Relationship Reflection

Relationships are very important to us.  People who have strong relationships they can count on are usually healthier and happier people.  One of the most important relationships I have is my relationship with my mother.  Of course this relationship started when she was pregnant with me.  For me this has probably been one of the easiest relationships to maintain because she is a wonderful mother and has always made me feel loved and important to her.  It was just my mom and I for the first seven years of my life so that built a strong foundation for our relationship.  Through the years my mom’s constant support of me has been important in our strong relationship.  Even when I was a teenager and at times not the nicest person to my mother, she was always supportive of me.  As I got older my relationship with my mother became even stronger and I would reflect back to those times when she loved me unconditionally.  I also believe our relationship saw new strengths when I became a mother.

Another extremely important relationship in my life is my relationship with my husband.  From the beginning our relationship has been built on trust, respect, understanding, support and lots of love.  We truly enjoy each other’s company and experiencing life together.  I believe this joy helps strengthen our relationship and is important for our children to witness.  My husband is an outstanding father and watching him love our children makes me love him even more!  I also believe we have great communication which is essential in a relationship. 

An important work relationship that I have is my relationship with my teaching assistant.  We both know that we have a very important job and we both want what is best for our students.  Having a mutual understanding is helpful when it comes to doing our best work.  We are both supportive of each other and have respect for each other.  We enjoy listening to each other’s ideas and encouraging each other.  This relationship is also important because she is someone I can confide in when I am having difficulty with a parent or student.  We can then work together to find the best solution.

I believe with all relationships it is important to have great communication.  People are not always going to agree with each other but you definitely need to be able to talk about issues so that you can come to a mutual understanding.  That understanding may be that you see it this way and they see it another way, but it needs to be a respectful conversation.  I believe in a school sometimes you have people who are very offended if you do not agree with them on an issue.  This characteristic in people can make relationships difficult.  I think if everyone agreed on every thing life would be really boring!  If you are having a misunderstanding with someone you really need to communicate with him or her.  I also believe this communication should be done in person, not on email or text messaging.

When I Think of Child Development

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child" - Dr. Seuss

"Children are great imitators.  So give them something great to imitate" - Anonymous

"The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith" - Billy Graham

Testing For Intelligence?

Although I do not agree with all the standardized tests children have to take, I do think assessing children’s skills are important.  It is important to know what children understand and what they need more help in understanding.  For example, my preschoolers practice the skill of counting all the time.  Usually this practice takes place in a small group or whole group. Having the children count together is great but sometimes I need to take children aside and really assess whether they know how to count on their own without other children counting with them.  I need to do this assessment to know whether counting is something they need work on.  Sometimes I might do my assessment by just having them count for me or by observing them counting during lab time.  

I do not agree with all of the computer tests children have to do these days.  I think that children need to be able to answer assessment questions in their preferred learning style.  Many children need more hands on opportunities to really be able to answer questions.  There needs to be different ways for children to show what they really know about a topic.  I believe teachers need to be able to assess children by observation and not always by a standardized test.  

Since 2010 New Zealand has had a curriculum for the years 1 – 13, which is typically ages 5 to 13.  For primary education (1-8 years) they follow national standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers are expected to assess children in regards to the standards and regularly report the progress to parents.  New Zealand’s education system is highly inclusive in regards to special education.  Children from year 3 to 10 take the Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) each year.  This test is taken at the beginning of the school year and maybe at the end but it is not taken more than two times a year.  This test has four different parts that measures reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and mathematics.  The data from this test can be compared to other children taking the test.  Each one of these tests takes approximately 25 to 45 minutes.  Other tests children take in New Zealand are the STAR test, which is a reading test and the AsTTle, which stands for Assessment Tool for Teaching and Learning.  This test is a numeracy and literacy assessment tool. 

The PAT test sounds a lot like the NWEA test our elementary students take at least twice a year.  The NWEA is done on the computers and tests different areas such as reading and mathematics.    

