Children's behaviors and reactions have always been so interesting to me. Studying the different theories of Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg on human development has given me a much deeper understanding of these behaviors. While their theories are different, they share three assumptions according to an article on SparkNotes.com: 1. People move through stages in a specific order, with each stage building on the skills developed in the previous stage. 2. The stages are age-related. 3. Development is discontinuous, with qualitatively different capabilities emerging at each stage” (“Psychology/Development,” 2012, p. 1). Studying these three theorists has influenced my thinking about human development in two ways. Additionally, my opinion on how a patient was raised influenced my nursing care. I admit that when I take care of a child, most of the time I silently blame the parents for the child's improper actions. It's easy for me to give up on disciplining an adolescent patient. I often tell myself that it's not the children's fault and I apologize for their behavior, especially because I believed that they had grown up like this and didn't know any better. After learning about Erik Erikson's theory of development, I realized that a child's development does not depend solely on how he or she was raised by his or her parents. There are other factors that contribute to the development, according to an article comparing Erikson's views with Freud Erik Erikson's titles. McLeod (2013) states that Erikson “emphasized the role of culture and society” (p. 1) in personality development. After studying Erikson, my understanding of why children behave and react in certain situations has changed. In McLeod's (2013) article it also mentions... half of the article......n Simply Psychology, "children at this age love to explore the world around them and are constantly learning about their environment" ( McLeod, 2013, figure 2). Anything dangerous was kept in locked drawers and cabinets, so I thought the baby would be safe wandering around the small exam room. Furthermore, the accident involving the child's eye was traumatizing for him and would have caused even more trauma once the sutures were placed. I explained to the parents that to instill autonomy in this child, they needed to allow him to explore to overcome any fears that may arise from this traumatic event. This is just one example of how I have used Erikson's theories in my nursing practice. I will continue to include this in my treatment plan, because now I understand why children react and behave in certain ways towards different situations.