Saturday, December 10, 2011

My Supports

My Support

It's funny how small but big my support system is. I have the support of my family, friend and co-workers as I tread through my path in which I am destined to do.

Let's start with my workplace

As you know I work for New York City Children's Services. I work as a child protective specialists where I deal with the daily abuse of maltreatment of children. At times I think to myself how I have made it 4 1/2 years at this job. We deal with a very difficult middle-class to poor underprivileged environment. There are times where we are disgusted, upset  and frustrated but with the support of my co-workers we are able to let out that frustrations of dealing with a difficult family. We talk about our cases and is able to   relieve some of that stress. Imagine dealing with sexual abuse, physical abuse, educational neglect etc.. Without having the support of managers and supervisiors who sits down with you to come up on a plan. 

Friends

There aren't many friends you can count on and support you in time of need. Your friends are supposed to be an extension of your family. You're friends know things about yourself that your family may not know. They know your secrets at times because your friends are supposed to be non-judgemental as your family maybe especially if you are brought up a certain way. My best friend is the epitome of a best friend, she knows about myself when I have an argument with a family I can call her and not be judge. She listens to me and I wouldn't know what to without her. 

Family 
My family has supported through thick and thin. I have my sister who has supported me though thick and thin. We have grown in an environment of a two family house and we we able to have the support of the mother and father who stressed the importance of an education

Saturday, November 26, 2011

My Connections to Play


I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
~Harry S Truman

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.
~D. Haim Ginott

Cabbage Patch Kids




Growing up with the cabbage patch doll it symbols taking care of something else. It brings back memories of loving and having a partner in everything you do.

Super Nintendo was before the Wii and the Xbox, it was a game system where you can play with the whole family and the games were a fun thing we did as a family. I remember playing with my cousins and thinking this was a good day.

Books are my loves and reading a book with my fellow friends and classmates was very interesting, It transported us to a time of far away fun and it exceeed our thoughts of dreams that we can become or do anything,

My family always supported my play time. My play time did consist of my family members because we were all in the same age. My mother would watch us play with our toys or come up with a game. There are times my family members were included in the games. They loved our imagination and they encouraged to be together and to play with each other and never leaving anyone out. We learned to socialize and engage others, things I still do this to day.

Play today has changed drastically. Children can now play with friends in differents part of the world. Children pay on computers for hours instead of dealing with human contact. The generation gap of non human contact is diminishing. Children are now having myspace, facebook, twitter, these social networks that makes "play" as non existent.

The role of the play has greatly influenced throughout my life. I learned how to deal with a society. I learned how talk to another person. I know how to take turns. I learned how to be a leader and a follower off by "playing."

Saturday, November 12, 2011

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION



My Best Friend and I


Relationships are important to me because they somewhat define who you are. The people you have positive relationships reflect your character and also reflects the type of person you are when it comes to dealing with some. 

I have positive relationships with my sister, my best friend and my family.

By having these positive relationships...
  • You love more
  • You have a support system when you feel you want to give up
  • Your self confidence is improved
  • You learn to trust
  • Values become important in positive relationships
For maintaining these relationship, I learned to be patient, kind. As these relationships grow I learn to be humble and I learn that they will be disagreements and fights but if I built a positive relationship so it won't break.

By learning to have positive relationships it makes me understanding to children needs and wants. I am able to focus more and build a rapport of trust and understanding.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Considerations and Reflections

"What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen."  ~Cynthia Ozick

This statement is so true and realistic, children forever remember their part of history, no matter what it is. We as educators must make a special moment for a child and teach them something positive for them to take in the adult world. They will forever remember.


To Susana and Evita and poem for commenting on my page:


"You must be sick of seeing me
All this time--five days a week.
I'll just cut to the chase and say
thanks for everything, Teach!"

