Daily Support...

 Daily Support... 

Having a circle of support has been a tremendous help for me mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

My niece is so good at "talking me off the ledge" when things seem to be stressing me out, and I feel overwhelmed. Our talks consists of a lot of listening to one another, but at no point do we ever say to each other, "you should have done this/that". Sometimes just listening helps the person facing the stress and challenges see the era of their ways, and also helps them to reflect on what they could have done differently. Without this support, I feel as though I would hold everything in, fall into some type of depression, and not really face the underlying issues.

Physically, my support has to be my career, although I work with many educators that fuss and complain about the strenuous labor of working with young children, I could imagine a day where I just sit down and do absolutely nothing. Not only do the children and I get to run, jump, and climb together, we are also able to take long hikes on our property, which also helps me mentally in terms of the calmness, and fresh air to think. Without this support, not only would I have been able to keep and maintain a great healthy lifestyle, but I would not have been exposed to Child Development, and the lessons i have learned throughout the years, that have helped me raise my 5 wonderful girls today!

Emotionally, my husband and children have gladly accepted this position! My husband and children are awesome at giving me hugs when they know I am tired or sad, soup and crackers when I am ill, and laughs and smiles when I am grieving (the loss of my mother). I could not imagine not having this type of support, I am very family oriented and enjoy company at all times. My oldest daughter graduated high school Friday night, and preparing for Fayetville State University, although I am very proud of her accomplishments, I must admit there will be a little emptiness inside of me.

Spiritually I look to my church family and friends, as well as spend time personally with my religious beliefs. My father plays a huge part in my spiritual moments as well. I am not sure what I would do without this support, because it was instilled in me at birth.

My Connections to Play...

  Quotes that represent my childhood:


“Children are deeply curious about odd behaviors and seldom offended or worried by them. What a remarkable gift to bestow on another person, it occurs to me, and so difficult for adults to accomplish.”
― Vivian Gussin Paley, The Kindness of Children


 “Pretend" often confuses the adult, but it is the child's real and serious world, the stage upon which any identity is possible and secret thoughts can be safely revealed.”
― Vivian Gussin Paley, The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter


 Toys from the 80s!!!!!

 

When I was a child, my parents encouraged my siblings and I to be outdoors as much as possible. We did not own video games and i do not even think we had cable television. I can remember my sister and cousins building campsites, and turning old tires into spaceships, and riding our bikes with the long seats, pretending they were school buses and giving each other rides to school.

My mom would always bring worksheets home from her school that were left over from the year she taught, my dad would always keep us stocked up on pencils and crayons which my sister and I used to teach our stuffed animals!

In today's play the similarities I  see would have to be the interactive video games that encourage children to move, dance, and jump. I also see games that encourage some level of cognitive thinking, and board games such as; Operation, which uses fine motor. I see a huge difference of outside play in today's society, because technology is so popular, thus leaves less time for outdoor exploration. The toys today encourage a lot more fighting and competition, (which competition can be healthy) and also television shows sometimes interrupt children's views of what is real and who is the good/bad character. When I was younger my siblings and I used our imaginations a lot, we would develop our own singing groups, we would pretend to be teachers, and community helpers, I believe this was so because we had very little exposure to television.

Building Relationships....

I have to start this blog off with a picture of my mother once again. This special lady raised my 3 half brothers from my fathers' first marriage as well as my half sister. Through out the years of raising my half siblings, I can remember mom telling me how much grief and trouble they gave her simply because she was not their biological mother whom had left them and was not her from until many, many years later.
My mother has always been there for all of us, she was the nurturer, the nurse, the psychologists, mentor, the daughter, sister, and wife. Through out my mother's life she has always taught me how to stand up for what I believe in, that is was okay to cry, but then I must always believe that there is a brighter light at the end of what may seem like the longest, darkest tunnel ever.
My mother was there for me through the birth of my 3 children, when I delivered my twins at 25 weeks, I can remember my mother calling every day saying there was a prayer train going, and the girls will make it home soon. About 1 month after my mother touched my children in their incubators, she died suddenly from renal failure. Her selflessness and strength has inspired me to be the mother, wife, educator, mentor, nurse, and psychologist I am today!

This Man, is my hero.. My father! My dad raised 7 children; I am the youngest of them all. My father is 73 years old, and believes in taking care of his health. He has always been a provider for my siblings and I. My dad worked for United Parcel Service for over 35 years before retiring. I can remember stories he told me from the early 70s just starting his job out, having to drive back and fourth through a town called Old Fort. In that time, Old Fort was not a very diverse area, in fact there were still restrooms labeled; "black and white".
 My father told me stories of how most of the citizens, as well as store owners would spout out negative words to him, asking him to not return and deliver at a place where he was wanted. 
This continued for many years, my determined and courageous father continued his deliveries in Old Fort, because at that time, the further you traveled, the more income you could bring in. When asked by his supervisor if he wanted to reroute, he stated; "this is my job, and no one will scare me away, or keep me from providing for my family".
 My dad has taught me to continue to fight for what you believe in, no matter how hard the fight may seem, and a very important lesson was to speak up and firmly if it is for a cause you strongly believe in which is a goal I am personally working on to the day.

