"My Supports"

When I think of my support system it lightens up my day. My defintion of support is some one or something that lifts you up when you think and don't think you need it. Support can come in many versions. It could be non verbal support or verbal. When you are facing adversaries in your life and no one does nothing for you is a form of support. This type of support does not make you feel good at the time but when you come through it and think things over you are happy it happened the way it did. My support system consist of my husband, family, bible, prayer, my pastor and my child care children.

 My husband is my greatest support system. It does not feel like he is all of the time but I do know that he has me at heart. With the many health issues he has he alsways finds a way to be a support to me. He picks me up when I am struggling with things in life by encouraging me. My spouse cooks dinner for our family and my child care children everyday. Many times in other situation I feel there is no support but I have learned  that he is trying to make me stronger and work it out myself. The second support system is my children. I get calls every day encouraging me. Two of my children are persuing their masters degree. Those two are the greatest support because they understand how it feels to juggle family, school, and work at the same time. My bible is my greatest non verbal support. There is instructions in there for every obstacle and snear you may face in your day to day journey. Prayer changes things. This is a self help type of support. My pastor is there to lend a listening ear to any situation in my life. She gives me feedback according to what the bible says. My child care children. They are a joy in my life.  Most of the time they give me energy. They are part of the reason I returned back to school. If these support system were not in place many days I would waddle in self pity.

The challenge I choose to speak about is kidney disease. That is one of the challenges we face as a family everyday. My husband has kidney failure. He is on a dialysis machine three days out of the week. If it was not for him being as audacious as he is I probably would of crumbled a while ago. Facing what he feels everyday he is still supportive to me. He does give me a zeal to live. If it was not for my husband, my bible and prayer in my life every day I would truly be lost. My spouse and the other two systems help support me emotionally as well as spiritually. I am truly thankful for all of the support systems in my life and without them I probably would not be here typing this blog.




 

"My Connections to Play."

One of the quotes I feel summarizes my play in childhood is "play is contagious". When I was a youngster we played outside more than inside. Some of my favorite toys to play with were bottle tops .We played a game called scaleies. The game consisted of bottle tops off of a soda bottle not the screw tops but the ones you had to be taken off with a can opener. A target was put in the middle and everyone tried to hit the target. Another game we played was called chinese rope.We linked rubber bands together until we had a long string of rubber bands and then we tied the ends together. It was placed around two peoples ankles and stretched until it made a rectangular shape. We jumped in it and twisted the bands across each other. We played with chalk all of the time. Chalk was used to make hop scotch, scaleies circle, and making pictures on the sidewalks. Jump rope was one of my favorites also. Regular rope and double dutch rope either one of them was very enjoyable. My mother and the parents of my friends always encouraged us to go outside and play. I was a very quiet child. Some times I would of rather stay in but I was always encouraged to go outside and get some exercise. Every generation play seems to change. When my children were young they played inside a little but they would rather go outside playing with their friends. They were getting exercise in and outside. Their children and my grandchildren do not want to go outside at all. What is on their mind all the time is electronic stuff. Cell phones, computer games, I Pads, computers and the list can go on and on. I am in hopes that parents encourages their children and grandchildren to go out and soak up some of the sun. Play is the beginning of great things in child development. It touches and help develop all of the domains of development. Play is not just for children. Adults play differently but I do feel that most that engage in play, a smile is put on their face.  I also believe play is healthy for all.

Relationship Reflection

When I think of relationships/ partnership I think of friendship. The reason relationships and partnerships are important to me is that they grow out of each other. What I mean is you have to have  a relationship before you can have a partnership. One with out the other is crazy. When you have a true relationship with someone they are going to correct you no matter how it hurts. They are there when you fall.  The people I have a friendship and partnership with are my husband, my children, my good friend Joyce, my pastor and many of the families that make up my family child care business. My husband and I met when I was sixteen. We have been married for forty years. I love him unconditionally and he loves me the same.  No matter the circumstances he is always supportive to me.  And same goes for me to him. My children and I have a great relationship. They include two biological children and five adopted children. All seven of my children love and respect me and I love and respect them also. My friend Joyce. She will let me know when I am wrong and I do the same for her. We have a partnership she is the substitute for me in my child care business. My pastor she is another that loves me unconditionally. Last but not least the  child care parents in my business. This truly started as a friendship now we have a partnership. We both have their children first at heart.  There were challenges in building many of these relationships- partnerships. We all are separate people. We think and act differently. When we got rid of our biases and started to respect each other for who we are then a partnership began. The way this all impacts my effectiveness as an early childhood professional is that having relationships with all types of people has allowed me to not be bias and become diverse in situation I come across.

Quote and professional Thanks

I would like to send out a sincere thank you and best wishes to all of my classmates of class (EDU 6160-2). All of your discussion and blogs inspired me and gave me a better and different way of looking at the topics discussed in our class. I wish you all the best of luck in all of your endeavors. Remember we are never to old to learn so lets keep our eyes and ears open and apply what we have learned to the families we are servicing. I am in hope that many of you will be continuing on and we will meet again. The quote I believe in is" A happy child is a well rounded child". We must make time for all things. In our workplace working with children, and as parent. We have to be able to have our children in different activities and give them time to just play. We must help our children become well rounded by enabling them to use all parts of there senses. You guys can reach me at dgw9897@gmail.com  

Assesement of Children

        Viewing the child with a holistic view means to view every part of the childs enviormnet to see what makes up his daily world. This will include the school enviornment, home enviornment, behaviors, beliefs, and his relationships. Assessment is an important aspect of teaching and learning. In the early years of a child's life the assessenment should only concern the building of the childs confidence and desire to learn. At this level the main objective is providing information on the learning progress of the child. The home enviornment is an important aspect of the holistic view. I believe everything that a child does away from home starts at home. So the home ambience has to be looked at also. I believe when a child acts out there is a reason for it. The reason usually has to do with the child's life at home or at school. The child's belief plays a part because if you have a belief you have confidence and certainty. Last but not lease is relationships. The most important relationship is the bond you have with your parents. If the child relationships are not secure their may be acting out.
           Assessment in africa has been few except for the western tests. This test is not appropiate for rural African populations. The reason this is so is because the population in that setting has not be exposed to many of the pictures and exercises done during testing. The college of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi and colleagues has designed a more culturally relevant assessment tool to be used with children in rural africa. A new assesnment tool was developed for the children in rural africa. The name of the game was chipapapa (a popular Malawian game) , or to feedthemselves pieces of nsima (a staple food of the country). The children that were assessed were between the ages of 0-6 years old. Any items that was proven to be too complicate were remove after statistical analysis.The Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) was born.
Retrieved From http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2010/08/11/refining-the-milestones-assessing-the-child-development-in-africa/

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

I opted to choose my husband's childhood developmental experiences. His developmental experiences as a child have had a profound effect on his entire life. Although the assignment required that only one of the more common stressors be chosen, they are all collectively interrelated. After discussing this assignment with my husband he openly shared his experience from his point of view. He felt that it was extremely difficult to focus on one stressor. His main focal point was on abandoment. He stated that within the boundaries of his childhood he experienced many stressors. He began by talking about how chaotic his life began from birth. Neither one of his parents wanted the responsibilty of taking care of him. His father was already married and his mother was looking for love/companionship. This situation resulted in him being placed with family members and friends on his mother side. He felt his life was a natural disaster. No love, no affection, no stability, and no attention which lead to isolation. He was being exposed to sexual explortation,illegal drugs, gambling, and gang activity. He told me that until he met me that his life was empty and that he hungered for love, affection and direction. His mother suffered from the disease commonly known today as chronic alcoholism. As a result of her drunken behavior , he was constantly at war with many men that violently had there way with his mother. At the age of eleven he was sent to live with his father. There he met his sister who was two months younger than him, a step brother four years older, and a step mother that did  not want him there. His siblings had no prior knowledge of his existence, how ever they accepted him. His father would constantly tell him to come out of his shell. My husband said he felt like a tortoise and frequently retreated inside his shell to avoid the noise and maltreatment inflicted by his step mother. He had an aunt who lived in the area and she loved him dearly. When he visited her and she hugged him he would take her hugs home with him and used them when he needed affection. To cope he would bite his nails, eat until he became stuffed. His chaotic childhood led to low self esteem, no ambition, worthlesness, obesity, high blood pressure and finally kidney failure. At the age of 59 my husband began to actively and openly ask god to help rid him of his childhood memories and his unforgiving nature. Believe it or not my husband has finally found peace in his life.

