My Connections to Play

Two quotes that summarize what play represented for me in childhood:

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.”

          Fred Rogers

         American television personality

“In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.”

          Ovid

          Roman poet

Play items for the younger me:                                       

                  

 

During my childhood my parents supported me in getting me the dolls I desired to play with.  I used to love playing with my baby dolls and pushing the baby doll in the stroller.  I actually had a stroller for my doll that was made as the one above.  I also used to love playing with my tea sets.  My mother would pretend to be eating and drinking with me.  I think I used to get a new tea set every Christmas.  Sometimes my mother and grandmother would give me old pots from the kitchen to play with after the handle fell off or something like that.  My parents encouraged me to play and enjoy my childhood.

I feel that play is different from play of when I was a child.  When I was growing up we played outside all of the times.  We played games such as hide-n-go-see; hop scotch, and red rover.  We also play more with toys such as dolls, tea sets, and bicycles.  We were more physical in play during my childhood.  We were just bursting with energy.  Today, the children stay inside and play electronic games, get on the computer, and watch television for enjoyment.

I would hope that the young children today would start to enjoy playing outside and get more physically active.  Being physically active in play outside helps a child to become healthier in developing muscle strength and control.  They are less likely to be over-weight.  And, they learn to have respect for teammates and opponents when playing competitively.

I think that the role of play throughout my childhood and adulthood has made me a better person.  I believe that play has helped me to be a fair, considerate, and understanding person.  It has helped me to learn as a child some of what I thought it was to care for your baby (playing with the baby dolls gave me this outlook on motherhood).  Play has aided in developing me cognitively by thinking outside the box.  Play has helped me to develop socially and emotionally connected to people.

Relationship Reflection

This is my daugbterYolanda.  Yolanda is twenty-seven years old and lives in Marietta, GA.  My daughter and I have a loving relationship.  We talk every other day on the phone and if I'm not at home when she calls or I miss her call on my cellphone, she leaves a message like, "Mom, where are you?--you know you're suppose to be home.  Call me!!!"  Sometimes she thinks she is the mother.  She helps me with all of this advance technology and I probably wouldn't function without her help.  She is the best blessing I've ever had.  We are able to communicate very well.  We listen to each others point of view and go from there.  Talking through things helps in making wise decisions.

I have two older sisters.  The oldest one is Connie.  We see each other about once a month, but we talk on the phone every week.  Our mother passed almost eight years ago and Connie also thinks that I have to report to her about where I am or what I'm doing.  But, I don't mine sometimes because it's all in love.  My family is small, so we are a close knit family.  If one of us is hurting about something, we comfort each other.  If we are happy about something, we share in the happiness and joy.

My other sister name is Shelia.  I talk to Shelia everyday and we live only about five miles apart.  We discuss everything from the job, personal life, to business.  We get together every Friday and have dinner together.  Shelia is the protector in the family.  There is nothing that we won't do for each other.  Our mother taught us to be strong individuals and to love and respect others. 

I am a people person.  I love being around people in general.  I try to give everyone respect and treat them with kindness.  However, this is common for my family period.  I find that being open and honest with people is the best way to be.  It relieves stress off of me and the other person.  In my workplace, I've learned that you must communicate with other co-workers in order to get the job done.  We have a closeness in my workplace just as family; however, we do not overstep our lines.  For example, my supervisor and I get along very well.  I would say that she is one of my closest friend; however, I respect that she is my supervisor and I love that we maintain the professional level as well.  Any relationship can be challenging at times but you must learn to be open and not bias about situations.  I believe that in the partnerships I have with my family and co-worker I will be open-minded, respectful, trusting, and caring in the early childhood field in developing an effective partnership with the families.

When I Think of Child Development.....

Quotes about childhood development that captures the essence of how I think about child development:

All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.        
     Albert Einstein


Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.
     Johana Wolfgang von Goethe


All growth depends upon activity.  There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.
     Calvin Coolidge

Testing for Intelligence?

