Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when working with children and their families in correlation with those particular families who come from diverse backgrounds is simply the education of their diversity.

I don't believe that there is enough education within the early childhood field on culturally different families and their struggles. I believe people have a generalized idea of the basic struggles that culturally indifferent families face, but I don't believe they fully understand the patience and assistance that is necessary for these families.

I would like to have the early childhood field go in more depth with the understanding of diversity and culturally different families. The problem with this is that there is so much more education that needs to be explained to the field.

To my colleagues, it has been a definite pleasure being able to view your thoughts and insights on all of our topics during this course. Good luck in your continuing education!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country of origin I chose was: Uganda

Five ways for preparation towards this family:

• Research their country and their cultural beliefs
• Familiarize myself with their cultural understandings 
• Learn basic phrases to prevent a language barrier
• Understand their family functions with their culture 
• Educate myself on their cultural mannerisms 

I'm hoping with the five ways of preparation listed above, both myself and the family will find common ground to help one another understand ways to communicate effectively. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory's I have of an incident regarding prejudice always comes to particular workplace memories. There always seems to be oppression on women in leadership roles. 

I work as an Assistant Director in a childcare environment and there are definitely comments made about being a woman in control. 

I don't seem to understand the differences between men and women in leadership roles, although I can definitely understand the sexist comments, the logic behind the comments are what intrigues me the most. I believe there are definite points of consideration with women and leadership roles that people have yet to understand. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The most common form of microaggression is racial, in my opinion. 

The only time I can depict an accurate time is when I had a friend whom was African-American and her family or other friends would tell her that because she was educated and spoke English well rather than in slang, she was acting "white," as they described it. 

This depiction obviously shocked me in a sense that someone can act "white," or act any particular race. I didn't think it was necessary to describe her actions as a part of the stereotype associated with white people or with people who are educated. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I think overall, diversity is a very broad term and there are millions of different ways to classify people and their cultural background.

I have some Hispanic and other Pacific Islander (Hawaiian, Filipino) friends and family that share the same cultural guideline as Guamanian culture.

Hispanics have influenced the Guamanian culture in terms of the language as the number system is all Spanish.

Filipino's share a strong similarity with the line of respect and partying that comes with Guamanian culture. We have a strong belief in elderly respect as well as strong family ties.

Thinking about other people and their culture, I tend to find some similarities as well as some differences in comparison to my own and even other culture's that I am familiar with.

I am incredibly interested in the dynamics of culture in the Middle East.

Culture as a broad topic is incredibly diverse and there are similarities across the line for some cultures, but there are also strong differences with others and that's what makes the idea of culture and diversity as interesting as it is.

My Family Culture

Considering the catastrophic event, the three things I would take to represent my culture would be:

• Guam flag
• Latte stone piece
• Picture of Guam 

I think the flag is a large representation of any culture and anyone's society. The flag represents the uniformity of the area and I believe that it is something easily recognized by other countries/cultures. It's a defining piece that people use to represent their culture or background. 

The Latte stone is specific to Guam and its heritage. It represents the foundation of society and the pieces come together to build from the base up. 

Lastly, a picture of Guam simply to remember what it looks like and to never forget the sight. 

If I was told I had to give something up, it would be a difficult toss-up between the picture and the flag. Both are dominant pieces that can be considered incredibly useful in explaining my culture to someone else. 

When I Think of Research…

This course was incredible detailed and the research methods will continue to help me in the future. Research in itself is a process, but the problem with research is that there are definite times where people don't believe the in depth process that comes with the research.

Research can find definite answers to questions with new methods and new breakdowns. Some challenges that I encountered were understanding the complexities of all the research involved. With several different types of research methods, it can be difficult to find the one most relevant to your research to go with.

Being able to understand all the research ultimately means being able to understand the studies and their details.

International Early Childhood

The ECDVU had a link directed towards early childhood events in other countries.

Particularly, Ghana was what struck my interest.

The ECDVU hyperlink connected to Ghana said "Originally known as “porter girls” or “street girls”, called “Kayayo” (singular) or “Kayayei” (plural) in Ga, these adolescent girls migrate in their later childhood or prime ages but, when they become too old or too weak to work, they “retire” and take up jobs as babysitters or caregivers of the children of younger, still-active porter girls," (ECDVU). 

