olive and becomes closer when trying to get her to Little Miss Sunshine, more than 700 miles away in Redondo Beach, California.

The journey is plagued with problems: The van they are travelling in breaks down, Richard finds out his motivational book is not being picked up (an income that the family really needs), Dwayne learns he is color blind which ruins his chances of becoming an Air Force pilot, Frank is encountered by his ex-boyfriend and colleague whom he is in competition with (the reason for his suicide attempt), and the death of Edwin by drug overdose. Through all this misfortune, the family overcomes and successfully reach the pageant. Olive is obviously different than the other girls and does not fit in. She begins feeling insecure about her weight and becomes nervous to perform; however, she decides to go along with the show. Her performance is off putting to the other contestants and most of the judges. Her family decide to support and gather around her, showing that they are all each other need.

Growth and Development Based on her age of 7, Olive is in the school-age level of development for children 6-12 years old. She is prepubescent and isn’t familiar with social views related to appearance. Olive is overweight, but is unaware that in order to win beauty pageants, Miss America for example, contestants must be in healthy shape. This is a lesson she discovers later on. Olive still has her front deciduous teeth and her permanent molars should be starting to come in (ATI, 2013).

According to ATI (2013), Olive’s bladder capacity is greater than boys of the same age, her immune system is improving, and her bones are continuing to ossify. At this age, children begin to effectively combine motor skills like running to kick a ball, rolling after landing from a jump, or traveling in rhythm to music. Children of this age group continue to be enthusiastic about physical activity, especially when the sport or physical activity is structured so that they can be successful ("Development Tracker," n.d.). School-age children become involved in competitive play and are focused on rules. Olive meets the developmental milestones of a 7-year-old. She engages in dance, shows coordination in her dance routine, and is drawn to the competitive nature of beauty pageants and the idea of winning.

School-age children start to respond to logical or factual explanations and begin to have an adult concept of death, usually between the ages of 9 and 12. Olive begins to contemplate what happens to people after they die and raises questions regarding Heaven after her grandfather dies. She is very inquisitive and requires explanations of events. She asks for explanations to why her uncle tried to commit suicide and thought the reason was “silly.”

• Erikson - Olive is in the industry vs. inferiority stage of

development for children ages 5-12. In this stage, a sense of industry is achieved through the development of skills and knowledge that allows the child to provide meaningful contributions to society (ATI, 2013). Olive is achieving a sense of accomplishment in her pageant competitions and also learning the important lesson that not everyone will master every skill. Olive’s family encourages her determination to compete, even though they know she will not win. If restricted, Olive would begin to feel inferior, doubting her own abilities, which is a negative outcome of this stage.

• Piaget - Concrete operations is the cognitive state for ages 7-11.

Olive is transitioning from the intuitive thought stage where children become very curious and begin using rational thought. In the concrete operations stage, Olive can classify more complex information and now has the ability to see the perspective of others.

This can be seen with Olive’s concern for being a “loser”. Her dad, Richard, is a motivational speaker and he consistently utilizes is 9step plan for success with his family. He classifies people as winners or losers based on their ability to not give up. He calls Frank a loser for trying to commit suicide and Olive becomes extremely worried about how her dad sees her; she doesn’t want to be a loser.

• Kohlberg - Olive is in the conventional level of moral judgement

which focuses on conformity and loyalty (Perry, Hockenberry, Lowdermilk, & Wilson, 2014). She strives to not be considered a loser and seeks approval from her grandfather who has been coaching her at dancing. Although Olive has practiced and competes in the pageant, she doesn’t realize that her routine is socially unacceptable. She is visibly confused when people start getting angry and leaving the show and doesn’t understand why. Once her family stands up for her and joins her dancing on stage, she gets the approval she needed and finishes her talent portion of the pageant.

Nutrition 4 to 8-year-old females should consume 1,200 calories for a sedentary lifestyle and 1,800 for active (Sizer & Whitney, 2014). Although Olive dances, she isn’t considered active which consists of 60 minutes per day of moderate physical activity; therefore, she should consume around 1,200 calories per day. Her recommended caloric intake should come in the form of one cup of fruits, 1.5 cups of vegetables, 4 ounces of grains, 3 ounces of protein, and 2.5 cups of milk (Sizer & Whitney, 2014). A recommended healthy breakfast for a 7year-old includes cereals with no more than four grams of sugar per serving and fresh fruit. Olive’s breakfast consisted of waffles a la mode, with chocolate ice cream. This is not an ideal breakfast for Olive. Olive has a BMI of 19.5, weighing 64 pounds. She is in the 93rd percentile for her age and weight ("CDC Growth Chart," 2000). Richard attempts to talk to Olive by telling her that eating ice cream will make her fat and asks her if Miss America contestants are fat or skinny. She realizes that they are skinny and begins to feel shame. The rest of her family encourages her to eat the ice cream and she eventually does.

Orem Self-Care Requisites • Respect – Met. Olive’s family respect her desire to win Little Miss Sunshine. They support her goal of competing and winning, even when they know she has no chance.

She’s allowed to make her own decisions about what to eat, what to wear, and what hobbies to engage in.

• Family – Partially met. A well-functioning family is essential in promoting development. Although Olive’s basic needs are provided by her parents, their difference in parenting styles and the constant arguing can be detrimental. Her parents aren’t unified in parenting approaches, such as her diet, which offer mixed signals on what is okay and not okay. This causes confusion for Olive in a time in her life where she requires direction and guidance.

• Friends – Unmet. Olive does not appear to have any contact with others outside of her family and the beauty pageant circle. He social life consists of being surrounded by people constantly judging her and comparing her to other girls her age (beauty pageant contestants). Schoolage children begin to develop social groups and enjoy making new friends which play an important part in social development. The Little Miss Sunshine competition does not allow children to interact and play, as the time is spent getting dressed, hair and makeup, and competing. Olive doesn’t talk to a single girl while at the pageant.

Health Promotion • Nutrition – Obesity is an increasing concern for schoolage children (ATI, 2013). Education needs to be focused on parental teaching of healthy and nutritious foods for Olive. Sheryl and Richard should be providing healthier choices than fried chicken for dinner and allowing Olive to order waffles with ice cream for breakfast.

• Physical Development – Permanent teeth begin to erupt during the school-age years (Perry et al., 2014).

Correct brushing techniques and schedules should be taught or reinforced. Fermentable carbohydrates play an important role in cavity formation and Olive’s diet of sugary foods will contribute to the development of cavities.

• Social Development – Through peer relationships, school age children learn how to deal with dominance and hostility, how to relate to persons in positions of leadership and authority, and how to explore ideas and the physical environment (Perry et al., 2014). Peer groups are essential in children gaining independence from parents. Olive needs to find a peer group where interests are shared and communication and interaction are encouraged.

Health Promotion (Cont.)

• Safety – Motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of severe injury and death in school-age children (Perry et al., 2014).

Emphasis should be placed on safety measure that have been found to reduce the severity of injury such as effective care restraint systems, door-lock mechanisms, and appropriate passenger seating locations in the motor vehicle (Perry et al., 2014). Booster seats are recommended to be used until the age of 8 and children under 13 years should be seated in the rear vehicle seat. Olive does not use a booster seat or a seatbelt while in the car. Because the family van’s clutch doesn’t work, the family is forced to push the van to get the speed up fast enough to start in third gear. This is extremely dangerous. Olive’s parents have no regard for vehicle safety and need to be educated on the potential risks.

• Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) - The overall goal for the QSEN project is to meet the challenge of preparing future nurses who will have the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work ("QSEN," n.d.). QSEN’s definition of safety is to minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance.

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