My Daily Supports

When I think of the word support, my mind is immediately drawn to the role of cheerleaders in any given sport, cheering their team on to victory. When I look at the environment around me, including the people in my life, I am surrounded by supportive friends, family and colleagues who help me achieve my goals in numerous ways. I'm the first to say that being a teacher and being in graduate school isn't the easist task in the world, but it's something that I have chosen to do for me and for my students. With this task comes the juggling of everyday housekeeping, yardwork, exercising, and making time for family and friends. When socializing with my friends, they constantly ask me if I've finished my homework and how I'm doing on my assignments. Some of my friends offer to help me by mowing the lawn and fixing odds and ends throughout my home. Without these supports, I would definitely feel as though I had the weight of the world on my shoulder. My friends realize that I have a lot on my plate and oftentimes make it easy for me to achieve my goals by helping me without hesitation.

My family is also very supportive. Though I live far away from my parents, my brother, and my extended family, they are just a phone call away. They are there to talk to about important events that are happening in my lilfe as well as to provide encouragement for me daily. When speaking with my colleagues about our graduate work, we develop a sense of unity that we are all here to accomplish the same goal, and that is being dedicated to the quality education of young children. We share ideas, stories, struggles, and successes, which brings us closer to each other and gives us strength to make it through the day, week, month, and year. All of these support systems together help me and encourage me in reaching my goal of obtaining a Master's degree here at Walden.

Without these supports,  I'm almost positive that it would be difficult for me to maintain focus and balance in my life. Having studied throughout the Early Childhood Studies program, I believe that it would be very difficult for me to survive mentally, physically, and emotionally without these supports and relationships in my life.

At this stage in my life, I think it would be very challenging for me to accept anymore responsibility roles, such as leadership, at work. Though I do have a desire to make a difference in the lives of children, I don't want to overwhelm myself. I believe with more responsibility at this stage of my life, something (either my health, my family, my quiet time, etc) would suffer. A former college professor once mentioned that whenever we give 100% to one thing, something else goes lacking. In order for me to take on more responsibility at work, I would definitely need more help at home. It may have taken me a while, but I do realize that I can't do everything by myself. I've taken off my superwoman cape and only take on the things that I can manage.

My Connections to Play

Though I don't remember much about play in my early childhood days, this quote summarizes what I learned from some of my most enjoyed activities with family and friends.

"Playground games such as "Mother May I?" or "Red Light/Green Light" develop self-control and social skills; board games promote taking turns, strategic thinking, and problem-solving; sports, playground equipment, and blocks or other construction activities augment physical coordination; and word games promote lingustic and social skills. Children need an atmosphere in which exploration and play ar...e valued and encouraged, a print-rich environment in which books encourage verbal skills; materials challenge the imagination, and there is positive social interaction. A play-derived environment in which children rely too much on "screen time" - video games, television, movies, and computer-based diverion - to fill their time is sterile and seldom draws upon creativity." - Miquela Rivera, "The Powerful Effect of Play in a Child's Education".

Miquela Rivera's explanation of the importance of play reminds me of what it was like as a child. It's unbelievable to read this, look back and realize that those games had an underlying purpose and the experiences were priceless.

"Play has been man's most useful occupation." - Frank Caplan, Contemporary American Author

Though I'm not ver old, I can remember my uncle taking the time to make me a doll house by hand. After constant visits to his house and watching step by step, the product was finally finished and ready to take home. Once home, I enjoyed hours upon hours of play with my newly built doll house and felt very special that he would take the time to do something like that, just for me.



Living in a major city and driving on interstate highways reminds me of the times my brother and I used to race our cars on the windy tracks on my bedroom floor. Then, I lived in a small town and I had no idea that a "Spaghetti Junction" could be real. Today, I frequent Spaghetti Junction, and I still find fascination in the loopdy loops. 

Though a more structured play, I distinctly remember playing basketball outside with my brother and children from our neighborhood. Though there were already rules to the game, playing basketball with other people helped develop social skills amongst me and my friends.

Reading about the different types of play has encouraged me to attempt to incorporate them more into my early childhood classroom. Now that I am responsible for teaching Science and Social Studies, I believe that I can incorporate constructive play more into the classroom. Knowing that each type of play has a direct effect on a child's development, I can make a more deliberate attempt to meet students needs in this area.

Why is Bonding with Baby Important?

One of the first concepts we discussed in this class was the importance of parent and child relationships. Within this, I learned that as a caregiver, I have the ability to help shape a child's life by making him or her feel more comfortable learning new concepts and providing the support necessary to learn and grow.

I would like to thank all of my classmates in Early Childhood Development for their insights in the development of children, posting comments on my blog and responding to various discussion postings within Blackboard. It has really helped me to learn and grow as an educaor.

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

During an informal interview with a close friend, she mentioned that she had an experience with racism as a young child. As a third grader, she experienced being called a “nigger” by a young white boy in her class. This affected her emotionally and mentally. When this situation happened, she felt helpless. Although others were around, no one came to her defense and no one comforted or consoled her. Though this happened in the Third Grade, she was unable to vocalize how she felt and deal with the issue until her sixth grade year.

Because of this incident, she began to ignore conflict that dealt directly with her. She avoided confrontation and often ran in the other direction. Being called such an inappropriate name at such a young age, left a lasting impression. She began to realize that she was different and she felt as though she had to work harder in life to prove that she was just like or possessed an even better skill set than her counterparts.

As a result of this incident, she developed a dislike for white people, males and females alike. She became less receptive and open to befriending them and often may have made prejudgments about them, based on the color of their skin.

