To Research or to not

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have new respect for those individuals who love research and do it for a living.  There are so many different ways to study and so much to know beforehand.  A true researcher must be extremely knowledgeable about research before learning about what it is he is going to study.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

I know that research is not something in which I want to do for a living.  There are so many components to learn about from the design process, experiment or not, research itself, analyzing data, ethical concerns, equity, benefits, and so much more.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

A researcher must be very meticulous in every aspect of the research study.  The planning and designing of the research study is just as or more important than the actual study itself.  The design of the study plans out each and every part of the study to assure the validity of the research.  The researcher must plan for validity, for convincing or he is just wasting his time.  If the study is not valid, by bias, by miscalculations, by ill preparedness from the researcher or his team, then the time it took was a waste.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

I was definitely challenged by reading the studies and the text, as I do not comprehend well.  I found myself falling asleep quite often while researching definitions and working on the simulation. However, I know at some point in the coming future I will be preparing to write grants and knowing how to read research is going to be a priority.  I am excited to have done as well as I have in this class and have had great colleagues who have contributed to my understanding – Danita, especially.  Thank you all so much for your help during the last eight weeks – ALL of you!

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

It was very interesting to learn the depth and breadth of research done so long ago.  I was eager to read many papers from the 1980’s and 90’s that are so relevant right now.  So many things in early childhood development has already been researched and new studies are checking the reliability from back then.  Even studies from Africa, Ethiopia, and in Europe, are exactly what we are talking about now in early childhood.  Research is essential (not necessarily experiments), but research studies are essential to continue learning about how the brain works, about children, and about parents. 

Research Around the World

I chose to explore the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) website (http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php).  I was able to read about studies from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and more.  It is very interesting to me how far apart we are in miles (or kilometers) we are really so close on ideas concerning early childhood development.  One of the studies I read was done in 1986 about involving fathers in early childhood care and development and another was from 1991 about school readiness in Kenya.

However, I really enjoyed reading about the parent, caregiver, and ECD study done in Ghana.  The study used the PLAN-assisted early child development program in Ghana (Etse, 1997).  It used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to find and understand children’s needs and quality early childhood development programs from the parents perspectives and compare them to the ECD caregivers and managers.  The major finds of the study:  the parents were somewhat knowledgeable about child development and the ECD professionals’ opinions were not significantly different from the parents’ ideas.

In other reading, I saw studies showing ECD programs play and important part in enhancing a child’s development, early studies on brain development in infants, play-based education, and standardized assessment tools.  Most of these studies were done in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s.  The results were the same back then as they are now:  educate parents, nutritious meals, better pay to retain teachers, play to educate, parental cooperation, prenatal care.

This is a great site to visit and see the history of early childhood research!

Etse, S. (1997). Parents’ and Other Caregivers’ Perception of Early Childhood Deveopment Needs and Quality: A Study of the PLAN-Assited Programs in Bawjiase, Ghana Retrieve August 2, 2014 from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/documents/major_projects/Etse%20-%20MP%20Final%20-%20UVic%20LP.pdf

Positive Examples of Research with Children

I chose to write about my experience with research with children. I am very involved with an early childhood community organization in my state called Excel By 5. This organization is made up of city and business leaders (mayor, chamber of commerce, school board, etc.), education (childcare centers, HeadStart, K-2 teachers, special needs teachers), health (doctors, nurses, clinic administrators, health dept.), and parents & families. Each focus group has specific goals they set at the beginning of the year and meet monthly to see how these goals are being met.

Two years ago, one of the education group's main goals was to see how ready our pre-k children were for kindergarten. We contacted UCLA and had the Early Developmental Instrument pilot program performed on all of the incoming kindergarteners in our city. The EDI measured the developmental areas of physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. Each kindergarten teacher filled out the questionnaire for each of the children in their classrooms. It was sent back to UCLA for analysis. When the analysis was returned to us, we discovered that the community's children were very ready for kindergarten in the developmental areas of physical health and well-being, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. However, the study showed that children in our community were developmentally vulnerable in their social competence (independence, social skills w/peers, respect, and responsibility) and emotional maturity (inattentive behavior, agressiveness, anxiousness, pro-social and helping behaviors).

This research enable our organization to brainstorm ideas to institute plans of action such as parent trainings, Conscious Discipline, mentoring in the child care centers, and others to help improve the readiness of our kindergarteners BEFORE they get to kindergarten. This was a very positive experience and it benefited the whole community, as well as the children and parents.

Transforming Early Childhood Community Systems - EDI. (2012). Early Developmental Instrument. University of California, Los Angeles.

Personal Research Journey

My topic for the research simulation is “What are the long-term developmental effects in children diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorders?  Are the disorders inherited?”  I’m sure that I will need to tweak this to get it more specific; but I am finding so much information that I’m not really sure where to go from here.  So I will continue searching for sources and decide which ones are viable for the topic I have chosen.

I chose this topic because I had a child in my preschool class who had severe anxiety.  We could not get the mother to acknowledge anything was wrong.  We began communicating with her in October, going over evaluations and assessments and trying to find out how he was a home.  We did our best to help him know he was safe.  He really bonded with his teacher and would only play with one or two children never as a group.  He was learning and when he went to kindergarten, he was not far behind other children in his class.  However, she blamed him not performing academically on the teacher and school; however as time progressed she began to worry herself.  She finally let us know that his father is bi-polar and has severe anxiety (so much so that he cannot hold a job).  But, she waited until the last months of the school year after he went to kindergarten to get him some help.  So now we are going on almost 2 years time. After the second meeting with the psychologist, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and anxiety disorder.  How I wish parents would understand we know what we are talking about when we say something is wrong!  We cannot make diagnoses, but we do recognize symptoms. 