References

Nusche, D., Laveault, D., MacBeath, J. & Santiago, P. (2011).  OECD Review of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: New Zealand.  Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/49681441.pdf

NZCER.  Understanding PATs – for parents and the community.   Retrieved from http://www.nzcer.org.nz/tests/understanding-pats-parents-and-community

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

For the most part I would say I had a pretty stress free childhood.  It was just my mom and I until I was seven years old and my mom married my stepdad.  My stepdad was a wonderful person but he was an alcoholic.  He was a very functional alcoholic.  He always held a good job, took care of the family and was never violent.  When he would drink he would get very annoying and embarrassing.  He would drink every day after work and every day he wasn’t working.  It wasn’t like he would drink a couple of beers; he would drink to get drunk.  This became a stressor for me, as I got older because I was embarrassed by his behavior.  I was afraid he might come to my games drunk or do something embarrassing in front of my friends.  My stepdad’s alcoholism caused me to avoid him and have disgust towards him.  His alcoholism created a barrier between us and negatively affected our relationship.  I also saw my mom struggle with his alcoholism and keeping their marriage together.  Having this experience when I was growing up made me realize two things:  I knew I would never let alcohol control my life and I would never marry someone with an alcohol problem.  Don’t get me wrong there were great times with my stepdad but they always seemed to be overshadowed by his drinking.  Thankfully I had my mother who was amazing and a wonderful caregiver for me.  The relationship with my mom made everything better!  I am now thirty-five years old and happy to say that my stepdad has been alcohol free for over one year!!  I am so proud of him for this accomplishment!!  I feel this has brought us closer and strengthened our relationship and his relationship with my children.

Alcoholism is prevalent all over the world but I chose to look at alcoholism in Australia.

Roughly 13% of Australian children live in a home with at least one adult who misuses alcohol.  Research has shown that alcoholism affects people of all levels of society, regardless of education, religion, gender or age.  Alcohol plays a significant role in increasing risks of child neglect.  This includes physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect of a child’s basic needs.  Alcohol can have a negative affect on a child’s development prior to birth and all the way through adulthood.  There are many places people can go for help with alcoholism.  You have to believe you have a problem and want to fix the problem before help is going to work for you.

References

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/effect/a/The-Effects-Of-Parental-Alcoholism-On-Children.htm

http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs27/

Child Development and Public Health

I chose breastfeeding because I feel it is important and beneficial to babies.  I also breastfed both of my children and know some of the challenges that come along with breastfeeding. I breastfed my son for six months and my daughter for one year.  Breastfeeding is work but it is well worth the work.  I believe it is important for employers to be supportive of mothers who are breastfeeding.  If you can get a good routine down then it is actually very convenient. I believe breastfeeding does create a special bond between the child and mother. 

When I was researching about breastfeeding I was surprised at the low number of babies in the United States that are still exclusively  breastfed by the time they are three months old.  While 75 percent of American babies are initially breastfed, only 35 percent are being breastfed exclusively at 3 months. This is true not only in the United States but all over the world.  I chose to look more closely at Norway because it is a nation that has a very high percentage of breastfed babies.  In Norway 99 percent of babies are breastfed initially and 70 percent are breastfed exclusively at 3 months.  The parental leave policy that Norwegian mothers receive probably has a lot to do with the high breastfeeding success.  According to Save the Children (2012) Norwegian mothers enjoy one of the most generous parental leave policies in the developed world. After giving birth, mothers can take up to 36 weeks off work with 100 percent of their pay, or they may opt for 46 weeks with 80 percent pay (or less if the leave period is shared with the father). In addition, Norwegian law provides for up to 12 months of additional child care leave, which can be taken by both fathers and mothers. When they return to work, mothers have the right to nursing breaks as they need them.

Breastfeeding can have a big impact on a child’s health and future health.  

Experts recommend that children be breastfed within one hour of birth, exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months, and then breastfed until age 2 with age-appropriate, nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods. Optimal feeding according to these standards can prevent an estimated 19 per- cent of all under-5 deaths, more than any other child survival intervention.  Yet worldwide, the vast majority of children are not breastfed optimally (Gareth, Steketee, Black, Bhutta and Morris (2003). 

It is always important to remember the impact good nutrition can have on a baby and a child.  A child’s nutritional wellbeing can have an impact on their ability to learn in a classroom. 

