Have you ever wondered how a child thinks? What goes on inside a child’s brain, what do they think as they play with a new toy for the first time, or learn how to do something new like riding a bike. Children are complex and normally learn at a very quick pace, their brains are like an absorbable sponge during the early years of their young lives. Children may learn on their own, or learn from observing others actions. Although I am not longer considered a child, I plan on turning back time and observe children’s actions to try to learn about how children think, learn and play, whether it is on their own or with other children. By the end of this, I would like to be able, and others who read this to be able to have an idea of how children act when they are influenced by others, and how they act on their own. I will begin by explaining the children I have observed and the area of development I decided to focus on. Instead of only choosing one child to observe, I was lucky enough to know someone that has three children of all the same age to observe. At the age of 14, my good friend Shelby Nastase became a proud sister of triplet brothers, two of the boys are identical, Jake and Andrew, and one is fraternal, Alec. The boys are now at the age of six, each with their own vibrant personalities. Although all boys look very much alike, especially the twins, each has their own mind and personality that would defiantly make them their own individual. During my observations, I quickly decided that my point of interest in writing this paper would be to focus on the social behaviors between all three of the children. I not only decided on observing how the siblings interact with each other, but I also decided it would be a good idea to see how they interacted with other children their own age. I also decided that when I observed the siblings when they were together, I would not only observe each at the same time but also individually how they acted. Also when I observed the children and how they acted when they were not all around each other, it was at their school. This was good because each sibling is in different classrooms then one another, which when I learned that the school did this on purpose, that it was defiantly a good idea to keep the children separate so they learn to interact with others instead of only keeping to themselves. I began observing the siblings as a whole, they had all just gotten done eating lunch, full of energy and ready to release it, I decided this would be the best time to observe them while they were all playing together. They began to play together inside the house, each racing over to grab their toys. Now with three boys of all the same age, it is not a fun having to share one toy between all three of them. For example, each boy has the same monster truck, each looks identical, same color and size, but remarkably each boy knows exactly whose toy is whose. I was very surprised to see how each knew exactly whose toy was theirs, because all the monster trucks looked the same. If you were to hand the boys a toy that wasn’t theirs, they were quick to let you know that that was not theirs, and begin to explain how you could tell which one was theirs and why. They began to race their trucks together, making fake noises as they bashed their trucks into one another’s. If someone was to hit their trucks together to hard, they would definitely not be afraid to let one another know that they were doing it the wrong way. From there the children were allowed to play outside for a little bit. Again to my amazement each boy ran to “their” bikes, each identical, but each knew exactly which bike was theirs. They began riding around in circles, laughing and giggling as they bumped their bikes together when someone would suddenly stop. At first it was a game to each, as they all laughed as they played bumper cars with their bicycles, but after a few minutes of the games, Andrew, one of the twins decided that the other brothers were hitting him to hard and didn’t want to play with them anymore. This seemed to happen a lot, one of the boys always seemed to say that they got hurt, or they weren’t all playing nice together and they would walk away and start another game with themselves. With any siblings no matter the age, they will always have arguments. In this case, all the boys being of the same age I learned that they easily get mad at one another, but tend to get over it and move on. Little arguments about someone hitting someone else to hard, or another not sharing is mostly what they tended to fight about. For example, Alec, the fraternal triplet, is a bit bigger than the other two; he likes to bully the other two around. When Alec doesn’t get what he wants, he takes it out on his brothers, by pushing them or stealing their toys, because he knows that they cannot do anything to get it back unless they tell a parent. A big no-no in the house is that commonly known as “No one likes a tattletale”, so when one child says they are going to tell on the other, they quickly remind one another that you’re not allowed to tattle. Just in the short time that I observed the children, I witnessed a lot of this, quick little tiffs that they each shortly got over. After watching the boys play together, I decided that I should begin to just observe one child at a time. I prepared to look for the ways in which they interacted towards their brothers, whether they liked playing alone more, or always tried to get them to all play together. At this time I believe I learned a lot about the social behaviors between all three of the children, and how you could see both the similarities and the differences between them. When they would all play together, whether