-What is your proudest moment so far?
(3-6): “My teacher Mrs. May gave me a hug because she said I did a good job.”
(7-12): “In the fourth grade I had a project that my teacher kept to show other kids because she liked it.”
(13-19): “My proudest moment was when I got my acceptance letter for Longwood. It felt so good to have all of my hard work finally pay off in a meaningful way.”
-What do you want to be when you grow up and why?
(3-6): “A princess!!!”
(7-12): “Probably a chef, or a surgeon. Either one.”
(13-19): “I want to be a historian because I like history and I want to explore how history affects modern day life.”
-When was the last time you were sad? What caused your sadness?
(3-6): “Today my mom took away my ipad because I said something bad.”
(7-12): “My friend said something mean to me last week that hurt my feelings.”
(13-19): “I was sad over the summer because my boyfriend and I broke up. He is going to Ohio State for college right now so it just would have been too hard to keep the long distance relationship.”
-If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would you take with you?
(3-6): “My stuffed animal, the ipad, and the cat.”
(7-12): “Probably Darwin (their dog), some money, and my phone.”
(13-19): “My wallet, phone, and laptop. Maybe I need to grab my textbooks too because they cost so much haha!”
-Who are your best friends? What are they like?
(3-6): “My friends are in my class, we share snacks.”
(7-12): “My best friend Brady lives in connecticut and I don’t get to see him much. We would go skiing and skateboarding together.”
(13-19): “My best friends from back home, their names are Emily and Hannah. They are super understanding and goofy.”
The script above is a section of my interviews that I conducted with three individuals of different age groups. These interviews would later make up the basis for an essay analyzing childhood development. At the beginning I found this class exciting because it was technically my first class for the nursing program. However, conducting interviews for children across different age groups was really moving to me. I had not realized the lack of interaction with children in my life until this assignment. It was eye opening to have to reword questions and to try to keep the focus of the younger individuals. Also, it was very interesting to see the differences among the responses. As age increased, the answers to my questions were more complex. I expected this outcome, but it was amazing to see how the oldest participant had developed their own sense of values at their stage in life. This particular individual stressed the importance of family, self satisfaction, and interpersonal relationships. Seeing the distribution of responses and being able to work with age groups outside of my normal interactions was very enlightening.