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!