MY SUPPORTS

 I have discovered that having support in your life will assist in having a more productive life. However everyone does not have strong support so I concern myself as being highly blessed. The Word of God gives me the support I need to function every day. It reminds me who I am, who I belongs to and the fact that I have a purpose in life. With this in mind I know I am an overcomer.

 My next source of support is my husband who is my best friend. He is my shoulder to cry on. He listens to me vent about my day. He works full time and yet he has dinner ready every night I come home. He always encourage me when I feel defeated and reminds me of my first source of support the Word of God.

 There is a group of ladies where I work who call themselves the Crew. They support me by doing their job with the most excellence altitudes. We are all supportive of each other. I thank these ladies all the time for their support and encouragement.

The supports that I have in my life assist me in overcoming obstacles that arise in my life. I support others in the ways that others are supports for me. The supports in my life are very important to me and they help me to succeed in becoming and doing what have been predestined for me to be and do. 

 The challenge that I can think of is being in a wheelchair and the place I want to go is not wheelchair accessible. I thought of this because before my father passed he stop walking. The only way my sisters and I could get him from one place to another was in a wheelchair and many time this was very hard on my father as well as my sisters and me. I thank God for my husband who was a trooper during this time. We had to lift my father down and up the stairs to get him in and out of the house while waiting for a ramp to be build. So I can image the frustration of a person in a wheelchair when their environment does not support them and they cannot get to where they desire to go because of limitations in their environment. 

My Connection to Play

My Connection to Play

When children pretend they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality A stick can be a magic ward. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.

Fred Rogers

American children’s television host

It is in playing and only in playing that the individual children or adults are able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers them self.

D.W. Winnicott

British Pediatrician

           Hula Hoop

   Jumping Rope

      Hopsctoch                                                                                           

 MarblesRing around the Rosie

Playing is what we did when I was growing –up. We played outside, we played hard and we played a lot.  In the afternoons when you got home from school you change into your play clothes and outside you went to play with the other children in the neighborhood before it got dark.  We play tag, marbles, Mother May I, soft ball, dodge ball, and many other outside games. During the summer we played outside most of the day. It did not matter if it rain, we played in the rain.  On a summer evening it was nothing to look out in the back yard to see at least 15 children playing softball. We use to run across the fields laughing just to be doing something. We played hiding-seek. Oh what such wonderful and care free days they were.

My mother, father, sister, and school supported play when I was young. My parents bought the toy and took me to visit cousins where I would play, talk and laugh. My baby sister and I would play together all the time. We shared toys. We rode our bikes to the store. We climbed trees caught tadpoles in the ditch and so much more everyday was an adventure. At my school we went outside to play every day after lunch where we played softball.

Play today is different from play during the time I grew up. Yes we played board games but play was more physical and provide many opportunities for children to interact with other children.  Physical play helped us to develop in many areas of development that were vital to our overall development. However at the time I thought we were just having fun. There are benefits from such physical play such as being healthy, self-esteem, and socialization.

These day I play with my grandchildren assisting them in playing outside and learning some of the games I played when I were growing up. Encouraging them to play outside which can be fun and healthy for them. I cannot beat them racing but I have fun trying.  Play can benefit the young as well as older adults.

Relationship Reflection

 Relationships are a vibrant part to our wellbeing they add purpose to our life. Good relationships contributes to us living longer and healthy lives. The relationships we have helps to define who we are.

My relationship with God has impacted my life the most.  Through this relationship I have learn the meaning of love and how to appreciate life. I found freedom, strength, forgiveness and value. Having a relationship with God I have become a better wife, mother, sister, and friend. 

The next important relationship is with my husband who is my best friend. I have learn how to love, respect and cherish every moment we spend together. He is always there doing all he can to make things better for me. He is my greatest supporter. We have learn that giving is so much more rewarding than receiving.

Then there is the relationship I have with my four children God has blessed me to have. In this relationship I have learn to be patient, to listen and understanding. I enjoy when we get together for family night. We have dinner and play games and sometime we spend the evening talking and laughing about events of the past we also talk about events that have made us sad as well. We share advice.

The relationship I have with my four grandchildren is out of this world. They bring so much noise and joy when they visit. In this relationship I learn to have fun.  I look at them and I see the future doctors, lawyers or whoever they want to be.

