When I Think of Child Development

"Child development does not mean developing your child into the person you think they should be, but helping them develop into the best person they are meant to be."

- Toni Sorenson

This quote in one of my favorites due to the message it sends. We are the role models and those who are supposed to guide the children in our care and community through life. We should not stifle the free spirits or strong willed children we should teach them how to embrace their strong personalities creating leaders. We should take the children who enjoy to teach and guide them show them how to model allow them to have tasks to assist and grow through teaching others. For the shy children we must teach them to embrace the world around them and find comfort in getting to know the surrounding and those who are in it before jumping in and opening up. We were all these children once and there were adults in our lives who embraced and guided us through our life we much remember this while teaching and training new educators and care givers each day.

Testing for Intelligence

When it comes to testing I have rather firm beliefs that all intelligences should be tested not just the traditional subjects, but on the multiple intelligences people are said to obtain. Gardener suggested in the text reading “linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, movement, social understanding, and self-understanding are each associated with different brain regions” (Berger K.S., 2016). These are the concepts testing should be center around not just reading and math.  People are all different their interests and what they choose to retain on all of their experiences as well as exposure to the given material.

When It comes to testing I do believe it can be an important tool as to see how a person retains the information and what they know, however I do not believe the teachers nor child should be penalized by test scores that are not of the standard because not all kids are standard. We must look at the socioeconomics of the children, the framework in the house holds as well as the school and the dynamics of the classrooms. All of this should be taken into consideration when we evaluate children not just how well they are able to take an exam.

Last year my husband was in South Korea living and working on Osan Air Force Base while he was there he was able to explore and learn about the culture around him. One of the common topics we discussed about the culture was the schooling and the importance everyone placed on academics. There would be area wide testing days done by the local children and on those days the base was not allowed to fly the jets unless it was for unforeseen issues that would arise. This was done to allow the children to be able to focus and not have any disruptions as they took their exams. This is an exert of what a normal high schooler would do in a day

           

            “A typical day finds high schoolers studying before school begins at about 8:00 A.M. Classes run for 50 minutes each, with a morning break and a 50-minute lunch period. The afternoon session resumes at about 1:00 P.M., and classes continue until about 4:00 or 4:30, followed by the cleaning of the classroom. Students may then take a short dinner break at home, or they may eat at school. Teachers typically move from room to room, while students stay in one place.” (2016)

This layout of this day seems as though it is relaxed allowing for breaks in the day. The movement of the teachers not the students was also a unique idea. I know I focus better in some areas compared to others this would allow for students to remain focused instead of the hustle and bustle into new environments. “A study done by an education firm Pearson, with Economist Intelligence Unit, it was found that South Korea has the second best education system in the world only second to Finland” (2013). While researching and reading as well as hearing the first-hand experience of my husband I can see how the South Korean children are so successful with academics everyone in the community maintains the common goal of the importance of academics and the knowledge gained.

Center for Global Education. (2016). South Korean Education. http://asiasociety.org/global-cities-education-network/south-korean-education

Nick Clark. June 2013. Education in South Korea. World Education News and Reviews. http://wenr.wes.org/2013/06/wenr-june-2013-an-overview-of-education-in-south-korea

Berger, K. S. (2016). The developing person through childhood (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

A stressor that makes a permeant impact on children and families is death. In 2011 my cousin’s husband died in a motorcycle accident he left behind my cousin and their two boys one was 5 the other 1. I remember seeing their older son at the funeral he was a stone he talked about his dad, but not about the current situation just about him as if he were alive. It was heart wrenching to see him try to process what was happening. He would approach the casket and talk to him as if he was a manikin not the remains of his dad. It was not until we were at the burial site that he final recognized the fact that his dad was gone. I will never forget this remark he looked to his mom and said “mom why did they close dad’s box he can’t breathe if they close it.” My cousin was very eloquent with her response she said “it’s okay because he is in heaven now his new lungs breath the same air as God so even though the box is closed he is alive even if we cannot see or touch him.” How she was able to respond to him and his need is beyond me. I remember at that point walking away to try to gather my emotions.

