MY SUPPORTS

Describe factors within your daily environment that are supportive to you, including the ways in which these factors provide support. Husband – encourages and loves me and supports the center as a driver; Alarm clock- even though I consistently hit the snooze button every morning.  School Bus – provides transportation to and from work.

Once arriving to work:  Teachers – provide care and implementation of vision and goals; Van Drivers – provide transportation to students to and from child care center; Cook – provides USDA approved meals to children and staff; Department of Health – provides guidelines to operate kitchen and compliance with food; Department of Social Services – provides guidelines to run child care facility; Parents – utilize our program which secures funds for payroll; Mom – cooks meals for us on some nights; Bible – gives guidance to my life; Prayer – with staff over the facility, children, administrators, and staff; Administrator – pushes me to excel in higher education, home life etc.

Describe what you see as the benefits of these supports. The benefits of these supports are: provides a network of people that keeps me grounded.  Gives structure for life, and pushes me to have the desire to be on the cutting edge in the field of early childhood education.

How difficult would it be to exist without these supports? Without these support systems I would be lost.  The child care center would not exist and without the bible I would have no direction for my life and would not realize that I was uniquely made and there is no one like me.  Without the support of my husband I would not be pursuing higher education or working in the ministry and my mom is a subtle supporter to me, but what she does is huge in my mind.

What impact would they have on your life if they were gone? If these support systems were gone I literally would be dependant upon myself.  And as it is written in the Bible “no man is an island.”  I need people.

MY CHALLENGE – To efficiently operate a Children’s Church Ministry with approximately 20 children ages 3 – 8 that would include a Wednesday bible study, transportation availability, choir, and Sunday Morning Service.

Again, describe factors within your daily environment would be supportive to you, including the ways in which these factors would provide support. Ten Dedicated Teacher Volunteers that love children; 4 van drivers; 3 dedicated musicians, 2 choir directors, Age Appropriate Curriculum; Classroom structure that is conducive to the traditional church setting; parental support/buy-in to ministry and volunteerism

Describe what you see as the potential benefits of these supports. With these support systems this ministry would be able to prepared for church ministry and be an example to the next future church

How difficult would it be to exist without these supports?  The ministry without these supports would be utter chaos; the number of volunteers needed would make sure that burn-out does not occur and fresh ideas would continue to flow to engage the children in ministry activities

The impact they would have on your life if they weren’t there? Without this ministry I feel that I have not serve my purpose in ministry or shall I say fully utilized my gifts and education obtained.

"MY CONNECTIONS TO PLAY"

Select two quotes that you feel summarize what play represented for you in childhood.

“Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength” (Ginsberg, 2007). 

“Play helps children weave together all the elements of life as they experience it” (Almon, 2002).



"Grandma's old Bible"



Include two to three pictures of essential play items for your younger self.   While growing up in the Country we did not have a lot of things to play with so we used things around the house.  Most of my play was centered on pretend play. Teacher, Preacher, Mom & Dad this is how we would play.  Using my grandmother’s old shoes, purses and clothes, my grandmothers church hat and bible, and always pretending to cook and feed the baby.  We did not have a doll baby so of course of my cousins had to be the baby when we played Mom & Dad. 

"Grandma's old church shoes"



"Grandma's old church dress"



"Grandma's old glasses"

Describe how people supported play when you were younger and/or the role of play in your childhood.  Play was supported by adults really just allowing us to play.  It was no right or wrong way to play.  As long as you were not in harms way you were allowed to play for hours at a time.  I really cannot remember play as much in the school setting.  I never attend preschool because we had adults that provided care for us until time to enter school. Therefore, in Elementary school what I really remember is taking naps on my mat and doing work no play other than outdoor play, which was called recess we all looked forward to that time of day.

