In the book A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer, the reader learns how Pelzer developed differently than most children. Due to the situation in which he grew up, he goes through many stages of human development differently and at different times in his life than his peers. The effects that Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and Kohlberg's theory of moral development had on Peltzer are very evident in this book. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayUnfortunately, Pelzer was not protected by Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems. For most people, these ecological systems are what make everything “click” or connect every aspect of our lives. (Feldmann, 2013). However, for Dave, everything was kept separate, causing negative mesosystems. Because his mother was not involved in his education, Dave had little to no motivation to do well in school. He was held back in first grade and was constantly in trouble for stealing food. He is known as a bad boy, or the "food thief", and claims that his principal knew who he was because of how often he was caught stealing food. Pelzer became very scared when he was sent to the principal's office for fear that the principal would call his mother, which he knew would make things worse for him at home. His mother punished him for stealing food, but apparently didn't care how well he did in school. For example, when his teacher sent a letter to his mother telling her how well he had done in class, Dave was so excited to show it to her. But his mother tore the letter to pieces and shouted at him that he would never impress her, and she wished he were dead (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 104). His mother's lack of support for his education meant that he did not care about his education. Another example of a mesosystem that has failed Dave is the relationship between his "friends" and his family. Although Dave had no typical friends, the closest thing he had were the neighborhood kids who, on very rare occasions, he was allowed to play with. However, the neighborhood kids were more friends with Dave's brother than Dave's friends. If Dave had a healthy relationship with friends, he might have felt comfortable enough to tell them what was going on at home, and he might have been able to walk away from the abuse sooner. Instead, the neighborhood kids were of no help or friendship to Dave. Instead, they were partially part of the problem. For example, when Dave was in the bathtub, his brothers and neighborhood kids would come over and stare at him, sometimes even say rude things to him (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 112). Ideally, these "friends" could have had a better relationship with Dave, his siblings and the rest of his family and could have helped put a stop to the abuse early on, when they would have started to notice that things were suspicious between Dave and his mother. There were also exosystems, parts of his environment that affected him, even if he was not directly affected by them (Feldman, 2013). The relationship between Dave's mother and father directly affected him, even though he was not directly involved in the relationship. Dave mentions a specific instance where he was in bed but could hear his parents arguing. Although he wasn't the person they initially started fighting over, he says he would soon become the object of their battle. “I knew Dad was trying tohelp me, but in bed I was still shaking with fear. I knew he would lose, making things worse for me the next day” (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 51). When his parents fought, it made his life more difficult, as his mother always took her anger out on Dave. At first, Pelzerlo's macrosystem disappointed. Many people knew that Pelzer was not being cared for at home, such as the school nurse or the principal. Pelzer talks about how he finally opened up to the school nurse and the principal about what was going on, but there were a lot of signs of child abuse that should have been noticed, which I believe would be the case in today's society. The nurse, teachers, and principal should have worried about his constant bruising and strange stories about how they got there. Even the neighbors could have done something, since they knew that he was treated differently from his brothers, he was always punished and was never allowed to play outside with them. However, in the end, his macrosystem was what helped him when the principal involved the police and they let him out of the house. For a variety of reasons, I believe that Pelzer is in the concrete operational phase of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. An increase in logic occurs at this stage (Feldman, 2013). I think Pelzer is in this stage because he is very intelligent when it comes to thinking ahead of his mother and surviving her punishments and how to survive. For example, create a great plan for getting food. “Finally, I came up with a plan that might work. Students weren't allowed to leave the courtyard during lunch break, so no one expected me to leave. My idea was to sneak away from the playground and run to the local grocery store and steal cookies, bread, chips, or whatever I could. In my mind, I planned every phase of the project” (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 58-59). This plan required a lot of logic on Peltzer's part, as most of his plans had not worked and his mother had discovered that he was foraging for food. After his first trip to the store, he was so proud of himself for completing the task. However, he left the box of crackers in the bin, which was emptied before he had a chance to get to it. So, next time he learned to hide them elsewhere. Through trial and error, he found a plan that worked, which shows that his plans are flexible as they are constantly improving. When he was caught shoplifting during his lunch break, he once again found a new plan that worked. Just like his other plans, this plan also required a lot of thought about timing and process. “I timed my bathroom break so the teacher would excuse me from the classroom right after the delivery truck dropped off its supply of frozen lunches. I crept into the cafeteria and grabbed some frozen trays, then ran to the bathroom” (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 63-64). I believe this is a great example of the concrete operational stage of cognitive development because he was able to use logic and reasoning to master this plan, in order to get the food he needed. Throughout his life, Pelzer constantly stole food, something he knew was wrong, but it was necessary to do so in order to survive. This is reflected in Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning, which I believe Pelzer is stuck in the first, preconventional stage because he consistently bases his behavior on the punishments or rewards involved (Feldman, 2013). Stealing food wasn't something Pelzer did because he wanted to, he did it because he needed food since he wasn't being fed at home. Because he knew it was wrong, he was always afraid of.