My Supports----So blessed!

I am blessed to be surrounded by some great support including my family and close friends. As you know, I have three young boys and it can become quite overwhelming at times. It is good to have my family and their dad to help me out when I just need some “me time”. It takes strong support when you are juggling a job, working, and raising children. My support systems have helped me emotionally, financially, and physically. It is good to have shoulders to cry on or have someone to help you through a difficult financial low or do chores for you when you’re physically unable to. I am often told how blessed I am to have such a loving support team that consists of mostly family and a few close friends. My mom is my top supporter; she is there for me before I even know I need someone. I do not even want to imagine her not being there for me. I pray for strength that if I have to come to that point that God will get me through it. I can say to anyone if you have a good support system, you should be thankful because not everyone can be that blessed.

"My Connections to Play-Get Out and Play!'

Sweet childish days, that were as long As twenty days are now. ~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly Childhood is a promise that is never kept. ~Ken Hill As a child, my Daddy was the parent that took me outside to play. He said it would help me rest better at night. My Mom was not really an outside person. When I did go outside, I would just sit around and watch the cars go by. I was not too physical, because I did not have anybody that was my age around. I was the baby and all of my siblings had been gone alone time. Even now as an adult I am not an outside person, but I go outside to help my children with their physical activity and to explore different things in their surroundings. Today’s children do not even know how to play the tradition outside games such as: kick ball, freeze tag, or hide and see. The neighborhood children come over to my house sometimes to play with my 9 year old son, and they are usually just standing around outside. I suggested one day that they play freeze tag and they all looked at me like I was speaking another language. The only freeze tag that they know about is on a TV screen. The type of playing that children do today involves a TV, console, and game stick; my Son included. I try to make him go outside doing the week and I limit his gaming hours. The lack of physical activity is one of the leading causes of childhood obesity. We also have adults who play the different games a lot and the children are watching them. We as adults, parents, and educators need to stress the importance of physical activity and playing to learn. When children go outside, they are exposed to a lot of different learning tools. They can talk about the weather, the animals, and many other things. My other boys (1 and 3) enjoy being outside more than my oldest son. I guess, because they have not been “sucked in” by the gaming world yet. When I was a child, I do not remember to many activities on social play. It is a play that I see as a necessity now. Social play helps a child to find their personality and become familiar with other people. I have seen that when a child goes to daycare, they have better social skills and they are not shy people. Having good social skills will help a child be a better student academically.

Relationship Reflections-Family First

Relationships are very important in our lives. Whether it is a family or an intimate relationship, we all will develop different relationships in life. I have been blessed to have relationships of all calibers and they all have had their impact on me. In my opinion, there is not a bond like a mother and child's. I have had the experience to be a mother three times, and I feel that it is four of me including my children. I have came to a point that when a person does something wrong to me it does not really affect me, but if it comes to my children I am ready for battle. I guess it is just apart of being a mother. My three boys mean the World to me and it is nothing that I do that doesn't include them. It gets very hard at times, but I know that with each passing day I am  investing in their future.

I grew up in a family of 10, five boys and five girls. I am the baby of the crew. I receive tons of support from my brothers and sisters. I have a lot of nieces and nephews, some are older than me but it is still so much love. My parents have been married for 50 plus years. We have a very strong family bond and always have each other's best interest in mind.

I have also been blessed to have some additional  people added to my life that are like family and we also have developed a family like bond. I just have to say that family is awesome and we should appreciate the one's that God has given us on Earth.

Family First,
Theressa Lee

Quotes about Children***Our Future

Old men can make war, but it is children who will make history.----- RAY MERRITT

Stay a child while you can be a child.  ------STEPHEN SONDHEIM,

Childhood is the world of miracle or of magic: it is as if creation rose luminously out of the night, all new and fresh and astonishing. Childhood is over the moment things are no longer astonishing. When the world gives you a feeling of "déjà vu," when you are used to existence, you become an adult.-------EUGENE IONESCO,

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.----------BIBLE, Mark 10:14

The deeds of the children are a testament to the upbringing they received from their parents.-----CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

Behavior: "BeHave to live in this world!"

            A child’s behavior is very important. I do believe academics should be a top priority, but a child must know how to behave in order to do their best academically.  I know children that are A+ scholars, but cannot hold a conversation.  They have not developed the basic social skills. For example, how will I know your intelligence level if you cannot talk to me?

            The opposite of the shy behavior is a child that is totally out of control. I also know children who are really advanced for their age, but their behavior is uncontrollable. I have heard people say, “They are too smart that’s why they act so badly.” Yes, this could be true because they are bored.

            Yet instill, in both of these instances a child’s behavior should be assessed.  They will eventually have to know how to get along with other people.

Mexico

The New Mexico State Department of Education has contracted with The Center for Development and Disability to develop and implement a course on functional behavioral analysis (assessment) and positive behavior supports for children within the public schools. With the 1997 Reauthorization of IDEA is has come a mandate for more functionally-based assessments of children who are displaying difficult behaviors within the schools.  These assessments must consider carefully what purpose (function) a particular behavior serves for the individual.