Write a brief entry on how you feel play today is similar or different from the play in which you engaged as a child and what your hope for young is now with regard to play.   The way that I feel play is different now than from the play in which I engaged is “play was simply just that – play”.  Today, there is so much emphasis placed on play for a child’s healthy development that it can at times not become play.  Play of yesteryear was not monitored as it is today either.  We were told when young to go play.  We would play for hours without adult supervision.  It was understood that everyone should be inside before it gets dark.

Include your thoughts regarding the role of play throughout your life and/or the role of play throughout childhood and adulthood.  Play for me was very important throughout my childhood.  When growing up we used whatever we had around the house to play and have fun.  We mad mud pies, climbed trees, build forts from cardboard boxes old sheets and sticks used a steering wheel from an old car of my grandfathers to fix a bicycle so that we could share and ride.  All of our play was really centered on pretend play.  Whenever we built of fort we were providing a place for our family to live, we mad mud pies for food for the kids to eat, and when riding the bicycle we were going to the grocery store to buy food for the house.  We just about reenacted everyday life.  So these were life lessons learned through mimicking what we saw the adults in our lives do everyday.

Resources

Almon, K. (2002). The vital role of play in early childhood education. Gateways, 43. Retrieved from http://www.waldorfresearchinstitute.org/pdf/BAPlayAlmon.pdf

Ginsberg, K. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182–191. Retrieved from http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playfinal.pdf

Child Development and Public Health

Breastfeeding

In the Berger text it states that “beast fed babies are less likely to become sick, because breast milk provides them with antibodies against any disease to which the mother is immune. It also decreases the risk of many diseases that appear in childhood and adulthood, among them asthma, obesity, and heart disease (Oddy, 2004)” (Berger, 2009, p. 154). “Some researchers say that bottle feeding may be best in cases where the mother may be an HIV-positive or uses toxic or addictive drugs. Even with HIV-positive mother’s some still say that breast milk is best” (Berger, 2009, p. 155).

An article from the Times of India it stated “"Proper breastfeeding right from the birth of a baby up to six months can provide appropriate amounts of protein, sugar, fats and water along with important protective substances like IgA (immunoglobulin A ) and protective cells. Both are essential for a strong defence mechanism. Breastfeeding minimises the chances of development of allergy so common these days resulting in recurrent cold and even asthma," (Isalkar, 2010).

In researching breastfeeding there appears to be an agreement that it is better for young children to build up immunes systems against disease.  In further research even if mothers have a disease it is also stated that breastfeeding is still better for the young child.

I will use this information to in my future working by encouraging our young parents, which is the majority of my clientele, to breastfeed there children.  Breastfeeding not only will aid in the health of the child, but would also be more cost effective for single parents with multiple children. This would definitely be helpful to my future work.

My conclusion is that the formula that is man-made will never produce exactly what the human body is made to do.

References

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Isalkar, U. (2010). Breastfeeding, proper nutrition can keep condition at bay [Pune]. The Times of India. Retrieved November 14, 2010 from http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?index=9&did=2187078791&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1289765313&clientId=70192

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This is just a note of thanks to all of my colleagues during this eight weeks.  It has been a pleasure to read the different blogs and discussion throughout the past weeks.  I enjoyed the journey the detailed information from the assignments and the great responses given to keep us all engaged during the entire course. 

I pray that as we all continue this journey our knowledge and understanding of Early Childhood will grow and expand and enhance whatever we do for young children and their families.

Compelling Quote/Statement

The most compelling statement from our reading for me was from the Smidt text.  It stated "Prout (2005) suggested that we need to broaden our concept of childhoodto include childhoods of the poor as well as those of the rich.  In other words childhood itself cannot be seen as a single simple concept but one that has to take on the diversity of the reality of childhoods across the world" (Smidt, 2006).  This statement really moved me because I often believe that when we are teaching our children skills or testing them we are basing their needs and information not on the middle class or poor child but the upper class.  I agree with this statement we must consider the complexity of childhood and look at "childhoods across the world" (Smidt, 2006).


Resource

Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global perspective on child development. New York, NY: Routledge.

