"My Connections to Play"

 

Two quotes that summarize what play meant and still means to me are:

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato

"If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society."  - Jean Piaget


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PLAY ITEMS FOR MY YOUNGER SELF.......

Cabbage Patch Dolls, I had at least 10 of them!

One of my FAVORITE CHILDHOOD TOYS





Paper Dolls....boy, did I ever play with these!
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In my childhood, I spent a lot of time alone in my room playing by myself.  I remember playing with my dolls and doing a lot of imaginary play in the mirror.  I was an only child so most of my memories are of playing by myself, but I do have a few random memories of playing with Lincoln Logs in preschool with a boy named Peter.  We used to build together and I remember always following him and playing what he wanted to play.  I don't remember my teachers much, just Peter being very nice to me and always building legos and blocks with me for my dolls.

 

I don't think play has changed all that much because I see my students playing with the same things I used to play with and I see friendships that are inseparable.  I have two students that I have to encourage to go to different centers because they choose to do the same things together every single day and their parents want them exposed to other friends and other learning centers.  I also see my two sons playing together all the time and it's different than my upbringing because they have eachother so they always have a playmate. 

 

I think play was a big part of why I wanted to become a teacher.  I always played "school" in my room and my cabbage patch dolls were my students.  I used a chalk board to teach them and I always, always talked to myself in the mirror.  Some things haven't changed much because I still talk to myself in the mirror all the time!  ha ha ha.... I also love to play with my kids and with my students and I always want to have that little kid in me alive inside!  You have to live a little and that means being a kid sometimes, it's the funnest time of your life!



RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

I think relationships and partnerships are important to me because they provide support, guidance, advice and most of all, LOVE.  Here is a picture of my #1 relationship...

These are my amazing children!  They are my love, my life and my world.  I have different relationships with each of them and they are special in their own way.

My oldest son is now 17 years old, driving a car and driving me crazy!  Our relationship has gone from mother/baby to mother/young man.  It has evolved into friendship consisting of understanding and trust on both our parts, and that was no easy challenge.  Teenagers can be challenging, but I think he and I get along beautifully and we have a very open relationship, one that I wasn't able to have with my own parents, so I treasure it very, very much.

My middle son is now 10 years old, getting into an age where he is finding his own identity and doesn't want to "need mommy" all the time.  He is very independant, and takes his role of big brother (to his little brother) very seriously.  He comes to me as a last resort, because he feels like he's a big boy now and can do everything on his own.  Our relationship has probably been the most challenging because he doesn't like to be seen as a baby, and thinks I embarass him all the time.  It has been hard to watch him grow and let him become independant, even more challenging that my oldest, I'm not sure why?????

Lastly, there's my baby who is not so much of a baby if you see him.  He may be 8 years old, but he thinks he's 2!  That one needs me for everything and he's not embarassed to say it.  He and I still have a mommy/baby relationship and I'm not going to lie, I'm glad he's growing up slower than the other two.  I can really understand how people always said that kids grow up too fast.  I love our relationship and I wish I could keep him this age forever!

It may be difficult at times to juggle the three relationships I have with my children, but I try my best to be fair and give each equal attention.  It's true that sometimes I'm pulled in three different directions, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Having and maintaining positive relationships comes from within ourselves.  If you approach a relationship in a positive mindframe, chances are you will have positive results.  These are the most important relationships in my life and they have each shown me how to be more caring, empathatic, nurturing and loving which in turn has made me a better teacher.

I show love, respect, empathy and care for every one of my students.  I make sure to treat them fairly and most importantly, I treat them the way I would hope my children are treated by their teachers.

When I think of Child Development........

When I think of Child Development, I think of my beautiful sons who were once babies and growing up so fast.  They are each at a different level of development and oh how I wish I could turn back time! 

Here's a picture of them when they were 1 month, 2 years, and 7 years old....



This represents Child Development for me because it represents Growth, Love, Trust, Bonding, Attachment and Happiness...all of which are significant in the development of children.

Here's a picture of them now....



Still, all these years later, this is the picture of Child Development for me, they have turned into these amazing people who display Trust, Maturity, Love, Respect, Independence, Friendship and Happiness, again.... my picture of beautiful Child Development!

