My Supports

        I have many factors within my daily environment that are supportive to me. I feel that my faith helps me get through my day to day life. Without my faith I would not be here or where I am today. No matter what I go through, I feel that I am able to pray and get through all situations no matter good or bad. I also feel that one of the factors that play a huge role in my support system would be my husband and my family. My family has stood by my side through my education and all other life events. I also look at my professors as being my support system. I am taught to look at different situations objectively and apply my knowledge effectively. I have had a really rough few months health wise and without the help of my family and professors coming together to get me through, I would have given up on my education and on a lot of other things. I feel that I have the push I need to get things done and continue to accomplish my goals. I love working with children and being able to complete my courses and getting all of the different insights from my colleagues, I would be lost. I love being able to take what I have learned and try it out in my work environment. I feel that I am able to experiment and get results that I would have never gotten, had it not been for me pushing through each class! I have conquered many challenges with my support system, and to my whole system I am grateful, blessed, and encouraged! One thing that I have learned thus far is that I have to learn to first support myself, before I can look for support from others! I truly love my life and very excited to see what my future holds!!!

My Connections to Play

My Connections to Play

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.”                             Kay Redfield Jamison

“Play builds the kind of free-and-easy, try-it-out, do-it-yourself character that our future needs.”          James L. Hymes Jr.

 

 Every year I had to have the newest Baby Alive

I think that every girl had to have one of these growing up!!!!

I just loved being able to play in the kitchen area in school!

I also think the housekeeping are was the area that everyone learned the most…

Growing up I was always encouraged to go outside and play. My family would always get together and go to the park during the weekends and we would BBQ and have a great time together! I loved being able to play with my friends and family. My mom would allow me to have sleepovers once a month and I would have about 7-10 girls to come over and we would have and absolute BALL!!!

I feel that play is much more different than it was when I was growing up. I feel that parents are allowing children to watch more tv than ever before. Children learn what the different shows teach them but they don’t get to explore and learn from trial and error. Children are not developing as fast physically because parents aren’t engaging with them as much. I see a lot of people doing what’s convenient for them and not what’s best for the children. For example, instead of helping the child walk, the parent will just put them in a walker or carry them around. When I was growing up we didn’t use a walker, our parents allowed us to roam free and pull up on the sofa and table. If we fell they would make sure we were okay, and let us continue on.

I feel that play has helped me become more social and has given me the tools I needed to be able to work with the many different people in my field of work. I find it very easy to make friends and communicate with others. Play, to me is the key to being able to understand how other people interact with one another.

 

Relationship Reflection

Relationship Reflection

There are many different types of relationships that a person can have. I feel that every relationship that is built depends on the person and the actions that are taking place. Relationships are central to a person’s successful life. If you accomplish all your material goals but you do not attend carefully to your relationships, you will end up empty, alone and miserable. But if you have wonderful relationships with people who care about you, and whom you care about, then no matter what happens in the outside world, you will still be happy.

I have many different relationships. The most important relationship that I have is with my own family. I have all the support that I need in everything that I do. All of my accomplishments are the result of the continued support that I get from my husband and children.

I have a work relationship with a couple of my coworkers that help me through my career. I look at them as mentors. We work together to build each other up and share our experience and ideas on how to help the development of you children.

At times it can be hard when trying to develop relationships, because everyone incorporated in the relationship has to have a sense of trust and must feel that their morals and values are being viewed just as important as everyone else’s.

With every person that I meet in the early childhood education field, I strive to communicate my passion for the children and show that I am willing to put my biases aside to come up with the best developmental plan for all of our young children. If we all work together and network with our ideas, we would be able to do great things in the early childhood education field.

Thank You!!!

I would like to say thank you to my family and colleagues for all their support. I have endured so much this semester and I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have been given. I feel very blessed to be a part of such a group of positive people. In the past weeks I have learned so much on child development. I was able to take a lot of what I learned and apply it to real life experiences. I would also like to thank my professor. I felt that she was very involved with each assignment and was very understanding through everything. The feedback from everyone really gave me new insights about all the topics we discussed!


#mastersdegreeinprogress

Margaret Mead

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
― Margaret Mead

HaPpY bIrThDaY!!!!

Measuring Quality Learning Through Assessments

I feel that assessments are very important to measure a child’s development. Assessments allow teachers and parents to see where children are both academically, emotionally, and socially. With the help of assessments it allows children to be placed in the correct classes and programs to help best suit their needs. Placement testing is the most accurate way of making sure students are placed in skill appropriate classes. However, I do believe all standardized testing should be a mix of multiple choices, true or false, and essay. These types of tests give the child a chance to feel confident that they are given the opportunity to their best. Some are better at certain kinds of test. When assessing a child, we must make sure that we are free from and biases and are prepared with the proper tools to deal with the results. Assessments are a great way to find if there are any developmental flaws that a child may have. I we can catch any problems before it’s too late, we can prevent long-term problems.

