Sharing Web Resources

The information that was relevant to my current professional development was play and school readiness.  No ideas or statements discussed in the e-newsletter was controversial to me or made me think about an issue in new ways.  I agreed with all the information contained in the article.  The information contained in the website that added to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field was implementing several early learning programs and encouraging early literacy programs. 

Getting To Know Your International Contact

The country I chose to read about childhood poverty in is India.  India is home to the majority of poor people in South Asia. Between 1973 and 2000, the percentage of the population below the poverty line declined continuously from 54.9% to and estimated 26%. In health, the country is undergoing an epidemiological transition.  There continues to be high rates of communicable diseases, malnutrition, maternal and perinatal illnesses, predominantly among poor people.  There are also growing rates of non-communicable diseases, while rapid urbanization is resulting in new health problems, such as HIV/AIDS, which is placing greater strains on society and the health of the poor in particular. An estimated 400 million of the population are between 0-18 years old.  Life for many of the children is very bad. Almost half ot all the children under the age of 5 are malnutritioned and 34% of new-borns are significantly underweight. India accounts for 20% of the world's out-of-school children and has the largest number of working children in the world. Girls livig in India have limited life chances and lower rates of school enrollment.  Ecology, livelihood sources and the social structure vary substantially across Rajasthan. As elsewhere in India, caste, class, ethnicity and gender strongly affect access to resources of all kinds. Official statistics suggest that poverty has declined from 33.3 percent to 13.5 percent between 1973 and 2000, though these figures are controversial.  Rajasthan's health indicators are amongst the poorest in the country, reflecting poverty, difficult living conditions and the fact that the primary health care has not reached a large majority of poor people, especially women and children, dalits and communities living in remote areas. Educational access, enrolment and achievement remain important challenges. The problems of children from underprivileged communities i.e. scheduled (disadvantaged) castes and tribes and minorities are exacerbated by both the lack of access to and poor quality of teaching and educational facilities and the lack of effort to make schools inclusive of all children. India's anti poverty programmes are mainly run by the central government. There are three main types - rural employment creation and infrastructure development programmes; self-employment; and food subsidy programmes. All three have been subject to reform in recent years to ensure better targeting and coverage. The largest food subsidy programme is the Public Distribution System, which is explicitly targeted towards the poor. The Swaran Jayanti Swarozgar Yojana, is a self-employment programme providing subsidised loans to self help groups. Besides these there are the rural works programmes. There are two main schemes under this- the Employment Assurance scheme and the Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana, which. focuses on infrastructure development to be undertaken by the Gram panchayats or village local governments. All the programmes are giving a greater role to rural local government for implementation and for beneficiary selection and monitoring. The largest programme specifically targeted at children in the 0-6 age group is the Integrated Child Development Services Programme (ICDS). It is a centrally sponsored scheme covering all states. One new insight I have about poverty is that contraception never seems to be addressed. I just can't wrap my mind around living in poverty, but continue to reproduce. Why would people keeping having children when they are well aware of the fact that they can't take care of them. The government goes through all these different approaches to reduce poverty, but I feel they should be passing out birth control methods...Michael Jackson said "If you can't feed your baby, then don't have babies"......I agree!!!

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I selected is Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. The link is http://zttcfn.pub30.convio.net/child-development/from-baby-to-big-kid/. This organization is a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. This organization's focus is to promote good health, strong families, positive early learning experiences, and development of infants and toddlers. One issue that caught my attention was parenting from a distance.  I feel the importance of this issue is greatly overlooked.  Parents who are separated from their children due to divorce, hospitalization, incarceration, foster care, military deloyment and other work related relocation are offered emotional support during these stressful circumstances.  There is definitely a need for these types of support groups.

Establishing Professional Contacts

I have chosen to take the alternate route to Part 1 of this assignment.  Honestly, I just have too much on my plate at the moment to choose the option of attempting to contact and communicate with an early childhood professional outside of the United States.  I am a single parent of 3 and a full-time employee.  Its hard enough for me to balance all that I have going on right now in my personal/professional life, reading the required resources, doing the applications, and responding in depth to discussion questions. I cant imagine adding finding time to contact and communicate with someone else.  If anyone has any suggestions I am definitely open to hearing them.  The organization I chose is Zero to Three: National Cener for Infants, Toddlers, and Families.

