Reflection

• An explanation of your most passionate hope for your future as an early childhood professional and for the children and families with whom you work or will work.

My most passionate hope for myself and my students is continue working to bridge the gap in the quality of education that children of different socioeconomic statuses receive. I truly believe that ALL children are entitled to a quality education, however part of this must come from the home.  So in my work, I must continue to work with families in educating them and building accountability so that they feel responsible and empowered to aid in their children’s education.

• A brief note of thanks to your colleagues.

Thank you for the support, encouragement, patience, challenges, and ideas.  Reading the challenges and successes that others encounter and realizing how similar they are to my own make me feel supported and empowered.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

For this week’s assignment, we were asked to choose a region of the world from the UNICEF website to explore.  We were asked to look for challenges in the area that would affect the emotional development of the children living in this region.

• The area of the world I chose and why.

I chose Latin America and the Caribbean.  Not only is this the only area of the world that I have traveled outside of the US, but it is also where the majority of our immigrant students and families come from in the school that I teach, so I felt it to be beneficial for me to expand my knowledge of the region.

• Detailed Description of some of the challenges that children in this region of the world are confronting.

This is an area of the world that is considered to be the most unequal.  There are staggering gaps that leaves millions of children and their families at risk.  There are many challenges that children in this region are exposed to, the main one being poverty.  60% of children living in this region under the age of 12 years old live in poverty.  An alarming 1 out of every 5 children in this region experience malnutrition.  Violence is also a ramped problem in this region.  Around 85,000 children die each year due to violence in the home.  Violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents.   There are also frequent and harsh natural disasters such as hurricanes and flooding that destroy villages and towns.

• Explaination of how these experiences might have an effect on children’s emotional wellbeing and development.

We have learned the many affects that living in poverty can have on a child.  They are often stressed, worried, tired, and hungry, just to name a few.  Chronic malnutrition affects children’s growth through a variety of ways, among them: low birth weight, stunting and frequent illness. It can also affect a child’s emotional wellbeing, because their needs are not being met.  Distress from destroyed villages due to natural disasters also affects children emotionally.  Having all of your belongings and your home destroyed can make a child anxious, depressed and stressed.  These natural disasters can also lead families to other problems such as poverty and malnutrition.

• Personal and professional reflection, insights gained and the influences they may have on me as a person and as an early childhood professional.

I’ve always considered to myself to be fairly aware of the problems in the world.  However, I was shocked and saddened to learn of these statistics in a region so close to our own, and a region that so often feeds in to ours.  I left this site feeling helpless.  As educators, the best thing we can do for any immigrant children and families is to learn as much as we can about their culture and what life was like for them in their native country.  That is the best way for us to help support them developmentally, socially, and in their transition to the culture which they have moved.

References:

UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html

Sexualization of young children

Much like many parents, fellow teachers, and early childhood experts, I my concern is growing quickly about the sexualization of early childhood.  Some examples of this are the dolls many children are playing with and the characters they are seeing in movies and television show that they watch that show inappropriate outfits and overly dramatic make up.  I see the implications of this daily in my classroom.  Many of the young girls wear skirts and shorts that are very short, and refuse to have it any other day.  Children are being exposed to images of sexualiztion that they cannot understand.  This can confuse, and possibly even frighten them (Levin & Kilbourne 2009).  It is our job as the adults in these children’s lives to help them to make sense of what they are seeing.  Without our help, they can develop poor self identity, begin participating in sexual activity at a very young age, and even put themselves in situations that can lead to sexual harassment and abuse.  While I was always aware and concerned with this topic, this week’s readings have made me begin to question what I can do to help protect our youth from what can happen due to this sexualization.

Resources:

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1–8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf