EDUC 6165 Final Blog Post

 This course has focused on communication, such as how we communicate and its importance. Over the past few weeks, I have found great information and new ideas from some of my peers, Dorothy; you always bring new insight to our discussions. I have enjoyed reading your blog throughout this course and can't wait to see your posts in the future; please check it out https://dorothyavant.wixsite.com/website. Virginia's blog is another one I found myself drawn to every week, I made sure to check her blog for her thoughts on the current topic. It is a place that we can be open with each other; thank you for sharing your personal stories. Here is the blog link for Virginia  https://gingeroo6418.wixsite.com/website; I suggest everyone takes a look. Finally, thank you, everyone, for your support and comments throughout this course. I love reading each one and learning from them. 

Groups

 I believe it depends on the type of group you are in, whether it is easy for hard to leave. I have been in many high-performing groups, and some were easy to leave; well, others were hard to leave. I think it has to do with how much you participate and whether or not you like the group. I think it is easier to stay in groups that have established norms, but some people like unpredictability and may prefer those types of groups. One group that was hard to leave was the group I studied abroad with; we took a semester-long class together and spent 2 full weeks in Thailand. We formed a great bond together, but when the trip ended, the group was over. It was hard to leave because we had this amazing life-changing experience together, and nobody else would be able to understand it. The closing ritual that I would have like to experience was a proper goodbye. This ritual would include us sharing pictures and memories of the group and would end with everyone be able to say goodbye. I imagine that I will adjourn from my colleagues from the program bittersweetly. I will be very excited to have completed my degree, but I will also be a little sad, not interacting with my colleagues weekly. I will miss the diverse ideas that each and every person brings to the group. I think adjourning is essential because it means you completed your goal.

Conflict Resolution

 Thinking about disagreements I am currently experiencing, I believe that a comprise would be a great solution. I have always been a big fan of comprising because I think it is a great way for both people to feel like they "win." I think it is effective because no one likes to lose an argument; I also think when a comprise is brought up, both parties can input ideas and work together to come up with a comprise. The second strategy that I believe might be effective for these disagreements would be incorporating the three Rs into the conversation. Conversations that include respect will have a better ending rather than when we disrespect each other. I also think that conversations simply aren't effective when we are not reciprocal or responsive. How have you learned to be a more effective communicator regarding conflict resolution skills?

Communication Assessments

The biggest thing that surprised me about the assessments was that the scores were mostly the same. Between myself and the two people that took the assessments, I fell into the same category each time. This surprised me because I thought that the responses would be different, but instead, they were the same. One insight that I gained about communication is that it is very situational. We talk and listen differently depending on the situation and who we are talking to. The second insight that I gained this week is that my schemas regarding communication affect how I communicate and how I see things. 

Communicating with Other Cultures

 Thinking about the groups that I communicate with often are my workplace, family, and a group of friends. I feel like I do communicate differently depending on who I am talking to; I adapt my tone and communication style. I know which co-workers I can talk to in a more friendly manner were other ones I talk to professionally. I don't really change my communication style based on gender, but based on their personality. One strategy I learned this week, I already knew but did not realize I did it or its importance.  Our book talks about effective communication and the importance of knowing the expectation that someone has and adapting to that (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2018). A second strategy would be that communication can change based on the setting (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2018). We communicate differently in a workplace setting and a home setting; we must learn each setting and proper communication. The final strategy I learned is to be aware of other cultures and how they communicate. Each culture has different communication rules regarding eye contact, tone, and more; it is important to be aware of that. 

Reference

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real communication: An introduction (4th. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Nonverbal Communication

The show that I picked to watch was “30 Rock,” first it was weird to watch a tv show with no sound. I found myself reminding myself to look at the screen; I didn’t realize how often I looked away. I didn’t really know what was going on in the show; first, I tried to make guesses about the relationships. I could see many nonverbal cues, such as eye-rolling or arms crossed. I learned the importance of using nonverbal communication, along with verbal communication. The two work together to tell a story and to communicate. When we only use one type of communication, strings can get crossed, and we can easily misunderstand one another. My aha moment was to actually watch for nonverbal communication in the beginning I had to remind myself to focus. This can be the same when other people are talking, but it is important to look for nonverbal communication as well.