I believe that social skills/communicating with others and emotions should be measured.  My reason for stating that is that I believe it is important for children to be able to relate with others in life.  People that lack social skills or that prefer being alone all the time; more often appears to have some type of psychological problem.  They are withdrawn from society.  I think we need to know that children are able to relate to themselves as well as others.  We should also assess their emotional intelligence to see if they are care about people or if they have a destructive mindset (harmful to themselves and others).

I chose to look at the school-age children in Kenya on the ways they are assessed.  The children of Kenya were assessed more so on practical intelligence for adaptation to the environment than for intelligence.  The reason for this is because most of the children will drop out of school, and most will spend their lives farming or engaged in other occupations.  “The Kenya study suggests that the identification of a general factor of human intelligence may tell us more about how abilities interact with patterns of schooling and especially Western patterns of schooling than it does about the structure of human abilities.”  However, today in the year 2011, Uwezo Kenya is an organization that was established in 2009 and it is housed by Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK) in Nairobi.  “It conducts national household based assessments to establish the competencies of children between the age of 6-16 in literacy and numeracy.”  Through their assessments they are helping to improve and inform the quality of Education.  They work with partner organizations ranging from youth groups, Community Based, Faith Based, and Non Governmental Organizations.  Tests that they administer to the children between the ages of 6-16 are the Kiswahili, English, and Math.  “The tests are derived from class two level work.  This level is selected because it is internationally agreed that after completing two years of schooling, a pupil is expected to have acquired basic competencies in literacy and numeracy, which are foundational for learning in all the other subjects.”  As of March 20, 2011 124 districts had been assessed by Uwezo Kenya.  “A total of 72106 households were surveyed, 3574 schools visited and 124,243 children between the age of 6-16 assessed.”

Reference

http://orpc.iaccp.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74%3Arobert-j-sternberg&catid=23%3Achapter&Itemid=15, retrieved June 11, 2011

http://uwezo.net/index.php?c=62, retrieved June 11, 2011

Hunger in Zimbabwe

I know of this family that lived through a natural disaster.  A tornado came through and destroyed many of the homes in the area.  The families had to ramble through their remains, as if it was trash, and gather up what they could find.  Bits and pieces of their lives had been taken away in the blink of an eye.

Luckily, a friend of the family had a vacant home and allowed the family to live there until they got a new home.  The providing of shelter helped the children to feel safe and secure along with the comfort of their mother.  The children were able to adjust partly because they moved to a neighborhood where there were other children to play with.  However, in speaking with one of the children who is now an adult she states that she get very emotional and fearful when there is any sign of bad weather due to having been in a tornado.  She can’t sleep if it’s at night and she keeps her children in the room with her doing bad weather.  She states that she tries to be prepared to take cover should another tornado come through.  This is an emotional fear she believes she will live with for the rest of her life.

I was curious about the food supply in Zimbabwe.  The children in Zimbabwe are fainting in school due to the being hungry.  The situation for children in Zimbabwe is not getting any better, “nearly one out of three are malnourished.”  The children are lacking access to food supply as well health and education.  The children are being faced with stunting and slow educational development due to malnourishment causing many to face infectious diseases such as measles, malaria, and typhoid.

Save the Children is an organization designed to provide relief and development for the children of Zimbabwe.  It has been providing support since 1984. “We serve children and families through humanitarian relief and long-term development.”  Zimbabwe has a population of nearly 5 million people and almost of those people are in need of food.  Save the Children provided food, health care, and child protection services to more than 450,000 people last year in Zimbabwe.  There have been 57 more projects implemented along with the other local organizations to aide in eliminating hunger.  “Save the Children’s relief workers and development programs reached a total of 452,378 people directly, and 385,263 of them were children.”