Functional assessments work from the philosophical belief that a person's behavior is reasonable from his own point of view.  Part of the assessment process is attempting to understand that person's point of view and the logic behind his thinking.  This requires that the team working with the child seek information through interview(s) with the child, family and school personnel working with and on behalf of the child.  In addition, observations in a variety of contexts must be conducted so that the purposes of a target behavior can be determined.  These data-gathering processes then lead to hypotheses about how to intervene with the behavior.  The hypotheses can then be tested so that the most appropriate interventions can be discovered.  Using a functional behavior assessment approach will lead to a proactive and comprehensive behavior plan for a student.

           The advice I would recommend is that parents, friends, family members, and educators also keep your eyes and ears open for a child’s behavior as well as their academics; because they are our future and they need to know how to function in society.

 

One of my "MAJOR" childhood stressors..

I have experienced more than one stressor, but I will pick the one that I remember the most about and that is “Natural Disaster”.  I will never forget I was in the 5^th grade it was an “Ice Storm” that lasted about 3 days. It was cold, dark, and just downright miserable. I was so uncomfortable. We did not have any lights or water for over a week! I had no idea how important water and lights were until we did not have them anymore.

            My parents did all in their will to satisfy me and make me comfortable. I was not trying to hear any of it or appreciate it. I just wanted some lights and a nice warm bath. I could not get use to the oil lamps or the jugs of water being boiled. Sorry guys, I was only in 5^th grade!

            I dreaded the night time, because that meant we had to light the oil lamps. They were so much trouble and the mood was so depressing. I would just lie on the couch or in my bed for hours at a time until I feel asleep. It seemed morning would never come, but it eventually did. The inconvenience did not seem to bother my parents much. My mom tried to cook things that were easy to prepare in these circumstances. My dad seemed to continue with his usual business. I was the only one who wanted to disappear.

 

The country I chose: South Africa

 

One of the stressors in South Africa is child poverty.  In South Africa 66% of children are growing up in poverty.  The households in which these children live are often too poor to afford to buy even the most basic necessities. Poverty has been one of South Africa’s greatest challenges and is a cycle that can’t seem to be broken as generations after generation remain in poverty once at that point. The poverty rate in South Africa is the highest among children from newborns to 4 years old and gets slightly lower in percentage as the age of the children get older.

In South Africa, poverty means more than just a lack of money. The poverty that these children live in affects their access to schools, health care, and their chance of growing up in an environment that could help them possibly break free of the poverty. Most of the children in South Africa who are living in poverty are malnourished from birth. This lack of nutritious food affects the physical and mental growth and development of the children, as well as their overall health. A lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation methods also leads to health problems amongst this group. Diseases are spread quickly and easily when they are caught, especially amongst children in South Africa.

 

Now my view:

            As I research on South Africa, I now know how blessed I was doing the “Ice Storm”. The children in Africa are living like this on a daily basis. They are even getting sick, because their water is not safe/clean. It does not seem South Africa will be coming out of this poverty anytime soon. Even though I was already grateful, I am even more grateful now.

 

http://www.babylifetime.com/article/1607/child-poverty-in-south-africa-regions/

 

 

My Topic of concern: SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)

I am choosing the concern of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), because I have experienced it in my family. My sister had a baby that died from SIDS about 18 years ago. It was a boy. He was at the babysitter’s when he passed away. The babysitter had just fed him, and then laid him down to nap. She went back to check on him and he was not breathing. She called 911 and the ambulance came, but they could not revive him.

 

         This devastated our entire family, because doing that part in our lives we had not been to use to death in that type of magnitude. My sister went into a “world” that she blamed God, doctors, and whoever else was in her sight. My sister’s husband tried to talk to the babysitter and her family to let them know that she was not to blame in this tragic situation. The babysitter still was so devastated that committed suicide the very next day. That was another blow for our family.

We managed to get through it by prayer and intense love from our family and friends, my sister slowly recovered from her depression. Her and her husband were blessed with a baby girl soon after and she has grown to be a beautiful, smart, and strong young lady.

SIDS is rare in China. Most Chinese sleep in a supine position, in which babies sleep on their backs.  Immunologic maturity - Chinese infants were found to have higher IgG levels at birth and a different pattern (more mature) of serum immunoglobulin’s all through early childhood. Their leucocyte functions have also been found to be more capable in phagocytosis and intra-cellular killing compared to reports from Caucasians. These might protect against inappropriate response to seemingly trivial infections which often are the antecedent events of SIDS. The parental over-caring and over-proactive behaviors are closer and more vigilant of the supervision of infants.

I am and plan on working with children ages 3-5 and SIDS is not an issue at that, but I would like to do more studies on it. It is still a lot of unanswered questions. I always hear the older generations say, “children slept on their stomachs all the time back in the day and nothing happen to them.” I answer and say, “Babies died from SIDS back in the day, it was just not a name for it.” I would like to find out more facts on the subject of SIDS.