it be with an object or make up their own imaginary scenario, each would have their own way of showing how they wanted to play it. Normally one of the brothers wasn’t doing it the right way, or basically the way they wanted it. Each boy had their own way of seeing how they wanted to play, and if the others didn’t want to do it that way, then they weren’t allowed to play together. I began by observing Andrew first, one of the twins. Andrew, although a twin, was smaller than the other boys, not by much but you could definitely tell he wasn’t as big or strong as the other two boys were. I noticed that Andrew always wanted to play with the other two, but never thought it was good idea what they were doing. I came to the conclusion that Andrew was the non risk taker out of all the three, if the other two were jumping off their beds on to the other beds, he would be very scared to do it. I am not sure if he was scared that he would get into trouble, or scared that he couldn’t do it like his brothers could, either way I am sure it was probably a mixture of both. If Andrew was doing something first and wanted his brothers to play with him, they never liked what he was doing, instead they would turn his ideas around and make them more “fun”. Although Andrew always wanted to join in with his brothers, he mostly played by himself. Like most boys his age, they play with a toy for a little while and simply move on to the next one, Andrew was not like that. He liked to take his toy, for example the monster truck and pretend that he was racing a ton of other monster trucks, when reality it was just him and one truck. I came to the conclusion that although Andrew was not as social as his brothers, he was very creative, like I said before; he could preoccupy himself with just a truck for hours on end, unlike the other boys who were switching toys like they were playing musical chairs, always moving on to something else. Next would be Jake, the second of the twins. Although he was bigger than Andrew, he wasn’t the biggest, but I think he liked to act like he was bigger and better than all of his brothers. Jake has the personality that he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants, if he wants to go outside even though he’s not allowed, he is the type to do it anyways. I was there only for a short period of time, and he seemed to always get into trouble somehow. Jake is the type to have to be the best at something, if he doesn’t win, than no one wins because they all cheated. It seems as though Jake is the trouble maker of the boys, he likes to push peoples buttons, and he is always getting into something he isn’t supposed to be doing. Although he is always getting scolded for something, I can tell Jake has a warm heart and loves his brothers. I believe that Jake likes to be the center of attention, and I think he is when it comes to playing and being around his siblings. Jake’s social behavior from what I could tell is definitely very high compared to Andrew, who didn’t mind entertaining himself. I could defiantly tell that Jake liked being around his brothers, like laughing and playing and going along with what the others told him to do. I don’t want to say Jake was a follower, but I cannot say he was the leader of the three either. While observing Jake I came to realize that he didn’t like not doing what the others were doing, he always wanted to be involved in whatever was going on at the time. He is very outgoing and very energetic. Although Jake was very outgoing when he was around his brothers, I was very curious to see how he was when his brothers weren’t around to play with, whether he would be just as outgoing, or keep to himself when he wasn’t around his siblings. Last but defiantly not least was Alec, the fraternal triplet. Alec is defiantly substantially bigger than the other two, which made him seem as though he was older than the others. He seemed as though he was the leader of the group, the one who made the rules to every game, and always won the battles of who got to play what first. When it came to Alec, I could defiantly tell that he knew he was bigger than the others, and that he knew they would listen to him no matter what he said. Not only was he bigger, but he also was a bit of a bully when it came to his brothers. Alec was more into rough and tumble playing instead of being more relaxed and imaginative. Alec had no trouble at all when it came to his social behaviors, even as I was sitting there pretending to be doing homework, he wanted me to come play with him. He was very outgoing and very outspoken for a six year old, telling his brothers that they were wrong even if they weren’t; he always had to be the one to decide what the right way of doing something was. I could tell even from just observing him with his brothers that Alec would have no trouble making other friends outside of his siblings, he was the type to always want to play and get into mischief. But I was eager to see if Alec still acted like the bigger child when it came to being around other children than his brothers, although I knew he would not have trouble fitting in, I didn’t know if he would still try to be the one in charge when it came to other children. All in all each child, although all the same age, were very different, which I was quite surprised about. When I think of twins or triplets, I think of children who get along very well with one another, but have trouble getting along with new children because they are so used to playing with their siblings only. All three boys each had their own personalities and were very different from one another, whether it be one playing alone or them playing all together, they were always able