Communication

 When I think of a person who exhibits competent communication skills, I think of my old professor I had while completing my bachelor's degree. The thing that made her behaviors effect was that she was always on time; if she was ever going to be late, she would message us and let us know prior to class. She consistently kept eye contact with everyone in the class, and if you talked to her personally or privately, she would actively nod along. When I spoke when her, I could tell she was genuinely listening and caring about what I said. Her phone never went off in class, and she never checked it while someone else was talking. If she didn't know that answer to something, she would find out for us and actually got back to us when she found out. I would model some of my communication behaviors after her, specifically actively listening to other people. I always felt like she actually heard and listened to me; I also like that she never checked her phone while we were talking. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

 When I think of working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, my hope is that they feel welcomed and included. I hope I am able to respect their culture and include it in my class. My goal for the early childhood field regarding diversity, equity, and social justice is to have early education available in all languages. It would be great for children to get the education they need, no matter what language they speak. 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The origin-country that I chose is Columbia; the first thing I would do is research this country's native language and learn a few words of it. The second thing I would do to prepare myself is to find images from Columbia, maybe even the flag, and add them to my classroom. The third thing I would do is research what types of food are native to Columbia and try to add those foods to my dramatic play center. The fourth thing I would do is research their culture and explore all things that would give me insight into this family. The final thing I would do is to prepare a lesson on Columbia to share with the class. I hope that these preparations would benefit the family and help them feel welcome and included. I hope that I would benefit from this by learning more about another culture and how to be culturally responsive toward it. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

 Thinking back about a prejudice that I witnessed years ago comes from a when I was up for a job promotion. The promotion was between me and another girl name Tara, well the Tara and the assistant were best friends and hung out all the time. Before the assistant started, the director was personally working with me to be promoted next. I usually follow all rules and regulations, and this annoyed the assistant because it often made more work for her. When it came time for the promotion, the director asked for the assistant's opinion, well the assistant was biased and said her friend was better. Tara ended up getting promoted and was no longer with the company within a few months. The decision to promote Tara was based on a bias opinion. This incident didn't have any equity as it was not a fair choice; the choice should have been made on experience, professional, and other things. Thinking about this incident brings back the pain the I felt when I was not picked, I was disappointed because I was highly qualified for the position. I knew immediately that it was because the assistant didn't like me and it was upsetting. The things that would have to change for equity to happen in this situation is the person or the process. The assistant and director should have looked at nameless resumes and picked the most appropriate one for the job. The other thing that could change is the assistant; she needed to make an unbias choice and give her opinion based on facts, not feelings. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 One microaggression that I remember from another time is when I was hanging out with my friend and their mom was driving. Whenever a Hispanic person would walk by my friend's mother would hastily lock the car doors. The type of microaggression that was happening was that my friends mom was stereotyping all Hispanics. When I first observed this microaggression I didn't think twice about it, to me this was normal. Looking back I see that this was not a normal response, it was a microaggression towards them. My observations experiences affected my perception of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes on people because I realize something. I realized that a lot of the microaggressions we have been talking about are things that I use to not even think about. I realized that a lot of microaggressions are unintentional because some people simply are not aware of microaggressions and the negative effects they can have on people. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 The definitions of diversity and culture were similar to what we have been learning in this course so far. The general response I received was that culture is passed down from each generation and diversity is a description of who you are such as race, ethnicity, weight, and more. I don't think that aspects were omitted. The way other peoples definitions influence my thinking is that each person has the same definition they just describe it in their own ways. It has reminded me that each person can have the correct definition, but just like culture be unique and different in how they describe it. 

My Family Culture

 If I could only choose 3 small items I would take a family photo of my entire family, a small blanket from Disneyland, and a Bible. I would explain to others that my family is very important to me and I want to keep them with me no matter where I go. I would explain that I basically grew up at Disneyland and considered it a second home for a long time, I would probably visit Disneyland once a week for awhile. The blanket I have had for many years and would remind me of the magic that I felt when visiting there. I would explain that my faith is important to me and the Bible is somewhere I can turn to and read when I am feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or hopeless. If I was suddenly told that I could only keep one object I would feel heartbroken and unsure of which item to choose. The insight I gained from this exercise is that culture isn't limited to what others say it is or how they define you. 

