Childhood Quotes/Professional Thanks

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." ~Proverbs 22:6~

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible because it tells what we as parents and caregivers need to do when it comes to raising our children. If we show our children the right way to go, they will remember it for the rest of their lives. We have a huge responsibility in child development. Children look up to adults so we have to make sure we set great examples. 


Terrance, Leslie, Jamila and Cassandra:


It was a pleasure to have another class with you. I hope we continue to have more classes together. Thank you for your encouragement and knowledge. You all have helped in some way. Keep up the good work! God bless...


To my other classmates; Katrina, Sharee and Shevia, Marika and Amy:


It was a pleasure being in this class with you all. I hope we have more classes together as well. i wish you all the best as you all travel this wonderful road of early childhood. You all keep up the good work and I will see you all at the top! God bless...


Dr. Myers:


It was a pleasure having you as a professor. I appreciate your feedback and knowledge. I believe it has made me a better student! I am thankful that you are a part of my journey as I travel this wonderful road of early childhood! Thank you for everything! God bless...

Testing for Intelligence

After reading two of my colleagues' blogs, reflecting on my own childhood, and considering the school aged children of today, I believe that each school aged child should be assessed differently. Along with that however, I believe that ALL children should have their emotional intelligence assessed as well. I believe that part in older children (7-11yrs old) is ofter overlooked, or doesn't get the attention it should. Looking back on my childhood, I excelled in school but I was an emotional child. I guess because I was smart, the teachers thought that I was ok, and overall I was, but now I am an emotional adult. And honestly, I do not like it! LOL I wonder if my emotional intelligence had been assessed, how would I be now? So as someone who is planning to be an educator in the early childhood field, I will make sure I pay attention to the children's emotional regulation, as well as every other part of the them. And I will make it known to the parents and other educators to do the same. As I said before, everyone and everything plays an important part in child development.

Sydney, Austrailia uses IQ tests to assess their children. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Forth Edition - Australian Standardisation (WISC-IV), is an individually administered instrument for assessing the cognitive ability of children aged 6 years to 16 years. The WISC-IV is one of the most reliable and valid IQ testing instruments available. It is the most widely used measure of IQ for school placement.

I want to share something else I read about the IQ tests in Sydney and why children should be assessed:

"Uncharacteristic behavioural/emotional issues - If a child is bored and under challenged in the classroom there may be a significant discrepancy between their ability level and the ability level of their class-room peers. A bored, gifted child may be showing their frustration by being disruptive in school, refusing to do homework, or displaying uncharacteristic behaviour or emotions. Often very bright children underachieve in order to fit in with their peers. It is helpful to identify giftedness as soon as possible so that a child's environment can be adapted successfully to best fit their ability."

I saw this happen too many times while I was in school. The most gifted children were the ones who always got in trouble. And I was the child that was considered to be "disruptive". But I was only trying to help my peers. lol I used to be the one to finish my work before everyone else. Then I would be bored because everyone was still working. So I would try to help them in order to speed up the process so that I would have someone to talk to ...not a good idea lol. Now looking back on it, if I would have been properly assessed, maybe I would have been promoted or something...It truly makes me think...

http://www.sydneychildtesting.com.au/iq_testing.html

Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

I chose the topic "violence".

Violence is taking place all over the world and it is effecting children a great deal. Growing up, I experienced a great deal of violence. Unfortunately, my mother was on drugs and did not make the best decisions when it came to her kids. So you can only imagine what kinds of things I saw at an early age. I do not blame her totally because she was not in her right mind. But as a result of that, my sisters and I experienced some things that made a huge impact on us.

One of my sister's fathers was very abusive to my mom. She would be gone for long periods of time (because she was getting high or looking for drugs I'm sure). So he took it upon himself to look for her in the streets, bring her home, and would beat her (with a belt) as if she was a disobedient child. At the time, I was helpless. All I could hear was her screaming from the bedroom. The door was closed but it did not make a difference. It hurt me to hear her scream like that...

That same man was a child molestor. I found that out the hard way. He was the second man (in fact I think he was the third man) to do something like that to me. It happened to me at ages 3 (I remember vaguely), 5 and 7. I didn't tell a soul about what happened until I was about 9 yrs old, that's when it really hit me.

My sisters and I moved with my grandmother and I felt more safe there. Although some crazy things took place at my grandmother's house, that was the place I felt the most comfortable. I coped with my issues by simply not thinking about them, but focused on helping my grandmother with my sisters and making sure I did good in school. I would have to say that I was a strong kid. I didn't care about getting revenge on the men who did those things to me. I was just happy to be out of that situation until I was about 9 yrs old of course, then I opened up and told my family everything.

I want to talk about children who suffer from hunger in somalia. This has been going on for a long time. Children who suffer from hunger are effected in so many ways. Lack of food causes malnutrition. Malnutrition causes other things to go wrong in the body. If a child does not get the proper nutrition, he/she will experience some challenges during development. I know as an adult, it is hard for me to function if I do not eat enough so I can only imagine how that is on a daily basis for a child. It slows down everything biosocially, cognitively and psychosocially. Children who suffer from hunger don't have much energy to play, learn or energy to perform daily tasks.

But there are organizations out there that are working on fixing this problem. Organizations such as CARE, Mercy Corps, and UNICEF are working on this problem and are taking donations from those who want to help. This has been a problem for as long as I can remember. I pray that it will be solved soon. Those children deserve a better chance at life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43841708/ns/nightly_news/t/famine-horn-africa-how-help/

Child Development and Public Health

I chose the topic: access to healthy water.