 It is the things that the above relationships bring to my live that makes me who I am. They assist in equipping me for other relationships. These very important relationships has help me to grow in my ability to relate and form a relationship with others. Even in forming relationships with children and their families when you spend time and communicate with them you learn a lot about them and you get to form a relationship with them. Sometime all people need to know is that someone cares about them.

Quotes About Children

"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much".
                            Marion Wright Edelman

"We have to make sure that our kids still feel good about themselves no matter what their weight. no matter how they feel. We need to make sure that our kids know that we love them no matter who they are, what they look, what they're eating".
                           First Lady Michelle Obama

These quotes inspires me to commit to doing all I can to assist children in their development and learning process. How I am to serve the whole child 

Testing for Intelligence

 Testing For Intelligence

 

North Carolina EOG standardized test are used to measure the progress of students from 3^rd grade to 8^th grade.  The results from NC EOG test, and NC End Of Course (EOC) test for high school students improve academic performance in reading, math, science, writing, and other subject. These tests are also use to determine each school’s Adequate Yearly Progress As required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.            

I do understand the reason for some assessment tests. Yet I only believe these tests should be used to figure out where the child is academically, and how they can be helped, if they need it.

 I do not think having a child take a test is a good means of measuring a child’s learning potential. Test only measure a child knowledge at the point of time it is given. Sometime the test itself can be unfair to children. Children who have a hard time with test will not do well on them. There are many reason why some children do badly on test. Some children might had a bad or sleepless night. Children have not been exposed to the information on the test. I do not think a single test should determine whether a child is promoted.

Children as young as 3^rd grade are begin stressed to pass EOG test. Teacher start the first week of school preparing children for the EOG test. I think there is too much pressure on school aged children, especially at such a young age. Teachers and some parents put a lot of pressure on kids to do exceptionally well on these test. Having children to do these types of tests does not necessarily do a good job of assessing the child as a whole.

   

I looked at the Japan school system to see how they assess children. February is the month of school entrance exams in Japan.  All children go to the same type of school, until the age of 10. At the age of 10, they are assessed to determine which one of four different tracks they will go into. Each track then determines where they will go from there, whether to a university or a trade school. In Japan, where you go to Jr. High School, High School and College makes all the difference for your future, and the school exams are your ticket into these institutions

.

 For some positives in Japanese education, one need look no further than the local kindergarten or the local elementary school. For everything other than English education, they are doing a good to great job of educating the children of Japan. Classes are creative, teachers are caring, on the whole, and students are happy and learning.

It the whole education system was like this from kindergarten to the end of university, the Japanese people would be happier, healthier and more productive, both in GDP and creative terms.

Unfortunately, this all ends at age 12. Those are the years that exam hell starts and from which students never really recover. The standardized test-based education system of Japan that starts in the junior high school years destroys any kind of initiative, creativity and especially thinking outside of the box. Unfortunately, these last three are what Japan especially needs in the 21st century; perhaps Japan`s most challenging 100 years yet.

For many years now, Japan has employed a test-based education system and passing the all-important tests is what educators and students, not to mention parents, are focused on. The result of all this test-taking and stress, is a nation of order takers who have trouble making decisions, let alone stating an opinion.

 

References

Burn, K. (2010). Japan and Its Standardized Test- Based Education System

 

North Carolina EOG Test Prep –www.time4learning.com

 

 

Consequences of Stressors on Children's Development

Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

Poverty

This is a story that my daddy shared with me when I was young. He told me how when he was a young boy he did not attend school he had to work in the fields to help support the family. He said he worked doing farm work from sun up to sun down and one time he got paid with a pair of shoes that was too big for his feet. He said he was very angry about that. He said they had to walk everywhere they went. They went without a lot of things because they did not have any extra money to buy them.

My daddy was 22 when he married my mother who was 17. They lived with his mother for a while. They finally got a house of their own. My mother and father both worked while my grandmother my mother’s mom babysat.  My father got his first public job at a lumber mill where he worked during all sort of weather. My oldest sister was soon born, 18 months later another sister was born.  My mother and father saved their money and built a house I and my baby sister were born buy now. One of my father’s cousin moved in to help with keeping the children and housework while my mother continue to work outside the home.

The house did not have inside plumbing or central heat. But they had a home for their family. This is where my daddy’s story stop and mines began.  In the later years they remodeled the house and my mother lives there still.