References

Zimbabwe’s Hunger – Caritas Internationalis.  Retrieved May 28, 2011, from http://www.caritas.org/activities/emergencies/ZimbabweSlowFoodStory.html

Zimbabwe-Save the Children.  (2010, May).  Retrieved May 28, 2011 from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.7086115/k.D96C/Zimbabwe.htm

Child Development and Public Health

Access to healthy water is meaningful to me in that the human body is estimated to be made up of 60 to 70 percent water.  The body needs water as a survival mechanism.  Water helps in regulating body temperature and to provide the means for nutrients to flow to all your organs.  Water delivers oxygen to your cells, moves waste, and protects your joints and organs.  Water is the body only way to flush bad toxins out of your body and the purer the water is to begin with, the better it works to collect and cleanse harmful toxins from the body.  Healthy water helps children ‘s resistance grow stronger and perform better; providing them the protection they need during those fragile developing years.  Unhealthy water has been linked to increased risk of diseases and learning disorders in later years.

I chose to research access to healthy water supply in Haiti.  Haiti has a water problem and most water sources there are contaminated.  The people there are very poor and most often have no other choice but to drink contaminated water.  Clean water for Haiti is a faith based, volunteer run, non-profit mission.  Their purpose is to provide the people of Haiti with affordable access to clean water in their homes through the use of Biosand water filters.  However, Biosand water filters are inexpensive, simple, and effective.  But the people of Haiti much make a decision based on what is best for their family.  The family must purchase the Biosand filter if they want it.  The receivers pay only a small fee for their filter and the money made is used in helping to make more filters and to help more families have access to clean, healthy water in their homes.

As an impact in my future work, I would love to be a volunteer in helping the people of Haiti to have access to healthy water.  Right now I think it would be possible by making contributions to organizations that would aid in clean water for the people there.  I would also try to convince others to help in contributing, so that the children’s immune and detoxification systems are able to develop better.

Childbirth---In Your Life and Around the World

My personal birthing experience was awesome.  The fact of knowing that I had another human being growing inside of me was wonderful.  I exercise daily and receive prenatal care early on during my pregnancy.  I found out I was pregnant when I was about four weeks.  I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl that was healthy.  She weighed 6lbs and 7 ounces and was 21 inches long.  I experienced natural childbirth because I did not want to take any pain medication during my delivery.

Birthing is a wonderful experience and should be taken very serious.  A mother to be should be aware of any medications taken and should try to maintain a proper diet in order to help ensure that the fetus will develop as it should.  Everything that the mother encounters has an affect on the child’s development rather it’s stress, joy, or medications prescribed or non-prescribed. 

The country that I chose to find out about how births happen there is South Africa: Indigenous and Traditions.  South Africa is a country of many cultures, languages and traditions.  The area, at one time, was populated only by a group of indigenous people: the Khoisan Bushmen.    The !Kung are a particular small group of San nomadic hunter-gatherers who today still strive to live in relative harmony with the eco-system.  The women are respected for their knowledge of being able to find edible plants and the ability to find water, and especially their ability to give birth and nurture their young.  Unlike the women here in the western world where medication is offered for pain relief at the slighted twinge that labour may have begun, a young !Kung woman is actively taught that she must face the pains of natural childbirth with courage and fearlessness.  Most women give birth alone in a squatting position, a few hundred meters from their settlement.  Although mothers giving birth for the first time may have a helper at hand.

Just as in the U.S. it is made known to a mother to be that how she feels and thinks during the pregnancy will affect the labour and birth of the new baby.  A pregnant  !Kung woman is expected to continue her normal duties such as cleaning, gathering food, caring for other children and not complain.  Women in the U.S. also still carry on her daily work duties unless it interferes with the well being of the fetus.  A pregnant woman in South Africa is rarely overweight and an unborn baby is likely to grow to be the right size for the mother to give birth.  Often time women in the U.S. are overweight during their pregnancy.  It appears that San women bite the cord with their teeth and bury the placenta after giving birth, before walking back to the settlement.  It is her duty to return the remaining placenta to mother earth.  They believe it connects the infant to the territory particular groups of Bushmen clan occupy.  The mothers in South Africa share the same tradition as do some mother here in the U.S. for breast-feeding.