"Beginning nutrition education in early childhood is an important part of helping to ensure that children will achieve healthful lifestyles."
- Robert Earl

I never realized how important health education is to young children.  For years, I have overate, chose foods that were unhealthy for me and did not know the damage it caused.  Not until I attended an I Am Moving I am Learning training that I realized the impact it has on our children.  When the speaker spoke the words that children born in the year 2001 (the year my daughter was born) may not outlive their parents if they were not living a healthy lifestyle of eating right and exercising daily, I was finally awake.  I then realized what I needed  to change.

Viewing Children Wholistically

I truly believe all children are different and special in their own unique ways.  I think differences among children are what makes them who they are.  I believe student learning and developent needs to be assessed.  In order for children to be successful in school and later on as an adult there needs to be certain types of assessements completed.

If the developmental assessments are done correctly then they are necessary for the child's proper growth and development.  At the place I currently work, preschool aged children are assessed with tools such as the DECA and the DIAL 3.  There are even assessment tools for Infants and Toddlers.  These types of tools are more questionnaire type tools and require the parents to be involved. These different types of tools check for signs of trouble in the areas of social and emotional development as well as cognitive development.  I believe if a child is developmentally delayed in a certain area and he can receive the assistance while still in preschool or younger, it would assist him that much more.  That also helps create a partnership with the teacher, the child and the parent.

In the city of Zacatecas, Mexico there is not much emphasis put on assessments as here in the United States.  Children are lucky if they can go to school.  The instruction there is more teacher speaks and the child listens and no one speaks out of turn.  I know this system works for that certain area in Mexico because, in my opinion they are more focused on discipline and not underlying problems that may arise.  I do not think for our culture here in the United States that this type of instruction would work.  I hope I do not offend anyone, it is just a different type of lifestyle that we are accustomed to here.

All in all, assessing children has its value to the better of the child and their development.

Consequences of Stress on Child Development- Blog 4

As a child, I was born into poverty.  Our mother twice divorced was a single parent on the welfare system.  At times, she would work in the hop fields but it never seemed to help.  Our father was never a part of our life.  We grew up eating cereal for dinner and had more than our fair share of top ramen noodles.  Having many siblings in our family did not help with the food ratio but it did help to keep our minds off of the problem.  Since I was the second to the youngest in a family of ten I never had to worry what we were going to eat.  My older sister was the one always trying to fend for us and making our meals.  I mentioned there are ten children in my family but there were only four of us raised together.  My older brothers and sisters married young and moved out of the home as soon as they were able to.  That was there way of coping with the stress.  None of them finished high school or went to college.  They found jobs and continued to work at them for years.  This is how they worked past their childhood experiences.  The way the rest of us at home survived was by having an imagination.  We use to dream and plan for what our futures would be like.  If it were not for my older sister, I am not sure if we would have made it through our childhood.  She says her survival was based on seeing us through.  The ramifications were devastating.  My older sister has severe emotional and mental issues.  In the past, she has tried to take her own life twice.  She has been seeing a therapist off and on for the past 10 years.  My second to the oldest sister has cut all ties with our mother.  She wants nothing to do with her.  My method of coping is writing and talking about our experiences. 

Right here in the United States there are many children facing the same stressors.  As I see our mothers and fathers plagued with drug addictions there are children that are growing up in poverty and isolation.  There are serious ramifications that can lead to children joining gangs, and even becoming addicted to drugs themselves.  Children raised in these situations are emotionally and maybe even physically distraught.  At times, without support they may develop mental problems, and cannot maintain positive relationships with others.  There are plenty of issues that can develop if children do not learn that this type of lifestyle is not normal and can be changed.  For example, children born into this lifestyle may have a low self-esteem and self-worth.  Even worse, they may never learn to be empathetic of others.  If they grew up in a home without their parents or a caregiver showing them right from wrong or how to care for other people, how can they relate to this?  They end up growing up thinking this lifestyle is the norm and may become violent adults.

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

My four year old's drawing

I love this picture.  He started drawing this way about 3 months ago.  It shows his interpretation of the human body and where he thinks our arms are attached :)!

Quote that is meaningful to me!

One quote that I love and I am not even sure who was the first person to say it is, "We are a childcare center, providing nurturing services to the child.  We are not a day care center, because we do not take care of the day"!

This particular quote means a lot to me because it is so true.  As childcare providers we look at the whole child and ensure their day is meaningful and that they are in a safe environment ready to learn.

Learning New Things!

I love learning new and challenging things but not knowing if I am doing it right is sort of scary for me.  I am working on my second Masters and I am constantly learning new things.  For example, I have never blogged before or set up an aggregator feed.... I am, however, looking forward to the blogger as a new communication tool for me :)!