This part was what intrigued me the most, considering the effect that the early childhood field can have on this type of incident. 

I feel like internationally, the early childhood field can have a strong influence on this issue from a political standpoint. 

ECDVU. http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/documents/major_projects/Agorsah%20-%20MP%20Final%20-%20Uvic%20LP.pdf

Early Childhood Research

I believe the most effective research that has been conducted in the early childhood field has been the interpersonal relationships between providers and parents. I believe that this research is and has proven to be the most important, especially when this seems to be a reoccurring problem throughout early childhood organizations.

Working at a school-age center, the most important relationship we have to maintain is with the children and their families. We need to ensure open communication is clear for all parties involved, considering the amount of time that is spent with the child.

There are so many extremities to consider and the complexities of each relationship could go on and on.

Emotional Development in Children

The concept of emotional development in children is interestingly vague. There are several points of emotional development and it's such a widespread topic, it's difficult to limit it to a specific variety.

I chose this topic because I feel as though it would be extremely beneficial to learn about the ins and outs of the emotional complexities that vary with children and their age groups. I feel as though all early childhood members should have a justified idea of the emotional attachment children share and the emotional development they encounter while they grow up.

It's an interesting topic to think about and study about. Having children, you know about their development and you can see their growth as they grow older, but it's different with the children that are in daycares or childcare centers or even school because there's a specific side that providers see and we don't have enough time to see their growth in depth.

My Supports

A list of My Supports:

• Family
• Friends
• Religion

All of these supports listed help me get through whatever dilemma I'm facing and they help to provide the emotional support that I need from others. 

Support to me is when you can confide in someone to help you when you can't help yourself. It's when someone gives you that emotional feedback that you need to pull through to make it through whatever it is that's bothering you. There's nothing else like it and everyone needs it. Without my personal support system, there are a lot of things and places that I would have never done or gone through with. My family, friends and religion help me make the best decisions for my life and they give me the emotional strength that I need. 

A challenging situation that I would need strong support in would be taking a risk on a new job. People like to have security; they like to know that they're going to be stable in any situation, so risk taking in these cases are limited. My family and friends would help me make the ultimate decision and my religious beliefs would be a strong point as well. 

My thoughts on PLAY

When I remember what play was like growing up, I had played at my grandmothers house. I had cousins there and we played outside all day, whether it was playing war, playing beauty pageant, climbing trees or cleaning up and making a game out of it. My grandmother wasn't the one who would play with us, but it was at her house that we would play, it was our uncle who was our care taker. We would play outdoors, never indoors.

My parents didn't play with us as I remember, but they did buy us toys such as the easy bake oven and the snow cone machine, as I remember. My sister and I loved to cook and eat, so a lot of activities we did involved food. Crazy enough, we don't enjoy cooking as adults.

When I think about play and my teen years, I don't recall too much play, because it was about growing up and doing cool things, the closest things, like roller skating, going to an arcade, swimming pools, water parks, amusement parks and as I think about it, it involved money. 

What I lacked as a child was the adult interaction, it is completely opposite now, I have played with kids as a type of employment and I play with my own kids all the time. I have seen the difference between myself and my children and what it means to be a child and the importance of play. I had to explain to parents the importance of play and how it helps the children develop and learn skills when they get older.

Today, children still get to play, there are a lot of styles of play, whether it involves video games, board games or outdoor play. Parents are involved with their child's play. Also with today's society, play isn't so much gender specific, their are construction toys for girls, their are dress-up clothes for boys. Society seems to be on board with the importance of play and how it affects children into their adult life. Play is important, as an adult I love to play and there is a feeling of being free and stress-less when I play with my kids or even the kids I work with.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are key to the dynamics of personal involvement. There are specific cases with each relationship that differ it from the next with another person. Relationships are important to the validity of healthy development.

Besides family members whom I share a relationship with, there are also co-workers and other military spouses that I share a relationship with.

Relationships are built on the common similarities between parties and with work and our personal life, my co-workers and other military spouses share a strong bond.