The research chart was interesting.  It really made you search to find the layman’s words for some of the terminology.  Believe it or not, some of the words I chose were hard to find definitions beyond wiki and the dictionary, but I did finally figure them out.  I believe this will be a great asset as we go along to help us with how and why we are choosing references, questions, and other research-based techniques.

I am all ears to hear from you all on suggestions to weed out some of the fluff from my topic.  I welcome your help!

I found a very interesting article that opened up the topic for me.  I hope it will help as a reference to some of you as we continue our journeys toward the completion of a Masters Degree.  It is....

Hudson, J & Dodd, H. (2012).  Informing Early Intervention: Preschool predictors of Anxiety disorders in middle childhood.  PLoS One v.7(8). Retrieved July 11, 2014 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3414481/

International Contacts - Finally the last week of class!

 

I have enjoyed learning about the international aspects of early childhood.  I believe that my favorite was the video from World Forum Foundation with the speaker from Afghanistan.  She spoke so eloquently about the troubles facing the Afghan children and families. 

This week, I was finally able to correspond with one former Walden student from Nigeria and working in South Korea.  She discussed with me the reason she is a former student – her country has no assistance for continued education, so she has to pay for it by herself.  Thank goodness we are in America; if there were not grants and student loans, so many of us would not be continuing our education in early childhood studies.  Elizabeth is hoping to continue her studies in the future.

She told me in Nigeria there is no early childhood education.  They basically teach obedience to teachers, families, and other adults.  Then if they are able to go to school, the children were taught basics.

Ironically, in South Korea a Nigerian woman is teaching English to 4-12 year old children because it is required for them to know it.  She teaches nothing else, no developmental activities or anything; just English (sit down and learn it).

I found new resources and organizations that will allow me as an administrator, teacher, and mentor help other EC professionals, families, and children.  I know where to go for research about diversity and cultural issues (World Forum Foundation), poverty and low-income help (NCCP and local organizations) and developmental help with infants and toddlers (zero to three).  I also am beginning to realize how important it is to be involved with community and parents. 

I also feel that I have discovered the one thing that every developed country is having issues with is Funding for early childhood.  Many countries accept that this is an important issue but have no idea how to rectify it. 

I also feel much pride in my home state of Mississippi.  We may be at the bottom of a lot of charts, but the amount of Mississippi girls and guys in this class is a testament to what we want for the children in our state.  Mississippi has come a long way with early childhood education – Early Learning Standards, Quality Rating and Improvement System, Resource and Referral (resource center and training), all of the Technical Assistance, several professional organizations, voluntary state pre-k, Early Childhood Institute etc.  And rumor has it that there are many more early childhood grants and movements in store during this year.  I feel we are on the fast track to moving up the charts! 

My one goal for the field of early childhood is to find a few friend from other countries and stay in touch.  This relationship can depend the understanding of children’s issues and help in becoming an advocate to further the cause of quality early childhood education. /The friendships can also be a great way to increase cultural responsiveness and better understanding of diversity in the classroom and get cool items for activities and centers.  Just remember it is a 2-way street.  Share and share alike./

To all my classmates:  Thanks for making this a great class and cannot wait to work with you again!  Your comments have given me the incentive to strive and achieve more than I thought possible.  And Gena, I can't wait to meet you in October at conference!

International Contacts Part 3

I received several e-mails from international early childhood people saying they wanted to converse with me, but that was as far as it went.  After I responded to their e-mails thanking them, I never heard anything else from them.  So, I did the alternate assignment.

Since the 1945’s, UNESCO has been supporting and advocating for the world’s young children and early childhood education.  Over 193 countries work with UNESCO for recognition of the importance of early childhood education for children birth to age 8. 

I found it ironic that all countries, even those wealthy countries, have trouble allocating monies to fund early childhood programs and standards.  I also saw the term “holistic development” once again.  This term is fascinating to me and is something I want to study and learn more about.  Holistic development is dealing with the positive development of the “whole” child: health, nutrition, education, parent support, equity and social protection, and alleviation of poverty. 

Most importantly, this site works diligently to advocate for “high-quality” early childhood education.  Countries are beginning to commit and have committed to expand and improve comprehensive early care and education for vulnerable and disadvantaged children.  High-quality early childhood education promotes cognition and language, school readiness, motivation to continue and perform well, and confidence in young students, especially those with disadvantaged backgrounds.  Because there are so many different government sectors concerned with young children, the ability to coordinate an effective program is still very difficult.

 

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

I am continuing my research into the http://www.worldforumfoundation.org website.  This week we were asked to follow an outside link and search that area.  So, I followed a link in the media & resources area to a website entitled Alliance for Children or http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/. 

This is a great resource for all early childhood people, educators, policy makers, and parents alike.  There are articles on development, reviews of books, listings of new articles and publications available, and they also provide links to other early childhood education online magazines and sites. I really enjoyed browsing this site and getting to know what they have to offer.  This group is very advocacy-based on many things, such as play, playgrounds, common core (against), media, obesity, and standardized testing.

I found a link to a video from the National Alliance for Early Childhood in Brazil.  They country has launched “National Plan for Early Childhood.”  The video is basically a promotion to entice participation in communities.  If you want to view the video, click on the link.  Clicking on CC will provide you with English subtitles.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfBJmlefQKA&feature=youtu.be.