This topic is meaningful to me because I believe that is something that we take for granted here in the U.S. Some of us have the the privilege of taking showers everyday, drinking water everyday, cleaning house etc. However, there are countries who have a horrible water supply. Not to mention, the well-being of children. "Everything" needs to be clean when it comes to dealing with little ones. And water plays a big part in that.

I did a study abroad in Mexico during my undergraduate study. I was in Merida, which is in the Yucatan. Thankfully, we could use the water to take showers, but we were told not to drink the water. We could take the chance to use the water to brush our teeth. But it was not recommended. With that being said, we bought plenty of bottled waters and our host familes kept purified water in the houses. Otherwise, we would be at risk of getting very sick.

I plan to have my own daycare. God willing, I will have a chain of daycares all across the world, which may included Mexico. I am glad that I am aware of what is going on with the water in that country. Therefore, I will know what precautions I need to take in order to work around that issue. I will make sure to keep purified water and bottled waters present in the center. Hopefully by then, the water supply will have improved. Who knows, I may end up being an activist or someone who will work toward bettering the supply down there. Mexico city has already started working on the problem. There is an article about it that came out in 2008. Here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7312452.stm.

Their goal is to have it right by 2012. The president and the government want to not only improve the water supply in the city, but they want to improve it throughout the whole country as well. They have my support...

Childbirth––In My Life and Around the World

I was part of a birthing experience recently. I held the mother’s right leg as she gave birth to her little girl. And I saw EVERYTHING! Lol. I’m surprised that I did not faint during the process lol. But it helped me to understand life just a little bit more. It helped me to understand how beautiful it is to bring a child into this world. It helped me to understand how some mothers are so attached to their children. It helped me to understand a little bit more just how serious pregnancy, labor, and child-rearing are and that they should not be taken lightly. I will never forget that experience. And I am looking forward to giving birth one day in the near future, God willing. I’m attached to children anyway so just imagine when I have my own. I believe that will be a very happy day after all is said and done. I chose this birthing experience because this is the only one I have so far. But that will change soon...I hope!

Not so long ago in Jamaica, many children were born at home, which is different from the United States. Birth rituals were overseen by nanas or midwives, and varied from place to place, depending on race and class. All, however, reflected a deep sense of connection to, and respect for, the spirit world. Today, retentions are strongest in rural areas.

To prepare for birth, the room had to have an open bible on display. The nana would anoint the mother's belly with castor oil which would later be given to both mother and child. This is certainly more pleasant than having the mother drink a glass of water in which her mother-in-law's toe had been dipped, as is the custom in Bihar, India, or having her drink beer in which a purple onion has been boiled, as in Guatemala.

Following the birth, Jamaican nanas dressed the child's navel with nutmeg. The nana also blew smoke into the child's eyes, often from an old clay pipe which these women traditionally smoked. (In many Native American and Amerindian cultures tobacco is regarded as food for the good spirits). The nana then washed her own face with rum and sometimes she herself took a stiff drink to give her 'eyesight,' since the witnessing of each birth was said to affect her sight.

I like what I found out about births in Jamaica because they have respect for the "spirit world" and the process is so unique. I did not see an open Bible when I was in the delivery room. Nor did I see any rituals take place that I know of. I may take on their way of child birth when I decide to have a baby. I view life as a spiritual experience anyway. I am really intrigued by this...I do not believe that I have any additional insights on development by doing this comparison but I still believe that a child's birth plays a major part in his/her development, and that goes for children all across the world.

Shout Outs To My Colleagues

Leslie: Thank you for your encouraging words and your feedback on my posts. I wish you all the best as you continue this journey of early childhood studies. Please keep your eye on that grandson of yours. I don't even know him and he sounds like a joy so I know you love him dearly. I said it once and I will say it again, "He's a trooper just like his Granny!"

Jamila: Thank you for your support and your advice. I wish you the best as you continue to run your own day care and make a difference in someone's life everyday. That has to feel good. I am looking forward to doing the same thing one day soon.

Terrance: Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. I wish you the best as you continue to work and learn more about the field of early childhood studies. Continue to let your light shine at the work place and keep working on giving your son more love. He sounds like smart little boy. I know you will do everything you can to make sure he becomes successful in life. He has a great example to look at everyday! 


God bless you all!

NAEYC and DEC codes of ethics

I-1.2

NAEYC

I-1.1
To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education and to stay informed through continuing education and training.

To base program practices upon current knowledge and research in the field of early childhood education, child development, and related disciplines, as well as on particular knowledge of each child.

These particular ideals caught my attention because they state  EXACTLY what I want my employees and I to do when I open my own daycare. I couldn't have said it better myself. These are the ideals I want to incorporate into my professional life when that time comes. I tried to practice these same ideals when I worked at Starfish Family Services. Just because I wasn't the CEO didn't mean that I couldn't exercise these same ideals in my professional life at that time. They are relevant in all cases... 


DEC

Professional and Interpersonal Behavior:
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.

That is it right there. I am sooooo big on integrity, truthfulness and honesty, especially when it comes to my babies. I do not play with that. I have worked in a few places where those things did not take place. All the "big people" cared about was getting the biggest paycheck possible. They did not have the children NOR THE ORGANIZATION/CORPORATION'S best interest at heart. And they would lie in order to get certain positions or bonuses (yes I am calling them out!). So with that being said, I do not plan to do that just so I can reap all the benefits. I truly believe we are being watched by God and I believe that if I do everything right in my organization with integrity, truthfulness and honesty, then He will bless me AND MY ORGANIZATION a great deal. That is from the heart...

http://www.dec-sped.org/uploads/docs/about_dec/position_concept_papers/Code%20of%20Ethics_updated_Aug2009.pdf

http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf