"My Connection To Play"

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

Mr. Rogers

“Play is the highest form of research.”

Albert Einstein

   

         

  



When playing as a child I was encourage to go outside and play my own way. Growing up I had plenty of opportunities to go out and play with old friends, and meet new friends. I could not sit in the house and say there was nothing to do, because the response to that was go outside and find some one to play with. Also it did not matter what season it was when it came to play. My parents believed that fresh air was what I needed to explore, grow, and be healthy. As a result I still love being outdoors.

Play today is different than when I was young. Most children today are not encouraged to go out and play by their parents. Then you have children that can not play freely because they do not have a safe environment to play in. On the other hand you have some children who do not want to go out and play. These children and some of their parents believe play is being connected to a game system or some other type of technology that do most of the thinking for their child. This could explain why some children enter preschool not knowing how to socialize or pretend while playing. Therefore my hope for children today is that parents encourage their children to get out and experience nature or take them to an environment that is set up for children to play freely in order that they can learn to play, and interact with other children.

I believe by being encouraged to go outside, and play to meet other children, it guided me with the tools of socializing, and using my imagination through pretend play. Moreover I believe free play as a child gave me the confidence in adulthood to meet new people and share in their interest of trying new things.

Relationship Reflection

I value the relationships I have formed over the years in my life. Strong relationships are very important to me because the relationships in my life is what keeps me going daily. The special people in my life make me feel as though I am valued and important to them as well. Being valued also makes me feel that if I were not in their life or they in mind, life would not be the same. Whether am having a good day or a bad day, or may not feel like being bothered, there is all ways someone their to pick me up or just to listen. That is what real relationships are about.

The first person I have a positive relationship with is God. To me he is very real and make life worth living. In this relationship I can talk with him, day or night and he never get tired of listening or fall asleep. God has all ways shared my happiness and my pain through out my life.

 

My second best relationship would be my mother. She is my rock. I value this relationship because I watched my mother go through so much in her life and still stayed strong. In my life I watched my mom loose her mother. After 42 years of marriage my mom lost her best friend, my dad, and then over time three of her eight children and still stay strong. But that's not all, my mom had a brain tumor removed and again still stayed strong. In this loveable relationship my mom taught me how to face life as it is dealt to you by just staying strong. Today my mom is 88 years old and doing fine. Even now I hope to be as strong as my mom each and everyday.

Third, I have to say my two daughters. Even though our relationships are mother and daughters we can not go a day with out checking in if only for a moment to say “I love you”. My relationships with my daughters are special because they are married with their own families but we value each others opinion on matters. Therefore in our relationship we never seem to cross the line when it comes to respecting each others beliefs.

Lastly I have my best friend that I have not seen in over a year because we live in different states. However we speak regularly over the phone. I have known her since we were in seventh grade. We have went through good times and bad times. When we were younger we have been upset with each other, and cried and made up like nothing ever happen. In this relationship it seems like she is a sister more than a best friend. We have that bond where we can let each other know when we are wrong or when we are right. Either way we respect what each other has to say with out getting upset.

In maintaining my relationship with God, all I have to do is have faith that his word is true and believe that I am made in his image, therefore, I am special. Whereas maintaining my relationships with my mother, daughters and best friend, it is all about respect and valuing each ones opinion. Knowing that we are all human and we are capable of making mistakes, and by being willing to forgive each other makes our relationships grow deeper. Also in maintaining these relationships one must know where ones place is with in the relationship.

However there can be challenges in developing and keep relationships and I have had my share. I have found that you give all relationships a try. You try to find the best in everyone you meet. On the other hand, relationships that take a way your focus in life or put unneeded stress on you, these relationships are not worth keeping.

I believe that through these positive relationships and maintaining them in my life has taught me how to build and maintain positive relationships with parents, families and their children with in my early childhood profession. I never gave it much thought, but over the years of building relationships has set me up for understanding others and knowing how to respect people for who they are, as well as value their opinion.

When I Think of Child Development “Quotes”

"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."

Anonymous

"Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."

Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow”

Mary Anne Radmacher

These three quotes I found to be very powerful when I took the time and mediate on them. Therefore when I mediated on them here is what I heard. As educators we know children are great, but what part do we play in making them greater. We want the world safe for our children, but what part do we play in making them safe. Our children are strong, so why do we not have the patience to let them try again tomorrow.

 

A Note of Professional Thanks and Support

I want to thank everyone through out this course for the support and feedback on the discussion board, and through our our blogs. Your comments and words of wisdom gave me a greater insight from a professional perspective. There is nothing more gratifying than to have a colleague share an experience and how they handled it, to help make life easier for both you as the professional and the child.

Testing for Intelligence?

In examining how children should or should not be measured or assessed, I believe children should be provided the learning tools that can help them succeed in and out of their school environment. By succeed, I mean to be able to provide in their own words what information they do understand with in the learning environment. I believe that children should be measured on what they can do, and the information they can connect with. Therefore not necessarily on what they do not know or can not do. In order words if it is something that they can not do, when being assessed, why not say they are in progress of learning what ever it is they have not mastered yet. Why should we just plain out say children can not do something when we as educators understand that every child learn at their own pace.

In all reality some children respond and develop on how we as adults, teachers, and professionals view them and express our beliefs in them. When we praise children for what they can do, children then have the self confidence to strive to do their best in all areas of development.

In assessing how school-age children are assessed overall in other parts of the world I wanted to do some comparison of the United States to other countries. “The chart below presents the findings of this Report Card in summary form. Countries are listed in order of their average rank for the six dimensions of child well-being that have been assessed.1 A light blue background indicates a place in the top third of the table; mid-blue denotes the middle third and dark blue the bottom third”(Unicef, 2007).

Also if you would like to view and compare other countries I have provided the link below.

Reference

An overview of child well-being in rich countries - Unicef

http://www.unicef.org/media/files/ChildPovertyReport.pdf

Dimensions of child well-being	Average ranking position (for all 6 dimensions)	Material and well-being	Health and safety	Educational well-being	Family and peer relationships	Behaviours and risks	Subjective well-being
Canada	11.8	6	13	2	18	17	15
Sweden	5	1	1	5	15	1	7
United States	18	7	21	12	20	20	-

Furthermore, when measuring or assessing school-age children by the information provided in the chart we see that children are assessed in every area of their well-being. I believe each of these areas some times play an important part on how a child develop with in their learning environment. Therefore I feel the question that should be asked to those developing standardized testing, based on one child fits all, how can we test a child's abilities in varies areas of learning with out knowing the whole child themselves?

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

A stressful time I can clearly remember in my life as a child was the Vietnam war. When I was about 8 or 9, I remember my parents being worried about my brother in the war. It was stressful to see my mother worry so it made me very nervous thinking every time I heard the phone ring I just knew it was bad news. But that was just the beginning. By some unfortunate mix up another brother was sent overseas as well. Although some people do not know they normally do not send to brothers to war unless they both agree to go. It took my parents nine months to get the second brother back to the states. I think from this experience even now some times when the phone rings I get this bad feeling in my stomach like its going to be bad news.

NEW DELHI, 20 April 2013 – The rape in Delhi where a 5-year-old girl is now fighting for her life is yet another sign that urgent and concerted action is needed to make sure that girls and women in India can feel and be safe on the streets, in school, at work and at home. Recently published data show that more than 30,000 crimes were committed against children in India in 2011. The same source of data shows us that one in three rape victims is a child. More than 7,200 children, including infants are reported raped every year. UNICEF acknowledges that there might be many more cases that go unreported, and thus also go without the needed care and support.

What is being Done to Help?

Following another tragic rape in December, the Government has taken some encouraging steps including commissioning the Verma Report that translated into the passing of the Criminal Law Ordinance. Prior to that, at the end of 2012 the Government had also passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, which provides a framework for stringent action on such cases.