                                                            
                                                                 India and Children's stressor

Many children in india are called street children. They truly live on the street. These children are repeatedly exposed to maltreatment ranging from child labor, child trafficking, sexual explortation and many other forms of violence and abuse. Many of the street children in metro cities in india fall victim to substance abuse. The drug of choice is what we call correction fluid. More than half the children on the street are illiterate. Most of the street children in big cities belong to migrant families from small places. The families are hoping to find employment. Child right activist have censured the indian goverment for its lax policies regarding neglected children including the national policy on child labour. They said the government has failed to do enough to stop the growing epidemic of homeless children. Some of the children were interviewed and they stated the reason we use drug including correction fluid, shoe polish, tobacco and whitener is because it help us with the stress of living on the street. It numbs us and helps us relieve tension.

Reference

PressTV. (7/19/2013). Nearly all street children in India face abuse, study shows. Retrieved From http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/07/19/314515/study-india-street-kids-face-abuse.

EBSCO Host Industries.(2013) Substance abuse among street children in Mumbai. Retrieved From http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?sid=522508.

Breast Feeding

  Breast feeding is a chance of giving your child immunity to so many diseases. The way this is accompolished is that the baby  gets the mothers antibodies and that protects the child. Both of my children were breastfeed the first year of their lives. This life sustaining act of nursing serves multiple purposes. The most important purposes to me was that my children were healthy the first year of their livesand continue to be. Breastfeeding allowed bonding to take place, synchrony and a secure attatchment was definitely there.
  Mothers in South Africa are encouraged to stop breast feeding their children if any problem appear and they are told to start giving formula. The health care providers lack the skills needed to give support and offer advice. If the mother is HIV positive there is more uncertainty. Some counselors are confused about what the correct practices regarding HIV and feeding practices. Until recently the world health organization (WHO) advised HIV-positive mothers to advoid breastfeeding if they were able to afford, prepare and store formula milk safely. Research have since emerged in south africa that a combination of antiretroviral and breastfeeding can significantly reduce the transmission of HIV to babies. The antiretroviral drug has to be taken throughout breastfeeding and until twelve months old. This drug allows the child the benefits of being nursed. It is still a challanged to change the engrained culture of formula feeding in south africa. The general idea of people in South Africa is that there is no need to breast feed when you can give formula. South africa is one of the countries that gives formula away free. The organization giving away the formula thought they were doing a good deed trying to stop the spread of HIV.The unforseen consequences was that mother that were not affected by HIV started to use formula also. In south africa there is a belief that formula was superior to breast milk. The marketing campaign clams that formula contains special ingredients that improves the babies health. After four months of maternity leave mother that are working outside the home are not encouraged to pump there milk so babies can still get the best nutrition.
    I was enlightened concerning the practices of breastfeeding in South Africa. I can not do much about the situation in South africa. I can try and encourage breast feeding even more than I do know. In my family child care program I can get material for my parents to have. I will also become more knowledgeable about the and speak to all that will listen.

References
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/1/10-030110/en/

I was in labor for quite a few hours. My contraction were coming every fifteen minutes or so. A few hours later they were a little bit closer and off to the hospital we went. Upon arrival at the hospital they did a couple of test. My water had not broke and I had dialated only two centmeters. They sent me back home. The next morning about 5:30 the contractions were stronger and closser together. Off to the hospital we went again. More test were done my water still had not  broke and I had not dialated any more. I was in labor for another six hours. My son became distressed he had turned his self around and the umblical cord was wrapping around his neck. I was told at that time that i had to have an emergency c-section. When I heard that news i cried. We had taken classes preparing to have a natural birth. On march14,1979 a 9lb 2ounces baby boy was born.It was one of the happiest days of my life.That is why I choose this birth my first child. I feel birth has a great implact on child development. Beside having to have a c-section the birth was great. I believe if he was not taken he may of had developmental delays. I also feel if the mother takes care of her self the child has a better chance of developing properly. The region of the world i decided to compare was china. In China during the pregnancy all of the furniture has to be left alone and no pictures should be hung on the wall because they belive it can bring harm to the baby.The first born childs birth the father is not allowed to be present or plays any role in labor or delivery. The father is allowed at subsequent births. The pregnant womans mother is present at the first birth.They do not give any pain medication instead they drink a special tea to help with the pain.They are taught to breath and are given messages to help reduce pain. It is believed if you eat only hot foods and beverage it keeps the balance of Qi (life force or spiritual energy).
The difference is that we encourage dads to be part of the labor and delivery process. We are also taught how to breath during labor to help relax you. I feel the chinese culture has a lot in common with our birthing techniques. Using other methods instead of drugs is wonderful.