Brazil has over 20 million children under 6 years of age.  Many of them lack housing, sanitary living conditions, medical care, minimum living standards, no child care, and are malnourished.  The National Alliance for Early Childhood is a collaborative effort between families, the State, and communities to bring awareness and solutions for the countries youngest citizens.  They wish to guide, promote, and ensure the rights of all children in every town in Brazil.  The goal is to provide health care, education, sanitary living conditions, playgrounds, and transportation to make each and every town – child-friendly.

I did gain new insights into the childrens’ lives in Brazil.  I visited the National Plan for Early Childhood site and found out startling information.  Rio de Janeiro has instituted a harm reduction strategy in over 150 schools there to help children who have witnessed or been a victim of violence.  Many children have seen murders right in front of them due to gang violence.  Many more of them have been sexually abused – the 2^nd most common type of violence among young children.  The children there have been suffering with post-traumatic stress and delay of brain development due to the huge amount of violence going on in Brazil.  How do you combat such horrible acts of violence?  What is the solution? 

Week 5 Blog Assignment Part 2

The International Efficiency of American Education:  the bad and the no-so-bad news

The Bad News

US schools have declined in quality OR they have been beaten by school systems from different countries.   US schools are not efficient anymore.  America spends the most money per child cumulative for education, but ranks 16^th in scoring.

One very interesting hypothesis is a low demand to learn.  This theory suggests that the achievement gap is not due to race or poverty, but the lack of the demand to learn from social group to social group – I’m interpreting the demand to learn as ambition or want, maybe even need.  The article also says that teacher training, different curriculum, and longer school days will never have an effect until the demand to learn is trait or attribute of all social groups.

The Not So Bad News

The US scored 15^th in math, 19^th in science, and 14^th in reading, but 6^th in civic knowledge.  The US is not on top but by no means on toward the bottom.  The educational systems that are on the top are the countries (China, Japan, Singapore, Korea) that have “cram schools” that teach primarily for the test.  Parents even have private tutoring for their children to tutor for the test, placing a huge financial burden on families from 6.3% - 28% of a families’ income.  Memorization has also been shown to have a low impact on productivity in workers.

 The really bad news would be if we decided to go the way of these countries.  These countries do not have freedom of choice of education, some do not even get to choose their careers.  The children in these countries are experiencing stress, depression, suicide, personality disorders, and a dislike of academics.  All American schools are not poor or inefficient; many are high-quality schools.  And in terms of the study time spent during the school year, US schools are not nearly as inefficient as led to believe.  Before we criticize our schools, we need to think about the other countries in which we are comparing ourselves.   We do not want to become a communistic society or even a socialized society with very few choices for our futures.  We want our children to be raised to think for themselves and to be independent and be able to choose how to lead our nation in the next generation.

 Heyneman, S.P. (2013). The International Efficiency of American Education:  the bad and the no-so-bad news. Retrieved June 7, 2014 from http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/30413_16_1_Stephen_Heyneman.pdf

 

 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts - Part 2

While I am waiting for my International contacts in both the Netherlands and Nepal to answer some of my questions about excellence and equity of care…….I found a great piece about such a fun subject.  I hope that you all will be able to take part in this FUN day!

JUNE 29 IS INTERNATIONAL MUD DAY! Organized by the World Forum Foundation, Nature Action Collaborative for Children.  You are urged to spend sometime in the MUD WITH your children.  Make mud pies, splash, build, slide, roll, and squish; learn about mud, earth, and the science of it.  There is even a Mud Day Facebook page!  World Forum Foundation has a resources page with pictures, books, and articles all about mud to use with educating your children (World Forum Foundation, 2014).  There are also logos to use in your newsletters.

Mud Day was organized in Nepal in 2009 with 58 orphanage children in mind to acquaint them with Mother Nature.  This was their big chance to interact and learn about soil, mud, water, earthworms, and everything they experienced.  However, some of the children could not participate because of a lack of clothing.  Bishnu Bhatta (organizer) told of this problem to a World Forum Friend – Gillian McAuliffe from Australia.  This friend asked her class of 6 & 7 year olds, “Imagine if you could not play in mud. Imagine if you could not have fun” (McAuliffe, 2010).  They immediately began to offer their clothes for the orphans.  They began to collect clothes and money to send to the orphanage.  The money was also used to give the children a meat meal (they had not had any meat in over 4 months)!

Bold Park, Australia – 2009. The Australian children were able to participate in their own mud day experiences like their new found friends in Nepal.  In doing these things the Nature Action Collaborative for Children (a project of the World Forum Foundation) was established and International Mud Day was born in 2011.

 

McAuliffe, G. (2009). The Wonder of Mud: Reflections from Australia. Retrieved June 7, 2014 from http://ccie-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wfwp/mudday2011/downloads/Wonder_Mar10-Mud-Article.pdf

World Forum Foundation. (2014). International Mud Day. Retrieved June 7, 2014 from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/working-groups/nature/international-mud-day/

 

Sharing Web Resources

I have continued to visit http://www.zerotothree.org a couple of times each week.  The articles and publications on this site are great for parents, policy makers, advocates, and other early childhood educators.  Really, it is a site for anyone who is interested in infants and toddlers and how they develop.  This would be a perfect site for new infant/toddler teachers and expectant mothers.  They have such great advice and tips on this site.

For professional development, the sections on brain development, early development, and language and literacy are a must read.  Even if you are a tried and true I/T teacher, there is always something new to learn.  A responsible teacher knows that she will continue to learn with each child she cares for.  Sections on play, social/emotional development, nutrition and health along with challenging behaviors and mental health are definite subjects that need to be explored.

I did not find any controversial issues on the site, but the presentation of maltreatment of young children and their development issues was an eye-opener.  Child abuse and neglect of infants and toddlers account for over 3/4 of child deaths.  We know that the first three years really mold the child into what he will be.  So the area of maltreatment in these years would be devastating for development, but intervention at this age would most likely be successful.

I found several videos that teach how early childhood can be advocated during federal budget development.  They gave facts about why investment is so important and offered materials and steps to help advocate to congress.  An additional fact for increased investment to several we learned in class readings was the biggest expense of federal dollars is more dependency on public assistance.  We are living this now in so many areas of our country.  It makes sense to spend those dollars on young children to give them the skills, motivation, and confidence to become successful working adults.

One of my favorite things I have found so far is the handouts for parents to download and print.  These handouts are all concerning the things we have been talking about when we speak about investments in early childhood, i.e. the workforce skills that are developed in early childhood.  The subjects these handouts include are development, health and nutrition, language and literacy, thinking skills, self-confidence, and self-control.  Every one of this items have been mentioned as a benefit of the investment into early childhood programs.  So I believe these are a must read for everyone, including policy makers, business leaders, and everyone else who invests in early childhood education programs.

Getting to Know My International Contacts - Part 1

I have made more than 5 new friends from the World Forum Foundation’s WoFo Net, however, none of them responded to the emails I sent them yet.  So I went to the WFF’s WoFo TV to view a really eye opening presentation about children & poverty in Afghanistan by Skeena Yacoobi.  This is an amazing telecast, please click the link and watch it yourselves.

Skeena Yacoobi established the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995.  She was a presenter at the World Forum Conference in 2011.  She said that life is not beautiful in Afghanistan but it is hopeful.  A real teacher will make children her work; be part of the life of the children; and bring a smile to children.  That is what she set out to do while working in the refugee camps in Pakistan with the children and families of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has been at war for 30 years.  The families fled to refugee camps with horrible conditions: no food, no water, no place to play, no learning, no place for calm or quiet.  The camps were full of disease, and poisonous and venomous scorpions and snakes.  Children had to sleep on the dirt among these creatures.

As the new Afghani government took over, children were able to go to school.  Before, schools had to meet in secret because the Taliban did not allow education.  Skeena opened her first school in a tent around a tree.  That spread to several tents because the children had to bring the parent to school with them – the thought being this would help the children feel safe.   Skeena and her volunteers began to educate the parents as well as the children.  They taught mostly mothers (because most of the fathers had been killed in the war or murdered) health education, sewing, reading, and life skills.  Skeena knew that she would need to build a program with teachers that would give love and teach children peace words and loving words then the children would begin to have hope.

Skeena said as the health education progressed, sick women began to feel better then they began to learn better.  Once they were learning they began to ask questions this led to greater confidence.  She said we have to teach the women to be happy, to provide for their children, and to give the ability to say no to the abuse they have been suffering for so long.

In 2011, Skeena’s AIL supported 350,000 women and children.  In the 10 years since the new government took over, 6 million children are attending school.  The schools are teaching critical thinking and participation, not rote memorization.  She said in the video, once the environment is happy and safe, people will grow better, get stronger, and learn faster.  Children in her preschool learn and know 3 languages by age 6: Parshto, Farsi, and English.  Her schools go from preschool through 12^th grade.

Skeena said of poverty in Afghanistan, that 5% of people have the money and 95% of people have very little and are struggling.  The money that goes into the government does not get to where it should because the government is corrupt.  There are over 160,000 people on drugs because of being out of work, impoverished, and depressed.  Children have to be street vendors during the day to make money for the family to have food.  She even told a story about one father selling one of his 6 children for 2 bags of wheat so the other 5 children would be able to stay alive during the winter.  There is no electricity, no water, very little food and the government does not support many. 

But there is hope she said.  Women are becoming very strong and educated; some have jobs and work long hours.  Some are even going to schools to become nurses and doctors.  Many want a part in politics, to be in Parliament, and to be community leaders.  They do not want to go back to how it used to be when the Taliban took over.

Insights gained with this presentation:  1. Afghanistan has come a long way; but it has a long way to go.  2. Poverty destroys everything. The only way to break it is through education.  3. Even though the people of Afghanistan are broken, war-ridden, and destitute, they have hope.  Children and adults have the capacity to learn once they feel safe, become healthy, and have someone to care for them.

Poverty is cyclical. Without education and ambition, it is hard for a person to overcome poverty; but because of poverty, people lack the education and ambition to be able to overcome it.

 

http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/media-and-resources/wofo-tv/

http://www.afghaninstituteoflearning.org/

ZERO TO THREE

The organization’s website I chose to explore is http://ZERTOTHREE.org.

This is a national non-profit organization for parents, professionals, and policy makers to become knowledgeable about the development of infants and toddlers from birth to 30 months.  Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.

The website has information and articles on prenatal development, brain development, language, social/emotional, attachment, etc.  They have podcasts funded by MetLife, downloadable resources, a bookstore, and professional development courses.  They also have a bi-monthly downloadable newsletter that covers current issues and trends for families, caregivers, and policy makers – a subscription is $79 yearly.

The current issues having focus on the home page are the new Presidential Budget Proposal with heavy investments in early learning for infants and toddlers and the proposed Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY).  The current issue of the journal is about Maternal Depression and how to work with it during home visits.

While at ZEROTOTHREE.org, I looked for the topic I picked for this week – cultural responsive care and education.  There were many articles and journal entries.  One article in particular talked about including Infants and Toddlers in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems.  It went on to say that curriculum and environments should reflect the culture and language of every student served.  By doing this two goals are achieved: continuity of care from home to school that is important to developing a strong sense of self and contributes to the issue of basic trust between family and school for the parent/caregiver relationship. To have a high quality program, the environment must reflect all students in it or the program cannot be considered high quality.  “Quality is quite tenuous if diverse populations cannot see themselves and their cultures reflected in the caregiving program” (ZerotoThree.org, 2008, pg.5).

It is so very important for infant and toddlers to experience cultural diversity early.  Children from birth to three grow and learn so rapidly.  If the caregivers practice cultural responsibility during the early years, children will develop an understanding that will stay with them always.  As the children grow from toddlers to preschoolers, they will develop tolerance and acceptance; and will continue learning from other cultures and each other to nurture a cultural responsibility they will need later in life.

ZEROTOTHREE.org. (2008). QRIS Issues Meeting White Paper September 2008. Including Infant and Toddlers in QRIS, National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative. Retrieved May 15, 2014 from http://zerotothree.org/public-policy/state-community-policy/nitcci/qris-issues-meeting-white-paper.pdg

 

 

 

Issues and Trends - New sites and contacts!

I remember World Forum Foundation from a previous assignment. They have begun a network -WoFoNet for Early Childhood Professionals from all over the world. Each individual can subscribe to conversations/topics that interest them, then communicate with other EC professionals. This past week WFF was in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the World Forum on Early Care and Education Conference. Topics discussed during this last week, with over 850 participants, were men in child care, healthy environments, supporting children and families w/ HIV and AIDS, Play, and Children's Rights. Below is one of the topic summaries I found:

Questions Surrounding Children’s Rights in Diverse Cultures

This is a summary of issues related to Session #33 at the 2014 World Forum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, moderated by John Nimmo (Australia/USA) and Maria Thereza Marcilio (Brazil), held on Friday May 9^th, 10:45am – 12:15pm

Overview:

When we think about the rights of young children – what they are and how we can promote and protect them – we must consider complex and often contentious issues that reflect differences in cultural, economic and other contextual factors and perspectives. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is one key tool in this work, but it has its limitations. We believe that a critical and inclusive dialogue can only strengthen the Convention and our advocacy of children’s rights.

This session is an open dialogue with World Forum participants. The co-moderators seek to provoke and facilitate a deep and thought provoking session that brings forward issues often left unexamined. This session also draws on issues raised in prior World Forum sessions by the Working Group on Children’s Rights. The moderators will create and feed back to participants a summary of issues, ideas, possible actions, and further work needed, that arise during the session.

Goal:

To raise and explore complex cultural, economic and other contextual issues related to children’s rights, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and their implementation in diverse communities across the globe.

Issues for discussion include:

1. Are there differences in how communities and cultures view, value, and prioritize the core rights (i.e., protection, provision, potential, and participation)?
   1. What is the role of cultural and economic contexts in creating a “hierarchy” of rights? What are the dangers of prioritization? How can we link and integrate the various rights (an interdependence of rights)?
2. What is the role of social-economic class privilege/entitlement in our thinking about and implementation of the rights of children? To what extent does children’s access to rights reflect access to resources (e.g. economic, education, etc)?
   1. How do cultural values regarding individualism and community-orientation impact our understanding of rights?
3. How do cultural expectations regarding child development (what young children can or can’t do) impact our views about rights and their implementation?
4. How do cultural and generational views regarding gender roles/identity and equity affect how we conceptualize the rights of children?
5. What does children’s “participation” look like in different communities given differences in education, community access, and cultural values (e.g. elder respect/con respeto, and literacy)?
   1. What is the role of children’s contributions through work as a form of participation in community? How do we differentiate these contributions from exploitation and labor?
      

I have joined some conversations, reached out to make friends, and have gotten several friend acceptances; but no responses to the messages I have sent. I have e-mailed EC people from Canada, Australia, Nepal, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Norway, and Kazakhstan. I am really looking forward to communicating with so many different cultures.

http://www.worldforumfoundation.org





The website I chose to explore further during this class is ZerotoThree.org. We have all used resources from this site, but usually do not have the extra time to really get involved with what all they offer to parents and early childhood people. I have been interested in brain development and prenatal nutrition since the Foundations class. I have even made a presentation on their importance to our caregivers group.

http://zerotothree.org

My Supports

I am so thankful to have so many supports in my life.  If I didn't have my family, my work, and my church supporting me currently, there is no way I would be able to continue this educational journey that I have begun.  My parents, husband, and son let me get away with quite a bit because I am constantly doing homework.  I hope that I am setting a good example for my son!  At work, I have an administrative director and 2 co-directors that are always there to help out and cover when it is needed.  They do what needs to be done and for that I am thoroughly supported and grateful.  My church family supports me when I can't always make it because of school work and my group of  ladies support me more than they know with the cards and calls of thanks when I drive them for ladies night out.  We have so much fun talking and laughing!  And last but not least, my dog Abby supports me when everyone else in the house (including our other dog - Ziva) has gone to bed, she stays up with me to work on homework til all hours of the night or early morning.  Her support is so appreciated; she is such a good girl.  If I didn't have my support system in place, I probably would be having a nervous breakdown by now.  These people are such an important part of my life and allow me to do what I do.

I think that my challenge would have to be being a single mom.  I honestly do not know how they do it.  Everything is so expensive; and you are the only person taking care of your heart.  I think it would be such a hard thing for me.  Single moms are, I believe, some of the strongest women in the world.  They all deserve so much because they sacrifice so much for their children.  I know that some jobs give them grief because they have sick children and cannot work.  Some lose jobs because of their children.  Then there are all of the expenses: groceries, insurance, car, gas, rent, utilities, and kid expenses (clothes, shoes, etc).  Some get assistance; but is it ever enough?   I would definitely need emotional support, financial support, and of course practical support (just to keep up with everything).  I am so thankful of who I have in my life right now!

My Connections to Play

 

 

 
Here are some really awesome quotes about play:

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."  Plato




"I dream of a day when we say, "Today everyone played so hard!"" Lisa Murphy, the Ooey Gooey Lady

"If animals play, this is because play is useful in the struggle for survival; because play practices and so perfects the skills needed in adult life."  Susanna Miller, EdD

Most of the adults in my life encouraged me to be outside and to be active.  My parents let me play t-ball, join girl scouts, powder puff football.  I loved playing dodge ball and red rover and being outside.  I remember my Barbie townhouse that was 3 stories high with an elevator and spent many hours playing with it.  My favorite thing on the playground was this HUGE (it was back then anyway) tractor tire.  It laid on the ground and when we played hide and seek, we fought over who would hide in it - the first placed "it" would look (hahaha).  My parents always took us camping and we stayed on our bikes riding everywhere and exploring everything.  During middle and high school, I was always at girl scout camp for 3-4 weeks as a camper, then as a counselor.  During my junior year, I became a lifeguard and started teaching swimming lessons.  I could never have done these things without the support and permission of my parents and the other adults who worked with these activities.

I feel that play today has changed dramatically from the time I was young.  The technology was not available to watch television, movies, and play video games on phones, I-pads, Kindles,  etc.  We were able to be outside from daylight to dark without fear of predators.  We also knew if we did anything we should not be doing, our parents would find out by other adults.  So we actually learned self-governance to keep us from getting into trouble (or learned to be really sneaky if we wanted to go to that much trouble).  Children today have way too many things to keep them sedentary.  Also, parents are content to keep them close for a number of reasons:  wary of predators, too busy to do things with them, too lazy to do things, etc. 

Parents and other caring adults have to make play important for the whole family.  Being active and playing is part of a healthy lifestyle.  Adults must realize the importance of play and physical activity for the healthy development of their children and future generations.

Relationship Reflection

The relationships that I have had through the years have made me who I am.  I wouldn't trade them for anything. However, over the past several years I have realized it is not the quantity of friends but the quality.  Positive relationships bring out the best in all of us and there is so much negativity in the world, we need to keep positive people around us all the time.

My mother is one of those positive people.  She is a rock and I love and depend on her so much.  She has been with me through it all.  She opened our center 41 years ago and at age 74 is still working, training, and going strong.  I hope that I have it in me at that age.  She is a spiritual woman and taught me about God and going to church.  She taught me the value of an education and has supported me when everyone else said I was crazy going back to school.  She has kept our family together and will be celebrating 50 years with my father in June.  I love them so very much.  God has blessed me with wonderful parents.

My heart, my love, my little boy, Max.  A child is God's gift to us and He really gave me a fantastic gift.  I am so very fortunate to be able to help raise this child of God for the time he is on this Earth.  We found out 2 weeks ago that I have a genius who is severely ADHD.  The doctor asked me how this made me feel.  I said it scared me to death.  I don't want him on meds, but I want what is best for him.  This has been a great burden for me for several months.  We will begin meds at the end of March.  I'm praying it doesn't change his bubbly personality, but he seems very relieved to know that he will have help to ease his frustration.

Cindy Myers is my most awesome friend.  We stood by each other when our husbands were in jail (not together).  But it wasn't until she had her daughter and I got pregnant with Max that our friendship really blossomed into full blown love for each other.  We raised our kids, went through sicknesses, stuck together when one husband came home.  She moved with her husband and kids to Kentucky 3 years ago, and only see each other once a year.  But we have that telepathy thing going - when you know one needs the other without talking.  We miss each other and our kids do too, but when we get together it's like we've always been. 

My best friend would have to be my husband.  He would also be the quality I look for in a relationship.  He is the giver; I tend to be the taker lately.  I'm so wrapped up in work and school, I forget about his needs a lot.  He hardly ever gets mad about it; he just reminds me to shut the computer off and take a break.  We support each other and depend on each other. We enjoy just spending time with each other.  He knows me so much better that I know myself half the time.  It is a special feeling to have someone love  you so much!

The best relationship I have is the one with my Holy Father.  He has blessed me beyond belief.  I give thanks to Him for all He has given me.  Without Him, this whole life would be meaningless. 

Children are the most important things that we can do with our lives.  They depend on us to nourish them, teach them, spend quality time with them, mentor them, and model our lives for them.  If we don't show them how relationships are supposed to be then how will they know about relationships at all?  It is our responsibility to partner with parents and family members to raise our children in positive, respectful relationships and environments.  We cannot afford to be irresponsible in this very important endeavor in our children's lives.  The benefits of parental engagement with teachers far surpasses the uncomfortability of becoming involved with people we "think we don't like."  We need to put aside any biases we have and come together to raise our children to be respectful engaging adults who are not afraid of relationships with people who are different from them. 

Thank you! to my colleagues at Walden University

"The way parents are with children is how children will be with the rest of the world."  Dr. Karl Menninger, American Psychiatrist

"If we are serious about providing upward mobility and building a skilled workforce, pre-school is the play to begin."  Madeleine M. Kunin - 1st female governor of Vermont

To all my colleagues, I want to thank you all for the support and encouragement you bestowed upon me the last several weeks.  Wasn't this course amazing?!  We learned so much to use with our children and to mentor other early childhood people.  I wish you success on your continued journey of higher education at Walden University.  I hope that our paths will cross again soon.
Thanks!