My daddy worked hard all his live to provide a good home for his family and he did just that. We were poor but I did not know it thanks to the satisfices and hard work of my parents. My sister and I had all our needs met and some many of our wants. My dad taught himself to write his name, how to add and subtract and how to read a little.  We were born and rise in poverty but we were determine not to stay there. My daddy passed May, 2013 but his determination and strength live on in his children and grandchildren.

Poverty in South Africa

Poverty is a stressor that is apparently all over the world. It has been eighteen years since the apartheid ended in South Africa now it is said to be one of the most unequal societies in the world and it has 19 million children who bear the brunt of this disconnection (Nicholson, 2012). In South African 60% of the children cry themselves to sleep at night because of the lack of proper food (Nicholson, 2012).  Children and their families are often too poor to purchase the necessities. They live in inadequate housing, lack of clean water, lack of education and many live with their mother only.

There are many policy and programs that have been put in place to assist in this matter but as of now only a few has been successful. Children begin abandon by parents to survive the best way they can has added to the number of children in poverty. Many babies are born malnourished at birth. Education is the single most important factor in stopping the transmission of poverty from one generation to the next.

Poverty is a worldwide problem even here in the United States there are children who goes to bed hunger. We have many resources to assist families here in the United States but yet the number of families are steadily increasing.

 

 

 

Reference

Nicholson, Z., (2012). Most black SA kids live in poverty- study. www.iol.co.za/...South-africa/most-black-sa-kids-live-in-poverty-study-1.1

Child Development and Public Health

Child Development and Public Health

Breastfeeding

I chose the topic of breastfeeding. This method of feeding babies has become very popular with mothers today. I knew about breastfeeding   when I was giving birth to my children. However I always chose bottle feeding because of convinces. The benefits of breastfeeding to the baby were not expressed. My oldest daughter gave birth to a premature baby girl and of courses she had to breastfeed. My daughter also had to pump and store her milk. So I did some research on breastfeeding to see what I and my babies missed out on. Breastfeeding were not promoted back in the days the way it is now and the benefits were not explained the way they are now. .

I found out the experience of breastfeeding is special for so many reasons the bonding that take place between mother and child, the health benefits for both mother and baby, and the saving from not having to buy milk.

The first breast milk is called colostrum (liquid gold)  the thick yellow first breast milk that women makes during pregnancy and just after birth. This milk is very rich in nutrients and antibodies to protect babies.  The baby gets a small amount of colostrum at each feeding, it matches the amount his or her tiny stomach can hold. Colostrum changes into what is called mature milk. By the third to fifth day after birth, this mature breast milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water, and protein to help the baby continue to grow. It is a thinner type of milk than colostrum, but it provides all of the nutrients and antibodies the baby needs. Breast milk is easier for babies to digest. The protein in formula comes from cow milk and it takes longer for baby’s stomach to adjust to digesting it.

Beast milk helps babies to fight diseases. The cell, hormones, and antibodies in breast milk protect babies from many illnesses. Ear infections and diarrhea are more common in babies who are formula. Research shows breastfeeding can reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes, childhood leukemia, and atopic dermatitis. Breastfeeding has also been shown to lower the risk of SID (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)

The physical contact the baby received during breastfeeding help the baby to feel secure, warm and comforted while the mother and child bonds. If I had to do over I would breastfeed my children for that bonding and health benefits.

 

Reference

Breastfeeding, www.womenhealth.gov

 

 

Re-Establishing a Breastfeeding Culture in South Africa

There is a hospital named Murchison Hospital in West Cape South Africa that promotes breastfeeding through a program called Baby Friendly that was establish in 1999. This program encourages mothers to breastfeed. It provides training and assistance to mother and their babies.  There circumstances in which a mother cannot breast. The high HIV positive incidence among young women has presented a serious challenge for the health workers. Women are informed and encourage to breastfeed their babies under certain condition.  The health care worker inform mothers not to mix feed their babies even when they are begin told to do so by the older women. Many women in this urban area sees bottle feeding as a status symbol.

There is a war in this area and it is over breastfeeding and bottle feeding. Many of the doctor in this area has made deals with the formulas’ makers to get there patients to use formulas but we know breast milk is more beneficial to the healthy development of the babies.

There are no nurseries at this hospital it believes in Kangaroo Mother care they want the women to know babies grow through love and breast milk. You would think everyone would promote breastfeeding because this is the best for babies but there are doctors and other who promotes formulas’ for financial gain.

                                       

                                    Reference

         Re-Establishing Breastfeeding Culture in South African

www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication