"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.

CHILDREN'S NECESSITIES!!



Children Need:

Appreciation, for all they bring into our lives

Balance, somewhere between too little and too much

Commitment, it’s the little things we do each day that matter

Dreams, to touch the future

Empathy, remember what it was like to be a child

Family and Friends, everyone needs someone to love

Guidance, actions speak louder than words

Healthy Habits, to nurture body, mind, and spirit

Inspiration, to explore beauty, wonder, and mystery

Joy, sprinkle laughter and happiness daily

Kindness, to learn to care for others as they are cared for

Limits, set boundaries and consequences

Mentors, to give wings to their aspirations

Nature, to delight in rainbow butterflies and shooting stars

Opportunities, to discover what truly makes their hearts sing

Play, the “work” of childhood

Quite Time, to recharge their batteries

Responsibilities, to build self esteem and self-confidence

Security, feeling safe is essential for growth

Traditions, keep family tree alive and sprout new branches

Unconditional Love, for who they are not for what they do

Values, live yours and encourage them to find theirs

Words of Encouragement, you can do it, I believe in you

XOXOXO’s, hug and kiss them each and every day

You, your presence more than your presents

ZZZZZZZs, a good night’s sleep

-Written by Meiji Stewart-

Viewing Children Holistically

When considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically I believe a child’s biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development should be considered and measured. These three aspects form the basis of child development and affect the continued development as a teenager and adult. In viewing children holistically, biosocial development should be assessed with regards to brain development. Special attention should be give to the child’s selective attention and automatization abilities. Selective attention is the ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others, and automatization is a process in which repetition of a sequence of thoughts and actions makes a sequence routine, so that it no longer requires conscious thought. Selective attention and automatization are key components in early school competence for children. Cognitive development should be assessed with regards to the information-processing theory which is a perspective that compares human thinking processes, by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories, and output. Information processing theory includes two major components, sensory memory and control processes. Sensory memory is a system in which incoming stimulus information is stored for a split second to allow it to be stored Control processes are mechanisms that combine memory, processing speed, and knowledge to regulate the analysis and flow of information within the information-processing system. These two components are critical to process by which a child processes, retains, and memorizes information learned in school. Psychosocial development should be assessed with regards to a child’s experiences with stress and his or her resilience. As with adults, the physical, mental, and emotional abilities become hindered in children who encounter frequent experiences of stress. This could affect a child’s ability to learn and retain information in school without the development of resilience. Resilience is the capacity to adapt well to significant adversity and to overcome serious stress.

In researching ways in which school-age children are assessed in other parts of the world, I chose to further explore the assessment of school-age children in Africa. The Department of Education in Africa created a National Curriculum Statement which included eight learning areas such as languages, mathematics, natural sciences, technology, social sciences, arts and culture, life orientation, economic and management sciences. Each learning area has assessment standards and learning outcomes which are created from critical and developmental outcomes. The learning outcome describes what the learner should know, be able to do, and demonstrate at the end of each appropriate period. The assessment standard describes the extent to which the learner should be able to do the task and the way they can demonstrate the task.