The parts that can prove to be most difficult are starting the relationships and then when the relationship hits a stage where it's borderline ending.

Relationships with my family are the most important. It is vital that those relationships are the ones that last because I've been raised to always believe that family is of the utmost importance and there is nothing more rewarding. The strongest relationships I have are with my kids. The older they are, the more involved I get and the more we begin to interact. There have been times when it was more difficult to deal with one another, but the result has been rewarding in every aspect.

Maintaining all relationships, especially with friends can be difficult. With family, you're basically stuck with one another, so no matter what happens, they are always there. Friends are more difficult because there is a fine line between friends and the friends that are considered family. These relationships take time and effort to build because you're taking a complete stranger and completely opening up to them in hopes that you can be yourself around this person; it can be difficult to deal with. 

Professional Consequence/Goals

Consequences about the international early childhood field:

1. Strong differences across the world 
2. Cultural indifferences between nations based upon religion, location, etc. 
3. No clear consistency between nations. 

Professional goal for international awareness:

I believe my professional international goal would be to be able to understand the logistics and base of the international early childhood field so maybe the consistency between nations can be more profound and clear to any opposing agencies - as field, we would be extremely organized. 

Early Childhood Goals

Throughout the class, I've attempted contact with my international contacts and I have not heard back from anyone.

There are childhood changes being put in place on the Army base where I live. With the base growing, there are new centers being built and there are always new changes being written and put into action to increase the efficiency of the centers already built.

Some professional goals would include:

• Increase diversity awareness
• Foster healthy development with the child/family
• Attempt to control the consistency within the field 

While these are all goals, I'm sure with time and effort they can be put into affect for the field to grow and develop over time. 

DEC - Special Interest Groups

The website I was drawn to in the beginning of this course was DEC. They have strong values and their interest group tab on their website is intriguing. 

DEC mentioned the point of their special interest groups.

"A DEC Special Interest Group (SIG) is a group of DEC members who have a shared interest on a particular topic. The purpose of a SIG is to engage members and provide a forum for dialogue around a specific topic of interest. SIGs are independent, autonomous communities for DEC members to gather information, learn about resources and share ideas with other who have similar interests.  SIGs are not charged with any formal DEC initiatives; however, they may support and collaborate on DEC activities that fall within the group’s shared interest. SIG activities typically include opportunities for their members to share ideas and resources and to learn together," (DEC). 

It can be common for websites like DEC to have similar interest groups. It's what their organization is about and how they maintain a strong impact in the community and even surrounding communities. 

Retrieved from: http://www.dec-sped.org/sigs

The Harvard University website has a lot of valuable information, especially considering the following:

• reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;
• supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and
• building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

All three bullet points showed valuable statements on the website. 

Harvard University. Retrieved from: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

NCCP

The part about the NCCP that struck me the most was their core values. They're all about strong families and healthy development. They are also one of the leading organizations to assisting with childhood poverty. Their values and their message to their audience was the most intriguing.

I've scrolled through their website several times and they have demographic details showing the poverty levels in certain places, which interested me the most. Considering the nations' economic status, I would figure that the cities that are already financially distraught would be the worst, but there has been interesting turnarounds.

The early childhood field is a strong field that yields development. There are always changes to try and make it more organized and more profound. The NCCP has strong values that add to the field and their values.

Childhood Poverty

Unfortunately, my previously mentioned points of contact have not responded. If no response is received shortly, I will contact others.

The website for Childhood poverty didn't pull up for me, but, studying poverty in America would be the most beneficial.

It is important to notate that poverty in America's poverty rate for low income families is extremely high. The NCCP rated it at 42% for low income families altogether.

This rate is extremely high considering the circumstances. It really puts a new perspective into play because the general public considers other countries in Africa or the Middle East to be filled with children who are poverty ridden, but what they fail to understand is that America's poverty rate is 8% away from being at 50%.

Division for Early Childhood (DEC)

The Division of Early Childhood or DEC has a strong foundation that care about the development of children faced with special needs. They are the largest corporation that assists with the development of children with special needs or gifts and they assist with the child's growth.