Childhood Testing

I believe that children need to be tested; but the test should not be the most important thing in the child's education, meaning some school literally “teach for the test.” Children need comprehensive learning; they need a blanket assessment; but I don't feel that money needs to be tied to it. Some schools spend the whole school year teaching the items that will be on the standardized test, so the school will perform well, get good marks, and thus get better funding. Children need to know how to take a test, but they also need to know how to make change. They DO NOT need to have politics shoved down their throats. They need to understand how the real world works, without all of their morals and ethics, engrained since birth being degraded, dehumanized, and told how wrong it is.

I fully believe that aptitude test, IQ tests, and such, accomplish what the teacher needs to be able to teach the whole student. However, that teacher is so bogged down with redundant paperwork and extra work that she does not have time to serve each child's learning style. Let's face it, teachers take so much work home with them now, they have very little time with their own children.

In Russia, education for preschool through tenth grade is mandatory and is free. All other schools available, such as vocational and professional schools are partially fee based. Russia has instituted Standardized Testing called EGE (similar to SAT) for all children. Those children with the highest scores are the ones that get to go to university free. Others may apply, and is fee-based at approximately $2000-$8000 per year and $1500-$5000 for additional cost like books, board, and other fees.

School exclude children with disabilities, mental and behavior problems, deviant behavior, migrant workers, and refugees. Legislation puts all of these children into boarding schools when they can find them. About 100,000 children are in institutions and do not have education appropriate for their age. 4.5% of all Russian children have disabilities and most attend no regular educational institutions.

Children's Rights: Russian Federation. (2014). Child Rights. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/russia.php

Natural Disasters

I chose natural disasters to talk about. I went through Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I was in Hattiesburg, MS.  As scary as it was, we did not have the storm surge, flooding, and devastation that was in Louisiana and on the gulf coast of Mississippi. However, here are some facts about Katrina. Over 1,836 people died, 750 missing, and millions homeless. There was looting, violence, no water or food for many days and no electricity for weeks. Help arrived after a time. FEMA trailers arrived – poor as they were.

In November 2013, a typhoon hit the Philippines. 6,166 people were killed and 28,626 were injured. 1785 are still missing and 4 million people were forced from their homes. They have no electricity, no running water or clean water for that matter, and no shelter. There is scant corrupt government housing. Only 9% of the 16 million affected have received any help to rebuild their homes.

There is absolutely no way that a child going through such devastation of the environment and family can not be affected. Such stress will affect the brain development, and improper nutritional intake will affect the body and brain. Children are resilient and their little brains and bodies will bounce back. But what of their emotions? I often wondered how those children are faring 8 years later. Are they back in their home city; did they stay away when they evacuated; was the family able to rebuild or recoup their losses from the storm; and did they get to a place where they are able to feel safe again? In the Philippines, how long will it take for their children to feel safe? to get into a home that has a roof instead of an umbrella and palm leaves? when will they get clean water to drink?

Time heals all wounds and people tend to forget about what is happening in the world once the media has left the area. But the people living the life will never forget. And it will take many years to recover and rebuild the cities. How long does it take the children to bounce back after such a horrible life event they will never forget. How long does it take for the body and brain to catch up once it takes a break and just concentrates on survival?

Harlan, C. (2014). After Typhoon, Philippines faces one of the most profound resettlement crises in decades. Retrieved February 1, 2014 from

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/after-typhoon-philippines-faces-one-of-the-most-profound-resettlement-crises-in-decades/2014/01/04/2118c6a2-71f2-11e3-bc6b-712d770c3715_story.html

Solanki, P. (2013). Hurricane Katrina: Facts and Information. Retrieved February 1, 2014 from

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hurricane-katrina-facts-and-information.html

UPI. (2014). Typhoon Death Toll Reaches 6,166 in Philippines. Retrieved February 1, 2014 from

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/01/03/Typhoon-death-toll-reaches-6166-in-Philippines/UPI-86661388773610/

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Around the World

SIDS is called crib-death in North America and cot-death in England. SIDS is when an infant goes to sleep and never wakes up. No one knows the reason for this feared family tragedy. Research has been done to test theories of this mystery.

Susan Beal studied every SIDS death in South Australia seeking any and all circumstances and found some interesting commonalities. The mother's smoking and lambskin blankets seemed to be a couple of commonalities. She also found genetic make-up of Chinese descent helped to ward off SIDS. Chinese babies always slept on their backs, while European babies slept on their stomachs. Susan developed a hypothesis that sleeping on the back would decrease the risk. She had a large group of non-Chinese people all put their babies to sleep on their backs. Almost none died(Berger, 2012).

Pediatricians in the Netherlands began telling parents to put babies to sleep on their backs. In Holland, 2 scientists began recommending back-sleeping and SIDS was reduced by 40% in one year(Berger, 2012).

Some things you may not know about SIDS:

SIDS deaths have declined by more than half in every country since 1990 when the “Back to Sleep” Campaign was initiated (SIDScenter.org).

The instances of SIDS is equal in girl and boy infant deaths.

There are no symptoms or warning signs.

Doctors think one cause is the inability for the baby's body to detect a buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood(A.D.A.M., 2011).

Some doctors think the baby has problems with its' ability to wake up.

Approximately 2 infants out of 1,000 will die from SIDS(RightDiagnosis, 2011).

Always keep baby's head uncovered while sleeping(Disability online, 2000).