Case: Sudden Infant Death are Rare in China-But Why? (Yeung, Clap-Yung) www.cchi.com.hk/searchans/case2htm

 

 

"Personal Birth Experience"

Personal birth experience

My personal birthing experience will be my own. I have had three births, but I will talk about my third birth.  My third pregnancy was a total shock, because I was determined that I was done having babies.  I had two boys and they were a lot to handle, especially being six years apart.

            At the beginning of the pregnancy, I was not sick at all. I did not begin to experience morning sickness until I had gone to the doctor and was told I was pregnant. As I can recall, I vomited walking to the car.  My third birth was very different.  I have even changed as a parent. When I had my first child, I asked a lot of questions about different baby issues and I also had heard a lot from my friends and relatives involving children.  As years go on, I am continuing to be very “seasoned” as a parent.

            I am blessed to have a lot of great parents and grandparents in my life.  They are always willing to advise me when it comes to my children’s health or well-being.  As I previously stated, doing my first birth I tried to do everything right including: resting, eating right, and taking medications. By my third birth, I had slacked off. I did not do anything damaging to my body, but I also did not do everything I was supposed to do either.

            I feel my careless actions have caused my 3^rd baby to be a little smaller than my other two children at his age. By all means; I did not intentionally do him harm. I guess I had become use to be pregnant. Thankfully, he is learning and developing well in spite of my choices.

           

          birth-in another Region

            The region I chose was Africa. I chose Africa, because the television always has its own depiction of how childbirth is done in Africa. The women have it so hard when it comes to getting the prenatal care, but in America we do not take advantage of the resources. Research shows that 1 in 13 women die from pregnancy and giving childbirth. The woman/baby are at a high risk of getting an infection doing the birth (worldbirthaid.org).

            Mothers and babies in America are really blessed to have so much access to different resources to make childbirth and raising children healthy and convenient.

Code of Ethics-3 Ideals

Ideal 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.

This is very near to my heart, because I believe in being current on all new changes when it comes to education.  It is a good idea that most employers require staff to attend professional developments and trainings. The world is constantly advancing and we need to advance with it.

Ideal I-1.12-To work with families to provide a safe and smooth transition as children and families move from one program to the next.

This is a daily activity for me, because I am a coordinator for students aged 3-5. I help parents when their children transition from Early Intervention program birth-3 into our Early Childhood program. I also assist parents when their children transition into Kindergarten. I provide them with any necessary information that they may need including: school districts, resources, and student test results.

Ideal I-2.5-To respect the dignity and preferences of each family and to make an effort to learn about its structure, culture, language, customs, and beliefs.

All families deserve the right to a fair understanding about what is going on with their child. We have a Hispanic student whose family does not speak English well. The family has a friend that is fluent in both English and Spanish and she has to be the middle person when communicating with the families. She even comes to the meetings. She does a great job keeping the communication flowing. The Hispanic feels a part of their child’s education, because of this barrier that is broken.

Growing "My" Collection of Resources

                                   NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap

                                   

                                  NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf

                                      

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf

                                      NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf   

                                    

                                   NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf

                                       

                                    NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf

                                     Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller

                                      

                                     FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf

                              

                                    Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.
Use the Academic Search Complete database, and search using the article's title.

                                    Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

                                    Websites:

                                     

World Forum Foundation
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the media segment on this webpage

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Read about OMEP's mission.

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/
Click on "Mission/Vision" and "Guiding Principles and Beliefs" and read these statements.

National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/

The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/

WESTED
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

Harvard Education Letter

http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85

FPG Child Development Institute

http://www.fpg.unc.edu/

Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/

HighScope

http://www.highscope.org/

Children's Defense Fund

http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Center for Child Care Workforce

http://www.ccw.org/

Council for Exceptional Children

http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

Institute for Women's Policy Research

http://www.iwpr.org/

National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education

http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/

National Child Care Association

http://www.nccanet.org/

National Institute for Early Education Research

http://nieer.org/

Pre[K]Now

http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067

Voices for America's Children

http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute

http://www.erikson.edu/

YC Young Children

Childhood

Journal of Child & Family Studies

Child Study Journal               

 Multicultural Education

 Early Childhood Education Journal

Journal of Early Childhood Resea ch             

 International Journal of Early Childhood

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

 Developmental Psychology

Social Studies

Maternal & Child Health Journal

  International Journal of Early Years Education

My Additional resources:

Council for Exceptional Children
-www.cec.sped.org

The Future of Children
-www.futureofchildren.org

Men in Early Childhood: Fathers and Teachers
-www.earlychildhoodnews.com

Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
- http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jean_Marc_Gaspard_Itard

Quotes: Passion, motivation, and wisdom

Quote from this weeks lesson:

"Part of being who you are has to do with feeling your feelings, which means you'll have a wide range of emotions--not just constant sunshiny happiness.” 

― Janet Gonzalez-Mena, Child, Family, and Community: Family-Centered Early Care Education

Passion, motivation, and wisdom:

"Working intently with children and families was almost like earning a doctorate, because every year it was particular challenge. I had to meet it for me, my staff, as well as for the families."

--Renatta M. Cooper, Program Specialist Office for Childcare LA County Chief Administration Office