SHARING WEB RESOURCES: ZEROTOTHREE

Early Care and Education: Child Care

This section to the Zero to Three website is relevant to my current professional development as it discusses the positive outcomes of early learning experiences. All babies and toddlers need positive early learning experiences to foster their intellectual, social, and emotional development and lay the foundation for school success. Babies and toddlers living in high-risk environments need additional supports to promote their healthy growth and development. All child care arrangements, including family, friend, neighborhood, family, and center based child care have the potential to provide high-quality, individualized, responsive and stimulating experiences that occur within the context of strong relationships and which are embedded in everyday routines (ZEROTOTHREE, 2012).

Infant-Toddler Policy Issues: Child Care

 This section of the website encouraged me to further explore policy issues related to child care within my home state of Delaware. In October 2008, the Delaware Department of Education showed a commitment to professional development with the creation of the new Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood at the University of Delaware. The institute serves as a professional development clearinghouse for practitioners working with young children and their families, both coordinating and collaborating with current providers of professional development. To launch the institute, the University of Delaware received a 3 year $2.4 million grant from the Department of Education, funded primarily with federal Child Care and Development Block Grant dollars. The new institute officially opened on Novemenber1, 2008 (ZEROTOTHREE, 2012).

Politicians Support for the Early Childhood Field:

Early Head Start and the Child Care and Development Fund were established to provide high-quality early care and education programs as protective buffers against the multiple adverse influences that may hinder a child’s development in all domains (ZERO TO THREE, 2012).

Early Head Start- The only federal program designed to improve the early education experiences of low income infants and toddlers. The program’s mission is to support healthy prenatal outcomes and enhance the intellectual, social, and emotional development of infants and toddlers to promote later success in school and life (ZERO TO THREE, 2012).

Child Care and Development Fund- A block grant that provide funds to help improve the quality and supply of child care for low income children and their families. Through the use of subsidies the Child Care and Development Fund help working parents make informed choices about the most appropriate child care for their children. The infant-toddler set-aside of Child Care and Development Fund, has helped states focus on the unique needs of infants and toddlers by investing in specialized infant-toddler provider training, providing technical assistance to programs and practitioners, and linking compensation with training and demonstrated competence. Despite modest increases in federal child care funding, CCDF funds are insufficient to serve all eligible children (ZEROTOTHREE, 2012).

GETTING TO KNOW INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS

PODCAST: TJ SKALSKI

My chosen podcast participant is TJ Skalski a Principal of the Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School which is the first indigenous charter school in Canada. TJ is originally from the Blood Reserve a raised in southern Alberta. She eventually left southern Alberta to complete her education including her Master’s degree.

During TJ’s podcast she discusses her start as a Principle of the Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School in addition to specific challenges she faced with her new career. Out of 13 charter schools located in Canada, the Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School is the only school with an indigenous focus. TJ describes her first year as a Principal of the Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School as “hell”. Prior to TJ’s arrival there were 5 different principles within the past five years. The turnover rate among principals within the school was outrageous considering the fact that the school had only been open for five years.

The start of TJ’s new career as a Principal of the Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School made her the first principal to maintain that position for one consecutive year. It took TJ 2 years to learn about the evolution of the school and develop an understanding of the school’s mission. The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School prides itself on creating a community in which culture and language is placed at the forefront.

TJ stated that she believes that family culture and language is essential to the survival of people. TJ stated that family values are essential qualities missing the lives of children within the current generation, leaving many feeling trapped between family culture and “dominate” culture. As a Principal of the Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School TJ strives to build dreams and hope for children while inspiring children to do more with their lives.

CHINA POVERTY INSIGHTS

1. Between 4-8% of the urban population live in poverty, equating to 15-31 million people.

2. 4.2 Million Chinese children live in absolute poverty while 8.7 million live in disadvantaged conditions.

3. Recent studies suggest that health and education reforms reduce poor families’ ability to make use of these vital services.

1. Study in Beijing, the richest city in China, found that 75% of poor families could not afford all children’s education cost such as tuition and stationary.
2. 50% of families living in Shanghai had no medical insurance due to families’ inability to afford the expensive cost.

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

ZERO TO THREE: NATIONAL CENTER FOR INFANTS TODDLER, AND FAMILIES

http://www.zerotothree.org/

 Organization Focus: ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit that inform, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. ZERO TO THREE envisions a society that has the knowledge and will to support all infants and toddlers in reaching their full potential. The work of ZERO TO THREE is (1) grounded in research and experience (2) multidisciplinary (3) collaborative (4) culturally responsive (5) clinically informed (6) accessible.

Current Issue/Trend: Fun activities that nurture your baby’s development and his/her connection to you.

ZERO TO THREE March newsletter highlights several toddler capabilities and corresponding actions that can be taken by parents/caregivers to establish a connection with the child.  ZERO TO THREE highlights toddler’s use of language to understand the world around them. Examples of this capability include (1) walking, running, and climbing (2) scribbling with a crayon and building a block tower (3) self feeding. Parent/Caregiver’s corresponding actions include (1) providing the child chances to explore outdoors in safe places (2) encouraging the child to use his/her fingers and hands to explore (3) show the child how to use a spoon and fork.