When I Think of Research

 My research simulation is all about positive redirection and the effect that it has on children's behaviors. This is important to the field of early childhood because many childcare providers are using positive redirection and suggesting parents to use redirection as well. I believe that many teachers and parents are not given enough information regarding positive redirection and the long term effects of it. Teachers, parents, and children would all benefit from this research proposal. It will help teachers and parents understand positive redirection and how to use it effectively. It will also help children while parents and teachers use positive redirections since the long term effect should have a positive outcome. My perception of early childhood professional have been modified from this course in the sense that we don't implement research as we should. In my experience teachers do not use information that we have gained from research, instead they use their own experiences. 

Research Around the World

The website that I looked more into is called Early Childhood Australia (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/). The research topics that I found from this website are Inclusion and COVID-19. The website has a section dedicated to inclusion and is full of resources, including what inclusion means useful links, and more resources on inclusion. Regarding COVID-19, they are working with the government and being advocated for the early childcare field. They have almost daily updates on the issue and what the government is doing about it. I gained new insight from reading about one of their webinars that they offer called “Making Quality Visible” (https://learninghub.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/elearning/making-quality-visible/). I found this very insightful since I have learned a lot about quality childcare and how to create a quality environment. This made me think about the preschool I work and whether the quality of care is visible or not. I tried to think from the perspective of a parent and not a worker. I was surprised when I realized the quality of care could mean something different to parents, then it does for early educators. Parents probably consider the quality of care if their child is learning, safe, healthy, and happy.  I learned that much like this country, they are trying to be a voice and an advocate for children. It reminds me we all need to stick together and be advocates for children who cannot advocate for themselves.

Research Benefits

One way I have seen a positive benefit of research is when it comes to assessing children who may a learning disability or has a developmental delay. This is usually a very touchy topic for many parents or family members of the child. As an early childcare educator, we have learned countless times the importance of being diagnosed early and intervening early. Early intervention gives the child the greatest chance of overcoming or controlling their disability. I have personally worked with different children who have been diagnosed and children who have not been diagnosed. In my experience, children that were diagnosed at a young age were more developmentally on track then children who were diagnosed later or not diagnosed at all. Whenever I am wondering if I should be having a conversation about the child getting assessed, I always keep in my the importance of being diagnosed early. My personal opinion is that I would get my child tested if I was even the tiniest bit concerned because I want to get them help as early as I can to give them the highest chance of learning.

My topic for the research simulation is Positive Redirection. I chose this topic because positive redirection is the main form of discipline in childcare. Teachers use this every day, yet most teachers can not tell you what it actually means and how to properly implement it. I chose this topic to learn more about positive redirection, how to implement it, and the effect of it. The research simulation process has been interesting and fun so far. I am very excited to learn more about my topic and the research behind it. I have learned the importance of ensuring the research I use is valid, and the importance of reading research papers properly. What is your experience with this topic? Is there any insight that you can give me to help me research this topic better?

International Awareness

UNICEF states, “Every child has the right to survive and thrive,” unfortunately, many do not get that opportunity. Three areas of early international childhood that UNICEF (https://www.unicef.org/what-we-do) are Nutrition, Health, and Early Childhood Development. UNICEF understands that children develop the most during the first few years of life, I like the quote that they have by Raffi Cavoukian “When you pay attention to the beginning of the story, you can change the whole story.” UNICEF recognizes that children living internationally do not always have health care, and many children die from things that are completely preventable with proper care. They also recognize the importance of proper nutrition, which many children do not have access to or even know what proper nutrition is. My goal for this field to raise international awareness is to pay more attention to the stories and help change the path of the story to a wonderful story with a long life.

New Insight

I was exploring my website this week (https://cscce.berkeley.edu/), and I came across an article called "What's Causing the Shortage of Qualified Early Care and Education Teachers." (https://cscce.berkeley.edu/hole-in-the-bucket/) I found this interesting because I have seen how hard it can be to find early education teachers, and I was interested in learning more. The biggest reason that there is a shortage due to lack of acceptable compensation, the article stated that early child care is the lowest-paid occupation. The shortage comes from various reasons, but one of those reasons is education requirements. I believe that many people view childcare as a job to have while attending school and not as a career. Therefore many of them don't have the required education to be alone with children. This leads children to be with teachers who are not qualified, and therefore, they do not have quality learning. My new insight is that this field is one of the lowest-paying jobs; early educators need to work together to change that and raise early educators' compensation.

