The Last Hurrah!

 Much of what we learn as caregivers, teachers, and those that work with children is how to make them better for, prepare them for, and understand them in the future.  Most of becoming educated about children, and perhaps its because of their youth and newness to the world however, we cannot become side tracked and to overwhelmed to enjoy them in the present.   This class was an opportunity o enjoy them in the future.  Thai is what I accepted and enjoyed best about this process. 

I would also like to acknowledge and give so much tanks to all of my colleagues particularly, Ms. Cara-Wicks Ortega.  I would also like to acknowledge:  Puddin, Stephanie Hebdon, and
Randee Holmes, for their fantastic blogs and responses! 

I salute you all and wish you the best in your future endeavors <3

To Test or not to Test

                                                                          To Test or not to Test


I strongly feel that testing children at a young age will have a great effect on the overall child's performance in life. Emotional testing would be the most effective because it will help indefinite where the child's strengths lies in handling many aspects of life such as stress.
Kids from all over the world are tested in many different ways, in a article from express.co.uk children in Britain are for fact the most tested kids in the world testing for subjects that the child ha sent even started yet. The companies behind the tests claim to be able to predict or gage a child’s eventual brilliance based on the results. Imagine your kid taking french at the age of seven when there ideal language is English.
In my personal opinion french at age 7 is a little extremely, but back to my original  point emotional testing would be perfect.
For example promise a kid a ice cream cone at the end of the day then when the end of the day approaches tell the child that for what ever reason the ice cream cone would have to wait for tomorrow night. At that instance see how the child would respond, would it be something as simple as a quick look of disappointment then saying OK and move forward or would the kid spaze out and have motions as their life just ended. To conclude the test then come back with the same ice cream cone that was promise earlier and give it to the child. Watch the child's level of discipline with receiving the cone watch how the handling going from disappointment to now joy.Testing how one can be let down, then the mood of being surprised- Emotional testing.
Life is nothing more than emotions. How one feels about there job, there money, there love ones, is all emotional. Everyday is a roller-coaster ride of mixed opportunities that arrive daily, and its up to the individual to handle each situation according. If we can develop this mind state to children at a young perhaps crime would go down. A weak mind would not result to stealing or killing to get what they wanted. The mind-state of "I give up" would not quickly exist at all because the mind has been trained at a younger age how to handle institutions.
Maybe a lot of millionaires wouldn't  go broke because yet again at a young age your emotions where trained to handle situations with discipline -the mind state of trying hard for everything, take nothing as guaranteed, but yet be humble threw out the whole journey. I feel I overall the world would be different cause now as adults (adults that runs the worlds) emotional disciple in look forward to the ice cream cone reacting according when we don't get it but be forever grateful when at the end of the day you where able to wrap your lips around your favor ice cream favored cone.

Stressors for Kids

     As a child, my childhood was very full and happy.  My family was full of smiles, laughs, hugs, good food and generally all the happiness that is included in every TV show, cartoon and book was there.  However, in the world outside of my window, there was PLENTY of racism and the chaos that went along with it.  In my lifetime there was racism, marches, a Vietnam war, and riots and crazy speeches and the whole nine.  I was a little girl when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, when Malcolm X was killed, when JFK was killed, and when the country was just in a fervor over race and war.  I lived in the South on top of all of that.

     For many children this country, this kind of fervor had a negative impact, or at least a life-changing impact such as the Little Rock Nine.  Books have been written, movies have been made and I am sure that it does not escape anyone how grave growing up in those times were.  This does not even mean that persons of White decent did not have some of these experiences.  Can you imagine who cant be friends with whom, who cannot love whom and so on.  This was a crazy time.

     The outcome...I am unscathed.  I do not have any abject feelings about White people, our government, Black people,  or anyone else.  My family was encouraging, let me know that I was loved and special and really did not discuss much what was going on in the outside world.  I am not necessarily someone who will pick up a cause and beat down the pavement to make it keep happening but, I am passionate things.  I know that things matter and that I must speak on them but this also speaks to why childhood and family building is sooooo very important to me.  I was so comfortable and secure in my home that none of the rest of the world mattered.  My home was my world.

     I see that this is not necessarily so in other parts of the world. Children are bent on violence, hatred, and so many negative things because of their surroundings.  I think that it would help to separate things for kids again.  we need shows, music, and things for kids again. This will help them to be safe, and feel safe in their world.   I think that this will help kids separate the bad from the good and know that bad is not everywhere....this is our job as creators of a better world for our children.

Post Pardum Depression

The issue that I chose is Mental Health amongst families

Stress is bad enough when a child is succumbed to it but mental health takes this to a whole different level.  I am interested in post Pardum depression.  This is not touched upon much in our text however, I just think that it is fascinating.  I don't fully understand how a mother can be depressed following the birth of her child.  I would like to learn more about this to help the mothers if I should ever run into them and ultimately help the child also.

The following article is one that I found extremely interesting:

http://www.uppitysciencechick.com/how_other_cultures.pdf

This helps me in understand the full development of the family and fully understand how this course affects the family as a whole.

My Birthing Experience

     I have two favorite birth stories, those are when my two children were born.  I had two beautiful children.  I remember the time up to their birth more so than anything in life.  They were born through Cesarean however, I remember the sound that they made when they popped out  I remember what it sounds like when they made their first cry and their little teeth and their little toes. They are grown now but they are my greatest accomplishment.  I remember reading to them in my womb, one of them is a fantastic writer, I listened to Michael Jackson, "Man in the Mirror", that child is a HUGE Michael Jackson fan as well as a very talented performer.  The fetus when it is developing is crucial for both the mom and the child.  I can speak from personal experience how those times formulate the life of the child and bring about positive bonding which makes for healthy development later.

Two Major Influences

Passion is also about pursuit. It is not passive. People with passion are driven to pursue and create. They may read books and observe others, but they are not content being bystanders. -John Hagel

 When you’re on fire about what you do, it energizes you, and you can 
put that energy back into your work.-Curt Rosengren

Betty Hart

Listen to the feature featuring Hart on NPR HERE

The Highscore Perry Project: 

http://vimeo.com/7171357