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Testing for intelligence

A child's success is measured by the test scores on the paper. A child recognizes 2+2=4 but what happens when that child has had a bad day and thinks it's 5 because of being not focused. Home environment, stress levels all play a major factor in a child's academic testing. It is true in other countries environments play key but we must think of a child's developmental stage. A child who us 7 who grows up in a two family home maybe focused than a same 7 year old who has to care for a 4 year old and a 6 month old because mom is on drugs. They may not be as focused. 



"China education is the largest education system in the world. There are more than 30 million students enrolled in China’s higher education institutions. Investment in education accounts for about 4% of total GDP in China. In 1986, the Chinese government passed a compulsory education law, making nine years of education mandatory for all Chinese children."



Throughout compulsory education, students are required to take end-of-term examinations and tests or check-ups at the end of each semester, school year of before graduation. In primary schools, the Chinese language and mathematics are the required examination subjects for graduation, while the other subjects are checkup subjects. In secondary schools, the graduation examination subjects are determined within the scope of the general subjects taught in the graduating class set by the state, while the students' performance in other subjects are only checked up.

References http://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/cedu/psedu.php

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

Racism

Racism has been here forever, can we ever give an exact date when it has started. There is an issue of racism including color, religion, sex, abnormality. We can never really know when it hits us but it does in every shape and form.

I can tell you a story of how color affect a country, In the the country of my parents Haiti. There is heavy racism between light skin and dark skin. When I was younger I didn't understand it because my mother said likely light skin people were rich and dark ones were considered poor. It did not matter if you were educated, in some parts of Haiti if you are dark skin, some parents would forbid their daughters or sons from marrying them because they would feel that child would grow up and be ridiculed.

As I am older, I have seen the effects because my mother is using bleaching cream. Also my aunt is a different tone of black and as it shows that the everlasting effects of thinking being dark skinned is considered ugly and light skin is pretty.



Africa

Africa and their issues on poverty and education is something that interest me very much.
On the Unicef site http://www.unicef.org/mdg/poverty.html there is a pleather of information regarding poverty and education.

"More than 30 per cent of children in developing countries – about 600 million – live on less than US $1 a day.
Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of 5.

Poverty hits children hardest. While a severe lack of goods and services hurts every human, it is most threatening to children’s rights: survival, health and nutrition, education, participation, and protection from harm and exploitation. It creates an environment that is damaging to children’s development in every way – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. " (unicef 2011)

There are trying to fix this by

-Building national capacities for primary health care.

"Some 13 per cent of children ages 7 to 18 years in developing countries have never attended school. This rate is 32 per cent among girls in sub-Saharan Africa (27 per cent of boys) and 33 per cent of rural children in the Middle East and North Africa.
-To that end, UNICEF works in 158 countries, calling on development agencies, governments, donors and communities to step up efforts on behalf of education for all children, and then coordinating those efforts." (Unicef 2011)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Breastfeeding

Breast-feeding interested me because of the discussion from week one. Breast feeding is a bonding mechanism from a mother to a child. The mother is continuing the bonding process where the child receives milk in which the mother produces. It cost efficient, prevents disease and promotes health.




I learned in Africa that Breastfeeding is very normal. As women they are free to walk around and breast feed their children. In some studies it showed mothers who worked did not have time to breastfeed, but in poor areas the mother was adequately able to breast feed.

There was an interesting study I wanted to share with everyone. It was a study
Explore why women initiate breastfeeding early or late, who gives advice about initiation and what food or fluids are given when initiation is late.


Two facts that stood out to me where:

Beliefs about ‘first milk’ were mixed. A belief that it was harmful sometimes resulted in delayed feeding as women waited for the ‘good’ milk to come, however, some women squeezed the milk out and fed on day one.

Other reasons for late initiation were that the baby did not cry (indicating it was not hungry) or because the mother or baby needed rest after a long or difficult birth.

My work is impacted by the way, I need to be more cultural aware that breastfeeding is accepted in some families and some may not and that is okay. I know that maybe if the child is lacking some bonding with the mother, that I may not impose my views of maybe suggesting breastfeeding.

 Reference:http://www.countdown2015mnch.org/2005conference/alldocs/Tawiah.ppt