Children's Quotes

Quotes will never stop inspiring us. Quotes about children will always reveal a world that should be admired. 

“Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.” 
― Robert A. Heinlein

The soul is healed by being with children.” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“He who teaches children learns more than they do”

― German Proverb

“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”

― Dr. Haim Ginott

Week 6 Post

I believe that assessing young children, such as state’s standardized tests, it’s important because we need to be able to measure and see where are the areas that we need to improve. It gives us the opportunity to analyze how strong is the curriculum and how well it’s implemented. It’s not necessarily an exact measure, but it more or less serves as a guide to what should be proceeded. Assessing children not only assesses the child’s progress, but teachers, schools, and the school system.

In Japan, Elementary school has a focus on music, fine arts, and physical education.  They promote cultural diversity and its acceptance in the school system. Japan promotes the learning of more than one language. By the time they are in college, they are already fluent in other language besides Japanese.  From day one in elementary they are taught to value punctuality, loyalty to their peers, duties in the classroom with democratic choices.

I believe that in the U.S. we have a model sort of like Japan but we have too much to learn still. I’m not saying that the school curriculum is bad, but we need to focus more on cultural aspects and globalization in our curriculum. For example in many different countries children are encouraged to speak more than one language, we should make our children competent enough to face this new globalized perspective and not limit them to one.  

http://www.education-in-japan.info/sub1.html

Violence

As you all know in Mexico there is a strong war between the government and the cartels. Violence has struck everybody in some way or the other. In my particular case I have a friend who personally experienced the cartel violence along with her son. She was walking with her son to daycare at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. It was like any other normal morning for Christina and her son, all of the sudden, she hears a car skidding towards them. The car was persecuting a truck and they happened to start firing their guns right in front of them. A caregiver was nearby and yelled to Christina and her son to hurry up, luckily they made it and were safe inside the school. From that experience Christina’s son gets nervous when he hears high pitch sounds resembling those of a gun. Sometimes he still has nightmares about it and wakes up frightened. Christina and her son coped with that stressor just like any other family in Juarez, trying to forget and be aware of their surroundings anywhere they go.

 It is important to mention that many middle class people in Juarez moved to El Paso as refugees for the inconsolable violence in Juarez and started a new life. Those children who migrated to the U.S. and have been exposed to some kind of violence due to the cartels’ war or assault violence may suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Here is a little piece of information about what is going on to those kids at El Paso.

Mental health and judicial experts say that children from Mexico attending schools in the U.S. can be just as vulnerable to PTSD after being exposed to beheadings, mutilated bodies lying by their schools or hanging from highway overpasses, gun fights, family and friends murdered or disappeared, or having actually been victims themselves. The toll may be an unexplored explanation for truancy, behavioral issues, poor academic performance, and inability to concentrate in class.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/06/13/mexico-violence-creates-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-children/#ixzz27tTpKj29

Malnutrition

The topic that I chose for this week’s blog is, malnutrition. Health is the most important factor that a child must poses for an optimal development. Without proper health care the rest is history. 

The country that I was interested on was Afghanistan. The rates are very impressive and demolishing. In Afghanistan 60% of all children suffer of malnutrition. Children between 6 months and 2 years old are part of the 50% who have anemia. This is like a vicious cycle leading one thing to another. Almost 50% of women who aren’t pregnant lack of iron, so when they become pregnant that deficiency worsens and affects the mother as well as the baby. Malnutrition leads to poor development of cognitive skills, schooling and productivity. As a consequence the work force in the country decreases, which leads to the impoverishment of the country, making it hard to provide enough health services for the people.

Malnutrition affects a whole nation, not only a few. This affects my future teaching because if children are not well nourished their eagerness to learn, physical activities, comprehension, social behavior, and cognitive development in school, would be affected do to this devastating problem.  

Reference:

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTAFGHANISTAN/Resources/Afghanistan-Reconstructional-Trust-Fund/Malnutrition_inAfghanistan_for_High_level_audience.pdf

Different countries, different birth methods

Giving birth to my two girls will always be the most memorable experience that my brain will ever remember. Thanks to our Lord,  they turned out to be very healthy natural births with no complications. I had both births 4 years apart, but the nervousness and fatigue were the same. I want to talk about my last one since it was only four months ago. My second girl’s name is Rennata, when she was born everything happened so slowly but when I started pushing she was with us in only 25 minutes. It seems that mothers are the only ones who suffer when going through labor, but babies also are tense. They experience a rise of adrenaline much stronger than a heart attack, they breathe for the first time, and it is pointless to say that it is crucial that they perform this action vigorously. After giving birth, many mothers could suffer depression. Post-partum depression affects the mother directly and indirectly to the baby. A recent study on depression showed that mothers who didn’t interact with their babies with apathy (due to depression), these babies demonstrated major implications with their heart and brain development (Berger, 2009). Without a doubt, the task of being born and being dependable from older adults is not easy. We are so vulnerable at this stage, that any abnormal situation could be perpetrated in our lives.

Cultural influences are so strong, that even births are different because of this. I chose the Netherlands as a country to learn more about births. In Holland about 50 % of women give birth at their home. Doctors are only required for uncommon cases. Another interesting fact, was that the epidural in only given if it fits the anesthesiologist’s schedule, or if an obstetrician demands it. Definitely, here in the U.S. we are pampered and spoiled. I honestly can’t think myself surviving without the epidural. But I guess is always from a cultural point of view.

References

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Schalken, L. (n.d.). Birth customs around the world. Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=2

Thanks for your support !

Dear Walden Colleagues,

During these 8 weeks we have gained so much knowledge about the importance of the Early Childhood field. I've grown as a practitioner thanks to our instructor and the insight from all of you. Dr. Kien has been very strict with APA style and I want to thank her for that because that helped me to gain better skills. When I first got a 100%, I was going nuts and felt very proud of myself. During our course postings I got to see the many perspectives from all of you. I discovered camp programs for children with special needs, inspirational quotes, helpful internet sites, and my classmate’s personal goals. It was a little challenging for me to keep up throughout the course due to the fact of my newborn baby girl and my oldest daughter’s assimilation. Besides all the controversy, my girls were my motivation, and my husband my support. Thanks to everyone and I hope to see you in the upcoming courses.

Elisa

Examining Codes of Ethics

Children

We shall care for and educate children in positive emotional and social environments that are cognitively stimulating and that support each child’s culture, language, ethnicity, and family structure. (NAEYC)

The best way to demonstrate that we care is by respecting the child’s background and the value that it represents for a child.

Family

To listen to families, acknowledge and build upon their strengths and competencies, and learn from families as we support them in their task of nurturing children. (NAEYC)

Acknowledge that every family has something positive to contribute, no matter how minute it could be.

Co-Workers

To create and maintain a climate of trust and candor that will enable staff to speak and act in the best interests of children, families, and the field of early childhood care and education. (NAEYC)

We need to believe on the potential of our fellow co-workers because they will be the ambassadors of our thinking; we do these by stating a common goal and sharing our knowledge with them.

Professionalism

We shall strive for the highest level of personal and professional competence by seeking and using new evidence based information to improve our practices while also responding openly to the suggestions of others. (DEC)

Our passion demands us to improve.