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

Personal Childhood Web

Mother-Mrs. Rosie, she birthed 10 children. I am the baby of the family; our ages range from 29-53. I have siblings that could be my parents. My mother showed all of us love and loved us special in our own unique way. It was not easy raising 10 children in the south, but my Mom made it work. She always supported us by: instilling Christian values in us, supporting us in our education, and just telling us that she had our backs regardless. Now my mom has a team of retired military, active military with high rank (Lt. Colonel), teachers, accountant, and hard workers; her love and support were very much appreciated.

Daddy-Rev. Daniel, he was known around the neighborhood as “mean” in other words, he was stern. He also instilled hard work and Christian values in us. He was a preacher, so I was not allowed to do some things that my friends could do. While growing up, I did not quite understand it but as I grow older now I appreciate it. Even today, my dad has a no nonsense attitude and it still irks me as an adult. I know at the end of the day, he is still looking out for my best interest.

Mr. Charlie, my fellow church member and landlord for about 7 years; he has known me since before I was born. Mr. Charlie is also a no nonsense type of person, but it is different with him because he is not my parent. He is not obligated to look out for me, but he does and he goes over and beyond. He is a Christian and he is always trying to explain the Bible to people. He does not care about your situation or what you have done. He treats everyone the same.  He even was a factor in helping me get my current job, because he on the company board.  I appreciate all he has and will do for me.

My Siblings, they all look out for their little sister but as in any situation some do more than others. I appreciate all that they do and I am grateful for any contribution that they give to my well being. It could be financial support, personal support, business support or just family support. Life is full of trials and tribulations, but I am blessed to be able to have people to depend on. Last April, my oldest sister passed away, but I can still feel her presence telling me to “keep up the good work”. I am so thankful to have been blessed with her in my life.