Object Permanence.

According to psychologist, Jean Piaget, there is a concept known as "object permanence" which can be a term to describe a child's ability to understand that an object or person exist, even when they aren't in their presence. This ability does not come along until after the time between birth and two years of age, and can be known as the "lack" of object permanence. At this time, infants can only acknowledge the presence of an object or person through motor abilities such as, sight, touch, movement, and taste. This concept was experimented on by Piaget, in which he used a toy to be visibly seen and held by the young child, and then clearly hidden. For the older children who searched for the child, it was clear that they developed object permanence. And for the younger children, they became sad and distraught with the missing toy and seemed to perceive that the toy had just magically vanished.

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When my little sister was about 1 years old, she became very attached to me. Although I only lived with her on weekends, I was able to understand her perception of me in terms of object permanence. It's this idea of "out of sight, out of mind" in which during week days, her big sister would sort of disappear. Sometimes she would cry when I left, and when I returned was always extra excited to see me. Now, 7 years old, my little sister has completely developed object permanence. Living states away, and away at college, her understanding of our relationship and object permanence is very accepted. She knows that when I leave, she'll always see me again, but struggles with this emotionally because that timing I come and go is highly unstable. I remember leaving the house in the morning when she was asleep, and she called me the next day saying, "Kayla please don't leave when I wake up, I looked everywhere and you were gone." Even though I didn't want to upset her and see her cry, I learned that she prefers me to explain to her when I'm leaving in advance, and where I'm going. She constantly reminds me, "Kayla, your school is so far, you have to sleep there!" Over time she has grown accustom to the distance, and my permanence in her life even though I can't be directly with her. I called to speak with her today and she told me she was busy reading, and when I asked her if she could spare me 5mins, she said "Speak to me already, I'm listening." I call her my crazy sister, but I love the permanent place she holds in my heart, no matter how far away she is.