Saturday, November 26, 2011
Consequences of Stress on Children's Development
This week we were asked to pick one stressor that affects and impacts child development. Since I work with children whose parents are in the military, I witness children dealing with war and deployments on a regular basis. Having grown up on a military base myself, I have dealt with same situations as a child. In today's society it is being raised in a single parent household is becomming more common. As if that isn't stressful enough for a child, adding the worry and stress of war can be very deetramental to a child and their development. Most of the children that I work with have experienced a parent delploying at least once, some on several occaisions. I can see an instant change in child's personality when their parent gets sent off to a warzone. It is saddening and disheartening to watch however we try to offer the best support that we can. We have many programs that offer different activities that the children can engage in while their parent is away. We even have our computer lab equipped with Skype so the children can get on and see and speak with their parent.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Child Development and Public Health
Public Health continues to be an important subject around the world. When speaking to my friends and parents, they always have strong opinions regarding public health and their children. I have several friends who are against immunizing their children and I have several friends who don't believe in breastfeeding. These are all things that I find very interesting, at least finding out what causes people to choose one side or the other. Since I do not have children of my own, it is difficult to relate to some of the topics within the public health sector. However, I do have opinions and thoughts as to how I would raise my own children and what things I would focus on as being important. Nutrition is something that jumps out at my because I believe it is something that our society struggles with not just with our children, but even with our adults. When I think of nutrition, I don't automatically think of starving children in Africa, I think about America and what our society makes of nutrition. As a child, my parents were always very particular about what my sisters and I ate. Well-rounded meals were always encouraged and we always focused on consuming lean meats and vegetables. These habits have stuck with me through adulthood and I still find myself being very cautious about what I eat, especially since I gain weight extremely fast. It saddens me because at my work, the youth come in with all sorts of sodas and candy bars and they are not limited on their consumption or how frequently it is provided for them. I always try and find out why their parents are so easy to give them junk food but I really think they eat it just because they can. I did an experiment last week and offered free fruit one day and the children who would normally spend 5 or so dollars on candy and sodas at the snack bar opted for the free fruit. While we run a for profit snack bar (full of junk), I would much rather have fruit for the kids rather than giving them the option to buy junk. It was my recommendation to my boss that we get rid of our snack bar and just offer fruit to the kids on a daily basis. As technology improves, people are becoming more likely to eat based on convenience rather than health. There are often days when I work 12 hours or so and then go to the gym after work only to come home to find that I am not motivated to cook. I try and pre plan my meals so I don't make a habit of this because it would be very easy to fall into a bad pattern of take out and microwavable meals. Our children are just picking up our bad habits from watching the convenience of junk food take over our lives.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Early Childhood Development - Week 1
How exciting! It is time for a new class, and I’m very thrilled about this particular class. Early Childhood Development is something that I am eager to learn more about because I am less familiar with it and I find it so interesting. For our first week’s blog assignment, we were asked to write about a personal birthing experience. Since I do not have children of my own, I’m going to have to take a different approach than most of my colleagues. The only birthing event that I was privileged to take part in was the birth of my second niece Caroline. It was very exciting and nerve wrecking. My sister had been in labor for several hours before going to the hospital and by the time we got there, Caroline was on her way out. From the time we got to the hospital to the delivery time, it took a total of 8 minutes. This was somewhat of a relief because I had always heard stories about women in labor for 22 hours and I all I could think about was holding my baby niece. Because my sister was so far along when we got to the hospital, the nurses were unable to give her and medicine to help with the pain. Watching my sister go through that was difficult. I couldn’t even imagine what that would feel like other than extremely painful and uncomfortable. Lucky for her, it didn’t take very long. Before this experience, I had always heard people talk about giving birth and the birthing process as something really beautiful. I started to feel bad and wonder if something was wrong with me because I didn’t find it to be any of those things. It looked painful and uncomfortable and almost unnatural. My niece, on the other hand, she was absolutely perfect once she arrived. It definitely opened my eyes and allowed me to see, first hand, the gift of life. The birthing process is so crucial on child development because this is when a child in brought into the world for the first time. From birth, this is when we shape the lives of the little ones in our lives.
