Quotes about children

"Children see magic because they look for it." ~ Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

" A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." ~ Carl Sandburg

" Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to always and forever be explaining things tho them." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

" Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls, the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands.  Take time with them, teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith.  When you are old, nothing else you've done will have mattered as much." ~ Lisa Wingate

" The soul is healed by being with children." ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

" Nothing you do for children is ever wasted." ~ Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home

" Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."~ Emilie Buchwald

Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/children

Professional Hopes and Goals

     The journey into early childhood has brought about many lessons, awakenings, possibilities, and of course many smiles.  Each time you see the little smiling faces or their cute little laughs or the look of the feeling that you know your children are developing skills, mastering concepts, or writing their name for the first time, you realize that having the ability to be part of these moments is what makes the field of early childhood so rewarding and we are lucky to be a part of it.  With each new day, a new experience, each new family, an opportunity to build a new relationship, and an opportunity for a new learning experience.  As early educators we need to embrace, differences, change, diversity and be activists for our families promoting social equity, anti-bias behavior, and inclusive practices that will make each an every children feel loved, respected, and proud.
     My hope for working with families from diverse backgrounds is that professionally I will have all of the tools, trainings, and education to prevent a children from feeling the effects of cutural discontinuity and be inclusive and flexible in my practice to adjust and mold my program to give each child the same opportunities of academic success regardless of barriers such as language or economic hardship.  Personally, I hope to be able to build relationships with families that will allow for their sharing of culture and traditions in a way that I will be able to work with them to create equilibrium between home and school for their children and they will experience what it means to be "truly bicultural."
    In the field of early childhood, I have found that with each individual child and family there is something that despite all of the resources that we have available, there is always something that we don't know or that we could be educated more fully on.  Cultural and diversity in our environment is all around us and families have many resources in multiple languages that are consistent with what their needs are.  The shocking reality that I have learned is that despite all of the planning, the individuals who do not always have the answers they need, is the elders in my community.  After the insight that we have gained from the positive effects of young children working with elders, I hope to bring more of this into my program and my hopes is that besides for the positive effects it should have on the two groups, that it will help to cause attention by the community of what their needs are that we are not meeting.  It is very sad to me to see that a community that has suffered through wars, poverty, and employment that provided them with very few resources or compensation are struggling now just to keep warm.  We should be learning from them and embracing their culture, traditions, and knowledge.
      The other issue dealing with equity and diversity that is actually my second goal is to become better educated and trained to assist children with differing learning abilities.  I have had some experience and training to help children exhibiting symptoms associated with attention deficit disorder as well as sensory processing disorder but my new challenge is to become trained to help children with dyslexia. My goal is to receive certification in this area and add it to the tutoring services that we now offer for school age children.  The drive for this is not just professional but has recently touched our family on a more personal level and it is my goal to know as much about what children are experiencing at each stage with this barrier in academics.
      I just would like to address to send out a personal note of thanks to all of the students in the program for all of the interesting and eye opening discussions sharing personal and professional experiences that have been a contribution to my program in multiple ways.  As well as the professors who I have learned so much from throughout the duration of this program so far and a personal thanks to Dr Kien for her guidance, direction, and understanding throughout this course as well as through child development. See you all next class!
   

Welcoming Families from Around the World

     Families immigrate from countries all over the world in search of better employment, education, and a better way of life.  This week we are faced with how we could help a family to make the transition from another country to here in the United States.  In this scenario, I am a hospital worker helping a family who has just relocated from Bulgaria.  This is a challenge for me considering at this point I have no knowledge of the culture, heritage, language, medical care, or education system  in Bulgaria.  It is located on the Bulkan pennisula in south eastern Europe, borded on the east by the Black Sea, on the north by Romania and the Danube River, on the south by Greece and Turkey, and on the west by Macedonia and Serbia (everyculture.com).                                   

Map of Bulgaria
In order to be culturally responsive to a family arriving from this country

1) The national language of Bulgaria is Bulgarian, which uses the Cyrillic script (everyculture.com)  The turkish minorities speak Turkish, and the Gypsies speak Romany (everyculture.com)  For this reason, the first thing I would need to do is find a translater to overcome the language barrier that will exist for this family.

