Relationships x 2

I was blessed to have found two of the most perfect relationships in the world between my first husband Gary and my second husband Dave. My first husband Gary was an outgoing, friendly, gentle soul who was my best friend for almost 10 years. He blessed me with our daughter and was a good father to my son and his two children from his first marriage. We had good times and bad times but worked together to get through the tough stuff. He was killed in a car accident in 1999 and I thought my world had come to an end. I was brave enough to try again 2 years later when I went on a blind date with a classmate's uncle. This man was truly my soul mate in so many ways that were different from my first marriage. We had so much in common from growing up and graduating the same year to experiences that most people would not understand unless they too had been through the same thing. He took on me and my two children (ages 15 and 8), not an easy job by any means but did it and has done it well ever since 2003. He knows me better than I know myself and I can tell him anything and vice versa. In some ways he is like my first husband but in other ways he is the complete opposite.

I can probably say the same thing for my best friend Barb. She and I got to know each other through teaching and our daughters who are the same age. We always say we are sisters separated at birth because we have shared similar experiences, not always happy, and have come a long way in our lives. She truly is the sister I never had and she and I share a bond that cannot be explained. We did not grow up together or even live in the same area until 1992. I can talk to her about so many things and she can talk to me and those confidants are never shared with anyone else.

I could probably say the same thing about several friends who I have close relationships with. I am not sure if it is because I do not have siblings but I take my friendships and relationships seriously. These relationships are more with people I have met since moving away from the area where I grew up and graduated from. I am not in contact with classmates from high school at all anymore. I feel that the relationships I have now are extensions of my high school friends but on a different level. One fault I have with friendships/relationships is that sometimes I put too much trust into people who I think are a friend but are not. I have learned to step back and evaluate the situation before revealing too much or investing too much. I like to think I am a very outgoing and friendly person. My husband says I can talk to anyone about anything.

Relationships/friendships take work; they are not born that way and need nurturing. I think this is how I see parents in my program who do not know me. We continue to build and establish that relationship and I hope my parents think it is a relationship worth nurturing.

Child Development in Quotes

"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today."

— Gabriela Mistral

"How children feel and interact is as important to their competence and success as how well they think. This has obviously very important implications for both how people raise their children, how they care for other people's children, and how we invest public funds. Thinking and feeling go hand in hand. It's not to say that thinking is less important, just not more important."

— Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Brandeis University

I found these quotes at  www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/quotable/ and thought they summed up child development quite nicely. We have learned a great deal about how children develop and what is important during it. We also know that there are many outside influences that can affect and impact development. 

Thank you everyone for another great class and I hope we meet again in another one!

Assessement and Children

I think children need to be assessed as a unique individual and as an individual in comparison to others of a similar age and gender. Every child does not learn the same way; there are different learning styles that make up how a child retains information. Boys and girls are even different as learning goes. I think that birth order has something to do with how a child will function in an educational setting. I see this in two students in our preschool classrooms. One is the youngest of 4 boys in his family and he struggles with sharing and taking turns which is not unusual at that age but it is difficult for him. Another is a girl, youngest and only girl with 3 older brothers who do everything for her and her mom is a teacher. The girl will go to kindergarten next year, she is one of the oldest in the class but watching and observing her, you would not know that. I personally think you have to look at every child as a unique person and assess their skills fairly.

My grandpa was from Germany so I decided to see how they assess children. They use a 6 point marking system with 1 being the highest to monitor student achievement. They also use a medical test and enrollment test to determine if a child has the physical and mental maturity required for school attendance. Assessments are introduced in Year 1 and children must progress through the 6 point marking system to continue their education. They use observation, written, and formal assessments to determine their progress.

Reference:
http://www.inca.org.uk/1436.html.

The Year of Natural Disasters 2011

As I looked over the list of stressors, I realized that although I did experience divorce as a young child of 3, I do not remember much of that time and feeling abandoned. Maybe I have blocked it from my memory but those thoughts and feelings are not there. 


So instead I decided to concentrate on a year of natural disasters that has devastated my community, my state, our country and our world. I am going to begin with my community because my daughter's high school guidance counselor lost her house and farm to a tornado on April 9 this year. We went down to help clean up the day after and the devastation and loss was more than most of us could bear. Her family was celebrating her middle son's birthday (he had turned 4) when they had to run to the basement and watch the tornado move towards their house.It took everything but an old garage. It was a humbling experience to be walking around their farm picking up their lives out of trees, fields, and piles of unrecognizable rubble. Her son's birthday cupcakes sat untouched on the kitchen counter while the rest of the house was gone. Her son has had nightmares since that night and they are almost ready to move back to their home but he is scared another tornado will come and take his toys again.  Many people's lives were destroyed around our area and state that night but we were fortunate that no one lost their lives. Unlike Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin, Missouri.


I cannot imagine how those communities have survived but somehow they have. The tornadoes that have torn apart large cities and the areas that have been affected are mind boggling. The children that witnessed and lived through these disasters will most definitely be impacted their whole lives. Which is why Joplin opened a children's trauma center after the tornado because there has been an increase in mental health cases among the children in Joplin. The concern over post traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression is on the rise in this community as in other parts of the country that experienced tornadoes. 


Japan experienced a double blow of destruction when the earthquake and tsunami hit Ishinomaki, Japan earlier this year. Thirty children of the Kama Elementary School were waiting for their parents to come and get them. Reporters were forbidden to talk to the children and doors cannot be opened for fear that these children will think it's their parents coming.  What a hard realization to have to explain to these children who were brought to school by parents and then wondering what happened to them following both disasters. Post traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, nightmares and other mental health issues are just as prevalent over there as it is here in the United States.


