Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 2.

 This week I chose to learn about the; Global Children’s Initiative organization which is on the; Harvard University website. This organization serves children and families form very poor living conditions to more affluent conditions. The purpose and mission of Global Children’s Initiative, is to improve children’s health and development.

Global Children’s Initiative are focusing on three strategic areas; the firs us educating decision-makers on the importance of behavior and health in a child’s early years, next, researching on how health begins, when healthy living declined, and how to get back on the right path of healthy development, and the last part of the plan is to help build and strengthen communities through leadership, by focusing on individuals from low income and middle income countries, by increasing the number of diverse individuals that will aid in the movement of advocating for young children http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/.

While looking closely on the website, I noticed an article published in March-April, 2009 entitled; The Developing Child. What I found interesting about this article was that in Chile, and Latin America children are not taught to read or recognize alphabets until the first grade.  In both countries, educators believe that children should be able to play as long as they can, and worry about “education” by the first grade; however by doing so children are thrown in the classrooms with high expectations to stay on level, without the basic fundamentals they would need to prepare http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/03/the-developing-child.

This website offers articles on; Scientific research of the developing child, Early childhood policy programs, and Student Leadership Development.

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.

Anthony J. D'Angelo

References:

 Global Children’s Initiative: Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

The Developing Child: 2009. Retrieved from http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/03/the-developing-child

Sharing Web Resource..

While viewing the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), I noticed an article; Investing in Young Children. The article talked about how quality programs are so beneficial to the growth and development in young children. “The children that are in risk of educational failure, are those experiencing poverty, or circumstances that may limit early experiences, and the benefits of attending an early learning center that promotes  rich educational programs” http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1085.pdf. In my profession, it is very important for me to provide a nurturing, caring, safe, and purposeful learning environment for the children and families I serve. 

Under the section; Housing Subsidies and Child Development Publications; there was a discussion about the percentage of individuals living in low income housing, and how overcrowded units may be due to the physical conditions of the building and other related issues. I do think this is accurate in most cases, however I also feel as though individuals living in subsidy housing units face the issue of spending majority of their wages on rent, that in some cases may ban forces with other family members to live together, and make ends meet.

NCCP foundation works closely with the government and state to provide programs such as; Health and Nutrition, Early care and education, Parenting and economic support, which involves earned income and tax relief for families, child support, and TANF which provides temporary monetary assistance to families.

By exploring this website, I found resource articles on Adolescent Health& Youth Development, strategies that help children with social emotional skills, language skills, and academic skills that need to succeed in their early school years.

Reference:

Housing subsidies and Child Development Publications. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/projects/housing_pubs.html.

Adolescent Health & Youth Development. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/topics/adhealth&youthdev.html

Early Care and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/topics/earlycareandlearning.html

Investing in Young Children, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1085.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts.

Welcome back fellow colleagues!! So last week’s Blog discussed an article of choice form a website or professional contact. Rather than continue to wait for responses from those contacts in which I reached out to, I realized there are so many websites and resources that offer important information on child poverty, education, and advocacy.

Last week’s Blog featured the website, http://www.nbcdi.org/ ( National Black Child Development Institute). This week, I decided to add the website; http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html (National Center for Children in Poverty).

The reason I chose NCCP was because this week’s class discussion focused a lot on poverty, and I was fortunate enough to find articles and information on how this foundation advocates for children and families.

NCCP has a vision that focuses on economic stability for children and families, helping children and families build and maintain healthy nurturing relationships, and overall healthy child development. On my journey through the website I ran across the media room and found a section, “For poor kids, recommendation to read aloud is even more critical”.  The article discussed how Pediatricians are encouraging families to read to their children as much as possible, this is imperative to children coming from disadvantage homes.

Research shows that “encouraging families to read aloud to the 16  million children below the poverty line form an early age, can improve the achievement gap between affluent children, and those that are disadvantaged” http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html.

There were so many projects that have been successfully achieved by NCCP such as; Improving the odds for adolescents, which focused on improving children’s health, Project thrive, focusing on improving child development, and providing funds for quality care through the Maternal and Child health Bureau. Social Inclusion and Respect for Diversity, which promotes diversity and inclusion in child development centers in the U.S. Strategies for early learning, providing children the proper education foundation to ensure success as they enter school. Youth, homelessness, and education, focuses on children 12-17 that have either run away from home, or have been homeless, by rebuilding their stability and initiative to become successful individuals and to continue their education paths.

This website is very informative of current issues and trends that extend even further than poverty, there are resources on housing programs, as well as how to help families regain their financial stability.

 Poverty is everyone's problem. It cuts across any line you can name: age, race, social, geographic or religious. Whether you are black or white; rich, middle-class or poor, we are ALL touched by poverty.
-- Kathleen Blanco

Resource:

 National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/projects/show.php?id=41

Sharing Web Resources

The website I chose to explore is the; (NBCDI) National Black Child Development Institute http://www.nbcdi.org/

The NBCDI focuses on helping black children gain success academically, by providing programs for advocacy, EC educator trainings, family involvement seminars, trainings on health and wellness, literacy programs, and child welfare.

While viewing one of the news letters through NBCDI, I came across an article on; The Lasting Impact on Mentoring Black Males. I found this article interesting because it talked about how young boys around the 3^rd or 4^th grade began to loose their motivation and passion for learning, primarily in black males that have been “misdiagnosed or over disciplined” (http://www.nbcdicht.org/nbcdicht/spring_2014#pg40).

Rather than focus on the negatives with black males who seem to struggle in school, or within their community, finding an alternative such as a mentor program, can be the foundation for motivating and encouraging children to be success in school throughout their lives.

Another interesting section of the newsletter that caught my attention was a section on; Being Black is not a Risk Factor. What I gained from this section was that it was a researched based project designed to focus on black children and families strengths in relation to enhancing education, strengthening the black communities, helping families rise above poverty levels, and providing safe and affordable housing.

References:

 Lasting Impact on Mentoring Black Males (2014). Retrieved from

http://www.nbcdicht.org/nbcdicht/spring_2014#pg4

Establishing Personal Contacts..

 For this blog assignment we were asked to search for my professional contacts from other countries to learn about how they advocate, help children within their programs learn, their job experiences, and personal goals,

The steps I took to find my chosen professionals were to first visit our online professional resource list, which also listed contact information. I looked into contacting: Mexico
OMEP Comité Nacional Mexicano, Haiti Step by Step Program / Tipa Tipa, and Hungary Ec-Pec Foundation.

I sent emails to each of the head representatives, I included information about myself, my reason for contacting them, and information I was interested in learning about, in terms of their childcare programs. I believe I will have some success in hearing back from these individuals, if a challenge was to arise, I will continue to search our resource list within other countries.

In addition to this assignment I decided to choose the National Black Child Development Institute (NCBDI) website to research and learn more about their mission. The reason I was interested in choosing this website was due to having already learned so much about the NAEYC, Head start, and Zero to Three. I decided to explore further into a site and foundation I was less familiar with.

  

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.