ESTABLISHING PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS AND EXPANDING RESOURCES

Steps Taken To Establish Professional Contacts:

1. Reviewed Early Childhood professional contacts located on Global Alliance for the Education of Young Children.
2. Selected four regions of the world to explore professional early childhood contacts: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
3. Selected six professional contacts:

a.       Africa (Ghana): Rev Charles Arto-Nunoo; Email (2kdotcom@ghana.com)

b.      Asia (Phillippines): OMEP Phillippines National Committee Center for Early Childhood Care & Development; Email (child_ceccd@yahoo.com)

c.       Europe (Spain): OMEP Comite Nacional Espanol World Association of Early Childhood Educators; Email (jsm@waece.org)

d.      North America ( Cuba): OMEP Comite Nacional Cubano; Email (celep_cuba@yahoo.com)

e.       North America (Haiti): Step by Step Program/ Tipa Tipa; Email (tipatipa@hainet.net)

4. Sent email to six chosen professional contacts

*****Sample Email*****

Good Morning!

My name is Tinisha Weathers and I am a graduate student at Walden University, pursuing my Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Studies with a specialization in Public Policy and Advocacy. I am currently taking a course titled Issues and Trends. Within this course I am required to establish contacts with early childhood professionals around the world with whom I can communicate with on a weekly basis regarding their work, the state of the early childhood field within their country, their concerns, hopes, and dreams for the future of the early childhood field. I have retrieved your information from the Global Alliance for The Education of Young Children website and would like to establish you as a contact to discuss various aspects of the early childhood field within your country. If you are interested in establishing a mutual contact please feel free to respond to this email with your expression of interest.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration and have a wonderful day!!!

After emailing my six selected professional contacts, I received four error messages advising me that my email was not delivered to the designated email address, one messages advising me that my email is still in the delivery process, and no error message or response from the remaining contact. Should I not receive a response from the two remaining contacts and or receive an error message, I will resort to the World Forum as an alternative.

The organization that I chose to explore is Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families: http://www.zerotothree.org/

I chose this organization due to my recent research experience of this website in my Early Childhood Development course. I found this website to be educational and informational regarding the growth and development of children and I am very interested in exploring the organization in greater depth. I subscribed to the organization’s newsletter to receive monthly updates.

MY SUPPORTS

Factors within my daily environment that are supportive to me include my career, family and friends, monthly planner, and monthly kitchen calendar

           

            My career is an obvious support for me within my daily environment as it is my main source income, enabling me to support myself and my family. My career benefits me financially by providing me with a sufficient salary which enables me to maintain a home and car, living expenses such as food and clothing, day care expense for my 13 month old son, in addition to miscellaneous expenses such as toys and books for my son. In the absence of my career life for me and my family would be extremely difficult and unstable as I would be unable to provide the basic necessities of life and maintain stability.

            Family and friends are supports within my daily environment as they provide emotional and financial support when needed. My sister is by far the most supportive person to me within my family. She is always there to provide an open ear for me to discuss my issues and concerns while offering me encouraging words and advice. She is the only family member that never judges me on the personal decisions I make within my life. In the absence of my sister I would most likely feel emotionally unstable and unsupportive. My true friends also provide emotional support during stressful times within my life. The birth of my son changed the relationships with some of my friends as my time spent with them became limited as a result of my new responsibilities as a mother. Although my priorities changed I have one true friend who remained supportive of my new life style and personal responsibilities.   

            My monthly planner and monthly kitchen calendar are supports within my daily environment as they are very useful resources that allow me to maintain organization. My monthly planner is carried with me everyday in my handbag and used to make a note of due dates for bills, special events, doctor’s appointments, and scheduled days off from work. My monthly kitchen calendar is mostly used to plan my dinner menu from Monday to Friday. On Sunday night I typically create a dinner menu for the entire work week and specifically write on the calendar the selected meal to be prepared for each day. In the absence of my monthly planner and monthly kitchen calendar my life would feel more stressful, chaotic, and unorganized. My weekly schedule is very busy with the management of my career, family, school, and social life; therefore these resources allow me to maintain each aspect of my life in a more efficient manner.

When I think about a specific challenge that I do not currently have, the challenges, and the kinds of supports I would want and need emotionally, practically, and physically; I envision being a paralyzed mother of a 13 month old child as a result a sever car accident.

With this disability I would need emotional, practical, and physically support from family and friends. Emotional support would be beneficial in assisting me in becoming accepting and adjusted to this new life style. When a person become paralyzed they could be left with a sense of hopeless, unwanted dependency on others, and loss of self confidence. Emotional support from family and friends may assist with the processing of these natural feelings. Physical support would be beneficial in assisting with the daily routine and parenting responsibilities. At 13 months children are extremely active and maintain a significant amount of dependency. Although most 13 month old children have the ability of feeding themselves small finger foods and drinking juice or milk from a bottle or sippy cup without assistance; may other aspect of their life require the assistance of an adult such as diaper changes, bathing, feeding of spoon feed foods, and getting them dressed. Physical support from family and friends would help elevate the stress of these responsibilities and or the senses of inadequacy due to difficultly in properly caring for the child. Practical support would be beneficial in assisting with other aspects of everyday life such as showering/bathing, getting dressed, cooking & cleaning, personal errands, and doctor’s appointments. Requesting the help of family and friends provides overall assistance in all aspect of life. 