Web Resources

The first link I followed was titled “Valuing Women’s Caregiving During and After the Coronavirus Crisis” it took me to the Center for American Progress (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/06/03/485855/valuing-womens-caregiving-coronavirus-crisis/ ) I searched the issues section of this site and found that they touch base on many topics. There are many issues in the world right now, and this website has a dedicated section for each of them, such as courts, criminal justice, early childhood, LGBTQ rights, poverty, race and ethnicity, women, and so much more. The website that I have been following throughout this course (https://cscce.berkeley.edu/) has a specific section for equity publications with current and some older publications regarding equity. I gained insight into the issues and trends in this field about the many resources available to everyone about these issues.

The first new insight that I found comes from supporting innovation in this field, this is one of the key ingredients: policy, funding, and professional environments that support experimentation and entrepreneurial investment in new ideas. The second idea or insight that I gained from this website was the importance of precision and how it can help target issues and what the goals of fixing those issues are. The most important thing I learned from this is that precision includes clarity. The final insight that I learned is that a community helps connect people.

Globally I looked more into Canada, I found it interesting that that just had two key mandates which are

1. supporting research in early brain and biological development, mental health, and addiction, and
2. translating that research for policymakers, healthcare communities, and the general public.

My favorite things that I learned from exploring Canada more was that they are connecting science and policies by translating it into easy to understand ways for us. One issue with all this scientific research for the early childhood field is that most preschool teachers don’t know how to read the research papers or that they have simply forgotten because they don’t read research papers every day. I like that through the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, Canada is able to do this.

The information from this post can be found at this website (https://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/)

Web Resources

Just a reminder the website I am learning more about and exploring is "Center for the Study of Child Care Employment" (https://cscce.berkeley.edu/)

The specific section that really relates to my current professional development is that "Babies Don't Do Social Distancing." I remember when I went back to work after being furloughed day 1 a child sneezed in my face. This article is spot on about how young children cannot do social distancing, my child can't even walk yet. He is 10 months old and still needs to be carried everywhere, meaning there is not social distancing when he is around. The article talked about a double standard for schools/head start programs and childcare facilities. Schools/head start programs were closed to help protect more people, but many childcare facilities remained open without extra funding causing them to lose a lot of money. I think that the comparison is a big controversial issue, I think that many people still view early childcare education as a daycare program until children go to a real school. People are still unaware and uneducated about how important early childhood education is, and the amount that a child's brain grows in the first 5 years of life. This same article talked about congress coming up with proposals to help bail companies out during the virus; however, many childcare facilities were not included in that. Politicians claim that early childhood is important, but we are not receiving the help we need to continue to teach and care for these young children.

International

I chose to look more on the UNICEF website about poverty (https://www.unicef.org/social-policy), this website is a great resource and gives us a lot of information about poverty. UNICEF helps support children with cash transfer programs, reaches 7 million children in humanitarian settings, routinely measures poverty and reports it, and supports local governments' plans and budget for public services.
Three insights that I gained from this website and come directly from the website are:
1. On average, poor children worldwide die before their fifth birthday at twice the rate of their better-off peers
2. Nearly two-thirds of children worldwide are not protected from the lifelong consequences of poverty.
Around the world, nearly one in three children, roughly 663 million live in poverty.

Web Resource

The organization that I chose is Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (https://cscce.berkeley.edu/). This organization's purpose is “Conducting research and proposing policy solutions aimed at improving how our nation prepares, supports, and rewards the early care and education workforce since 1999.” One issue that catches my attention immediately is, “Why do parents pay so much for child care when early educators earn so little?” This catches my attention as both a parent and an early educator, childcare is quite expensive, and it makes it tough to pay weekly with how much I make. I am learning that these issues that I see in childcare are not just my issues, but more people have these issues. I am learning that I am not alone in how I feel and that there are people out there that want to make a difference.

The website that I chose to study is Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (https://cscce.berkeley.edu/professional-expectations-without-professional-conditions/) As I was searching through the websites I was looking for something that stood out to me, something that I could relate to. Once I opened this website I knew it was the site that I wanted to study, I am a preschool teacher and I relate to what I have seen on the homepage. The first thing that popped up was resources for teaching during this pandemic, articles about the little pay and expensive care, racial age gaps, and babies don’t do social distancing. As an educator all of these topics are something that happens every day, I love that there is a place addressing these issues. I want to ask my colleagues their thoughts on these topics and see how they feel about it.