The following are linked to increased risk of SIDS(A.D.A.M., 2011):

Stomach sleeping

Smoking environment

Co-sleeping (sleeping in the same bed as parents)

Soft bedding

Premature births

Siblings who had SIDS

Mothers who smoke

Late or no prenatal care

Poverty situations

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines recommend the following(A.D.A.M., 2011):

ALWAYS sleep on back

Breastfeed when possible

Offer a pacifier when going to sleep

Put baby to sleep in same room NOT in same bed

Have tight-fitting mattress cover and avoid thick, soft blankets

Keep temperature cool. Do NOT overheat baby

Support Groups for victims of SIDS(Sidscenter.org):

www.sids.org

www.sidscenter.org

This topic has always interested me, especially when I became a new mom.  My husband had a child from a previous marriage die from SIDS. So I was very conscious about the issue and what not to do.  I don't believe that I slept through the night until my son was 10 months old.  He would stop breathing sometimes 10 times a night.  The doctor said "don't worry about it until he stops for 10 seconds or more.  Babies just forget to breathe."  Really?!?  I worried more then.  I had a co-sleeper brand bed that butted up to the side of the bed and I slept across the width of the bed so I could rest my hand on him.  There were many nights I had to wake him.  One night in particular I remember putting my hand on his chest and there was nothing.  I waited a few seconds then I grabbed him up.  It scared him into breathing.  I cry just remembering that time.  I did all of the right things to avoid SIDS and the only increased risk was the sibling with SIDS.  I was lucky; I cannot imagine losing a child to SIDS.

References:

A.D.A.M. Medical Encylopedia. (2011). Retrieved January 18, 2014 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002533/

Berger, K. (2012). The Developing Person Through Childhood. New York, NY. Worth Publishers.

Disability Online. (2000). Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Statistics. Retrieved January 18, 2014 from http://hnb.dhs.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Sudden_infant_death_syndrome_statistics

National SUID/SIDS Resource Center. (2011). Statistics of SUID and SIDS. Retrieved Janaury 18, 2014 from http://www.sidscenter.org/Statistics_OLD.html

Right Diagnosis.com. (2011). Statistics about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Retrieved January 18, 2014 from http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/s/sids/stats-country.htm

A mother's health impacts the health of her child.

Just as everyone does, I call my child my miracle. I was told at 34 that if I was not pregnant by 35, it was going to happen. So I quit worry about and raised everyone else's babies. At 38, I found out I was going to have a baby. I was so excited – but I was so worried that something would happen, I didn't by anything for the baby until my 9^th month.

I was already at 287 pounds (I only gained 13 lbs total) so I really had to watch everything I put into my mouth. I began eating lots of fruits and vegetables and lots of grape juice (the only thing I craved). I ate NO McDonald's or fast food of any kind and only allowed myself a sweet tea and baked potato on Fridays (if I had been good). I took my prenatal vitamins and drank my milk and LOTS of water (the only thing to curb the nausea). I was doing great, had lots of energy, and was really enjoying being pregnant.

Then a little storm called Katrina hit. Everything went crazy. I was at home alone watching the ceiling cave in and the trees fall all around me. Once the storm passed, I was stranded until someone could come cut trees. There was no electricity and no water; and it was so hot! 89 degrees at midnight is not the comfort we have become accustomed to. We had sleep on the tile floor just to keep cool. My young nephew (2 years old) and I began to dehydrate, so the family set out on a road trip. It took three days of rest and water for either of us to get better. The electricity came back on at our house after day six, so we went home.

At that time, I had two childcare centers across the street from each other with about 65 children total. One of the centers was totaled by two pine trees and flooding. We hurriedly removed contents to keep them from ruining all the while without power and water. Restaurants that cooked with gas gave food away. Our center cooked for parents to come pick up food for their children. This was a horrific ordeal and one that I personally never want to repeat and we were not in New Orleans or on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (we were one and a quarter hours up the highway from Gulfport, Mississippi in Hattiesburg).  We reopened only one building after 10 days and had to use every nook and cranny we could to house the children until other arrangements could be made.

Once power and water was restored, doctor's appointments resumed. I now had high blood pressure, hypertension, and had to do a non-stress test every week for the next 10 weeks. I'm so glad that I had been doing well with my diet because now I had to take 1500 mg of blood pressure meds everyday. I ended up working about 11 hrs a day because staff left due to the storm and never came back.  I still continued my nutritious eating plan and really stuck to it now.  I didn't want anything to happen to my little one.

At week 37, I ended beginning to swell and the doctor's induced that week. After 4 hours of hard labor that I don't remember because they kept me on pain meds because of the blood pressure, the doctor decided to do a C-section at 10:45pm. I had a beautiful, healthy, perfect little boy with a head full of brown hair that weighed in at 8lbs 7oz. He's eight now, still healthy and beautiful and not so perfect. But he's my miracle.

I have often wondered about those women in New Orleans who were pregnant. They were actually stranded and could not get out of the city as it flooded. We all saw pictures of people standing on the caved in bridges waiting for help and trying to stay on high ground. We've heard of so many people that were lost due to this storm. The city was out of commission for weeks. How would she have gotten emergency care for her and her baby? Water? Food of any kind, not necessarily nutritious? While we are pregnant we really don't like to think about bad stuff, do we?

This situation has me thinking about the women in Somalia. 1 in 10 Somali children die before their first birthday; 1 in 5 die before their 5^th birthday. Somalia has 250 trained doctors, 860 nurses, and 116 midwives for the whole population of 9 million. Only one-third of pregnant women have skilled health care at the birth and one-fourth only receive prenatal care one time with just 6% receiving prenatal care four times (PeaceWomen.org). This is the main reason the mortality rate is so high. Many have been driven from their homes to live in unsanitary conditions at refugee camps where they are not even able to get clean water to drink or bathe.

As a mother and a caring human being, I cannot even begin to imagine a situation as sad as Somalia.

PeaceWomen.org. (2010). Somalia: Pregnant Women Need More Care. Retrieved January 11, 2014 from http://www.peacewomen.org/news_article.php?id=2612&type=news