Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Natural disaster

April 2011, the area where I live suffered a string of deadly tornadoes. This is something that was not heard of here in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. It was a terrible ordeal for many families who lost everything. In the aftermath we could drive by one house that was demolished and the one right beside it not even touched.

Several of my students were subject to the horror of what these storms brought. Even today every time it storms, a little thunder and lightning, they are horrified. It takes a lot of consoling and reassuring them that everything is okay.

Natural disasters happen all over the world including flood, wildfire, tornado, earthquake, blizzard, hurricane, landslide and volcano. We never know what will hit us so we have to prepare for any and every thing. We have tornado, fire, and earthquake drills at our schools every month.

Here are some of the natural disasters in 2011:

2011

Natural Disasters Around the World

March 11: JAPAN -- A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan triggering tsunami activity. It is said that over 10,000 may have been killed.

Feburary 22: NEW ZEALAND --The Canterbury Region of New Zealand was struck by a 6.3 earthquake that has killed over 98 people. *SEE MORE ABOUT NEW ZEALAND HERE*

January 13: BRAZIL -- Thousands of families living on mountain slopes face risk of being washed away in the heavy rains and flooding that have killed more than 900 people.

January 1: AUSTRALIA -- The Australian city of Brisbane has experienced widespread flooding, although the peak level is a metre lower than feared. The death toll in Queensland's flooding went up to 15, with dozens more reported missing.

References:

Natural disasters around the world. Retrieved from http://gvc1007.gvc10.virtualclassroom.org/

Immunizations

Disease prevention is the key to public health. It is always better to prevent a disease than to treat it. Vaccines prevent disease in the people who receive them and protect those who come into contact with unvaccinated individuals. Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common in this country, including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) (CDC, 2009).

UNICEF promotes the worldwide use of immunization and vitamin A supplementation as effective means of achieving international goals: one-third reduction of the under-five mortality rates by 2010 and the Millennium Development Goal of two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality by 2015.

I am a strong supporter of vaccines and immunizations. I believe that we must do everything we can to keep children safe and healthy. I know that there are questions about whether or not immunizations cause a range of physical and mental complications.

It is sad that there are so many children that die every year in third world countries due to no funding and no means of getting the vaccines or the people to administer them to the children.

I am posting below my resources and extra resources for anyone that would like more information.

Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009).  Vaccines and Immunizations. Retrieved
            from http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/howvpd.htm

http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_bigpicture.html

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00053391.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10376617?dopt=Abstract

http://www.vaccinesuncensored.org/third.php

Childbirth In My Life and In China

At the age of 17 and in the first weeks of my senior year in high school, I found out that I was pregnant. Boy, was I scared to death!!! I had no idea what to expect and didn't know what to do. My pregnancy was a difficult one with being in and out of the hospital, from being dehydrated to preterm labor. At 30 weeks I started spotting and leaking fluid. I had to go on complete bed rest  only being able to go to the bathroom. I asked to go to my senior prom but at 34 weeks the baby's lungs were not ready. At 37 weeks I was allowed to attend my graduation, where afterwards I began having contractions and when we got to the hospital I was told that we would have a baby by morning. After a couple of hours the contractions just stop!!! I was told it was because of the medication they had me taking before to keep me from going into labor, being off it for a few days and the excitement of graduation just started the contractions. I went home and it was 2 weeks later at 39 weeks my water officially broke. I felt excited and scared at the same time. I ended up getting a epidural too early and they left it on too long. After 18 hours of labor I was finally able to start pushing, but I couldn't feel anything from the waist down. I had a nurse on one side and my husband on the other holding my legs and watching the monitor and telling me when to push. After 5 hours of exhausting pushing I was unable to continue, they had to use forceps to pull my son out. He ended up having a dent in his forehead. He was beautiful, I worried throughout my pregnancy what was I gonna do with a baby....it was so natural when I saw him I just knew what to do. I miscarried 2 years later and 3 years later I had another beautiful baby boy. 


I chose China to research about childbirth. Chinese culture traditionally has preferred males to females. Male children are preferred because they continue ancestral rites that care
for the soul after death (Myers, 1997). Males also have the responsibility to care for elderly parents. Because daughters tend to leave home to join the husband’s family, elderly people are concerned about who will care for them if they do not have a son. Extended female family members help the new mother during the birthing period. Traditionally, women from the extended family attend the birth rather than the husband. Childbirth is seen as “women’s business,” and most health care providers are female. Zuo yue zi (“doing the month”) is a unique aspect of Chinese childbearing. A Chinese woman will typically stay indoors for 1 month after giving birth (considered a vulnerable period) to allow her body to recover, regain balance, and avoid present and future illness. Other rituals surrounding zuo yue zi include washing the mother’s and family’s clothes separately, avoiding sexual relations, and limiting movement so the mother can rest as much as possible. A postpartum woman should also avoid drafts, stemming from the belief that any wind or cold can enter the body and cause future disease, like arthritis. Clothing must cover the entire body. A woman should not shower, brush her teeth, or wash her hair for a month following childbirth, although she may take a bath with ginger and red wine a week after childbirth (Hao & Moore, 2000).