My Supports

My biggest support is my husband, he is always there for, and I know I can count on him. My family also is a big support, even know I don't live near most of them. I know I can still count on them. The family that lives nearby is a huge support as well, they are always willing to help out with our son. In a daily environment, my husband is my support, I am currently unemployed and see him all day every day, and he still supports me. One benefit of him being my daily support is that he is willing to watch our son so that I can have uninterrupted homework time, he is also always asking if I have any homework I need to do. If anything happened to my husband and he was gone, my life would be turned upside down. I would rely heavily on my family that lives nearby for support and also relay on the family that lives far away. The impact of my husband being gone would change everything from day to day life to long term effects. One challenge I imagined having was losing everything we had in a tornado, which thankfully has happened yet. We would need all kinds of support we would need support on finding a new/temporary place to live, replacing clothes and electronics, just to name a few. We would also need help emotionally dealing with the trauma that just happened, we would need someone to talk to and be told that it is okay. My supports would be there for my family and me during this time; they would offer to put us up and replace essential items until we got on our feet again. I could not imagine going through a challenging situation without the support of my husband and my family; they are my rock.

My Connections to Play

"Play is our brain's favorite way of learning."
-Diane Ackerman, Contemporary American author

"Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity."
-Kay Redfield Jamison, Contemporary American professor of psychiatry

Essential play items for my younger self:

Barbie was the most essential play item for my younger self, I played with barbies every day most of my childhood. Barbies allowed me to use my imagination and come up with any scenario that I wanted to play.
(https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn11.bigcommerce.com%2Fs-0kvv9%2Fimages%2Fstencil%2F1280x1280%2Fproducts%2F313910%2F448778%2Fapim5hnjf__34849.1573597138.jpg%3Fc%3D2%26imbypass%3Don&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Ftoywiz.com%2F2019-holiday-barbie-barbie-doll-blonde%2F&tbnid=CB1CnYk6WyyZlM&vet=12ahUKEwj26tH8irvoAhVBOK0KHatHBN4QMygregUIARDfAQ..i&docid=EHbFKjVMUMmx2M&w=613&h=1280&q=barbie%20doll&ved=2ahUKEwj26tH8irvoAhVBOK0KHatHBN4QMygregUIARDfAQ)

The next essential play item was my American Girl Doll if I wasn't playing with barbies, I was playing with American Girl Dolls.
(https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fagplaythings.com%2FHistoricals%2FKirsten%2FKirstenDoll.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fagplaythings.com%2FHistoricals%2FKirsten%2FKirsten1854.html&tbnid=gR8yYldF5n0DRM&vet=12ahUKEwiaw6qJjLvoAhVFaKwKHaROA24QMygVegUIARCBAQ..i&docid=V0O_Cu7CJWIi6M&w=250&h=250&q=american%20girl%20doll%20kirsten&ved=2ahUKEwiaw6qJjLvoAhVFaKwKHaROA24QMygVegUIARCBAQ)

People supported my play by not interrupting my play, my family let me take over my living and make it barbie central. They encourage me to play with my toys and dolls, I was the youngest, so I think it was the easiest way to keep me entertained. They also allowed me to go to friends' houses or invite them over to play with my dolls. There were so many times where my living became a Barbie town with my best friend, and we would play in there for hours. They would just step over our town to get to the couch so that they could watch tv, but happily let us continue playing.

I think that play is different from when I was younger because technology is much bigger now, children get into technology at younger ages now. When I was younger technology was around, but a young child did not have a smart device, I didn't get my first smartphone until I was in high school. My hope for younger children and play is that they actually use and explore play and not just technology.

Play has had a big impact on my role in life, I use to pretend that my dolls were teachers, and now I am a teacher. I still like coming up with imaginary situations and playing them out in my head, but I think play as a young child definitely helped make me who I am today.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important to me because life is hard, and it can get lonely, having those close relationships really help me get through the hard times. It is important to me that I have people that I can turn to and rely on in both the good and the bad times. The most important positive relationship that I have is my husband, I rely on him every single day. My husband is my main support system, and in order for it to work, we both have to contribute to it. We both need to be able to have open and honest communication with each other, even when it is hard. There are some days that I have to try harder to make our relationship work, while other days, he has to try harder. It can be a challenge when we are both sick and want the other person to take care of us, but they don't have the energy. Over the few years, we have been married, we are still learning each other and what works best for us, but at the end of every day, we know we love each other and always kiss goodnight. My husband has encouraged my education and career choices in the early childhood profession, he has never once told me I need to find a better job. He is there for me every step of the way and ready to support me in any way, including watching the baby while I do homework. There are some people who aren't supportive of this field, but thankfully he is and will continue to support me in every decision I make.

