Relationship Reflection

When looking back over my life so far, I have noticed that there have been several relationships that I have formed that were rather brief and matter of fact. For instance, I went to high school with about 350 other students in my graduating class, but may have only formed actual relationships with a handful of them. Yes, I might be able to still recognize a name here and there, but many of those relationships that were formed during high school dwindled away to a mere memory now.

When I entered college, the same thing happened. I went to college for academic purposes. I truly did not care about the parties and social life that I could have been a part of. I found a church to attend when I lived on campus and they became my "friends" during that year, but once I moved off campus, those "friends" again became memories.

When I started working in the early childhood field, I was hesitant to become "close" to my coworkers because I felt that I was there to do a job: to serve my students and their families. I did not care whether I agree with my coworkers teaching styles or whether I was truly accepted. What mattered most to me was making sure that my students trusted me and through that trust, I was able to foster their overall growth developmentally. When I did start to seek my coworkers' opinions about early childhood education, I was surprised to see the lack of interest from them. They did not share the passion for the field like I did. I found it rather difficult to progress further in my professionalism when I did not receive the support and feedback that I was seeking from those surrounding me.

I started working with a great group of early childhood professionals this past November and it has made a world of a difference in my professional relationships. I feel as though I can share my thoughts and ideas with my colleagues and even if they do not agree with my views, they still respect my opinion and will offer professional guidance when needed. In turn, I have gained a significant amount of confidence about my growth and knowledge within the early childhood industry, which has carried over to other personal relationships.

My parents have always been extremely supportive of the decisions that I have made throughout my life. My father has always given me the freedon to make my own choices, but will express his concern if he feels that my decision is too risky. My mother has been more cautious, especially when I decided to enter the education field because she knew that education careers are hard to come by where we live. However, through her love and confidence in me, she gave me her blessing and has stood by my side as I graduated with my Bachelor's degree and am working on my Master's in early childhood studies.

My husband and I have been together for almost 7 years now and ever since day 1, he has been by my side through everything. There have been times where I have wanted to give up on work or school because I wanted more family time, but he would remind me that it was always best for our family's future for me to stick with things and has has been right. I am going through that struggle again since we are expecting our 2nd child in July. I deep down want to stay home with our children, but financially, it just is not an option. My husband keeps reminding me that our decisions now will pay off down the road and I just need to be persistent. He has truly held our family and myself together and I do not know where I would be right now without his love and support.

And then there is our daughter. I like to say that she and I have a "love-not like" relationship. I absolutely love her to death and would do anything for this child. She has brought so much joy and happiness into our family and I am truly grateful for that. However, I do "not like" many of her choices and actions. My poor husband has to come in and save the day too many times because my daughter and I are arguing (and she's only 3 years old!). I have to accept the fact that she gets under my skin so much because we are simply so much alike. We are both extremely stubborn and will say what is on our mind. Plus, she has absolutely has no fear and will do anything she sets her mind to. She keeps me on my toes and I have learned that I have to be more patient with her, but it is still tough.

This is a picture of my husband, Dan, and daughter, Madelynn, when we went on vacation in November 2012. If you look closely, you will see that my daughter is holding Lamby, another important member of our family. Lamby is Madelynn's lovey and if Lamby ever gets lost, our whole family falls apart until Lamby is found again.

When I Think of Child Development...

When I think of child development, I usually reflect on all of the special moments that I have shared with children through my experience as a mother and as an educator. I have had the ability to raise a healthy, happy 3 year-old daughter and am excited that we are expecting the next addition to our family in July 2013. I also reflect on all that I have learned from the children in the two plus years that I have been working in child care centers and now as an Education Coordinator for a local Early Head Start program. I am able to see the effects that we as educators can have on children who may come from families who are struggling to make ends meet and we serve as the family's only source of stability in the child's life. The children that we serve love coming to the classroom and I love being able to be a part of their growth and development.

Mark Twain once said "the most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop" (BrainyQuote, 2001-2012). Starting at birth, children are always willing to tell the world around them about what is on their mind. If a child is hungry, they will cry to tell the parent or caregiver that it is time for them to eat. If my daughter is tired, she will tell me that she is tired and it is time to take a nap. Even their actions tell us a story. Children that are not feeling well are often clingy to their loved ones because they may believe that the special someone can make them feel better.

I just want to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their valuable feedback and for reading my blog over the past few months. I am truly excited to be learning more about the field of early childhood education and sharing my learning with all of you. I am looking forward to continuing my work on this blog and reading the feedback from my followers!

Tiffany Booze

Reference:

Brainy Quote. (2001-2012). Mark twain's quote. In Children Quotes. Retrieved on December 15, 2012, from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/children.html.

