Reflections on Child Development

“the imagination itself becomes a key feature of development – a central mechanism in communication; something that allows us to explore and respect diversity and to conceive of and create change”

- Sandra Smidt, p. 54 in "The Developing Child in the 21st Century" 

I just ran across this quote when working on my final reflection for our Early Childhood Development course.  I had written in the margin beside it the word "Selah", a term used many times in the Christian Bible which means to pause and think on this.  So I paused and thought about it.  Imagination is a precursor for change, selah...In a world where much change is needed, there is hope in the imagination.  How lightly I used to esteem play before taking this course!  Now that I understand the importance of play and exploration in child development, I have so much more reverence for the blessing that is childhood.  This world would benefit if we all endeavored to keep the child inside us alive.

Testing and Evaluation...to do or not to do?

 I think a child must be given a chance to demonstrate their understanding of whatever they’re being taught. Because the child is a multidimensional being, I believe they must learn and be taught a variety of things, and be evaluated in various ways.  Not only must one type of intelligence be evaluated (ie. Logical reasoning) but several types should be evaluated (musical, emotional, etc.) and valued.  A child should be able to learn early what their strengths and weaknesses are as well as what they’re passionate about.  (although this changes over time, it’s still good for them to identify current passions)  This way, they can develop a love for learning in the area(s) that they enjoy and in which they excel, which might encourage them not to feel like a failure for not grasping another area of intelligence. 

Testing is good because schools need to be held accountable for using funds properly so students benefit, tax dollars need to be spent well, parents need to know their children are learning etc. etc. I feel, however, that many children in the U.S. are being tested more than they’re being taught and this is a major problem.  Another problem is the way evaluations are done.  All children can’t be expected to take “tests” well.  We must create better, more natural ways to evaluate our children’s progress.  I know this is a serious difficulty in schools with little man power, low funding if any, undereducated/under-experienced, overworked, underpaid, and impassionate teachers and administrators in a society that inadequately values the education of young children.  (that was a mouthful :-) This is early childhood right now in many places and it’s got to get better than this.  Let’s consider how the Danes do it:

Denmark Coastline

In Denmark, they have a “class teacher” system from grades 1-9 (ages 7 to 16/17) where one teacher stays with the same class this entire time.   

[Sidebar: the benefits of this system are amazing: students and teachers form relationships instead of operating under the mindset of being rid of each other the next year, teachers are less burned out from teaching the same subject at the same level year after year and never really knowing how their teaching is impacting their children, the teacher is able to experience the joy of seeing their children progress year after year, the class teacher coordinates with other teachers their students have, children have an automatic social group, parents are involved heavily, the teacher really learns each child well, etc.]   

The classes are composed children from all backgrounds and abilities that remain together each year.  During this time, tests, quizzes, and grades are not used often at all.  Teachers do, however, meet regularly with parents to discuss the child’s progress.  At the end of this period (1^st-9^th grade, Age 16 or 17), the student is required to “pass a series of written and oral examinations on required and elective subjects” (Morrill, 2003, p.3) and then goes on to enter high school or vocational school (age 19-24).  Each child has two examiners: their “class teacher” who knows them very well and another “external examiner” who is an expert in the subject on which they are testing.  The two examiners hear the student and come up with an evaluation on a scale of 3 (not passing) to 13 (excellent).  In this system, praise and encouragement of each child’s skills and progress is more prevalent than criticism and harsh evaluation.  I like this sytem!  It will be interesting to learn what the contrasting views of this system are however.

References

Danish Ministry of Education

http://www.eng.uvm.dk/

School and Education in Denmark

http://www.au.dk/en/icstaff/spouseandchildren/schoolandeducationindenmark/

Education in Denmark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Folkeskole_Education

Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark

http://www.ambbeijing.um.dk/en/menu/InfoAboutDenmark/Education+and+Research/The+Danish+Educational+System/?wbc_purpose=basic

Related Journals

Early Years: Journal of International Research & Development

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

Childhood Education

Phi Delta Kappan

Comparative Education

European Journal of Special Needs Education

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Beans and Pie Crust

Well, I didn’t really experience any of the stressors listed for this assignment as a child, so I chose to ask my dad what he might have experienced when he was younger…

He told me about the poverty he experienced.  He told me how his mother (who died when I was just a baby) raised him on her own and how, when he was younger, he didn’t even realize the situation they were in.  He remembers having “beans and pie crust for dinner…but those were some good beans and pie crust!”  He’s often talked about how well his mother cooked.  I believe it was the nurturing and care that he received from his mom that helped him cope with it.  It wasn’t really until he was older that he said he realized the stress that was on her.

He also discussed his mother’s mental illness that was a result of the many stressors in her life and how he began to know when she would be “getting sick.”  The affect it had on him was mostly the sadness he had for her having to deal with this.  Looking back on it, he had nothing but positive repercussions of this experience.  He talked about how it fueled his desire to do well in school so that she wouldn’t have the stress of a bad child to deal with.  He also discussed how dealing with her helped him to have sensitivity when dealing with others he came across in his life who had mental illness and how God just allowed him to be able to see what he saw and deal with it.  His final outlook he says with a smile in his voice: “I was fortunate; I came through it mostly in tact.” As my dad related to me his experiences with these stressors, he also discussed how malleable children are; that they can go through so much and not even realize it and still “do remarkably”.

Poverty and Brazilian Children

I viewed a 2005 study from several students at Tulane University about Brazilian children, which indicated that at that time, 7-8 million Brazilian children were estimated to be living on the streets while 25 million were living below the poverty line (Bodack, Hunter, Kaufman, Kelly, 2005).  This study discussed how poverty is really the root cause of all the other stressors they experience, including disease and malnutrition, drug abuse, lack of education, and even prostitution.  There has been legislation created to combat the problem of the increasing numbers of street children that gives them rights to many things including “health, nutrition, education, and leisure” (Bodack et. Al, 2005).  Recent legislation has been put into place that provides financial incentives to parents to send their children to school (Bodack et. Al, 2005).  There have also been a number of programs and organizations instituted to help these children.  This study also indicates that, although these solutions are helping the children, more must be done to combat the root cause of their poverty: unjust governmental policy.  Isn’t this always the root of the issue?

Resources

Tulane University “The Truth Behind Children in Brazil”

http://homeport.tcs.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids99/brazil.html

The Channel: an organization committed to “transforming the nation of Brazil, one child at a time”

http://www.thechannel.org/aboutUs.html

Public Health Issues: A Focus on Nutrition

I eat pretty healthy (most of the time) and it always saddens me when children don’t have access to a variety of healthy, nutritious foods like I do.  It saddens me more when the adults rearing them don’t support healthy eating habits, are ignorant of the benefits of proper nutrition, or usually, just can’t afford it.  Maybe I’m a little passionate about this aspect of child development. I’ve got all kinds of ideas for nutrition programs that would possibly be able increase low-income families’ access to nutritional meals. I chose the topic of nutrition/malnutrition with a desire to learn more about it and perhaps gain insight that will help me advocate for improvements in this realm.

Here’s some practical information about nutrition I learned:

Breast milk is the best milk.  

-       According to the World Health Organization (2010), infants should be fed only breast milk for their first 6 months of life, after which they should be fed a variety of complimentary foods with breast milk on demand for up to 23 months and beyond.

If You Teach them, they will learn…how to eat.

-       a study on low-income mothers and children in Brazil showed that children of mothers who were given in-home, consistent nutritional counseling over the first year of their child’s life had a better diet quality at 3 to 4 years old (Vitolo, Rauber, Campagnolo, Feldens, Hoffman, 2010).

Trained Physicians = Healthy Children

-       Studies in Brazil and Pakistan showed that physicians and healthcare workers with continuing education in nutrition counseling were more likely to counsel their parents on good nutritional practices and make sure their parents understood the advice.  These mothers were better able to recall the information they learned and were also more frequently practicing the information they learned as indicated in health and body exams (Pelto, Santos, Goncalves, Victoria, Martines, Habicht, 2003; Zaman, Ashraf, Martines, 2008).

What I gained most in this exercise is exposure to sources that major in worldwide nutritional health.  I now have specific, trusted sources to go to for research and training that can benefit parents with whom I have future contact and opportunity to teach.  Here is a list of them:

Infant and Young child Feeding. Article. Retrieved from:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs342/en/index.html#

Global Strategy for Infant and young child feeding. Article. Retrieved from:

http://www.who.int/child_adolescent_health/topics/prevention_care/child/nutrition/global/en/index.html#

10 Facts on Nutrition. Article. Retrieved from:

http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/nutrition/facts/en/index.html

World Health Organization (World Focused)

Journal of Health, Population, & Nutrition (World Focused)

Journal of Nutrition Education (U.S. focused)

Resources

Vitolo, M., Rauber, F., Campagnolo, P., Feldens, C., Hoffman, D. (2010). Maternal dietary counseling in the first year of life is associated with a higher healthy eating index in childhood. The Journal of Nutrition.140(11), p. 2002-2007. Doi:10.3945/jn.110.125211.

Pelto, G., Santos, I, Goncalves, H; Victoria, C., Martines, J., Habicht, J. (2003). Nutrition counseling training changes physician behavior and improves caregiver knowledge and acquisition. The Journal of Nutrition. 134(2), p. 357-362

Zaman, S., Ashraf, R., Martines, J. (2008). Training in complementary feeding counseling of healthcare workers and its influence on maternal behaviours and child growth: a cluster-randomized controlled trial in lahore, Pakistan. Journal of Population, Health, and Nutrition. 2, p. 210-222

My birth experience...if you can call it that

I’ve never really attended anyone’s birth and I’ve never given birth myself so I feel a little disconnected from this precious woman's rite of passage.  However, I have been associated with a few births and they all occurred in hospitals.  I am happy to report that I have a cousin scheduled to have a water birth in a few months.  I’m exited to see how it goes!

I chose to share my experience of my little brother's birth because it's the only one I really have any personal memories of.  It was very special and exciting because I knew my baby brother was coming but I was only six years old and didn't really understand what was going on.  I was at school (1st grade) during the actual birth, but I did get to come to the hospital later and see him.  They were even going to let me hold him but I was too scared.  My mother stayed in the hospital for a few days afer because she had had a cesarean section.  (I was also a c-section baby) I remember seeing pictures of her looking pretty medicated during the procedure but with a HUGE smile on her face.  Although I've never attended a live birth, I do hope to give birth to my own children one day.

I never really realized that birth was such a delicate process.  I think I assumed that once a child is being born, everything is pretty much all right.  Now that I understand that there are many factors present that can affect a child’s development at birth, I have more reverence for the whole process.

How they do it in the Netherlands...

Most women in the Netherlands give birth at home with a midwife referred by the family’s doctor.  A doctor is only really recommended if there are major complications or in high-risk situations.  It’s so common that there’s even a kit all expectant mothers get that has everything they’ll need for their home delivery! (it's called a "kraampakket", see picture)  Not only does a midwife help them with birth, they actually stay with the family for a week and help around the house and give parenting advice.  I thought this was pretty sweet.  It’d be nice to have someone who’s not your mother but is motherly and very experienced in the whole birth process to hang out with you during this time. 

As stressful as hospitals can be, I think home birth must be a nice way to deliver a child.  No machines and tubes and announcements over a loud speaker.  Although I’ve never actually witnessed a birth, I’ve seen pictures of my mom’s birth and there are always a million nurses and people in the background doing stuff.  I can’t imagine that being very serene.  Considering the effect a mother’s stress level can have on a child’s development, I think home birth might be slightly better than hospital birth because it’s more conducive to lower stress for both mother and baby; especially if you have a trustworthy expert to help you along with the process and you’re doing it in the comfort of your own living room.  How personal it must be as well.  Considering a child’s development, I think it would be good for a child to be born in its own home, not having to experience their first hours of life in the stressful environment of a hospital.   In my humble estimation, the less stress and medical intrusion, the better the birthing experience.   A good birth experience for mother and child can only add to the overall health of a child.

Here’s a link to the woman's site I used.  She gives several candid descriptions of birthing practices in different countries:

http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=1

YAAAAYYYY!!!

Well everyone, it's been a pleasure working with you all in this foundations course, thanks for sharing the pages of your lives with me.  Let's keep up the good work!  One down, a few more to go!

Examining Codes of Ethics

It is my goal that the following professional ideals will become a part of my life as an early childhood professional.  Some of them I already practice but I hope that over time I will more consistently practice these ideals.

NAEYC Ideals:

I-1.1—To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education and to stay informed  through continuing education and training. This is my goal from now on.  I understand that if I want to be effective in this field, I must make consistent effort to staying abreast of knowledge and practice pertinent to this field and my program.

I-2.8—To help family members enhance their understanding of their children and support the continuing development of their skills as parents.  This is an objective of my current early childhood program, about which I am very passionate.  The more parents know, the better cared for their children will be.  I've worked a little to help parents know more about their children from another person's perspective in order to decrease negative parent behavior toward their children (ie: bad-mouthing "you'll never be anything" talk, etc.)  I hope to sharpen these efforts and see more fruit from them.

I-4.6—To promote knowledge and understanding of young children and their needs. To work toward greater societal acknowledgment of children’s rights and greater social acceptance of responsibility for the well-being of all children.  Not only do I wish to inform parents and families, but I wish for greater society to really understand and acknowledge the tremendous value of investing in our children.

 

Division of Early Childhood (DEC) Code of Ethics:

Responsive Family Centered Practices

4. We shall empower families with information and resources so that they are informed consumers of services for their children.  As I continue on this journey of learning more about this field, I am dedicated to learning for myself the resources that are available to families in my community and making families aware of them.