References

Jones, Gareth, Richard Steketee, Robert E. Black, Zulfiqar Bhutta, and Saul Morris. “How Many Child Deaths Can We Prevent This Year?” The Lancet. Vol. 362, Issue 9377. July 5, 2003. pp.65-71.

Save the Children. (2012). Nutrition in the first 1,000 days.  State of the World’s Mothers 2012. Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.ca/document.doc?id=195.

Childbirth In My Life and Iceland

On June 7 at about 3 a.m. I thought my water broke.  I wasn’t exactly sure because this was my first pregnancy and it wasn’t much water.  I was exactly 40 weeks pregnant with my first child and it was my due date!  At about 6 a.m. we decided to go to the hospital.  At that time I was hardly having any contractions, but my water had broke so they had to keep me.  I started walking the halls of the hospital with my husband.  At about 11:00 I was only dilated to a 3 so they decided to give me Pitocin.  Things really started to change at that point.  I started having harder contractions and a lot of back labor.  At 2:00 they checked me again but I was only dilated to a 4.  I decided then to get an epidural and it was the best thing ever!! My husband and I relaxed and watched a playoff basketball game on TV.  Finally at about 9:30 p.m. I was fully dilated and able to start pushing.  Our son was born at 10:24 p.m. weighing 7 lbs. 7 ounces.  They had to use forceps on him because when he came out he was face up instead of face down which is a harder birth.  Our son had a very big head and it was very misshapen after delivery. At about four months old he had to go to the Denver Children’s Hospital because they were afraid the platelets in his head were fusing to quickly.  They decided they were not fusing to quickly but he did have extra fluid in his ventricles.  They watched this for a few years but everything turned out fine.  He still has a big head and his head is still a little misshaped.   My daughter was born four and half years later and it was a much easier delivery.  I got to the hospital at around 1:30 p.m. and she was born at 6:43 p.m. after only two pushes!!

I chose this example because it was my first experience with childbirth.  It was an amazing experience and also a stressful experience.  His birth was difficult on both of us.  I was amazed at the difference between my two childbirth experiences.

I chose to look at births in Iceland.  In Iceland pre-natal car is free to legal residents who have lived there for at least six months.  If it is their first baby they will receive ten visits and if they have already had a baby they will receive seven visits with a midwife and doctor.  Most women have their baby in a hospital and they have a 17% C-section rate.  Hospital births are free with health insurance.  Iceland does provide for midwife home births for mothers who have favorable pregnancies.  In Iceland you must pick your baby’s name from the National Register of Persons.  If you want a name that is not on that list you have to appeal for a new name to be added to the list.  The name must not be embarrassing and must conform to the Icelandic language and customs. 

The birthing experience in Iceland sounds similar to my experience except for in Iceland you can have a baby for free!  Their C-section rate is a lot lower than in the U.S. and they use midwifes more often.  

References:

http://en.island.is/family/having_a_baby/pregnancy_and_childbirth

http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/blog/the-10-best-countries-for-maternity-care/

Examining Codes of Ethics

NAEYC

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.
I believe it is important to have a good foundation in the knowledge of early childhood care and education.  I have a very important job and I want to make sure I am knowledgeable in my work.  I feel that I must have continuing education and training to be able to properly help my students and families.  I believe I have a responsibility to always be a lifelong learner!

I-1.7 - To use assessment information to understand and support children's development and learning, to support instruction, and to identify children who may need additional services.
I believe early childhood educators have an important job of trying to reach children at young ages.  What each child needs can be so different and we are responsible for finding out what is going to be beneficially for each child.

I-3A.1 - To establish and maintain relationships of respect, trust, confidentiality, collaboration and cooperation with co-workers.
I-3A.2 - To share resources with co-workers, collaborating to ensure that the best possible early childhood care and education program is provided. 
I picked both of these ethics because I feel they are so important.  I believe everyone does better in their work if they are doing something they enjoy and doing it with people they enjoy working with each day.  I learn a lot from other co-workers and great co-workers definitely improve my knowledge and ability to be successful at my job.

DEC

Responsive Family Centered Practices
4.     We shall empower families with information and resources so that they are informed consumers of services for their children.
I know I love having resources and so do families.  Helping families know that they can help their children is very rewarding for both the families and the teacher.