It will take children of these disasters to overcome their fears by talking and having a loving and nurturing adult around them to help them understand what happened and to put their emotions and fears at ease. 




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366898/Japan-tsunami-earthquake-30-children-sit-silent-classroom-parents-vanish.html. 


http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Missouri-opening-childrens-center-after-Joplin-tornado-123983959.html

Breastfeeding - Bonding with Baby

I feel that breastfeeding is a great choice for mothers all over the world. I know that is it also a mother's choice on how she feeds her baby and that no mother should be forced to do it because of pressure from society. I had a wonderful experience breastfeeding my son and feel I can see the benefits of his overall health to this day, even though he is almost 24 years old. He is in good physical shape and rarely gets sick. As a baby, he was the same way; a good eater and a good baby. I breastfed him till he was almost 4 months old and then I started gradually started weaning him. He was a big boy at birth; 10 pounds 4 ounces, 22 1/2 inches long. I started him on baby cereal when he was about a month old and mixed it with my breast milk. It gave him that little extra to get him through the night. I wish I had the same experience with my daughter but unfortunately I had complications after giving birth to her and even though I tried to breastfeed her for a month, I had to give it up when I was not producing enough milk for her. She too was a good baby and a good eater in a different way from my son. I think that although I was not producing a great deal of milk, she still got the rich colostrum that first month because even now, she is a healthy 16 year old who rarely gets sick. Those antibodies found in breast milk really do provide a great deal of protection against illnesses.

When I was a family childcare provider, I had a mom who was breastfeeding and I highly encouraged her to keep doing it as long as she could handle it. I was the only provider in our small town who took babies and I enjoyed that time with them.

In the text by Berger (2009) it states that doctors all over the world recommend breastfeeding. It also states that US born mothers are less likely to breastfeed. The benefits are tremendous and easy on Mom when she is breastfeeding but our society is so busy today and here in the United States it seems as though breastfeeding is not as accepted as it is around the world. For some countries, it is the only choice for feeding.   Ultimately it is the choice of Mom but with the benefits that breastfeeding provides, hopefully new moms will give it try. It is an experience with your baby that really is special.

Reference:

Berger, K.S. (2009). The Developing Person. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

My Personal Birthing Experiences

I have been blessed with the experience of giving birth to my two beautiful children, Tyler who is 23, and Shelby who is 16. Both births were completely different; I was a single parent when I gave birth to Tyler and was married when I had Shelby. Tyler came into the world one day past my due date at 7:25 a.m. weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds 4 ounces and was 22 1/2 inches long! He never wore newborn clothing and was holding his head up right after I gave birth to him! He was a dream baby and I was blessed with being able to nurse him for the first 6 months. Shelby, on the other hand, was 2 weeks overdue and arrived at 9:25 p.m. 7 years later after being induced and she was a peanut compared to Tyler at 8 pounds 3 ounces, and was 21 1/2 inches long with beautiful strawberry blonde hair like her daddy's. I had complications after her birth as the placenta did not deliver in one piece and I hemorrhaged for 2 days before they decided to go in and do a D & C to try and stop the bleeding. I was not told about the D & C until after I had eaten breakfast so I was only given an epidural for the procedure. As I was laying there listening to the doctors, the concern was that maybe I would have to have a hysterectomy if they could not get the bleeding to stop. That's all I remember and when I woke up I was so cold and shaking violently. I had lost so much blood they had to put the warming blankets on me to get my body temperature back to normal. My blood count was a 3, and they say 12 is normal. They released me the next day from the hospital and I went home to take care of my 7 year old and my newborn. I was also trying to nurse and was not producing milk like I knew I should. I can honestly say that I do not remember a lot of the first month after Shelby was born (she was born the end of November) but on Christmas Eve I knew something was wrong when she was not having many wet diapers so my husband drove to the grocery store and bought some formula. Poor little thing just scarfed that down, she was so hungry! I quit nursing immediately and gave her formula. That was scary! Since I had a positive experience with nursing my son, I knew something was wrong when I was not feeling full in my breasts. I finally stopped bleeding after I passed a huge clot about 2 months after her birth. I was lucky to have my 2 children because I also had 2 miscarriages.

In China, women are given a strong herbal potion to ease the labor pain and have no fear of labor since it is their career to give birth. They are put into recliners and futons for birthing. After the birth, women "sit the month" for the first month to heal. Not a realistic choice for us women here if we have other children at home.


Reference:
http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/labor_birth/birthing_traditions/article/childbirth-traditions-china-pg2

My Three Ideals from NAEYC and DEC

I-1.3—To recognize and respect the unique qualities,

abilities, and potential of each child.

This is a very important ideal to remember and respect because each year when children come to a program, they are like a clean slate. We have no bias about them and we are able to get to know them without influential information other than necessary. Each child is and always will be unique. 







P-3A.1—We shall recognize the contributions of colleagues
to our program and not participate in practices
that diminish their reputations or impair their
effectiveness in working with children and families.





Our program is taking on transformations this year with a new 4 year old teacher and 2 new assistants. Since I have been an assistant in a preschool, I have so much respect for my colleagues. It is not always an easy job to do and I welcome their presence in the classroom. I am hoping that we can all collaborate together and gather some terrific ideas for our school year.




We shall empower families with information and resources so that they are informed consumers
of services for their children. 
Many families are not aware or are unable to find the sources needed for their children. When questions arise, families need to have that information available and accessible. As a teacher, I feel a responsibility to finding and providing sources to all families.