2) Bulgaria's basic economy is made up of about 16 percent agriculture, 60 percent industry, and 24 percent services (everyculture.com).  Many women entered paid employment during the socialist era and women make up nearly half of the workforce in the last twentieth century usually employed as teachers, nurses, pharmacists, sales clerks and laborers but are largely responsible for the household tasks; childcare, cooking, cleaning,and shopping.  This information will be helpful in getting the family started on an employment search if they have already not been sent to the United States because of a job opportunity.

3) Marriages is mongomous and marriages are free choice (everyculture.com)  Early infant care is provided my the mother, working mothers receive a paid six month for maternity leave, children aged three to six years of age attend state run kindergartens when available, otherwise early education is left up to the grandparents (everyculture.com)  Helping this family to find the right education and childcare program for them that would embrace their culture and diversity would be neccessary for the children to receive a smooth transition.

4)Most ethnic Bulgarians belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church but small numbers are Muslim, Protestants, and Roman Catholic, Gypsies are often Christian (everyculture.com)  Helping the family to find a church that practices their religion or another area that celebrates their religion will help them to continue with their religious traditions.

5) Families from Bulgaria celebrate many of the Christian holidays that are celebrated in the United States but they also celebrate others as well such as festivales of kukeri, which marks the beginning of spring and the agricultural period (everyculture.com)  Finding photographs of these celebrations and encouraging this new family to share with us their experiences and memories of the celebrations will help them feel more accepted and welcome.

6) Bulgarian children receive many of the same immunizations that American children do but sadly tick borne encephalitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C and the H5N1 virus are common in Bulgaria (cdc.gov)  For these reasons, setting them up with a healthcare provider early on will help them to know where to turn for help.  Along with this educating them about all of the resources for assistance that are available for families will help the families to know who to turn to.

References

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/bulgaria.htm

http://everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Bulgaria.html
 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

     Unfortunatley in our society, negative behaviors such as bias, prejudice, and oppression exist in many forms.  We do not only encounter these behaviors in interactions and experiences from our daily lives but in information from the media, television, movies, books, and in music.  I just often wonder if the individuals performing these acts are even mildly aware of the long term damage that they are instilling on the recipiants of the act.  Maybe if individuals were a little more aware of it's implications, then they would do it, or maybe they still would?
     When I think of bias, prejudice or oppressive behavior in movies, the first movie that comes to mind is Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere  The scene that comes to mind is when Julia Roberts walks into the dress store with all of the money that Richard Gere had given her to buy a dress for their dinner engagement they had that evening and the women in the store without even knowing her decided that based on her appearance, she could not have afforded to shop there.  I think most people who have seen this movie had that overwhelming feeling of sadness for Julia.   The fact that circumstances in her life had led her to prostitution and now even though it was not the best of circumstances someone had entered her life that could rescue her from this dangerous and sad life that had become hers and without hesitation, these two women let her know she did not belong nor did she fit in dressed in her current attire.  There was not equality in this situation.  Even though, she had more than enough money to shop at this elaborate store, they would not even allow her to try on any of the clothes.  Besides for this, they would not show her the common curtosy that they would shown other customers.  The incident made me very sad because even though many of us dream of having enough wealth to buy anything we want, the fact that most of us are looking down at our faded black pants that we have had for ten years and hoping that no one will notice that they are not quite black anymore and that we just did not have the ability to buy a new outfit.  To turn this situation into an equitable one, the women in the store would have to see past the surface characteristics of Julia's attire and not judge her based on what they could see on the outside.
       I often think that some people not everyone have to experience some kind of struggle or disadvantage to truly understand how hurtful it is to be on the receiving end of biased, prejudice, and oppressive behavior.  This is not true for everyone, many individuals do encompass empathy for others, but in this particular case and in many cases that I have witnessed first hand, income and wealth or lack of can serve as a foundation for oppressive behaviors to happen.  I have witnessed first hand even in my own child care parents who will comments about children who are on vouchers and how they would not put their children in care with a child receiving one.  It's as if because a family needs help, there must something wrong with the child.  Poverty is not contagious!  All children deserve the same equal chance at a good education regardless of their family's income.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