 My husband and my children are my biggest supporters! No matter how my day goes, good or bad, my loves accept me the way I am. Partnerships and relationships are so good to have, maintain, and cherish. 

There are times when we as educators must bridge the gap between home and school by communicating daily too the families, building a trusting relationships so that they will be more inclined to ask for help or resources, but must importantly to be aware if there are any challenges with the child at home or school.

When I Think of Child Development.....

Throughout this course I have learned so many valuable lessons that ran deeper than child development itself. While obtaining my Associates degree we often discuss children's developmental domains their levels, and skills, but not much about the underlining issues or affects that can hinder such developments, in this course we really touched on environmental, and social barriers, we even went in depth in discussing the positive/negative impact that technology has on young children! 
But what I take away from this course most of all, is how we as educators can make a difference in children's live that are labeled as; "special needs".

Testing for Intelligence?

Just recently my 10 year-old daughter was sent home with a letter talking about a type of intelligence assessment mandated by North Carolina school board officials. After receiving the notification explaining the how the test were conducted, as well as my daughters percentile placement, I suddenly realized that although my daughter does well academically, not placing high in percentile would really mess with her self confidence and possibly motivation to continue being successful.

Intelligence and achievement test focus on cognitive skills, abilities, recalling, and problem-solving. Although I understand certain assessments are necessary in pinpointing the level of development each child is at, as well as areas they need to work on, however, I feel as though there is all ready pressure placed on the children and teachers in terms of the End of Grade testing, measuring for intelligence will add extra stress, as well as place negative message to the child that he/she is not smart in comparison to other children across the board they have never met.

Throughout this year I have been really interested in learning about the South/West African cultures. Just recently, I read an article that talked about how schools in South Africa have an integrated approach to early child development, the school try to  provide rich learning experiences from children birth to school-age, however the children's performance levels are much lower than other countries. The reasons for the low achievements are due to poor school attendance, missing adolescents, lack of running water, school violence, and a severe lack of resources to provide libraries and text books.

The type of assessment that measures the children's abilities is known as the; Annual National Assessment. This type of assessments measures children's numeracy and literacy skills.

As I stated before, there are assessments that can be a strong tool for educators to help children in all of their developmental domains, such as High Scope assessments, and Teaching Strategies.
Tests that are designed to help and not hinder students can help build their  self confidence and motivation to continue to work hard,and also certain assessments can help detect any learning delays early on, so that services can be provided.



Reference:

UNICEF South Africa- Education and Adolescent Development. Retrieved from:  http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/education_344.html

Consequences of stress on children's development...

I worked with as family last year who had trouble financially. Mom had lost her job, and dad spent majority of the income from his wages on rent and utilities. Each day the mother and family would come into the classroom and sit with their son at the table. Their son would offer them components form his meal and they would accept. Mid-year, the child's mother spoke with me in the hallway and explained to me that she was having difficulty feeding her family. 
After speaking with my co-teacher we got together to compile a list of resources and services that would be very beneficial in helping this family provide hot and healthy meals for their children.

While reading an article entitled; " A Cry for Help", it stated that their are about 18 million individuals within the West African Region that suffer from hunger and drought. Because of the drought live-stock and crops are suffering unable to produce and nourish the country.
There are organizations such as; UNICEF, Save the Children, Oxfam, and World Food Programme that help ensure that starving countries have clean water supply, adequate food supply, medical help, and shelter. 

 Reference:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/cry-hunger-drought-crisis-west-africa/story?id=16449341

Child Development and public health...

Sudden Infant death is particularly important to me because it is not only devastating to the families but as unclear as to the cause.

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is defined as an unexplained sudden death of an infant 1month to 1 year.  SIDS has claimed the life of over 2,500 infants a year within the United States http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sids.html.

In countries such as Africa and Asia, it is a custom for most infants to sleep close to their mothers, as oppose to the education society receives on the risk of suffocation and over heating the infant. In a precious article that talked about Asian customs, it discussed how SIDS is quite lower in Asian countries because parents learn their child’s body movements, sleep patterns, respiratory sounds, as well as monitor body temperatures http://www.health24.com/Medical/Diseases/Sudden-Infant-Death-Syndrome-SIDS-20120721.

This subject is important to me because a year ago I taught a little girl who lost her infant to SIDS at the age of 3 months. The mother was young and addicted to street drugs, while returning home from a night out, she decided to take her child out of her crib to hold her, and fell asleep with the child on the couch beside her. Not gathering the full details, the report came back as SIDS, however a part of me thinks that with proper education before exiting the hospital after giving birth can help families prevent these tragedy from happening, I say, prevent because I am not aware of every child’s death do to SIDS, but I have worked with a few young parents that have lost their child to SIDS.

The Purple Crying video is a great way to help families learn more about SIDS, Postpartum, and how to really take care of your infant as well as your self after bringing your infant home.

 The Period of Purple Crying video below:

 http://youtu.be/ksVx6LfvFjs