References:



Hao, G. L., & Moore, J. F. (2000). Perinatal care: Cultural and technical differences between China and the United States. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 11(1), 47-54

Myers, J. H. (1997). Birth-planning policy in rural China: The cultural imbalance between innovation and tradition. Journal of International and Area Studies, 7, 22-31

Completing Foundations: Early Childhood Studies

Its hard to believe that just 8 weeks ago, I was just starting this journey of getting my Master's Degree!! We have all made it through.
I want to thank each and everyone of my colleagues and our professor for all your encouragement and support. I have learned so much from all of you. You have all been so encouraging, supportive and informative. I feel like we have become a team working together.
I hope that we continue our journey together, if not I wish you the best.

Three Ideals from the NAEYC and DEC Codes of Conduct

The following are just three of the codes of conduct from the NAEYC and DEC that I find meaningful.


NAEYC


I-1.1    To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education to stay informed through continuing education and training.


This one means a lot to my professional life because I want to be the best I can be for my children. Continuing my education and going to trainings keeps me up to date. I have said it many times I am a life long learner.


I-5.5    TO create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children's social, emotional, cognitive and physical development and that respect their dignity and their contributions.


This one is something I am learning more about everyday, through this course and in my classroom. My agency uses the Brigance assessment and all of the above are covered in this. Being in the early education profession this is what we build upon with our students and their families.


DEC


We shall be responsible for maintaining the appropriate national, state, or other credential or licensure requirements for the services we provide while maintaining our competence in practice and research by ongoing participation in professional development and education activities.


I have grown and learned a lot over the past two years being in head start about licensure. We just had our evaluation and passed without any violations, thank goodness!!! Our agency does trainings throughout the year and even though money is sometimes an issue they will at least send one or two of us to go and come back and teach the others what we have learned.


Above all we are all in this profession to be there for the children, they are our number one priority. I love what I do and I want to be the best that I can be.

The Division for Early Childhood (August, 2000). Code of Ethics. Retrieved 17 February 2012. Website: http://www.dec-sped.org/

NAEYC (April, 2005). Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment. Retrieved 17, February 2012. Website: www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETHo5.pdf

Quotes

Quotes from Hillary Clinton and Lilian Katz

All of us have to recognize that we owe our children more than we have been giving them. Hillary Clinton

I feel very lucky because of my parents and then my education, the opportunities that I've had, so I would like to continue working to improve lives for others. Hillary Clinton

If formal instruction is introduced too early, too intensely and too abstractly, the children may indeed learn the instructed knowledge and skills, but they may do so at the expense of the disposition to use them. Lilian Katz

Each of us must come to care about everyone else's children. We must recognize that the welfare of our
children is intimately linked to the welfare of all other people's children. After all, when one of our children needs life-saving surgery, someone else's child will perform it.  If one of our children is harmed by violence, someone else's child will be responsible for the violent act. The good life for our own children can be secured only if a good life is also secured for all other people's children. Lilian Katz

Quotes about passion, motivation, and wisdom from Educational Professionals in the video segment from Week 2

I want to fix all the injustices in the world. I want to make sure children are taught in an environment to grow and develop to their fullest abilities, and to create a save world. Louise Derman-Sparks

I felt everything in me was being called on to teach; it made be feel whole. Louise Derman-Sparks

Whenever I get bogged down with the paperwork, I say okay take 20 minutes and go see the children so you don't forget what your doing all this for. Raymond Hernandez

Its helps me to put my ego aside and help these children to succeed. Renatta M. Cooper

These stories touched my heart....

My first story happened about 4 years ago, when I worked with Special Needs children. We had a little boy who didn't talk and had major fits, where he would strip off this clothes. He had long hair and we called him our wild boy (if anyone has ever watched the cartoon, "The Wild Thornberry's, he was a Donnie). After working with him for a couple of months he was speaking and doing wonderful work, he could operate a computer better than us, almost. We had a TV with a VCR and kids movies, after being out of the room for awhile, I returned to Tom and Jerry written on the chalkboard. Yes, he wanted to watch it and wrote it on the board because the lead teacher told him no...lol This was so encouraging for me and let me know that anyone can learn.
My second story happened to me this year. I have a 3 yr old that didn't talk just grunted when school started and he wasn't potty trained. We are now potty trained and he does say several words now. What touched me so much and let me know that I am in the right profession was we go over our ABC's everyday different letters. This year our Head Start is using Zoo Phonics, I think is great!!! About a week after learning the letter "B" he had one of the BIG books in our room and he pointed to the letter "B" and made the sound and said "B". I was so happy and so proud of him and I must say myself. It is so encouraging to me to know that I do make a difference in their lives.
One more thing to add about feeling rewarded is when they say I love you, Ms. Cathy and hug me!!!