Professional Thanks

Thank you to every who read my blog throughout this course and to those that have responded. I have enjoyed reading your responses during this time. I personally want to mention the blog https://maloechildhood.blogspot.com/, it has been a joy to read your post and hear your opinion on these various topics. The other blog I want to say a special thanks to is https://learningisfunandeducational.school.blog/ it has been great reading your blog throughout this course.
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”  — Fred Rogers, television personality 

Assessments as a Whole

I think that we should assess the child as a whole by using different types of assessments. A child behaves differently depending on where they are at as well; therefore, if possible, we should be assessing the child in each environment or at least different environments. We cannot choose just one area to focus on when we assess a child because in different development domains interplay with each other, for example, while running a child is using both cognitive and physical development to run (Berger, K. S. 2018). Therefore we should be using assessments that can assess each domain separately and together as a whole. A child is not defined by simply one area but as a whole. I looked up more about assessments in Thailand, I found that they do assessments by having the teachers observe the children see how much of the subject they are learning (http://auathai.com/assessment). According to this website, they do not use as many tests and assessments, but instead, use observations. The observations are completed by all the teachers, and the students own assessments as well (https://algworld.com/progress_assessment.php/) They consider many things in their observations, such as how often the student attended, understanding the content, listening, studying, and many other things. I think that the method they are using here is a better assessment then having the child take a test; by using observations, they are able to see the child as a whole rather then what is written on a paper. I know observations can be a lot of work depending on how many children a teacher is supervising, but in the end, I believe it is a good way to assess children as a whole.

Reference

Berger, K. S. (2018). The developing person through childhood (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Poverty

     The stressor I chose was poverty, I chose this stressor because of a person that I knew in jr high and high school. My friend, Luna, grew up very poor in a 1 bedroom apartment in a poor part of town with her mom and her two sisters. I met this family through my church, and I got along well with Luna, I chose this family because my family helped them out a lot. My family gave Luna weekly rides to church and youth group bought food for and helped them out when we could. I believe in a normal situation like this, the person would be grateful for the help and appreciate a good friend, that was not the case. Luna eventually became a spoiled brat, she was consistently expecting my family to buy her food and give her rides whenever she wanted. She would complain when we had to leave somewhere when the event ended instead of hanging out more with friends. It got to the point where I did not want to hang out with her because I just felt like she just wanted things from me. I was by no means rich or necessarily had money, but my parents always made sure we could afford food and special stuff once in a while. Eventually, I started to tell her no when she asked for a ride or when she wanted something from me, I just wasn’t able to support both of us. Once I stopped giving Luna everything she wanted, we drifted apart, and slowly, we were no longer friends. I share this story because I think it is important to understand that sometimes people aren’t always grateful, and we can’t just continue to give them what they want. Luna coped with poverty by finding someone to help her and then taking advantage of them, it has been so long now that I don’t remember if they received any help from the state.

     I chose to look more into Ireland about poverty, I discovered that over 760,000 are living in poverty, with 230,000 of those being children (https://www.socialjustice.ie/content/policy-issues/more-760000-people-are-living-poverty-ireland-which-over-230000-are-children). Social welfare has helped decrease the amount of poverty in Ireland a lot, and they are still trying to come up with a solution to poverty. Ireland has published 10 policy proposals in order to help reduce poverty (https://www.socialjustice.ie/content/policy-issues/more-760000-people-are-living-poverty-ireland-which-over-230000-are-children). The recommendation to address children poverty is as follows:

* Maintaining adequate adult welfare rates is vital to ensure that low-income families do not fall below the poverty line.

* Child benefit remains a key route to tackling child poverty, especially for those families on the lowest incomes.  It is also a very effective component in any strategy to improve equality and childcare.

* Decent rates of pay and conditions are extremely important to support working parent.   Individuals working full time should be able to earn enough income to provide a decent standard of living for their families – a minimum acceptable standard of living.