Testing for Intelligence

I am a firm believer that children SHOULD NOT be assessed by Standardized Testing in this, or any other Country.  I think that children should be looked at as a "whole person".  What makes him learn?  What does he know about himself, others, the world around him?  An algebra equation does not tell you who a child is or what he/she knows.  I think a combination of teacher anecdotes should be compiled and assessed so that each child's intelligence is measured fairly by the teacher that spends the day with him.

In my District, we use something called Work Sampling System, WWS for short.  This is an assessment tool that is a combination of anecdotes and work samples that we put in for each child every day.  We measure their individual strides.  I observe three children a day and focus on different areas of development....Social/Emotional, Language/Literacy, Math/Science, Social Studies and Health.  I fill out checklists that eventually tell me what the child knows and what he doesn't so that I may differentiate for him to become proficient in particular areas. 

I teach preschool and there is no testing which is why we have this program in place.  I love it and think that if we used that in higher grades it would be a better evaluation tool that a standardized test.

In Cuba, like in many countries around the world, there is an assessment program called PISA.  Pisa is an international study that was launched by the OECD in 1997. It aims to evaluate education systems worldwide every three years by assessing 15-year-olds' competencies in the key subjects: reading, mathematics and science. To date over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA (www.pisaorg).  So like us, they are also being assessed by standardized tests.

References

www.pisa.org

STRESS on our CHILDREN

My friend's story....

I have a friend who grew up very poor.  He often speaks of his misfortune and stress as a kid and it's truly heartbreaking.  His parents divorced when he was just a toddler and his mom remained in custody of him and his sister.  His mother was uneducated and as an immigrant to this Country, didn't speak the language.  She worked several jobs, but it was never enough.  They had to move several times from city to city or from apartment to apartment.   We once made a list of all his addresses (at least the ones he can remember) and he had something like 25!  That's insane!  He remembers being hungry and crying himself to sleep asking himself "why me"?  He also remembers budgeting and figuring out how much money his mom was going to have for groceries after paying all the bills at the young age of eight.  I've realized through the years that his upbringing really caused emotional stress.  He can tell you a story and cry in a heartbeat and he is now a forty-year-old man.  He says the worry used to keep him up at night and give him stomach aches and he was always nervous of what the future would hold.  He is thankful to have had very good friends who supported him in his time of need and his coaches and teachers who really made a difference when they donated clothing and food to his mother. 

His memories are far from what I knew as a kid, and when he tells me stories like running an extension chord from the basement outlet up three flights of stairs so they could have electricity, I just cannot imagine.  I am happy to say that he is a very educated, well rounded successful adult today.  While greatly affected, he will be the first to tell you that his childhood stress made him who he is today....a wonderful husband, father and son and he works hard to not only provide a stable and stress-free life for his own children, but he helps his mother and his sister in every way he can and although those stories still bring tears to his eyes, he says he is so blessed and grateful that all his wishes and praying for a better life came true!

Children in Cuba

 

I was born here, but my parents immigrated here from Cuba.  They have always spoken of the poverty they lived with and how there was no opportunity for them there.  During my research on Cuba, I found that children there not only live in poverty and deal with hunger, but there is also child labor which causes even more stress for children.  If you ask my family, they believed that children should work to "help" the family, which is something that still exists today in Cuba.  Although there are child labor laws that don't allow for children to work until the age of 15, they are sent to work way before.  My Dad remembers cleaning shoes in the streets, wiping car windows, bagging groceries for change.  On a recent trip that we visiting Cuba, you still saw the same thing.  Children running into restaurants to eat leftover food, children picking and selling flowers for money and teenage girls offering themselves.  Another big stressor is the fact that children must enter the military at the age of 15 which is the number one reason my father decided to come to the U.S. 

 

Here are a couple of pictures I found that really defines "Child Stress"...

CHILD SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR

 

CHILD MAKING THEIR OWN TOY

 

CHILDREN'S POOL

 

 

 

If you want to see more information about Cuba and it's children, visit:

 

 

http://www.paho.org/english/mdg/cpo_cuba.asp

http://www.therealcuba.com/page4.htm

http://www.cubanet.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 



CHILD DEVELOPMENT & PUBLIC HEALTH

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of death among infants one month through age one in the United States of America. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) defines SIDS as the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene and review of the clinical history.

This topic is meaningful to me because I had a co-worker who lost her baby at two months old and it was ruled as SIDS.  I'll never forget her pain.  I remember that she kept blaming herself and didn't understand what she did wrong.  Her baby was strong and healthy, eating, developing normally, and all of a sudden one morning when she skipped a feeding, she realized that she was dead in her crib.  No blanket, sleeping on her side, still.  It's unimaginable and it's unexplainable because they still don't know what exactly causes SIDS.  Research has concluded that some risks include sleeping with parents, tummy sleeping and blankets/pillows.  But, my friend's baby had none of those things and still, she died of SIDS.  Why?  We may never know.

For unknown reasons, the rate of SIDS is much lower in Canada and Japan than in the United States, but higher in New Zealand (Berger, 2012).  When researching SIDS in other parts of the world, I found that in India, a baby cannot sleep anywhere else but beside their mother and father.  It is a tradition and it must be followed although that completely contradicts what the United States considers a huge risk factor for newborns.

The information I gathered on SIDS will greatly impact my future work because many of my student's parents are pregnant and I can pass along this information to them so they are aware of the many risk factors for their new babies and hopefully make a difference in someone's life.

REFERENCES

http://neuroanthropology.net/2008/12/21/cosleeping-and-biological-imperatives-why-human-babies-do-not-and-should-not-sleep-alone/

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Childbirth in my Life & Around the World

November 30, 1995 is an unforgettable day for me.  It was the day I gave birth to my first son after 14 hours in labor.  Back then they waited a really long time before they gave you the option of an epidural injection to help numb the pain, so needless to say, it wasn't easy.  All through the pregnancy, my doctors had told me to stay away from coffee and tea, because caffeine would mean a hyper-active baby.  At 19, I failed to realize that "iced tea" was the same as "hot tea" and therefore contained just as much, if not more, caffeine and sugar.  I drank iced-tea by the gallons those nine months of pregnancy because it eased my nauseau which I had all the time.  Long story, short, my son was moving so much when I got to the hospital that they couldn't monitor his heartbeat through a belly belt, instead they had to break my water, clamp his head (sorry for the mental picture) and monitor him that way for those long 14 hours!

This example came to mind immediately because as I lay there in pain, the doctor was trying to figure out why the baby had so much movement and why this complication was arising, and it was at that moment that the iced-tea, caffeine, factor came up.  They concluded that my caffeine intake had greatly affected the baby and I should prepare myself for a very hyper baby.  That delivery was difficult, more more so it has been 17 years of very hyper behavior and personality.  He had poor impulse control his whole life and I've blamed myself for it his whole life.  I'm older now and wiser and realize I was young and naive but I know that I significanly impacted his development and therefore impacted his life.  Child development begins that early and I'm sure that in young adults who are first time parents, it's  imperative that they understand every aspect of what they do when they are pregnant so they can avoid possible problems in the future.

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When researching about Mommies Do's and Dont's around the world and other birthing practices, I found the following facts to be interesting:


Guatemala: Women in this country, particularly those of Mayan descent, may remain at home throughout their entire nine months because they fear any influential exposure to illness, evil spirits or even the ill will of others.

Inuit: Inflating balloons or blowing bubbles with gum is avoided during pregnancy to prevent premature rupturing of the membranes.

Bolivia: No hand-knit booties for Bolivian babies! Knitting while pregnant is believed to cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the baby’s neck.

China: For the duration of their pregnancies, Chinese women make a conscious effort to steer clear of evil spirits, funerals and sex.


These practices show you that across the world, there are beliefs that may affect child development and women are urged to follow these practices to ensure a healthy baby, just like in the United States, staying away from caffeine is greatly encouraged.  I guess my greatest insight is that mommy's everywhere have to follow directions, no matter how crazy it may sound.  It's the culture and that's a major characteristic of child development EVERYWHERE!

**If you want to check out more facts about prenatal, birth and post birth practices around the world, click on the link under my references.  It's very interesting!

REFERENCES

 

http://www.pnmag.com/pregnancy-lifestyle/friends-family/passport-pregnancy-traditions-around-world