Lyric O'Connor

Lyric O’Connor is a “10-year-old person, a girl” living in the Hudson area.  She shared stories about her current life, friendships, parents and brother, interests, beliefs, activities, and a recent haircut. She talked about the importance of learning and school, sibling dynamics with her brother and how they are working on it in therapy, learning to swim and spending time in the pool at the high school, neighborhood spaces and biking, playing video games, music she hears and what she likes, Childhood memories, and experiences helping her mom out with infants who are cared for in their home. She talked about magical creatures and described the differences between a unicorn, pegasus, and uni-pegasus. She recounted recorded videos of herself as a baby, memories of other young children, and also expressed beliefs and desires around the future—job, education, and artistic leanings and affinities. She explained concepts such as support, acceptance, and talked about what matters about a person.

This oral history will be of value for educators, parents and caregivers, youth, developmental psychologists, youth counselors, and others interested in the perspectives of school-aged children. I also see application for those interested in learning about the family lives of professional child care providers, the role of friendships in the formation of identity, public resources (pools, parks), video games and technology in children’s lives, sibling relationships, and unicorns.