Final Reflection

·       Reading about the lives of children all over the world has been insightful.  Exploring other resources helped me realize how different things are in other parts of the world and at the same time, how there are many similarities.  During the past few weeks:

o   Reading about the international early childhood field helped me realize that in United States, we are fortunate to have access to the resources, especially educational resources, that we do.  It also makes me realize that we do not always fully use the resources that we have.

o   Poverty affects children negatively, regardless of where they live. 

o   Children are resilient beings.  They learn and grow through healthy and meaningful interactions.  When parents collaborate with teachers, the outcome is the best possible care of children.  However, when they are presented with stressful events, they need just as much support to ensure that they recover.

·         
      Trends vary from region to region.  While some areas focus on the true importance of educating children at a young age, other areas must focus on educating families to provide the best care for children or are just working to alleviate poverty by providing jobs. 

      Moving forward, one goal that I have for the field related to international awareness of issue and trends is that I encourage my cohorts in the United States find a way to share the resources that we have with our cohorts around the world.  We are so fortunate in this country and sharing information can be done with a few clicks.  Blogging is a perfect way to share these resources.

Neugebauer, R. (2007). Early childhood trends around the world. Exchange, (175), 58-63.

Excellence and Equity of Care

·       What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

One of the issues that I constantly discuss with my peers is their need to continue their education.  Staff members who have no experience working with children are required to complete child development modules, specific to the age groups that they work with.  A set of completed modules counts as 15 hours toward higher education at Ohio State University.  Or, if that individual is not interested in pursing a degree, they can apply for their CDA (or for staff members that work with school age children, the MSA).  Another issue we discuss is the need for staff members to execute high-yield learning activities.  This doesn’t necessarily require higher education, but it definitely requires a certain level of enthusiasm.

·       What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

In addition to staff members completing their modules, they also have learning opportunities through Boys and Girls Club of America and Spillett Leadership University (affiliated with BGCA).  Staff members must be trained annually on a variety of topics, from Positive Guidance /Appropriate Touch, Child Abuse and Developmentally Appropriate Practices to ServSafe Foodhandlers and CPR/First Aid to Age Appropriate Environments.

·       What are some of your professional goals?

One of my professional goals is to continue my education in order to ensure that I am current with the changing world of child development.  Another goal is to mentor staff and help them realize their value to the program so they understand how important they are.

·       What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?  One of the challenges that we face is that we work in a military community and a good amount of staff membes are military spouses.  Sometimes, they end up laving the program before they are fully developed.  I would love to have a program that places a bigger emphasis STEM concepts!

Availability, Accessibility, Affordability: Part 2

·       Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?  One of the outside links that I explored this week was the Charity Navigator website.

·       Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?  The Charity Navigator website offers detailed information about programs, other charities that perform similar work, and its financial information to name a few things.

·       Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?  The website does not offer any specific information about its efforts to end inequities in care and in the education for children and families but it’s mission is to ensure that each child has the best chance for success.  So, this is an unintended consequence of the organization’s promise.

·       What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?  The website provides information to other websites that provide similar services to the ones that they offer.  Additionally, there are many websites are dedicated to improving the overall quality of life for children and families.

Charity Navigator.  Retreived from

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4438#mission

Mental Health in Children

Looking over the Developing Child website, I was particularly interested in reading about the state of mental health in children in this generation.  In my career, I have heard stories about children who have made alarming comments, whose parents deal with mental health issues and the children exhibit signs of having mental health issues as well, and children who could very well have mental health issues if some of the issues that plague them are not dealt with.  Also, with so much talk regarding mental health, around the world I wanted to explore what can be done at an early age to help those who may be affected by mental health.

1.     Significant mental health problems can and do occur in young children.  Children have anxiety (especially depending on their home life or other factors that can induce anxiety), ADHD, and neurological disorders and may respond to emotional experiences and traumatic events in differing ways.  Speaking with colleagues, I was told of a young child in the program whose mother is in the process of terminating her parental rights, yet she still sees him at least twice a week.  My colleagues voiced concerns over his behavior on any given day, but especially on those days that he sees his mother – he comes in to the center, leaves to see his mother and once he returns, they have numerous problems with him and have had to resort to a one-to-one ratio (highly uncommon and expensive for a program that specializes in group care).

2.     Genetics and experience play a major role in mental health.  The experiences that we have deeply affect our lives.  Events that cause toxic stress may increase mental health problems either immediately or in years to come.

3.     Early intervention can help individuals who are exposed to traumatic events significantly.  Although later intervention can be helpful, early intervention can help combat problems in self-regulation, emotional adaptability, relating to others and self-understanding.

Additional information that I have learned from the Save the Children Federation website is that they work tirelessly to end child marriage.  Child marriage occurs often in low and lower-middle income countries.  If affects children under the age of 18 and mostly affects girls.  As of now, there are not many investments to end the practice but the rate of child marriage is declining over time.  The statistics that stood out most to me were:

·      Child marriage is harmful (mostly to young girls)

·      There are efforts in place to completely eradicate child marriage by the end of 2030

·      Close to 100 million girls all over the glob are not legally protected against child marriage

·      While there are laws in place against child marriage, they are not sufficient enough to end the practice.

References

Early childhood mental health.  Center on the Developing Child.  Harvard University. 

Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/deep-dives/mental-health/

Wodon, Q., Tavares, P., Fiala, O., Le Nestour, A., Wise, L. (2017). Ending child

marriage:  Child marriage laws and their limitations.  Save the Children.  Retrieved from https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/advocacy/ending-child-marriage.pdf

Sharing Web Resources

·       What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

Previously, I chose the Save the Children website and the section of the website that was most relevant to me was the Education section (direct link:  https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/global-programs/education).  What stood out most to me was how they take pride in “training teachers to engage their students through more effective teaching practices” and how they “introduce children to the power of artistic expression… to help them heal, learn and do better in school.”

·       Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

Reviewing the website made me think about how much work there is to do to ensure that children have a great future.  On the website, there is a section that touches on protecting children, but that encompasses combating toxic stress, providing assistance in the aftermath of disasters and social-emotional development.

·       What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

Economists and neuroscientists support the education field by partnering with researchers (from universities) who provide information about quality child care programs and their impact on children now and in the future.

·       What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

Exploring the website helps me to realize that helping children is so much broader than I ever realized.  Helping children through tumultuous times is just as important as helping them grow and develop emotional and socially.  Save the Children and other organizations work tirelessly to affect positive change on children and their families in any way possible.