My Supports

I would have to say that the number one support in my life is God. It is definitely through Him that I receive all my help.  Without God's assistance I would have nothing and I would be nothing. My mother is my next source of support.  Although she resides 3 hours away and is not physically supporting me or providing direct support to me daily, her conversations and encouraging words help me tremendously.  At times it can be an extreme inconvenience when trainings for my job require me to stay several nights away from home, or when my children are ill and unable to attend school.  During those times, I have no worries because I know my mother is only a telephone call away and will meet me half way to pick up and keep my children for as long as I need her to.  We talk on the phone several times a day and she really keeps me going.  I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. My oldest son is also a great contributor to my support because he spends a lot of time with my two younger children.  I wanted my last child to be a girl, but thank God for all my boys because simple things like having my son bathe them at night while I do other things is greatly appreciated.  Because he enjoys spending time with them by taking them for walks in the neighborhood or playing outside, I am able to accomplish many things due to his support.  It would be very difficult to do some of what I do without my oldest son's support because my other two children are young and close in age.  The benefits of my mother's and son's support is that they allow me those much needed breaks when I need them the most.  They are both very encouraging, they help me to stay focused, and remind me to keep a positive attitude.

The challenge I chose to imagine would be not having a vehicle.  I would definitely have to have some very supportive friends because I have absolutely no family residing in the city I reside in.  Those people would have to be very willing, able, patient, compassionate, and understanding. They would also have to have a large vehicle to accomodate my family and it would certainly help if they didn't have any children of their own.  I would have to do some budget changes to provide them with gas money as well as pay for a taxi whenever necessary.   

My Connection to Play

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

"It is in playing, and only in playing, that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self" - D.W. Winnicott

Considering the fact that my mom worked during the day, I would go to my grandmother's house after school when I was a child.  I would also spend the summer's at my grandmother's house.  She encouraged my play by sending my cousins and I outside with a pitcher of ice water and cups. I had no choice but to be creative and play all day because once we went outside my grandmother locked her door so we could not come "in and out" her house.  All the tools I needed to enjoy play were dirt and water.  I would pour the water in the dirt and make mud pies, put water in an old pot with grass to make collard greens, etc.  I was extremely content pretending I was cooking all day.  It's amazing how as an adult the only channel I watch is the cooking channel.  I am so addicted that I have extra televisions so my young children can watch cartoons on one side of the room and I can still watch the cooking channel.  I also love to bake. Play is different now than it was when I was growing up because back then everything was so hands on. I didn't attend preschool because I stayed home with relatives.  All they knew to do with me was to play.  I guess that is why I understand the importance of play because I remember having so much fun.  By the time I went to kindergarten I didn't mind doing academic work because I was allowed to play as much as I liked prior to going.  I learned so many things through play that can't be taught by listening to a teacher explain or sitting at a table doing worksheets all day.  Play today is a little more structured than play when I was growing up.  Teachers don't want to clean up the mess children can make or they have a difficult time understanding how children are actually learning through play.  My thoughts regarding play throughout my life are I AM GLAD I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY!!! As an adult, it isn't much fun working a full time job, paying bills, raising a family, and trying to obtain my Master's degree.  However, the fact that I had such great fun as a child, makes it a little easier and I know how to laugh and deal with stress better.  My children definitely appreciate the fact that I had a fun-filled childhood too because we always have a wonderful time together......

Relationship Reflection

There are only two people that I have developed great realationships with....My mother and my oldest son.  I am the mother of three boys and of course I have a relationship with all my children, however, my other two children are only 2 years and 9 months.  The relationship with my mother developed first of all by her being my mom and me being her daughter.  My relationship with my mother means the world to me and it keeps me grounded.  What keeps our relationship healthy and strong is the fact that we speak to each other daily, we listen to, encourage, motivate, and support each other 100% in all our endeavors.  I lend my ear as well as my shoulder if she needs to release a few tears and I always try to be positive.  The characteristics that distinquish this relationship from others is the fact that I know my mother will always be honest with me and I know I can talk to her about anything as well as tell her anything without worrying about her repeating it to someone else.  I would be nothing without this relationship because I would be nothing without my mother.  The relationship with my son began the moment I discovered I was pregnant. This relationship affects my life because it gave me a new purpose in life.  It taught me how great it feels to care for and love another person unconditionally. This relationship stays healthy and strong because we have mutual respect for each other and I allow him to openly and respectfully voice his opinions. He is comfortable enough to discuss anything with me.  What distinguishes this relationship from others is that there just simply isn't any other love better than the love a mother has for her son.  Without this type of relationship I believe it would be easy for my son to be pressured by peers and lose focus on the things that are important to him in life.