When I Think of Child Development

Testing for Intelligence

The Abecedarian Project is a study that was conducted in the 70's that explored the effects that early childhood learning has on children throughout their life. The study had a number of children attending high quality early childhood care centers. Then the researcher would do follow-up studies when the children grew to ages, 12, 15, 21, 30, and 35, the researcher would observe whether or not these children seemed to have been impacted by their early childhood education.

In order to be able to truly discover whether or not these children were effected by having had a high quality early childhood education the researchers also had a control group of children that did have any early childhood education in order to compare and contrast the differences between those who did have an early childhood education.

As it turns out the researchers were in fact right about what they believed to be true, as what I as an early childhood professional believe as well, that early childhood education does in fact have positive long lasting effects on children, and how imperative it is that all children should be able to receive quality early childhood education.

Helping Children in Poverty

Helping Children in Poverty

The organization that I chose is the National Center for Children in Poverty. This organization helps children all over the United States in many different ways, including making sure they are getting fed, clothed, and that they are receive a quality education. There is one program that the organization called Improving the Odds for Young Children. This program helps to provide quality education to young children by helping early childcare programs.

Child Development and Public Health

             There is one public health measure that impacts children and their development and that would be stressor in their environment one stress that can impact a child would be poverty. This is one stressor that someone I know has experienced as a child. My grandfather’s mother died when he was little, leaving my great grandfather to take care of four boys by himself.  The way in which my grandfather was able to cope with this stressor was by becoming close with his brothers. The region of the world that I would like to learn more about would be inner cities, more specifically, Chicago. The stressors that impact the development of the children in this region are many, there is poverty, violence, environmental pollution, chaos, noise, and in some cases even racism. There are programs that have been developed over the years to try and help with these stressors, but there are still very prevalent today.

Birthing Experience

I have never been in a hospital while waiting for a baby to actually be delivered, I can say that I have had experience with different birthing processes, and different views where and how it should happen. The one experience I do vividly remember, the most I have ever taken part in for any birthing experience, would be the birth of my niece. While my nieces mother, Katie, was pregnant with my niece, she lived with us at our house, with my brother, my parents and I. Katie and my brother lived with us right up until the last month of pregnancy, so I was able to see how much my niece was growing, I was there when she started kicking. Which means I was also there for when she was moving around, and we would see Katie's stomach moving (which was the freakiest thing I have ever seen). Katie went into labor at around 4:00, February 15th 2011, my parents and I went up to the hospital to see her and my brother, we were able to visit for a little while, but left around 10. My niece, Rozilyn, was born at 5 in the morning on February 16th (which also happened to be the date that I had guessed she was going to be born).

The country that I chose to find out how births happen there was France. What I learned was that home births are very uncommon, most of the births take place in a hospital for safety reasons. 

This has been a very common debate in every birthing experience I have been "apart"of, has been between whether or not they wanted a natural birth and getting an epidural or to have a the birth at home or at a hospital. Katie wanted a natural birth, but she ended up needing to be induced, so she figured she might as well just get the epidural then too. Now see my mom wanted a natural birth when she had my brother, the first born, but she changed her mind the second time around when she had me 9 years later. The epidural was the first thing she asked for when they got to the hospital. As far as the debate between home birth and hospital birth, Katie considered it for a second, but in the end figured that hospital birth would be safer, although some people would believe it is not. Although I have never had a child my self (nor do ever really plan on having a child...), hospital birth is one thing that I really believe in. There are two reasons for why I believe that a hospital birth is for the best, and those reasons would be my dad and my cousin. You see when my dad was born the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, luckily he was born in a hospital and he ended up being okay. My cousin on the other hand her birth was not as traumatic but there was a complication because of the fact that she had her legs crossed (pretzel style), and my aunt ended up having to have a c-section. All in all I would most certainly encourage people to have their babies at a hospital, surrounded by medical professionals, and all types of medical equipment designed just for babies.  

