My Supports

Within my daily routines I receive so much support from family and friends that I truly appreciate and I do not know what I would do without them. My husband who is my rock and my fountain of reason when I have a bad day is my #1 supporter. I truly feel that he is special and unique but I am sure that every woman feels that way about the man in her life. The everyday life of cleaning and maintaining a home can be overwhelming at times. Sometimes it feels as though I do not have enough hands and hours in the day to complete all that I have on my "To do" list. My husband tries assists me with daily house chores like cooking and cleaning (I know...a shocker right?!) to allow me time to complete my homework assignments and I am grateful for that. My friends keep pushing me forward to complete my dream of graduating with my Masters as well as my dream of one day opening up my very own childcare center. They have often come over for a girls day for us to talk, laugh and sometimes cry about the frustration of work, family, and life. My parents and sister live two hours away from me and wish that they lived much closer so that I could see them more often. We talk on the phone almost everyday and I feel that they aslo give me that emotional support I need.

I thought about what life would be like if I had a physical disabilty like being wheelchair bound and the thought of that is horrifying. To be completely depending on my husband to help me cook, cleaning, bath, dress, and drive me to work would be a difficult task for him I am sure. With the mindset I have I know that I would be determined to be as independent as possible because I hate the idea of having to completely depend on a person. I know I should not feel that way about my husband but that is the kind of person that  I am. I would need to the support of my husband physically, emotionally and financially but I would also need the support of my parents as well to limit the burden off of my husband. I would probably appreciate the simple task of brushing my teeth because I know that I take that for granted now because I am completely able to do it on my own. I have often heard from people with disabilities say how appreciative they are for the simple things in life.

My Connections to Play

“Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.”

Henri Matisse
French painter
1869–1954

“Play, while it cannot change the external realities of children’s lives, can be a vehicle for children to explore and enjoy their differences and similarities and to create, even for a brief time, a more just world where everyone is an equal and valued participant.”

Patricia G. Ramsey
Contemporary American educational psychologist

When I was younger my parents supported me a great deal when I had my play time. My mother would sit at the kitchen table and allow me to cook special meals for her as if I was at a restaurant. My famous dish was soup, which as nothing more than dish water that I poured in small bowls with a plastic spoon. I remember when my dad would come home after working offshore for two weeks at a time and he would sit and play with me for a few hours. We would make all kinds of things out of play-dough and often used my mother’s cookie cutters to make different shapes. It was a way for us to bond and spend quality father and daughter time and I truly loved it. I used to love to play with my magic troll dolls and pretend that they were a huge family in a vacation house in Florida. I would use the tub as my ocean, popsicle sticks as surfs and I would imagine that they were surfing on the waves in the ocean. Play was extremely important to me growing up because it allowed me to express my imagination without and boundaries. My parents have always stated that I was creative and full of life and I am glad they allowed me to express that.

As a child I remember everyone supporting childhood play. In elementary school my kindergarten teacher would allow us to dress in costumes and when often played games to learn the letters of the alphabet and numbers. She incorporated play into our learning time which I feel is very important for young children. In a way I believe that play is similar in some ways that I remember when growing up. Teachers are still engaged in learning and the understand play is needed in order to enhance a child’s learning ability. For example, some teachers have attached songs to help students remember their time tables or help them remember a part of history. I remember my teacher telling us “Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in the year 1492”. By her rhyming blue and 2 it helped me remember the year he discovered the “New World”. My hope for the future is for the states to give teachers some breathing room when it comes to standards, and allow their love for teaching and a child’s love for learning to shine through.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important to me because I believe it allows to me to have a healthy normal life. I take pride in all the relationships that I have with my husband, parents, siblings,friends and co-workers. Above is a picture of my co-worker who recently as of this year became my friend and a great workout buddy. Because of her I have  found the energy to put my health first again and I thank our wonderful friendship for that. Relationships can help to ease the pain of grief, give you extreme excitement through events like wedding or the birth of a child, or (like me) allow you to realize what it really important in life and help you reach that goal. I currently have positive relationships with my husband (Jonathan), father (Phil), mother (Carmalisa), sister (Yaka), nephew (Dillon), brother in law (Gershom), best friend (Pam), and my newest buddy (Tara shown above). Included in this list of positive relationships I can not forget about my four legged children Mia and Lucky because I do feel strongly that dogs bring great joy to human lives.