Testing for Intelligence

This week, we were asked how a child be assessed to test their intelligence. This is actually a rather difficult question to answer because what determines a child's intelligence? Is intelligence simply based on a child's cognitive understanding about the world that they live in or is it something much better.

I personally believe that a child's intelligence depends on their development of the whole person. A child may be cognitively intelligent, but may be struggling with emotional intelligence. If the child is struggling in emotional intelligence, this may impact their social relationships with others. Where I work at, we use an assessment tool, Teaching Strategies GOLD, which the teachers use to track the development of every child in a variety of categories, such as cognitive, socioemotional, physical, and language. By looking at the whole child, our teachers can make connections from one developmental area to the next and see if any concerns that they may have are connected to another area.

In Southeast Asia, professionals are using a variety of assessment and screening tools to test children in low-income areas for disabilities. Some of the screening tools that are being used consist of the Ten Question Screening (TQSI), Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST), and basic hearing and vision screens. Of the children that were screened, many were found to have disabilities that restricted their movement and caused poor health, which was mainly caused due to the poor living conditions that they were in. These results can provide organizations, such as the WHO, with an idea of the areas that need special attention in improving the living conditions for these children. If the living conditions are improved, there is a good chance that the percentage of disabilities may decrease.

Reference:

Krishnamurthy, V., Srinivasan, R., and Ummeed Child Development Center, Mumbai. (2011). Childhood disability screening tools: The south east asian perspective. A Review for the WHO Office of the South East Asian Region. Retrieved on December 6, 2012, from http://www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/NMH_CDST.pdf.

Consequenses of Stress on Children's Development

This week, we were asked to look back over our childhood and think of how any major stressors have impacted our lives. I actually found this assignment quite difficult because I realized that I have had a fairly easy life. Yes, money was tight for my family, but we still had everything that we needed. I have lived in Ohio my entire life, so I have never experienced any major natural disasters, other than an ice or wind storm here or there that has knocked out power for a few days. Yes, it was an inconvenience, but it was never a life-threatening moment and I enjoyed the peace and quiet during that time.

The one stressor that I can probably relate to is violence. My parents' marriage was very rocky throughout my childhood and got worse when I was in high school. I remember sitting in the garage on winter nights just to get away from listening to them fighting. I became depressed and very dependent on my boyfriend at the time to take that hurt away from me. I learned to suppress my feeling because my parents did not take the time to realize that their arguing had hurt me so bad. My parents got a divorce in 2006 and things are still not so great. They will rarely come together in the same room without there being tension. Today, I still struggle with sharing my feelings, even with my husband. I have built this wall around me that is very hard to get through. I feel as though I should be strong for my family, even though I am weak inside.

I was saddened to read that the rate of domestic violence is so high in South Africa. According to the World Council of Churches website, "one in four men have admitted to rape and one in twenty men have admitted to rape in the past year" (para. 1). Sadly, only about seven percent of rapes against women actually lead to conviction (para. 7). The council is working to provide awareness of this global struggle to eliminate violence, but as long as the crime continues to go unpunished, the crime will continue to be present.

Tiffany Booze

Reference:
World Council of Churches, (2011). Facts about columbia. In 40 days to end violence against women. Retrieved on November 23, 2012, from http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/resources/campaigns/women-against-violence/week-3-colombia/colombia-facts.html.

Child Development and Public Health: Immunizations

This week, I chose to focus on the issue of child immunization. There are so many rumors floating around the media recently about how immunizations can cause autism in children. However, none of these rumors have been proven to be true. Immunizations were created to help prevent the spread of life-threatening illnesses. Unfortunately, access to these immunizations is limited to families that can afford them and are most commonly administered in modern countries.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, my doctor asked me if I was planning on immunizing my daughter. Without hesitation, I responded yes. My opinion is that if these vaccinations are available and they can prevent my daughter from getting any of these life-threatening illnesses, then it was my responsibility as a parent to make sure that she was vaccinated. My brother-in-law and his wife do not share my beliefs. They have chosen not to vaccinate their daughter. It worries me because whenever my daughter is sick with a common cold or such, I make sure that she is not around her cousin because I fear that my niece may get a harsher illness. I understand that some people choose not to vaccinate their children because of religious or cultural beliefs and that is okay. However, I believe that vaccines should be made available to any parent who wants their child vaccinated, regardless of cost.

A study was performed in India that reviewed the vaccination records of children who were hospitalized. Of the children surveyed, most of the children were considered either partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. The children who were not vaccinated made up the largest amount of the children who were present at the hospital. Parents in India said that they did not vaccinate their children because they were either unaware of the availability of the vaccines, claimed the vaccines had side-effects, or did not believe that the vaccines worked at all. It is our responsility to educated these individuals about the availability of vaccinations and the importance of administering them to all children.