Their mission statement: "The Division for Early Childhood promotes policies and advances evidence-based practices that support families and enhance the optimal development of young children who have, or are at risk for, developmental delays and disabilities." (DEC).

Retrieved from: http://www.dec-sped.org/about

Outreach Resources

There are several countries and childhood resource organizations that I attempted to contact. 

The listed resources that I have contacted are:

Philippines
OMEP Philippines National Committee

Center for Early Childhood Care & Development
Blesilda Rios
Email: child_ceccd@yahoo.com

Myanmar
The Myanmar Council of Churches Ecumenical Sharing Centre
Mr Lin SEIN
Email: CSSDD@mptmail.net.mm

China – Hong Kong

OMEP National Committee for Hong Kong

Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association
Dr. Betty Chan Po-king
20 Somerset Rd. Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel: 852-23396005
Email: sannas@ycef.com

Of the listed resources, I haven't heard anything back from anyone. I am actively waiting for responses to be received. The overseas research is definitely something that I would like to know more about, considering how different their programs can be from American ones.  

As a teenager I was so insecure. I was the type of guy that never fitted in because he never dared to choose. I was convinced I had absolutely no talent at all. For nothing. And that thought took away all my ambition too.

Johnny Depp

Play

I can recall the different environments of play growing up and the most pleasant that I remember, was at the daycare center. It was fond memories because of the toys, the environment and the caregivers. I remember playing with the log cabin blocks and dress up clothes. Then there was my grandmothers house, she didn’t have toys, but we would play outside, she had pigs, cows, chickens and a lot of fruit trees. My cousins and I would climb trees, feed the animals; back then feeding the animals was play time because we were able to play afterwards and we would get a treat from an aunt or uncle. Then there was my parents, we didn’t play inside, my siblings and I would play outside, like riding our bikes, playing basketball or volleyball, we were quite active outdoors.  The providers/teachers were good role models for me back then, it was always fun and we got to play it seems all the time.

Today, play would be similar in regards to role models that the providers/teachers are to my kids and at work, toys and activities are age appropriate and is something that is expected in schools/daycare centers. I try to do the same at home only because I see the frustrations of my kids when they aren’t able to comprehend something, especially when it should be fun. For the young kids today regarding play, its knowing their developments and interests that would help the kids with play. For school age kids, it would be incorporating their interests into other areas of play that they don’t normally go into.

My thoughts on play is that it is extremely important for kids to play and learn through play to help them become the adults they are destined to be. When a child is unable to play, there is something missed for that person that will affect them as they grow older.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are defined as "the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected," (Webster). 

They are extremely important to the function of the life. There are relationships that are built every day and they grow over time with everyone; friends, family, co-workers, etc. 

Relationships with my family are the most important. It is vital that those relationships are the ones that last because I've been raised to always believe that family is of the utmost importance and there is nothing more rewarding. The strongest relationships I have are with my kids. The older they are, the more involved I get and the more we begin to interact. There have been times when it was more difficult to deal with one another, but the result has been rewarding in every aspect. 

Maintaining all relationships, especially with friends can be difficult. With family, you're basically stuck with one another, so no matter what happens, they are always there. Friends are more difficult because there is a fine line between friends and the friends that are considered family. These relationships take time and effort to build because you're taking a complete stranger and completely opening up to them in hopes that you can be yourself around this person; it can be difficult to deal with. 

Children's quote

I brought children into this dark world because it needed the light that only a child can bring. ~Liz Armbruster, on robertbrault.com

Testing For Intelligence

Americans test the academic capability and levels of children in every grade level. There are emotional tests and academic tests that are given to the children in order to classify their age and mental level. Children that do not score as highly or as prominently as the next are then classified into other groups and with other children who might also have the same learning disabilities; of these classifications, children are then labeled into their group.

In other countries, Finland especially, they have been able to rank highest in academic testing because of their testing procedures. Linda Shaw wrote, "Sahlberg's message, although he is too polite to put it so bluntly: Stop testing so much. Trust teachers more. Give less homework. Shorten the school day," (Shaw). 

If anything needs to be tested more, it needs to be children's academic levels. Emotionally, children respond to their daily routines and their interactions with other people; school needs to be an area where children want to be. School is a child's main factor of their life especially because for a good majority of it, they spend it at school. 