Germany's state-run primary school pupils start their education at the age of five or six. For the first two school years, they are not given marks for their academic performance. Parents are merely handed a school report on their child's abilities and behavior at the end of each school year. From the age of seven, pupils are subjected to continuous assessment. Every piece of work, including tests and homework, is marked on a 40/60 per cent oral/ written basis. The marks go towards an annual school report. When pupils leave primary school at 10 or 11, they are provided with a recommendation, based on continuous assessment, to decide what type of secondary school they attend. I like the fact the children are given a specific idea of what type of school they should attend based on their assessment (Cassidy, 2008). I feel that this would give the child the best chance at succeeding in school and learning in a way that they could understand. Going to a school that would cater to their needs could also boost their confidence in schooling and make them feel that they can accomplish anything. Have been to three different colleges, I feel that if schools gave an assessment to see what school would best fit that person, the dropout rate would be less.

Cassidy, S. (2008, February 08). Our children tested to destruction. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/our-children-tested-to-destruction-779790.html

Neglect

After looking at all of the different topics on stressors that could affect a child’s development, the one thing that came to mind would be pure neglect. I work with CASA, and many times children are removed from the comforts of their own home because they are not being looked after. I have worked on two cases where children were taken out of the home because parents could not get their lives together and refused to take care of their children. It breaks my heart have the children that I work with, ask “when can I go home?” Children suffer developmentally when things like this happen, because sometimes they don’t understand why they are in the situation they are in. The children are confused and feel that it’s their fault. Children begin to lose sleep and even start acting out in school. It’s already bad enough that a child is losing sleep, but when behavior becomes an issue, then it’s even worse. I can recall on of the children on my case saying that if he would act out at school then maybe they would call his parents and they would come see bout him. I feel that once a child is stressed and doesn’t know where they will lay their heads the next night or where their next meal will come from; their willingness to thrive goes away. For a child to succeed and grow to their full potential, a child needs the tools to be able to access the life skills necessary to survive in today’s society. Neglecting a child’s needs can cause emotional and physical delays. Neglect can come in all forms and if we don’t educate parents, caregivers, and others we are putting more children at risk.

Some people think neglect is not as damaging to a child as physical or sexual abuse. But that is not necessarily true. Chronic neglect can strongly impact a child's health and development. According to research, neglect is the type of child maltreatment most likely to re-occur in a family even after child protective services intervention. Research also finds that the more chronic or recurring neglect is in a family, the more likely that children in that family have been physically abused or sexually abused as well. Neglected children are more likely to show up in the juvenile justice system during adolescent years and are less likely than physically abused or sexually abused children to receive services for their developmental delays. Children in the foster care system because of neglect tend to be younger than other maltreated children in out-of-home care.

                In 2011 Russia had an estimated 800,000 orphans.  Most of these orphans have a living mother or father who has abused, abandoned, or neglected them. The Russian government takes the parent’ rights away and places the children in orphanages. Orphans are considered graduated at the age of 15 or 16. They are sent back out on the streets without any support system or guidance. This becomes a never ending cycle. Once the child is grown, they tend to turn to drugs and have children of their own, and their children become orphans.  I found this shocking. I can’t believe how many children go without families and are left to fend for themselves. I have more appreciation for the system we have in place for our children here in the U.S.

Russian ophans: how many and who cares. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/russian_orphan_information.html

SIDS

SIDS

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is the sudden and unexplained death of an infant who is younger than 1 year old. It's a frightening prospect because it can strike without warning, usually in seemingly healthy babies. Most SIDS deaths are associated with sleep (hence the common reference to "crib death") and infants who die of SIDS show no signs of suffering ("sudden infant death," 2014).  In my current profession, our regulation requires us to check all the infants at least five times every hour and check off on a list to verify that we are checking our infants. It is very important that we check on the infants to make sure that they are breathing or prevent anything that could cause death. I feel that this regulation is a good one because it can do no harm and only help us spot emergencies quicker. My husband is a firefighter on the military instillation and they are responsible to respond to not only fires but also medical calls. My husband has come home several times with stories of homes that he has responded to where infants have passed due to SIDS throughout his career. It’s very painful to see him come home on the days that he has had a tough call and hear of the stories that he tell. It’s not much anyone can do once you know that a child has passed away and it’s frustrating when you don’t have the answers as to why.  I feel that this topic is very meaningful to me because I work with children every day and I am in constant contact with infants. I feel that if I can provide parents that come through my center with the proper education and resources that it could help prevent the death of an infant. Some parents are young and just want to do things that are convenient for them without actually knowing the risk they are actually taking. SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year old, and claims the lives of about 2,500 each year in the United States. It remains unpredictable despite years of research ("sudden infant death," 2014).

     Japan has one of the lowest SIDS rates in the world (between .2 and .3 babies per 1000 live births compared with approximately .5 per 1000 infants for the US). The Japan SIDS Family Organization reported that SIDS rates continue to decline in Japan as maternal smoking approaches practically 0, and exclusive breastfeeding reaches around 70-75 %. In fact, one report shows that as bed sharing and breastfeeding increased and as maternal smoking decreased, SIDS rates decreased. This suggests yet again that it is not necessarily bed sharing, but how it is practiced, that can be dangerous (McKenna, 2007). I found this article very interesting. The article stated that as bed sharing and breastfeeding
increased and as maternal smoking decreased, SIDS rates decreased. Personally, I think that I would have to do a little more research on the topic before I was totally sold on the idea that bed sharing decreased the chances of SIDs. 

McKenna, J. (2007). Cosleeping around the world. Retrieved from http://www.naturalchild.org/james_mckenna/cosleeping_world.html

Sudden infant death syndrome. (2014, January 13). Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/sleep/sids.html