This is promising for the children of India. Yet, the law is not enough if it is not enforced effectively. The brutal rape case this week also indicates the need to strongly improve the response of law enforcement officers.

Episodes of violence against women and girls continue to permeate daily life in India. Widespread acceptance of these violations is worrisome. More needs to be done to urgently change the mind-set towards the girl child and women and put a stop to these brutal crimes. In many parts of society in India, girls are often seen as liabilities and have little to say about their lives. Girls and women need to be valued, respected and feel safe, not only within the confines of their homes but also in public spaces. UNICEF joins its many partners in India to call for change and action, immediately.

Reference

UNICEF: Press Release

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_68828.html

I could not even imagine being a mother or father having to worry about if someone is going to harm your daughter or wife in this way. Being sexual abused can affect a child's development in many ways. Such as their emotional development, physical development and their mental state overall of not being able to recover from such trauma.

Child Development and Public Health

The public health issue I chose to research was “Nutrition/malnutrition”. My choice for this issue was because I observe children daily who lack healthy food in their diets. Children in a world were healthy food is available, but some parents do not take advantage of or see the value of such foods.

But when reading through an article about nutrition in Somalia. I found that, “Under-nutrition is not merely the result of poor food intake, in terms of quantity and quality, but also of illnesses. For the body to use nutritious food effectively also requires optimal health care, and access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. This is particularly important for the most vulnerable groups, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children under two years of age and children under age of five who are suffering from infectious diseases such as HIV. There is well established evidence that a lack of key vitamins and minerals in the diet such as iodine, iron, vitamin A, and foliate, cause still births, miscarriages, mental and growth retardation, physical weakness, blindness, and increase the risk of diseases and ultimately death. When nutritional deprivations occur early in life, from conception up to two years of age, children will stop growing and become stunted (low height for age). Stunting, also referred to as chronic malnutrition, has long term debilitating effects: Children who are stunted are at greater risk of illness and death, and those who survive are more likely to perform less well at school. If children experience weight loss or "wasting" (low weight for height), they are suffering from acute malnutrition. Underweight is a composite measure of both stunting and wasting. Unlike wasting and underweight, stunting past the age of two is irreversible. Plus, almost twice as many children are affected by stunting than by underweight” (UNICEF, 2009).

Reference

UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa – Young Child Survival and Development

http://www.unicef.org/esaro/5479_nutrition.html

“Childbirth In Your Life and Around The World”

Although I could write about my own experience in giving birth. But nothing was more exciting and emotional than watching my first born daughter give birth to her first child. What I remember about this experience was I felt as though I was not really within myself. Nothing could have ever in a million years prepared me for this. Watching the doctor do his job and the nurses running around, making sure that my daughter and her new baby was okay was just so overwhelming.

My choice for choosing the birth of my grandchild, was that I could not begin to explain what really happen within the delivery room when on the birthing end of such an experience. I also feel with child birth, women should be healthy physically, and mentally to go through what they go through at the time of giving birth. Although giving birth is a wonderful experience, at the same time it can be a dangerous one as well. In addition, when a mother is healthy physically and mentally it can sometimes help the child's outcome on being healthy and experiencing a healthy child development.

Native American Customs of Childbirth

Historian Ellen Holmes Pearson stated that; “In the seventeenth century, Dutchman Adrien Van der Donck described a woman’s preparation for childbirth among the Mohawk and Mahican Indians. Pregnant women would “depart alone to a secluded place near a brook, or stream of water . . . and prepare a shelter for themselves with mats and coverings, where, provided with provisions necessary for them, they await their delivery without the company or aid of any person. . . . They rarely are sick from child-birth [and] suffer no inconveniences from the same”.

Native American Customs of Childbirth

http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24097

What I learned from this article was that the Mohawk and Mahican Indians women had to be strong physically and mentally to go out and give birth alone. Although we do hear of mothers giving birth alone today by being put in unforeseen situations. However it was so unreal to hear how mothers and their new born child rarely became sick from lack of some type of medical attention. While at the same time mothers today are at such high risk without medical attention, before and after giving birth.