     I was the target of a microaggression about 15 years ago when I had first began my career as a research chemist.  I was happily settling into my new surroundings and my new office when one of the scientists who was in the next office came over to say hello.  I was so excited to meet all of these wonderful, intelligent individuals that I had read so many research papers from.  The conversation started out really well.  He told me about his work and what his ultimate goals were career wise, it was so interesting, I just wanted hear more.  When he was finished talking about himself, he turned the conversation to me and just as I was about tell him about my education, work experience, and what I had hoped to accomplish career wise, he said "whose wife or daughter are you that got you this job?"  I thought he was kidding.  It got worse.  The next comment was , " well your a pretty girl and you don't really fit in with the other chemists here so I just assumed someone must have gotten you the job."  At this point, I was a little upset but just tried to look at it not in a bad way, he just didn't know and I was hired to work with a group of all men geochemists.  So I assured him that I had a ton of work experience and the education to be qualified for this job and was really excited that I had to a chance to work for such a prominent research institution, it had been my dream as a child.  He smiled and told me not to take it the wrong way but being a pretty female, no one was ever going to take my work seriously.....
      Well I spent twelve years there, lots of publications, famous studies, and even was part of a documentary that aired on the discovery channel but was always a little intimidated that no matter my contribution to science, there would be those individuals who would judge me based on the fact I was a female in an all men's group.  I can't say this was the only time this happened to me during my career as a chemist.   Many times when people would meet me they would assume I was the secretary of the scientist I worked for and not actually the person who had developed the scientific method they were there to learn about.   I think what was even more uncomfortable was that when this type of situation arose, in many cases that person was there to work in one of the three trace metal laboratories that I managed and when they would meet me through my boss and were told that I was their boss, there was always this little doubt in my mind that certain individuals weren't going to take what I had to teach them seriously and because we worked with dangerous, corrosive chemicals in all of our work, them being safe was my number one priority.  And I have to say that on at least two different occassions, we almost had a disasterous situation because someone didn't take me completely seriously and felt that they did not need to follow my safety protocols.  I always tried to not let situations like this one bother me but it was a little sad to think that no matter how much work you do, what your accomplishments are, or your education is, certain individuals are going to judge you based on your surface characteristics and not your abilities.
     The observation experiences this week enlightened me in regards to how even that certain individuals can be very well intentioned, sometimes what they are not saying or doing is the most damaging. The  negative effects of discrimination, predjudice, and stereotypes on the self esteem of the person on the receiving end can be so powerful and long lasting.  The sad part is that even the most well intentioned individual without the proper knowledge, professional development, and awareness of culture and diversity can have powerful, damaging effects on an individual without even realizing it.  It just reaffirms the notion that continual professional development, education, and awareness in early education is essential.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

   For this particular assignment, I had the opportunity to ask others what their definition of culture and diversity is and how they feel it is reflected in their everyday lives here in the United States and if there is any aspect of their heritage that they feel cannot be fully expressed here.  The first person I chose is actually a good friend of mine named Sally, who is a nurse an is originally from Trinadad, which is a small island off of the coast of South America in the Atlantic Ocean.