Finding information about other countries and their birthing customs was very interesting. I chose to research Europe and more specifically Germany. I spent a great deal of my life living in Germany. 16 years to be exact. As a child, I always noticed their birthing practices to be somewhat different than American practices based or stories from my childhood friends. One custom that is very popular in Germany and most parts of Europe is the use of a mid-wife during pregnancy and the birth process. It is actually common to make a bigger deal about your mid-wife than your doctor. In Germany, you don’t even need to have a doctor present during the birthing process; you can choose to have one in addition to the mid-wife. I suppose I acted as my sister’s mid-wife in a sense when she was giving birth to my sister. I was there giving her support and talking her through the process, until I looked under the cover and began to feel a bit queasy.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Closing Time
It is hard to believe that 8 weeks have already come and gone. While my educational journey has just begun, I am sure that because of this foundations class, I will complete my Master's program successfully. I truly enjoyed getting to know all of my colleagues and learning about their passions regarding children. Hopefully we will all run into one another once again.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Week 7 Blog Assignment
Post three ideals contained in the NAEYC and DEC codes of ethics that are meaningful to you, and explain their significance to your professional life
NAEYC Ideals:
1.) To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education and to stay informed through continuing education and training.
This ideal speaks to me because I have to follow it on a daily basis in my professional career. I work at an NAEYC accredited facility so I have to follow both the NAEYC regulations and the Air Force Regulations. I find it extremely important that the staff that I work with and for (including myself) obtain the appropriate and relative knowledge regarding the early childhood field. I am always looking for ways to increase my knowledge and training and I think it makes a huge difference in my professional and personal life.
2.) To support the right of each child to play and learn in an inclusive environment that meets the
needs of children with and without disabilities.
This ideal is crucial in my facility and I feel that it should be everywhere. While I don’t get many children with severe disabilities in my program, we have several children with Autism and Asperger’s. Not only are these children in the same safe environments as the other children, but they are treated with respect and equality.
3.) To create and maintain safe and healthy settings
that foster children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and
physical development and that respect their dignity
and their contributions.
Have safe environments is very important. It is also important that all aspects are covered. In my program, we have several different environments that meet the needs of the children. We have an art room, a computer lab, a science lab, a game room, a gymnasium, a kitchen, and I lobby and snack area.
DEC Code of Ethics:
1.) We shall demonstrate the highest standards of personal integrity, truthfulness, and honesty in all
our professional activities in order to inspire the trust and confidence of the children and families
and of those with whom we work.
This ideal speaks for itself. Integrity is a life skill that I am continuously preaching to myself and my staff. The families and children that we work with appreciate this and in turn display it as well.
2.) We shall serve as advocates for children with disabilities and their families and for the
professionals who serve them by supporting both policy and programmatic decisions that
enhance the quality of their lives.
Being actively involved in policy making is a new and important part of my job. I am learning a lot and I am finding great pride in knowing that I am helping make a difference.
3.) We shall build relationships with individual children and families while individualizing the curricula and learning environments to facilitate young children’s development and learning.
Family interaction and relationships are very important to me. I put in a great deal of effort on a day to day basis insuring that I am paying the outmost attention to the children and their families that I come across. It is comforting knowing that the parents are aware of what kind of program we run and that their children are in a safe place where they are learning life skills and building relationships that will impact them for an entire lifetime.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Course Resources
Listed below are several resources that I have used and will continue to use for my Foundations of Early Childhood Studies class. The three resources that I have personally chosen can be found at the bottom of the page.
- World Forum Foundation
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the video on this webpage
- World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Read about OMEP’s mission.
- Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/about/
Click on “Mission/Vision” and “Guiding Principles and Beliefs” and read these statements. - Boys and Girls Clubs of America http://www.bgca.org
- 4-H http://www.4-h.org
- www.earlychildhoodnews.com
Friday, September 30, 2011
Words of Inspiration and Motivation
“If the first three years of life are deprived in terms of stimulation and interaction with warm, nurturing human beings, it's going to be real tough for the child to acquire the depth and breadth of verbal language needed to build reading abilities.” –Dr. Susan Bredekamp
“Developmentally appropriate practices are ways of teaching that vary for or adapt to the age and experience of the individual learner.” –Dr. Susan Bredekamp
“Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity.” –Lyndon B. Johnson
“Poverty must not be a bar to learning and learning must offer an escape from poverty.” –Lyndon B. Johnson
“My passion was to make sure all children were taught in environments and ways that truly develop their abilities.” –Louise Derman-Sparks
“Everything I offer to the children is for their benefit, not mine.” –Raymond Hernandez MS Ed
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