* Many working families on low earnings struggle to achieve a basic standard of living.  Making tax credits refundable is an efficient and cost-effective solution to help working families on low earnings (https://www.socialjustice.ie/content/policy-issues/effects-child-poverty-are-deep-and-long-lasting).

           Poverty and homelessness has a lasting on effect on children, a study showed that children in poverty have a varied and complex issues (https://www.socialjustice.ie/content/policy-issues/effects-child-poverty-are-deep-and-long-lasting). I was shocked to learn this information when I think of poverty, I typically have not thought of the effect on the children. I was surprised to learn how much poverty can affect children, not just temporarily but for life. I am glad to see that Ireland is working on their poverty and are making children a priority.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

I choose to focus on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), this is a public health topic that is meaningful to me. This is meaningful to me because it is something that suddenly happens with no warning. When I had my first child I was terrified of SIDS, I was consistently checking on my child to make sure he was still breathing. The first few weeks of his life, my husband and I took shift; I stayed up until about 2am with him, and my husband was up with him after 2am. Now we are both able to sleep while our child is sleeping, and we trust he is safe. I believe it is vital to raise awareness about SIDS and things that can be done to prevent SIDS. Things that parents can do that helps prevent SIDS is placing the infant on their back to sleep, having nothing in the crib with the infant, keeping the room at a comfortable temperature to prevent overheating, breastfeed the infant, and offer them a pacifier (https://safetosleep.nichd.nih.gov/). Those are just a few things that can be done to prevent SIDS, although nothing is guaranteed prevention.  In 2017 about 1,400 children died from SIDS in the United States, the United States has a 6.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. (https://www.cdc.gov/sids/data.htm). After much research, I found that Japan and the Netherlands have the lowest SIDS rate of 2.8 pre 1,000 live births. The reason that the SIDS rates are so low is from breastfeeding and shared sleeping (https://www.romper.com/p/why-are-asian-babies-least-likely-to-die-of-sids-all-cultures-are-different-49423). Shared sleeping is frowned upon in the United States, but in Japan, it is encouraged and has many beneficial factors and does not affect the child’s independence (https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-levine-cosleeping-bedsharing-global-20160916-snap-story.html). This is important to know in for my future work because I work at a preschool that has children from 6 weeks- 5 years old. As an educator, it is my job to educate parents on safe sleep and how to do it. After learning that Japan has lowered SIDS rates, and they share sleep, I will be sharing this information with the parents I work with. I believe they should be educated on this topic so that they can choose what is best for them. This information is also essential to know for the children sleeping at the preschool, this way I can help prevent SIDS there as well.

My Birthing Experience

I recently had a baby about 5 months ago at the end of July, my pregnancy was a healthy pregnancy until about 30 weeks when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Due to this, I was induced at 40 weeks, my baby did not want to come out on his own. I had to go into the hospital at night to try to get me to at least 1 or 2cm dilated before starting me on Pitocin. I slept through the night as much as I could for being in a hospital, and the nurse checking on me every 2 hours. My doctor came in to check on me and decided I was far enough to break my water and start the Pitocin. Once this happened, my contractions came on strong every two minutes, at this point, I decided to get an epidural because I had no idea how long this would last. From the time they broke my water to me, giving birth was 11 ½ hours, which I am grateful it wasn’t longer than that. It was such an amazing experience; it was unlike anything I had experienced. I remember hearing his cry for the first time and thinking that I was so happy he was crying an healthy.

I chose this experience because it is my own birthing experience as well as it is the most recent one. I also like putting it out there that I had gestational diabetes so that I can be a resource for anyone else who is going through it. Birth impacts child development because what happens during birth can change the child’s life forever, the baby could get dropped when it comes out and get damaged. I think that it can also predict how a child is going to act, my child was too stubborn to come out, and he’s only 5 months and acts stubborn.

I chose to look into births from Thailand, I learned that most deliveries do happen in a hospital or a clinic, but home births are quite popular as well. A home birth is different then what I chose, I chose to have my baby at the hospital. I find home births quite interesting, but also scary I am terrified that something might go wrong. If something goes wrong in a hospital, I am already there to receive immediate treatment, whereas if something goes wrong at home, I have to wait until I arrive at the hospital for treatment. No two births are the same, and each women’s birthing story is unique, I find it interesting hearing others birth stories and comparing it to mine and seeing the difference. For some women, childbirth is traumatic, and for others, it is a cakewalk, I find it interesting hearing about both situations.