Children Learn by Playing

CHILDBIRTH -My own personal experience

CHILDBIRTH -My own personal experience

I would like to share with you my personal experience giving birth to my first child born in Mexico and my last child born in the United States. My family comes from Mexico and during my first pregnancy I was living in Mexico with my family and my husband. My mother and aunts would advice me on what I should and not eat as well as what I could and not do during and after birth. Now I can see that many of the things that I did and not during my pregnancy were based on our customs and traditions more than any thing else.

During the pregnancy of my last child I was living in the United States without any of my family around to advice me but my husband. What I did have was all the knowledge I had gained through school and research as well as the support of a DULA, before and after the birth of my child. A DULA, serves as a coach that helps you during and after delivery, she helps your partner understand the different ways he can support you and actually be present during the delivery, as a proactive participant. I didn't have the support of my family but it was an experience that I would never forget.

One of the biggest differences that I can recall was that during the delivery of my first child, she was taken away to be cleaned and feed while I rested. And my third child born in the United States was always with me since the moment he was born until we went home, and that made an enormous difference particularly in the bounding and breast feeding aspect.

My Favorite Children's Book

A father and his four children--a toddler, a preschool boy and two older girls--go on the traditional bear hunt based on the old camp chant: "We're going to catch a big one. / What a beautiful day! / We're not scared. / Oh-oh! Grass! / Long, wavy grass. / We can't go over it. / We can't go under it. / Oh, no! / We've got to go through it!" The family skids down a grassy slope, swishes across a river, sludges through mud and, of course, finally sees the bear, who chases them all back to their home. It's a fantastic journey
Writen by Michael Rosen and Illustrated by Helen Oxernbury
We're Going on a Bear Hunt

When I think of Child Development

"The principal goal of education in the school should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done"

By Jean Piaget

I chose this quote, because I do believe that a school's job is to encourage children to explore and create, to find other possibilities and opportunities in life. To be giving them options when it comes to making important decisions in life, that not necessary need to be the same options that their parents had.

I would like to thank all my colleagues, for all the wonderful information they have provided us as well as their experiences and knowledge in regards to the field of Early Childhood. Iwould also like to give a particular thanks to Jackie Putnam and Lori Gardner for all the resources provided as well as their professional experience working with children. I also enjoyed reading the information shared in regards to their own family experiences and how parenting played such an important factor in their life as children an know as adults and parents.

"TESTING FOR INTELLIGENCE"

In my opinion I.Q. tests are not truly representative, especially regarding lower income and minority groups and they also tend to penalise a child for a creative or unconventional answer. Bu,t I also understand that each child is unique and each comes with his/her own prior knowledge and experiences, it is essential that in some way or form we do assess each child's knowledge and abilities. By doing this tachers are able to understand where each child is, as well as their particular way of learning. Teachers are able to plan for each child individually based on the information provided with these tests as well as provide activities that will help these children duild over their prior knowledge.

I choose india as one of the countries that I have the most interest in learning more about their culture as well as teaching techniques. Over the years I had several friends from India, and they would always mention how different school was in their country. For example I.Q. tests are used selectively in India, mainly by psychologist who assess children with learning problems. The information obtained might provide valuable information regarding a child's cognitive profile over and above the single I.Q. score.

It is essential that for any type of evaluation conducted in a child, adaptations or modifications need to be made in order to better asses children coming from another country. Particularly when that child doesn't have the language in order to understand what it is being asked from them.

Poverty and Hunger

Where there is poverty there is hunger, and were there is poverty there is food insecurity. What this means is the lack of consistent acess to adequate food, means that "the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating pattern was disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food."

Despite living in one of the most wealthiest countries in the world the United States currently has a a very high level of hunger among infants and toddlers. In Philadelphia, researches found that, during the first half of this year, one in five homes with a baby or toddler did not have enough food. And one of every dozen young children was outright hungry, a rate twice that of the same period the year before.

I choose this particular stressor because in my current position as a Family Advocate, I have the opportunity to go into the homes of many families to try and help them cope with what ever stressor they are facing at the moment. What I have come across is that most of the families are suferring of Hunger or food insecurity because of the lack of money.

Currently we count with a variety of interventions that help families cope with this stressor. Such as food stamps, food pantries, WIC as well as school programs for free lunch for those families that qualify. Sadly these resources are not enough to cover the needs of so many families suferring of hunger in our country.

As I was reseaching hunger in other parts of the world, India was one of many countries that seems to be suffering enourmosly of hunger among children and young adults. Malnutrition accounts for nearly 50% of child deaths in India as every third adult is reported to be thin and 70% if children under 5 suffer from anaemia and 80% of them don't get vitamin supplements. According to the latest on the state of food insescurity in rural India, more than 1.5 million children are at risk of becoming malnourised because of rising global food prices.
Among the many side effects hunger causes in children some of the most common are low energy, underweight, malnutrition and a delay in their normal physical development because of the lack of nutrients. If the goverment of this and other countries suffering of hunger could provide primary healthcare for every child, economic and social access to balanced diet, clean drinking water as well as the opportunity for a healthy and productive life. By covering these factors. the suffering because of hunger would be minimized and the families and children would have an equal opportunity to succeed in life just as any other normal child.

MALNUTRITION

Among the list of factors that impact the development of children all over the world, according the public health department "malnutrition" seemed the most meaningful to me. I have been working in the field of education for several years serving low income at risk children and families from the Latino and african american community. Malnutrition is an issue that is present, among the families and they need as much support and information as posible, of the importance of providing healthy foods for their children. Poverty plays an important factor in regards to the nutrition children receiving at home as well as the level of education that the family has. I currently work for a head start that serves 95% of Latino familiies and only 20% of them have a high school diploma.

A country that suffers tremendously from malnutrition and hunger is Haiti. According to the information shared by the "International Chidcare from Haiti", one in every 10 children die before age 5, one third of 1 year olds show signs of severe growth retardation and 60% of deaths among children are caused by malnutrition. Among the many causes of malnutrition in Haiti is becasue in some rural areas people believe that citrus fruit are harmful to nursing mothers. This deprives the mothers from very important vitamins. At other times, people will gorge themselves on whatever tropical fruit is in season, neglecting to balance thier diet.It is also found that many Haitians are also malnutritioned, because they do not eat enough calories each day, averaging around 1,400 calories vs the 3,100 calories a typical American eats which is also more than what is recommended in a normal diet.

The information I was able to read in the different resources helped me understand how important nutrition is in the develpment of child's brain as well as his/her physical growth. And how important it is for us educators to provide the necesarry resources, for the families to obtain and understand the need of providing healty foods for their children.

CHILDBIRTH -My own personal experience

Sunday, September 19, 2010

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