Tinisha's Childhood Experiences

As a child I was raised in a home that included my mother, father, and older sister. Although my parents appeared to have a martial relationship built upon support, communication, and love for my sister and I, their styles of parenting were extremely different. My father’s parenting style was characteristic of Baumrind’s “authoritative parenting” whereas my mother’s parenting style was characteristic of “authoritarian parenting”. My father set rules and regulations for me and my sister, while maintain open communication, and expressing his forgiveness at times when we may have disobeyed him. My mother’s unspoken motto was “what I say goes with no exceptions”, therefore my sister and I was not allowed to question my mothers rule, regulations, or forms of punishment. There was never communication with my mother regarding me and my sister’s feelings and we hardly ever heard my mother utter the words “I Love You” to me or my sister. Whenever I would disobey my mother or behave in a manner that was unacceptable to her standards I was harshly punished. My mother would become verbally abusive, calling me derogatory names such “stupid” and “dumb”, while also becoming physically abusive. I was hit open-handed and closed-fist, beat with belts while wearing little or no clothes, and grabbed my arms and hair. Often this form of punishment would occur when my father was at work as my father would strictly forbid my mother from punishing me in that manner. Although my father was not in agreement in my mother’s style of punishment, he was unable to avoid her using that form of punishment due to the fact that this type of behavior often took placed in my father’s absence. This type of punishment occurred between the ages of 7 and 15 years old (if my memory serves me correctly). During these years I tended to you my friends, extracurricular activities, and grandparents as forms of emotional support. My friends were individuals that I could confide in and seek emotional support. Extracurricular activities were used as an outlet to escape the uncomfortable and uneasy feeling that resulted from my mother’s return home from work as I never knew her emotional state which directly effected her communication and interaction with me and my sister. My grandparents were the most beneficial form of emotional support due to the fact that they provided me a sense of love, emotional support, stability, and sense of nurturing which were all aspects that I was lacking in my home and longing for in my mother. In researching stressors that impact the development of children in other countries, I chose to further research the types of stressors that impact the development of children in India. The main stressor that impacts the development of children is the effects of poverty in India. Women in India are traditionally housewives, expected to take care of their children, husband, and household chores. These women typically depend on the income of their husbands as they do not posses enough education or skills to earn their own income and contribute to the overall income of the household. A major problem arise when the husbands of these women become absent from the home due to dissertation or separation. In these types of circumstances the household income takes a drastic decrease while leaving the women with the responsibilities of taking care of the children and household. As a result women typically have to obtain employment outside of the home and leaving their children home to take care of themselves. Seeking caretakers for their children is impossible as these women are at a financial disadvantage and cannot afford the cost of caretaker’s services. These women are often left feeling anxiety about the future of their children. To minimize the harm of poverty on the development of children several policy recommendations have been made which include:

1.      Forming self help groups for single mothers

2.      Adequate publicity and initiation of innovative strategies to reach out to needy families in an effort to enlarge the scope of existing welfare services.

3.      Forming programs for the provisions of childcare and other support systems for the mother headed families.

4.      Providing foster care, child sponsorship, nutrition, and day care programs.

5.      Creating flexible workplace provisions and work schedules for mothers.

BREASTFEEDING ROCKS!!!!

Breastfeeding is an important and meaningful public health measure to me because I am the mother of a 10 month old son who is breastfeed. From the moment I discovered that I was pregnant I knew I wanted to exclusively breastfeed my baby for as long as my body would allow. During my pregnancy I read many books and magazines which provided several breastfeeding tips such as the proper position to hold the baby while nursing, particular foods to consume to increase my milk supply, recommendations on the best breast pumps to purchase, and the exceptional benefits that breastfeeding provides to the child. With this information I felt that I was fully prepared to nurse my baby once I delivered. To my surprise I experienced several obstacles in breastfeeding my son when he was born. My son had a difficult time learning how to properly latch on to my breast which may it difficult for him to nurse and receive the amount of milk that his body desired. I also had a difficult time learning how to properly position my son while he was nursing which created some frustration and sense of failure for me. Due to the fact that I was 100% positive that I wanted to exclusively breastfeed my son, these obstacles that I experienced made me feel extremely upset and overwhelmed. Three days after the birth of my son, consistent effort on my part to breastfeed, and an overwhelming amount of teaching and support from the nurses overseeing the care of my son and I; my son finally learned how to properly latch on and I learned how to position my son in a way that was comfortable for the both of us. From that day forward I exclusively breastfeed my son for approximately 7 months. Today my son is 10 months old and breastfeed mostly during the evening hours when I return home from work, in the middle of the night, and early morning before I leave for work. During the hours in which my son is in daycare he receives 2% milk and apple juice (when he desires). Breastfeeding is very important to me because I believe it provides the child with the healthiest source of nutrition while creating an amazing bond between the mother and child.