My husband gives me the push that I need every day to complete my goals and he never forgets to tell me how much he loves me and how proud he is of me. My parents sacrificed so much for my sister and I growing up and education was always something they pushed for. My mother decided to go back to get her degree when I was in the 8th grade and I admired her for that. My parents remind me that it is never too late to try new things and have supported me in all of my endeavors. My sister and brother in law or my comedian when I need a good laugh. My sister has always been there for me and even though she only has a high school education I am so proud of her for where she is today. My nephew is that little spark of sunshine that I love. The day he was born I felt that my heart had melted and I love him as if he was my own. Even though I am his aunt he gives me the greatest support out of my entire family because he always makes sure that Nanny's "homework" is done. Pam has been my best friend for 16 years and she has seen me at my best and my worst and she loves me just the same. Tara has been my biggest fan since my journey on living a healthier lifestyle. She has helped me to be open and honest with myself and I love her to death because of that. That is why she is pictured above, she helped to realize that although I focused my energy on work, family, and school that I deserved to put that much energy into myself.

In life we all have faced challenges in relationships with family as well as friends. Yes aunt so and so comes to grandma's house every year for Christmas every year with her drama but you must find a way (if possible) to make the experience positive because you may be the support that she needs. My mother's sister used to drive me crazy with the stories (lies) she would tell about how much money she had and how people were beneath her. I thought she was rude and inconsiderate until I realized that she was looking for attention and acceptance for what she did not have. One day I told her that although I did not like the way she acts from time to time, that she is family I still love her. Since then she is not as boastful with her comments and has learned how to say the words "thank you" when someone does something nice for her. With all of the positive relationships that I have I know it will assist me with building and developing working relationships in my career as the years go on.

A Word of Thanks

I would like to thank all of my classmates for such a wonderful and successful semester. I feel that I have grown so much during this time and I will take everything that I have learned with me as I progress in this field. So much has been discussed throughout this semester that it is hard to just pick one thing that I loved the most. The videos that were provided by Walden University were such a big help in understanding how children developed through the years and I am glad that I am able to be apart of the Walden community. I would like to thank our wonderful instructor for opening our eyes to so many different issues as well as fascinating developments within children. I wish everyone a great Christmas Holiday break and a wonderful 2013.

Education is the Key to Unlock Treasure

"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure" ~ Emma Goldman

To Test or not to Test?....that is the question!

In the society that we live in there is pretty much a test fro any and everything imaginable. Don't get me wrong most testing strategies are good especailly when it comes to overall health. I for one am truly grateful for the test that can determine cancer and other termianl diseases but when it comes to education, the United States has gone a bit over board. In Louisiana, testing is required to see if a child is ready for pre-K and Kindergarten or whether a child can progress to the next grade. When it came to aptitude testing I was a complete wreck. My palms would become sweaty and I would be extremely nervous because I knew that if I did not pass the LEAP test, then I would be held back in that same grade. Testing and assessments should be done to measure the amount of knowledge a student has but I believe that their present grades within those subjects should aslo be taken into account. Many students have excellent grades on their report cards and then when it came time to graduate they could not because of their scores on the states testing exam. Louisiana testing is a statewide assessment regardless of what area of the state you are living in. Some parishes have better schools than others and often if a school ranks too low on testing then the state can take the school over. In other countries testng is peformed more on a local basis. Finland assessments are performance-based and created locally (Parker, 2012 www.adn.com ). Teachers in Finland focus more on preparing their students for critical thinking skills and often have test scores higher than U.S students on international assessments.

Parker, Tim. Standard tests don't promote real education.  April 6, 2012. www.adn.com

Stressors of Life

A friend of mine experienced racism as a young child from one of her own family members. Her mother is white and her biological father was Native American. When she was 2 years old her mother and father separated. When she was 4 her mother remarried and her stepfather (who was also white) adopted her as his child. Her stepfather's mother (her grandmother) never truly accepted my friend because she felt that her skin was too dark and that she could not pass for being "all white". For Christmas the other grandchildren would get nice toys and sometimes money, while she would receive old hand me down sweaters. Several times he mother questioned the grandmother about her treatment towards my friend but the grandmother just disregarded the questions as if they were nothing. As my friend got older to began to distance herself from her grandmother as much as she could even though her mother was trying to get them to make a bond of some kind. For years she hid her pain from the rest of the family because she did not want them to know that the treatment bothered her. Everyone else in her family truly loved her but it did not make up for the pan that was caused by her grandmother. Now finally as an adult she constantly wishes her skin was lighter like her other two siblings and it is difficult for her to explain to people why she and her sister look so different. The trauma that she experienced as a child still haunts her today.

Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has the 2nd worst hunger cases, approximately 239 million people are going hungry. A third of all child hood death in Sub-Saharan Africa is caused by hunger (thp.org). Children who go through hunger do not develop as normal children would. The brain development is much slower due to the lack of myelin in the brain because the brain does not have enough nourishment to function. Children who are malnourished have no body reserves to protect them against common diseases (Berger, 2009). If malnutrition goes too far a child can through marasmus, which is when the body starts to slowly waste away and the child stops growing. The Hunger Project is making an effort in areas such as Africa to provide them with food and clean water.

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

www.thp.org The Hunger Project