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The three people that I talked to about culture and diversity were my mom, my cousin, and my college roommate. When I asked my cousin what her definition of culture was she responded that culture was the different beliefs that people have about certain things like, religion, gender roles, and marriage. When I asked my cousin how she would define diversity she responded that diversity is something that makes everyone different from one another. The second person that I talked to about culture and diversity was my college roommate she responded that culture is about family, beliefs that are important to your family, and being there for one another. In terms of diversity my roommate responded that diversity is a different understanding then others about what is important to them. The third person that I asked was my co-worker, whose response to what they believed to be the definition of culture to be beliefs that families or people hold dear to them, traditions that they pass down from generation to generation. My co-workers definition of diversity is people who are come from different cultures, and have different prospectives on life.

My Family Culture

If my family and I were to be relocated to another country and I could only take three items with me, I would take my locket, a family photo, and my music box. These items are important to me because them were from my childhood, the locket I received from my great grandmother as a birthday gift, the family photo is from when I was a baby...when we actually took family photos, and the music box I have had for so long that I do not remember when, where, or who I received it from, it is a small ceramic music box that plays a twinkle version of "My Favorite Things". If upon arrival I was told that I could only keep one personal item and was to give up the others I would be sad and disappointed, but I know that I would keep the locket.

The insights that I have gained about my self, my family culture, diversity, and cultural differences as a result of this exercise is that I really do not have many truly personal items that matter to me, besides the fact that I had to go up to my room to actually see if I really did have anything of true importance, besides the locket, that would mean something to me, the first item that really popped into my head to take with me was my phone. If I was being truly honest the three items that I would want with me would be my phone, the charger, and my headphones. This really should me the insights to my family culture as well, because it made me realize we really do not have much of a culture, unless being ignorant, materialistic American's is a culture. Which only really shows why diversity is such a big thing, especially in America, I believe it is because most American's are like my family in terms of not being able to relate to other cultures, because we do not understand the importance of what culture is or what it really means.

Play & Social/Emotional Development

             The research simulation that I worked on was about how play affects children social/emotional development. The audience for my research simulation will be fellow teachers, administrators, and to families who have children in early childcare. 
           This research is important to both teachers and administrators because they are the ones who work the closest with the children; therefore it is important for them to understand factors that could help to further children developmental growth.
             This research simulation is also important to families because it is important for them to understand what and why their children are doing at their early learning centers, and why it is important. This research simulation is important to the field of early childhood because it can help with the future development of children that could 

Consequences

Three main consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for my professional development would be:

1. Feeling as though you are unable to help as much as you would like in the international aspect.
2. Wanting to help out in big ways both nationally and internationally but being unable to do both.
3. Wanting to do more but not knowing where to start.

Professional Goals, Hopes & Dreams

As an early childhood professional there is a lot to learn about what it really means to teach young children and how important being apart of this field really is. What I enjoy the most about being about of the early childhood field is being able to watch children learn and grow. The way in which I have always believed is the best way for children to learn and grow is by letting them be children, which means giving them a chance to play and explore on there own terms. The best part of letting  children be themselves and giving them their freedom to discover their own knowledge is how much knowledge you gain from them in return, and how satisfying it is to watch children enjoy what they are learning. My goal as an early childhood professional is to make it so more children are able to learn this way, to give children the freedom to be children, and to make sure that everyone feels valid and included.

Web Resources

          There are many different articles and links on Global Fund For Children organizations website one link leads to an article titled Education with Indigenous Roots written by Global Fund for Children
         The article talks about the equity in early childhood education in third world countries.
         The article discusses the insufficient schooling system in Pisac, Peru that leads to children being unable to receive the proper education that they need, and how in 2010 a group of parents got together to provide them with a proper education to these children called Asociación Educativa Kusi Kawsay.

https://globalfundforchildren.org/our-partners/where-we-work/the-americas

Excellence and Equity

 Sharon L. Kagan of Columbia University wrote an article titled, 

American Early Childhood Education: Preventing or Perpetuating Inequity?,

 In the article Kagan discusses whether or not the early childhood education system in America is fair to all children, or does the system prevent itself from being fair. The truth is that the early childhood education in America is not fair for all children, as we all know there are many varying degrees of wealth in America, because of this those who are closer to the poverty level or are in poverty do not get to experience the same benefits and treatment that those who are more wealthy experience. This unfortunately includes children as well, children who come from families that are in poverty do not get to experience higher quality early childhood education programs because they are unable to afford it. 

Kagan, S. L. (2009). American Early Childhood Education: Preventing or Perpetuating Inequity? (Equity Matters: Research Review No. 3). Retrieved from Campaign for Educational Equity website: http://www.policyforchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Preventing-or-Perpeturating-Inequity.pdf 

Influencing Early Childhood Education

When it comes to early childhood organizations, especially international ones like The Global Fund for Children, they are always working to spread their influence. Recently GFC has worked to help other organizations try to expand themselves, and help them create new ways to help children. Helping other organizations help children have well rounded lives creates the opportunity for them to have better futures.

The Global Fund for Children

    As stated in the previous post The Global Fund for Children is a non-profit organization that helps children all over the world in many different ways, which includes providing them with the education they need, and fighting for the rights of the children. One particular article that discusses one of the things that The Global Fund for Children (GCF)  has done that caught my attention was about gender equality. The article is named It's All About Changing Attitudes! Measuring Gender Equity in Creative Ways, and in it Rodrigo Barraza García he another member of the GCF program, Vanessa Stevens, conducted a series of trainings with GCF partners in Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States. These trainings talked about the "importance of gender mainstreaming and self care" (2019). García goes over five different helpful points in trying to get gender equity started, these points are, Working with and Listening to the Community, Focusing on Impacts and Attitudes, Gathering Stories, Creating and Promoting Networks, and most importantly, Being Creative. These five points allow others to really become part of the communities that they are working with and help with getting to really understand the needs of the communities.


The Global Fund for Children

García, Rodrigo Barraza. It's All About Changing Attitudes! Measuring Gender Equity in Creative        Ways. Global Fund for Children. January 29th, 2019.      https://globalfundforchildren.org/story/measuring-gender-equity-in-creative-ways/ 

Expanding Horizons and Resources in Early Childhood

         When it comes to expanding early childhood horizons the top organization for doing so would be the Global Fund for Children. The Global Fund for Children is a clear cut nonprofit organization that helps children all of the world. The Global Fund for Children not only helps save children from human trafficking and child labor, they also help to take care of the health and education of children everywhere. The overall most important part of the Global Fund for Children organization is that it helps to fight for the rights of children globally. When it comes to the education of children world wide a perfect website to learn about such an act is Children Education International. The website talks about all the different ways in which they help to children all of the world get an education, and how one can help with the process of educating children worldwide.
         Now a days because of technology there are so many ways to help children all of the globe receive an education. There are many different websites and organizations that people can learn about or even join in the process of educating young children. When it comes to early childhood education worldwide people do not have to travel in order to help children globally, they can find ways to help in their local communities, and share knowledge that learn from the many websites and organizations with others in the community about helping children earn an education all around the world.

The Global Fund for Children: 
Childhood Education Worldwide:

My Supports

One of the main supports I have in my life are my parents. They always support my ambitions and what I want to do in life. The encourage me daily when it comes to my passion for early childhood education. Knowing that they are there, that they have my back, makes being an childcare provider so much more enjoyable then it already is.
The impact that it would have on my life if they were gone would be huge, I would not be where I am today if it was not for them, and I feel as though I would be able to continue on in what I want to do with my life if they were not there to support me through it.
In regards to the supports I want and need it is definitely more internal. I need to be able to support myself in terms of being able to push myself further when it comes to continuing my education.  My life always feel like it is being pulled in multiple directions, and sometimes its hard to bring myself back to the right direction when it comes to focusing more on my education.