Tiffany

Source:
Kumar, D., Aggarwal, A., & Gomber, S. (2010). Immunization status of children admitted to a tertiary-care hospital of north india: Reasons for partial immunization or non-immunization. Journal Of Health, Population, & Nutrition, 28(3), 300-304.

Personal Birth Experience

The birth experience that I want to describe is my own when I was pregnant with my daughter, Madelynn, who is now 3 years old. Wow, time flies by! I had been having contractions all week, but they usually stopped by the middle of the day. On Friday, my husband and I decided that we were going to go to the state fair. I had been having contractions in the morning, but didn't think anything of it, giving the experience throughout the week. Well, after walking around the fair ground, I realized that the contractions were not going away and were getting stronger. We went home and after trying to sleep through them, I told my husband that we better get to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 1:00 am Saturday morning and my doctor agreed that I was in active labor. We had originally planned on inducing labor on Monday (3 days later), but my body had something else in mind. I received some medicine to allow me to get about 2 hours of sleep, but I woke up again around 7:00 am with the contractions getting stronger. I requested an epidural for pain, but being the kind person that I was, I allowed the anesthesiologist to tend to a patient in surgery before treating me (HUGE MISTAKE). My doctor came in around 8:30 am, broke my water and started me on pitocin. The contractions rapidly got stronger and I quickly regretted being so kind to the person in surgery. I received my epidural around 11:00 am, which allowed me to relax enough for my daughter to drop the rest of the way down. At 12:44 pm, after a lot of pushing and tearing, my daughter came into this world at 9 lbs 2 oz and 20.25 inches long. I was completely exhausted, but overjoyed by the birth of our new baby girl. I was very impressed by the service that I received at the hospital. The staff was very professional, but compassionate. My doctor did an excellent job talking me through the birthing experience and recovery.

My birthing experience could be considered rather calm and organized compared to the birthing experiences described in the paper written by Kathryn Geurts. She spent some time living in Ghana, studying the birthing practices and wrote detailed accounts of two birthng experiences. Ghana is a rural area in Africa where the mortality rate of infants and mothers is considered high. Due to the mortality rates, there is a push for institutionalized births where the process can be monitored by trained professionals. Unfortunately, most women who live in Ghana cannot afford professional care and prefer to have the birth of their children at home where they can use their own traditional medicines and practices.

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Workshop/geurts.html

Tiffany

Reference:

Geurts, K. (1998). Well-being and birth in rural ghana: local realities and global mandates. University of Pennsylvania-African Studies Center. Retrieved on October 31, 2012, from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Workshop/geurts.html.

Early Childhood Ethical Codes

Early childhood professionals have a responsibility to follow ethical codes of conduct both in the classroom and in the community. Listed below are some of the codes of ethics from NAEYC and DEC that I find particularly important and the relevance they have in my professional career as an early childhood educator.

• To recognize and respect unique qualities, abilities, and potential of each child. (NAEYC)
• Every child is truly unique in their learning abilities. Some children are visual learners, where they learn best with seeing pictures and other visual representations. Other children learn best through hands-on activities, where they are able to learn through exploration or play. There are many different learning styles and each child learns at their own pace. That is why one-on-one interactions with each child in the classroom is so important. Group teaching can be beneficial for social experiences, but working with children individually will help make sure that students are receiving the attention and instruction that they need to support their growth in learning.
• To work through education, research, and advocacy toward a society in which all young children have access to high-quality early care and education programs. (NAEYC)
• Our children are the future of the world that we live in. Unfortunately, the child care centers in the United States are mediocre at best. There are programs, such as Head Start, that offer high-quality early educational services to select children, but that leaves the majority of the children in the United States with low-quality care. We as early childhood professionals need to push for more government and private funding to provide high-quality education to ALL children across the United States. If we want our children to be successful in life, we need to provide our children with a strong education-based foundation that fosters the natural development of children.
• We shall respect, value, promote, and encourage the active participation of ALL families by engaging families in meaningful ways in the assessment and intervention processes. (DEC)
• Early childhood educators serve as mentors of children for the families that we serve. Educators need to partner with family members to ensure that each child receives the best possible education based off of the child's individual abilities and needs. Assessments and curriculum used in the classroom need to reflect each child's needs and abilities and should be discussed regularly with the families to ensure that proper instruction is taking place. Families place their trust in educators to educate their children, but often do so without the knowledge of exactly what is taking place in the classroom. Educators need to encourage regular family participation so that families can continue the learning process in their own homes.

Tiffany Booze

References:

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

The Division of Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.dec-sped.org/