She tells me it was beautiful growing up there and their culture was represented in everything they did.  For instance what was really exicting to me was that she grew up in what would be considered a palace here with 14 bedrooms!  She said she was a nurse by trade, that was very common for women in her culture and along with her sisters and mom made wonderful fiests every night, sewed their own clothes and made purses as well.  Everything was about family, the music, the food, religion, and placement in the family.  Her dad and brothers did all of the manual labor and women did what she referred to as women's duties and they wore these beautiful outfits with beautiful decoratory jewels on their faces and hair.  Diversity is reflected in the different colored jewels and bracelets worn by the different families.  Here in the United States, she feels so disconnected from her heritage and looks so forward to her trips to Trinidad every year where as she elaborates, "she feels complete."  It made me reflect on our lessons this week on being truly bicultural and feeling like you fit everywhere.  This is a much harder task to accomplish then one would think.
     The second person I asked is one of the cheering moms, Kathy.  She is originally from Puerto Rico and moved here with her husband after they were married.  She said that she grew up near the
near the coast of San Juan.  When she reflected on her culture and diversity growing up, she said the music is what she missed the most.  There were festivals in the streets and muscians randomly happily singing and dancing.  I wondered, why are we not so care free here?  How magical and uplifting!   Her views of culture were much like Sally's in the roles of the members of the family members and how religion and faith played a vital role in their everyday lives where as here in the United States, many American famillies practice religion more on a weekly basis,not all of course but practices such as saying "Grace" while everyone sits together at a meal doesn't happen daily.  But she still has to make a full meal at night for her husband and family regardless of all of the activities.  That is one aspect of her culture and upbringing she will never lose.  She also disclosed some disconnection between her life here and how she was raised and even though her life has many opportunites that were not once available to her and her children, there is still aspects of culture here that she misses.  Culture is family and diversity is in you being the most unique individual that you can be in her eyes.
       The last person spoke to was one of grandmother's best friends, Vi.  My grandmother passed away two years ago and I think about her everyday.  Vi reminds me of her in so many ways, the way she dresses, speaks, holds your hand when you talk to her.  These are all part of hers and my grandmother's culture from the Azores in Portugal.


The culture where they grew up was very different before they came with their families to the United States.  They both lived in small fishing villages and everyone had a garden and grew their own fresh food.  The men fished and the women worked in the gardens and cared for the children.  Religion was part of everything they did.  My grandmother would pray every morning and Vi said she still does too.  Culture to her was who you were as a person.  It was not just represented in what you looked like but how you cared for people.  Embraced others no matter who they were.  Being accepting of people and always being willing to lend a hand  was part of culture, beliefs that all people deserve generosity, understanding and love was also part of who she was and her diversity she says has come about in adapting to life in the United States.  For instance, women who have lost their husbands from where she is from are still expected to wear black all the time and many of her friends, still do but she decided not to after many years.  Another difference was many women like my grandmother would never learn to drive, she was an exception.  Her diversity was reflected in the ways she lives her life now, which she feels were neccessary in our environment.

My Family Culture

    If I was ever faced with a situation where I could take only minimal items with me representing my family culture, it would be a really tough decision to make.  The first item that I would take is my folder containing all of my children's birth certificates and our marriage license.  This would signify their heritage and where my children came from if we were ever separated.  Another item that I would want to keep with me is the photo album from our wedding that have many family pictures of members of both of our families that are still alive today along with added pictures of our ancestors and the days that all four of our children were born.  And the last item that I would take would be my wedding ring and family ring, it may not be a direct representation of my culture but it is a significant heirloom that I hope is passed on to my children the way my grandmother's ring was passed on to me.
     I would begin by telling people about the place of my children's births and how each of their names was derived from one of our ancestors.  Our oldest, Ashley Nicole, has a name derived from my godchild, the second Abigail Louise, is a name after one of my husband's ancestors, the third Tyler Augustus, is named after my dad whose middle name is also Augustus, his name was especially important because he is the only boy in my family and since the children all carry down my husband's family name of Atwood, it was important that he carried down a part of my dad's family too.  And the youngest Allyson Marina was named after my mom representing my Portuguese heritage, which is not easily seen through our last name.  The marriage license would represent names and marriages of the ancestors we came from and who we were before we became a family.  The family album would give a visual representation of our ancestors that we could share with individuals we meet.  And the family ring and wedding ring would serve this purpose as well and give others a glimpse of what it is like to be married in the United States.
     If I had to give up any of these items, I would feel an overwhelming sadness about leaving some part of our past and memories behind.  I would feel almost disconnected from my own roots even that I know they would be always be in my heart, I would have trouble not having this valuable information not only for myself but for my children not to lose sight of where they came from and who they are.
      This exercise has made me realize that even though we think in life that we need so many material items to survive, the reality is that in order not to loose our identities there is is a definitely a few significant items that could be used to tell our story.  What I have also realized is that living in a country where there are so many opportunities that in many cases aren't available to individuals in other countries, we are very fortunate.  For my ancestors coming here from the Azores, it was for employment, a new way of life, a new beginning, but with all the advantages, the loss they must have suffered from leaving their heritage and roots must have brought forth and overwhelming uncertainty, fear, and sadness.