Linda Shaw. 

Finland's educational success story: Less testing, more trusting. Seattle Times. 

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

I believe a large stress factor for children could be violence and war. Violence and war can cause serious mental illness issues and can lead to other consequences in the future for those children exposed. Children in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq consistently see violence and war and it has gotten to the point where these children are used to their environment. This is not healthy and it does not give high hopes to the child to believe that there are other areas that are not consumed by this lifestyle. An article posted on War Child stated, "Growing up in Afghanistan today means growing up surrounded by violence, poverty and exclusion. Entire generations have never seen peace. Thousands of children have been separated from their parents, abandoned in national orphanages or forced into labour," (War Child). 

This type of lifestyle does not give children the emotional growth they need. Their biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development has been compromised and they are forced to believe that they are supposed to be inducted into this lifestyle filled with violence and war. This representation of life should not be forced upon a child. 

War Child. http://www.warchildholland.org/afghanistan

Nutrition

Nutrition and malnutrition are important topics to discuss when involving children. Helping them lead healthy lives from the moment they're born leading up to an age where they are capable of making decisions for themselves is vital to their development. There is a lot of controversy today about nutrition and how children are not being taught how to live healthy lifestyles. It only gets more difficult if attempting to change your child's food preference goes from chicken nuggets to broccoli and carrots. Schools have started to change their lunch menus to correlate with healthy eating habits, and it only helps support the movement if those same eating habits are being practiced at home. 

Nourish Interactive, an online website, promotes itself by offering ways to help parents change their children's eating habits for the better. For example, they listed:

• Eating breakfast every morning
• Making a healthy lunch for children to take to school or eat at home
• Preparing and having readily available healthy snacks for mid-morning and mid-afternoon
• Planning and cooking the family dinner

These are each very important meals for your child to ensure they grow healthy and build a strong immune system to fight off disease.  Nutrition is the foundation to good health.  It provides the body with the vitamins and minerals needed to grow and maintain a healthy child. (Nourish Interactive).

http://www.nourishinteractive.com/healthy-living/free-nutrition-articles/141-planning-family-healthy-meals

Child Birth

The birth that I chose to write about would have to be my first born. She was my easiest delivery and the only child that I had, where I had family close by. My expected due date was September 10^th, I had gone to work like normal and I had contractions but, not close enough for me to go to the hospital for. I was able to walk around at work, because my co-workers stated that I was waddling and felt the baby would be coming soon, since my belly had dropped tremendously.  It was quitting time and I headed home with my boyfriend at the time. It was about 617pm and I had gone to the hospital because my contractions were about 5 to 10 minutes apart and I wasn’t in any kind of pain, but I read in the book of “What to expect when you’re expecting” and one of the things I remembered clearly was the discharge of mucous and blood and that my contractions would be starting – it was something to that affect. As I was getting prepped onto the bed, and the room, the nurse asked if I felt like I needed to poop or the urge to push and I said “YES”. She said don’t push yet, your doctor is on his way, by the time the doctor came in to check me, I had dilated enough that she was ready to come out, the next thing I remember I had pushed out my daughter, the doctor almost dropped her because he wasn’t ready. I did not get any medication. I was tired and confused because I didn’t know what had just happened, before you know it, the doctor had put her on my chest and said you have a daughter. I cried and laughed and was just amazed that I created this being and here she was; entering the world. My family was not able to be there for her birth, because they didn’t have time to get anything set or even being notified. My first child’s story of child birth is extremely different from my other children.

After reading on China’s child birthing, their custom is not only an important event, but it’s social as well as a family event. The biggest difference between my experience and the Chinese practice is that there is a one-month isolation of mother and child immediately after birth. The reason for the practice is for their health – many women in the past had died during childbirth and many babies died during the critical time. The diet for the mother would include food high in iron and protein due to the blood that she had lost. As a practice for my culture, it is somewhat similar like staying home for the first month, but being isolated isn’t one of them, family come by to visit and carry the baby. I do like the practice of isolation, but it wouldn’t be practical if I was back home. My family wouldn’t understand the isolation process.