As time crept on he had many issues anger was the worst he was angry that he did not have a dad like the other children. My uncle, his grandpa, stepped in as both dad and grandpa being present at events that were for dad’s. He would always ask questions about when he would come back and why his helmet was not enough to keep him safe. These are all hard questions for adults and my heart would break each time he would ask these questions. As a family we banded together to offer support to my cousin and her boys. They also turned to the pastor at their church was able to support and offer some insight to the boys about the afterlife easing the ideas of what may have awaited when the box closed. Development of new relationships also helped heal the wounds. Three years ago my cousin met a man and he embraced the accident and taken the boys in as his own they were married a couple months ago. The older son talks openly to him and they discuss the accident since he is now almost 11 he understands the situation more and more. It is still difficult to explain at times about death and the permeants of it, but when handled in safe and supportive environment children can rise above and get through the difficult time.

A country I constantly hear about with casualties is Afghanistan. Since the war has begun over there the amount of civilians harmed is heart wrenching. According to UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) “The total civilian casualty figure recorded by the UN since 1 January 2009 through 30 June 2016 has risen to 63,934, including 22,941 deaths and 40,993 injured” (UN, 2016). This is an astonishing number of men, women and children who were innocent by standers. As a military spouse I follow the war in the middle east as my husband is on standby yet again to leave to fight for our freedom as well as the freedom of our allies. Little is said about the support of the communities as they go through the turmoil that is this war on their doorstep. My hope for them is they have the family ties and as always turn to a higher power at difficult times to get through them. As stated in the text from cognitive coping “factors in the child (especially problem-solving), in the family (consistency and care), and in the community (good schools and welcoming religious intuitions) all help children recover” (Berger K.S., 2016).

Berger, K. S. (2016). The developing person through childhood (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

UN News Centre. 25 July 2016. Afghan civilian casualties hit half-year record, with 5,166 dead or maimed – UN. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54543#.WC2203eZNE4.

Public Health: The Importance of Immunizations

Immunizations are not always something that people today find as necessary, and as a childcare provider I have issues at times with parents not wanting to vaccinate. Each and every person has their own choice to make when it comes to whether they do or do not, but I am one of those parents who is passionate about immunizations. People forget the disease and illness found in countries not as rich in medicine as ours and the issues they deal with not having the proper immunizations. Many of the diseases effecting the people in these other countries we as Americans do not worry about due to the immunizations and vaccines available to us.

Polio is a disease that effects the nervous system and can cause temporary or permeant paralysis. “In 1988, polio was endemic in 125 countries. On September 25, 2015, that number became 2. After marking one year without a wild polio case, Nigeria—which just three years ago accounted for more than half the world’s cases—was officially removed from the list of polio-endemic countries” (Sandler, 2015). The fight to provide the people in these effected areas the proper immunizations in now saving lives as well as providing people with healthier communities.

In my future endeavors I will always encourage vaccination. Working for the United States Air Force I am able to have the support and findings of the positive effects of the immunizations. I will educate parents and those caring for the children in the community about the positive reasons to receive immunizations and always keep children current.

“Vaccines prevent an estimated 2.5 million deaths among children younger than age 5 every year. Still, 1 child dies every 20 seconds from a disease that could have been prevented by a vaccine. Why? Because 1 in 5 children in the world do not have access to the life-saving immunizations that keep children healthy” Center for Disease Control.

This is an eye opening statistic and is a large reason I will continue to advocate for proper immunizations to be had by the children in my community.

Michael Sandler. October 1, 2015. Journey to a Polio-Free Africa: Nigeria's Eradication Milestone. https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/journey-polio-free-africa-nigerias-eradication-milestone/27917.

Center for Disease Control. https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/immunization/.