ASSESSMENT

Considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically (i.e., a commitment to “the whole child”), what, if anything, do you believe should be measured or assessed? Explain your reasoning. Since we are all created differently and unique and also we develop as human beings differently; I think that we should be measured and/or assessed the same way.  Just as we cannot measure the success of a family without considering culture neither can we assess an individual based on another individual.

In what ways are school-age children assessed in other parts of the world? (Choose a country or region of the world for which you have a personal affinity.) JAPAN - “An assessment for education was to be levied upon each household based on its financial status, and households without children of school age were equally liable. The assessment for each village was determined by the distance to the school. Attendance was expected from the age of about six to about thirteen and instruction was divided into three levels. The curriculum, which reflected the Civilization and Enlightenment movement, included an introduction to foreign languages as well as Western arithmetic” (Japan)

What additional ideas, comments, suggestions, examples, and/or concerns related to assessing young children would you like to share with your colleagues? My concerns with assessment are that they be fair.  In assessing children we must consider all factors that come into play to include culture and whether or not the children received equal amounts of education and/or preparation to be successful in the assessment given.

Resources 

Japans modern education system. Chapter I -  Education during the late edo and early meiji periods - 2 The Educational Policy of the New Meiji Government (9)  The Establishment of Elementary Schools and New Country Schools Retrieved December 11, 2010 from http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/hpbz198103/hpbz198103_2_019.html

POVERTY

Poverty – well when I was growing up I remember my mother telling me when I was older that we were considered to be poor.  But, I never thought that.  We did not visit the grocery store often.  This is how we coped with the stressor as a family my grandparents raised chickens, pigs and we had a garden of vegetables.  During hunting season my uncles would hunt deer, rabbits, and squirrels.  Even though we were not able to go to the store often we always had what we needed.  As far as clothing there were a lot of cousins so we shared a lot of clothing and shoes.  Going to the store on our bikes to buy candy was a treat.  I remember going into pastures running from cows and picking black berries for my grandmother to make blackberry cobbler for dessert.  We did not have candy or sweets in the house unless it was a special occasion i.e. Birthday, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving.

India is the country in the world that you would like to know more about and/or for which you have a special affinity.

“Several specific risk factors, and poverty is among the most commonly investigated of socio-demographic risk variables” (Gulati, 2008, p. 108).  “Children experience poverty as an environment that is damaging to their physical, mental, emotional and moral development. Living in poverty has been connected to poor cognitive and behavioral outcomes” (Zill, Moore, Smith, Steif & Coiro 1990; Moore & Stief 1991).

In this study was done on the basis of the following risk factors: “Low maternal age at subject child’s birth, low maternal education, low paternal education, father’s low status occupation, large sibling size, chronic illness in the family, drug abuse in father, alcohol abuse in father (women of this region cannot take alcohol) and inter-parent discord” (Gulati, 2008, p. 110).

According to the article some of these children may experience behavioral problems and others do not.  To minimize the harm of poverty is by “constructing a poverty line along the basic needs approach by using estimated shadow nutrient prices” (Coondoo, 2008, p. 20).  If the poverty line were constructed based on nutrient prices more families would become affordable.  While this would not alleviate poverty it would decrease the amount of families suffering from this stressor.

References

Coondoo, D., Majumder, A., Lancaster, G., Ray, R. (2008). Alternative approaches to measuring temporal changes in poverty with application to India. Contemporary Issues & Ideas in Social Sciences. Retrieved November 27, 2010 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=111&sid=2da09a2a-83cb-4154-9f7a-6e8ec5af36de%40sessionmgr104

Gulati, Jatinder K., Dutta, Jayanti (2008). Risk, conflict between parents and child adjustment in families experiencing persistent poverty in India. Journal of Family Studies. Retrieved November 27, 2010 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=111&sid=2da09a2a-83cb-4154-9f7a-6e8ec5af36de%40sessionmgr104