Children all across America will probably feel the sting of racism at some point throughout their lifetime. Racism and it’s crippling effects are felt throughout each race, ethnicity, and culture in the world. Mindsets can often be passed from parents to children to grandchildren without proper acknowledgement.

According to Marilyn Elias, racism has a mental effect on children far beyond their early childhood years. The most common mental health issue related to racism is depression. Hispanics who report racism are more than three times as likely as other children to have symptoms of depression and blacks are more than twice as likely to experience depression.

“It is well established that both Indigenous Australians and Māori have a state of health and wellbeing far below other groups in their respective nations. The estimated half a million Indigenous Australians comprise 2.4 per cent of the Australian population and are the most disadvantaged group in Australian society. They suffer from high rates of unemployment and incarceration, low income, substandard housing, and a high burden of ill health and mortality, including a life expectancy that is seventeen years less than other Australians.”

These disadvantages among the people of Australia are highly attributed to racism. Indigenous Australians are seen as less than by non-indigenous Australians. They believe that they are dependent upon welfare as well as more likely to receive government handouts.  Children are effected in all three aspects of their development: biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial. For more information, click on the link below.

http://www.lowitja.org.au/files/crcah_docs/Racism-Report.pdf

Sources:

USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-05-race-depression_N.htm

http://www.lowitja.org.au/files/crcah_docs/Racism-Report.pdf

Child Development and Public Health

Several years ago, when I started my first Master’s program, I found myself extremely tired from being constantly on-the-go. After contemplating what I could do to feel better and increase my daily stamina and endurance, I was sure that eating out each day was not helping. After careful thought, I began to change my diet. I began to cook more and eat out less. I began choosing healthy snacks and researching which foods I needed daily for my body to last through a full day of teaching and full night of lectures.

Though I’ve always been an athlete, three years later, I’ve found a healthy balance of eating right and exercising that keeps me energized and ready for whatever comes my way. After developing and reaching my personal goals, I became more interested in teaching others, especially children, how to live a healthy lifestyle. Afterall, how many times do we really have the opportunity to teach Health within our classrooms?

After reading about public health measures in The Developing Person Through Childhood by Kathleen Stassen Berger, I gained curiosity about the state of public health in Africa. I specifically took interest in the state of the nutrition in Africa.

In the United States, we are fortunate to have a MyPyramid that provides detailed information of the types of foods that we give our bodies maximum nutrition. We are also fortunate to have a plethora of resources that provide affordable options for us. When researching nutrition in Africa, I found that they encourage one not to teach about the three different food groups (energy building foods, body-building foods, and protective foods) because some foods belong to more than one group and can provide more minerals, nutrients, and vitamins. Though there is a plethora of information that provides education about nutrition in Africa, there is no organized “pyramid” or similar structure to go by to help the people of Africa develop and maintain healthy nutrition.

In Africa, there are also many factors that affect healthy nutrition in Africa that most people may not experience in the United States. These factors include but are not limited to the fact that Africa is still developing. The economy, agriculture, and the environment are all factors that may affect one’s ability to live a healthy lifestyle. Households are also affected by population growth and the widespread epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

In addition to the focus I have started placing on our health standards, I plan to incorporate the health condition of places like Africa into our lessons. Hopefully, this will help students understand the importance of proper nutrition and encourage them to make healthy choices.

Childbirth in My Life and Around the World

I haven’t had any children and I don’t quite remember the experience my mother had when I was born or the experience I had when I so eloquently presented myself to the world. I’ve always been curious about pregnancy as I watch many women go about their day with another being inside their uterus. How does it feel? What is it like?

Three years ago, a co-worker of mine was hospitalized due to complications with her pregnancy. She was always on the go, a very busy woman. Another first grade teacher and I went to visit her. Though she was hospitalized, she was constantly on her laptop, which the nurses finally took away, determined to finish her dissertation. In the midst of our visit, she began experiencing contractions. As she clinched the bed rails and moaned in pain, I became scared. This was my first time seeing someone experience the pain of childbirth and it changed my perspective on what it would be like. Though she was a woman of strength while her husband was away, I knew that this was something that I did not want to go through alone.

Though I don’t know a lot about pregnancy, I am familiar with some traditions related to childbirth within my family. The elders of my family encourage us not to do certain things, not to listen  to certain music, and to be careful what we do or say around the baby. I once asked a parent of a student I taught how her children became so smart and intellectual. She mentioned that she believed it had a lot to do with what she was doing while she was pregnant with each of them . She further mentioned that when she was pregnant with her middle child, she was finishing her master’s degree. She did a lot of reading which might explain why her daughter always has a book and thinks outside the box.

When comparing my childbirth experiences, or the experiences of others, with childbirth experiences in China, I realize that there are some similarities and some differences. Of course, in China, they are encouraged to have just one child. In some families and cultures in America and other places around the world, the more children the merrier.  In both China and in some families, parents of unborn children are encouraged to read stories to their fetus. Contrary to the views in China, many women that have been pregnant consider it okay to have sex during their pregnancy. In China, sex is strictly forbidden.

In the United States, many new parents opt to have an ultrasound in order to determine the gender of the unborn fetus, but in China, the government has strictly prohibited it. Women in China give birth without their husbands present.

Source:
http://mqhrg.mcgill.ca/i/kartchner_Callister.pdf

Thank You

This semester, I have had the privilege of sharing with and learning from wonderful professionals in the early childhood field. It has been a pleasure reading your thoughts and perspectives about early childhood learners and their families. I hope we can keep in contact with each other through continued posts and interactions online!