I research breastfeeding practices among Urban and Rural mothers in New Delhi India and discovered some surprising statistics.  As a global public health recommendation, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) should be practiced for the 1^st 6 months of a baby’s life to achieve optimum growth, development, and health. Breastfeeding in India is almost universal but the EBF rate is low. The Third National Family Health Survey from India reported an EBF rate of 46.3% at 5 months postpartum. A longitudinal study was conducted in New Delhi and Ballabgarh India which showed that 21% of urban woman and 35% of rural woman initiated breastfeeding within 1 hr of giving birth. The EFB rate at the time of discharge was 38% for urban woman and 57% for rural women. The EFB rates in India are low and fall progressively during the first 6 months.

Reading this information inspired me to become and advocate for breastfeeding. I believe woman who are less educated about the benefits of breastfeeding, techniques to aid in the adjustment of breasting for the mother and baby, tips for working mother who chose to breastfeed are less likely to attempt breastfeeding or continue breastfeeding beyond their discharge from the hospital. An increased amount of advocacy, support, and education will increase the number of breastfeeding women which enhances the growth and development of babies in the present and future generations.

MY PERSONAL BIRTHING EXPERIENCE

On December 19, 2010 I entered into the maternity ward of Riddle Memorial Hospital in preparation to have my labor induce. As the nurse assisted me with registration and began my IV I instantly became fully aware that I would be holding my newborn son within the next 24 hours.  My induction began with a dose of medication in an effort to “jump start” dilation. Typically this medication is followed by a dose of Pitocin should dilation not progress. In my case Pitocin was not needed as the medication began dilation and caused a steady progression of labor. Approximately 7 hours into labor I was given an epidural which eased the pain and discomfort of my consistent contractions enabling me to rest comfortably for a few hours. Approximately 10 hours into labor I awakened from my sleep feeling rested and slight relief from the pain of my contractions. As my labor progressed my contractions became more intense and at times they felt unbearable. At this point I was given second epidural because I was not receiving any pain relief from my original epidural. The second epidural slightly reduced the pain of my contractions but I felt an extreme amount of discomfort and pain in my lower abdomen with very contraction that occurred. Approximately 16 hours into labor my oxygen levels began to drop and my son’s heart rate became irregular. The doctor warned me should I not dilate to 10 cm. or the heart rate of my son continues to drop she would request a C-section to be performed. Approximately 17 hours into labor I was examined by my doctor and informed that I was 9(1/ cm. dilated but the heart rate of my son was in danger. At this point my doctor requested an emergency C-section. I was immediately transferred to an operating bed, prepped for surgery, and transported down the hall into the operating room. In the operating room the doctors began to quickly provide me with anesthesia while the nurses assisted the doctors in preparation for surgery and the delivery of my son. After 19 hours in labor and approximately 10 minutes of surgery my son was born on December 20, 2010 at 3:55pm, weighing 8lbs 9ozs, and 21 inches long. I chose this experience because the birth of my son because is the most rewarding and joyful experience of my life. The birthing experience of a child impacts the child’s development particularly during the period of 0-12 months. This period is crucial to the physical, mental, and emotional development of a child. For this reason it is important to make every effort to have and or promote a calm, supportive, and safe labor and delivery for the mother and child.

I researched the birthing experience of woman in South Africa in reading an article titled “Woman Experiences of a Vaginal Delivery Conducted by a Private Midwife”. Similar to my birthing experience, most births in South Africa take place in a hospital under the care of a medical practitioner. Unlike my birthing experience many South African woman feel dissatisfied with their birthing experience, disempowered, loss of control during labor, sense of abandonment, and lack of involvement. As a result there are an increase number of women who prefer to have a midwife perform the delivery of their child. South African woman who had a midwife perform the delivery of their child reported feeling safe, secure, and in control which helped them enjoy the birthing process.