"MY CONNECTIONS TO PLAY"



“Culture arises and unfolds in and as play”

-Johan Huizinga-

Dutch Historian

1872-1945

“Play keeps us fit physically and mentally”

-Stuart Brown, MD-

Contempory American Psychiatrist

The people who supported me the most during play in my childhood were my mother and older sister. My favorite form of play as a child was imaginative play. I had a collection of baby dolls, baby doll clothes, and baby doll clothes which I used for imaginative play. I often pretended that I was a mother caring for my young child by bathing, clothing, and nurturing my baby dolls. I would often reenact the typical duties and responsibilities of a mother. My older sister and mother were most supportive of my imaginative play by providing me with the necessities I requested to nurture my baby dolls. My mother would purchase all of my baby doll accessories such as baby doll crib, stroller, play pin, car seat, food, feeding utensils, and bath items. My older sister never questioned times in which I insisted on taking my baby doll along for family outings in her car seat and stroller. When I would take my baby doll out in public in her stroller and became tired of walking, my mother never hesitated to take over carrying my baby doll and stroller nor discouraged me from taking my baby doll out in public in the future. This support that I receive from my mother and older sister encouraged my imaginative play and ultimate fantasy of becoming a nurturing mother.

Play for children today is extremely different from play that I engaged in as a child. Compared to my childhood children today have a greater exposed to television, movies, computers, and cell phone. This increased exposed to various multimedia sources can be a gift and a curse to say the least. These sources can be a gift in the sense that children today have a greater opportunity than when I was a child to enhance their learning of the world around them as well as ways to use various technology resources that will prove to be beneficial in the future. These resources can also be a curse in the senses that an over exposure to these multimedia sources hinders children’s ability to engage in other forms of play that will promote overall physical and mental wellness such outside activities, group activities,  and arts and crafts. I would hope that educational institutions will reincorporate specific times each daily to focus on physical well being of children through activities such as recess, gym, arts and music, and imaginative play.

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

I Have Positive Relationships With:

My Son

My Father

My Mother

My Older Sister

Ways In Which Each Relationship Is Positive & Factors That Maintain Each Relationship:

My Son: The relationship that I have with my son is positive through my nurturing abilities. These abilities are expressed verbally and nonverbally such as giving daily hugs and kisses and constantly telling my son that “I Love Him”. I work to ensure that this relationship is maintained by devoting every moment of my free time to my son. I typically take time out of everyday to have story time, play time, or activity time. I recently brought my son CD-Player for his nursery and a musical CD which play various “kid friendly” songs.  My son loves when we spend time in his nursery listening to this CD and singing along together. The smile that appears on my son’s face during our time spent together is priceless and worth every second spent with him. I believe these simple moments will make a lifelong lasting impression for my son while teaching him how to maintain positive relationships/partnerships.

My Father: The relationship that I have with my father is positive through our sense of communication. My father is my first line of contact when I am in need of support or parental advice. Although I might not always agree with my father’s advice or opinion, I am confident in seeking his support knowing that he will listen to my concerns or questions with an open unbiased mind. I work to ensure that this relationship is maintained through consistent contact with my father. As a child I typically did not have daily conversations with my father as he was busy with work and I was busy with school, extracurricular activities, and spending time with friends. As an adult and parent myself, I make every effort to contact my father on a daily basis to see how his day went or update him on the new and interesting developments of his active 12 month old grandson.

My Mother: The relationship that I have with my mother is positive through her commitment of supporting me with my son when needed. As a mother, career woman, and student the amount of stressed and need for assistance have increased since the birth of my son. My mother makes every effort possible to provide her support and assist me with my son from babysitting for me to get some much needed “free time” to keeping my son entertained while I complete a homework assignment or catch a quick “cat nap”. I work to ensure that this relationship is maintained by expressing my appreciation and gratitude to my mother for her support and assistance. Over the past year since the birth of my son I have come to realize how fortunate I am to have a mother who is able and willing to assist me as many women are not provided the luxury.

My Sister: The relationship that I have with my sister is positive through the unbreakable bond and connection we share together. My sister and I tend to do everything together from shopping to activities with the kids. I tend to seek motherly advice from my sister as I admire her as a mother and her style of parenting. I tend to take many tips and ideas from my sister with regards to motherhood and parenting. My sister has a son who is 12 days older than my son in addition to a 5 yrs old son which make her a convenient and reliable person to seek parenting advice. In watching her raise my two nephews I have learned ways to interact with my son and build a positive nurturing connection. I work to ensure this relationship is maintained through consistent communication and weekend activities. As our lives become more hectic with our daily routine of work and family it’s important for me to maintain our connection and lay a foundation for our children to develop a positive relationship among each other.