to stay entertained. I was not surprised to see them each having their own tantrums when it came to not getting what they wanted, but the fighting always seemed to be resolved whether it is by themselves, or with a threat from a stern parent’s word. I also observed that the children were all on the same schedule, which when having three boys of all the same age is a wise way to go about the day. On the refrigerator door was a calendar, every day had a different boy’s name, alternating every third day. I later figured out that this was that particular boy’s day to “choose” the things that all the boys would be doing or having for the day. For example, it was lunch time when I observed the children; it was Alec’s day so he was able to choose what they were going to have for lunch. I thought this was a great idea for families with multiple children; it defiantly keeps order and in this case, keeps the arguing to a minimum. After observing the children at home, with just the sibling’s social behaviors to observe, I decided that to really understand each child’s social behaviors would be to go outside the home and observe them around children other then themselves. I knew the only way to go about this was to observe the children while they were at school, this was possible to do only because each of the brother were all placed in different classes. I believe the school did this just for the fact that the siblings have the chance to experience other children, and make new friends other than keeping to the stability of their family, as most children would do. Again I began with Andrew, who when I got to his classroom he immediately ran over to me and gave me a big hug, I believe he was just excited because he knew me and wanted to let the other children know. I decided to come during the time that the children had play time, so I could see the children with their fellow classmates. When watching Andrew he was very shy when it came to playing with his classmates, he looked almost nervous to socialize with the other children because he was not as comfortable with them as he is with his brothers. He began playing by himself, but later start to laugh and play with a fellow male classmate. I was glad to see that he began socializing with other children; I would have thought that he would stay to himself because he has such a shy personality. I believe he had a better social interaction with his classmate because he was not intimated by him like he is with his brothers. Next down the hallway was to Jake’s classroom, where as Andrew he also came up to me and asked me why I was at his school, I told him I had come to talk to his teacher, but really obviously I was just there to observe him around the other children. Right away to no surprise Jake was eager to play and make believe with the rest of his classmates. Unlike Andrew he socialized with just more than one of his classmates, he also played and talked to females too. I had a feeling that Jake would be able to make new friends and play the same games that the rest of his classmates were playing. While observing Jake, I didn’t get the feeling of him being as much as a follower as I did when he was around his brothers; he was more sharing the same ideas and being the first to start a new game with his fellow classmates. Alec’s classroom was my last stop, when I walked into his class he did not even notice me, which I was glad because I wanted him to do the things he would normally do every day at school. I quickly noticed that Alec had trouble playing and sharing with the other children. I believe this is because Alec is so used to be the center of attention and the controller when he is at home with his brothers. Alec was very rough with his classmates, instead of playing with the toys that were in the classroom, he wanted to wrestle and run around, which most boys his age want to do, but in school and inside the classroom is not the time or place to be unruly. Alec’s teacher had to tell him more than once to settle down and be quite, which he would do at first, but shortly after return to doing the same things as before. During my observations from the siblings at home, I believed that out of all the boys that Alec would be the one to have many friends and be able to play with others without having to control them like he does with his brothers. I soon learned that although it seemed as though Alec interacted with his classmates, he always wanted to be the controller, and when he wasn’t he didn’t like it. All in all I learned from observing the triplets at both their home and at school that the boys all have different personalities and react differently when they are not around one another. I believe that the boys need to be separated from themselves to be able to learn good social skills, such as being separated at school like they are now. Although I was not able to spend that much time with the children at their school, I did have just enough time to realize that although the boys are always together and are all of the same age, they are able to branch out and make friends with other children their age instead of just being able to be with their brothers. If children are not taken away from one another at a young age, it would be hard to separate them, and hard for the children to gain the social skills needed to make friends. It is important to have your children not only be able to get along with their siblings but to make friends outside of the family. Good social skills will help the children succeed later on in life, I have no doubt in my mind that these brothers will not only be able to be close to one another throughout their lives but to have good close friends outside the family also!