My connections to Play

Quotes

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.

Fred Rogers

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

Plato

Play is very important part in my life since I growing up in a large family that value the role of play, and everyone was encouraged to play inside and outside the house. I was spending hours playing with dolls with my five sisters, imitating and taking different roles that helped us to keep our minds operating and looking for what is exciting and beneficial to our development. Both my mother and my father were always supporting us to enjoy our times and at the same time, they  would constantly advising and encouraging us that education is the power that would open all the opportunities in our life. When I was a child, I was also playing outdoorwith my siblings ,and my friends , having fun, learn from each others, discovers various  types of playing, and build a strong relationships with  all people in the neighborhood. Play is the source that was always keeping us active, exciting, and gives us the sense that life has a taste.

Play now has drastically changing and dowindled. Children now prefer to stay indoors, playing games on the computer, watching TV, and engrossing in electronic toys. Children are no more encourage to going outside playing with others kids because parents cannot feel safe to let their children play outdoors, and even in case that they allow their children outdoor, they keep watching them. Actually, that restricts, and exhausts many families to stay outdoor with their children cause some parents spending hours in work, and returning home very tiring. Parents now cannot really appreciate and value the benefit of play, they believe that play is a waste of time, and children should focus on developing their academic skills. Thus, I think that parents need to be more aware that playing promote social ,cognitive, and physical development, it keep their children active and also decrease the chances of obesity that many children are suffering from. Play is very beneficial to all aspect of child’s development, and parents must promote children and provide them with all the opportunities that assist them to be creative and nature their development.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are very important to me because our success and happiness is highly depending on the relationships we build with people. I have had many important people in my life and every one of them played a vital role in shaping my personality, and   provided me with all the support and love that I need to be a successful person.

The first relationship I am going to talk about is my husband. He is very supportive and    always there to help during tough times. He is the one that constantly encouraging and pushing me to further my education. Without him, I do not think that I could continue to pursuing my degree. He never stops supporting me emotionally, spiritually, financially, and physically. When I start doing my homework, he runs right away to the kitchen, cooking and cleaning the house, helping my child in his how work and do many stuff at home, trying to do all he could to provide us with a safe and stable environment. He always makes me believe of myself by telling me that I can achieve anything if I have a strong will. In fact, my positive relationship with my husband has helped me to grow, flourish, follow my dreams, persist forward, and most importantly keep me strong to face all the challenges that might face us. My relationship with my husband has assisted me to make positive connections with other people and to learn many important and valuable lessons in my life.

My family that consists of my father, my mother, my six brothers, and five sisters has supported me in each step in my life. Every one of them has provided me with love, care and always being supportive to me. Even though, I live far away from them, they still back home, but we keep contact each other’s by cell phone or through the Skype.  They frequently call me to ask about my children, and how I am doing at school, making sure that everything goes well with me. Trying hard to let me feel as if I still live with them and no one would turn his or her back on me when I need anything from them. . My positive relationship with my family laid the foundation that helped me to have a successful relationship with my husband and with all people who surrounding me.

My two children are the most beautiful gift in my life. They are my world and pose everything to me. They always encourage me to do all the best for them and make me stand strongly against any situation that might threaten our stable life. My relationship with my children always reminds me to keep pursuing my dreams and never let anything take me down or discourage me.

This relationship helped me to be who am I today, enriched my life with different types of experiences, and shaped my character. They all supported me to keep accomplish my goals and to cultivate a positive connection with other people. I learned from them to be optimistic and look to the life with a positive view despite that sometimes I face challenges to maintain a positive connection with others due to miscommunication, which can damage the relationship and change how a person views another.

Positive relationships make life meaningful, comfortable and enjoyable. It helps us to build emotional and social bond with people and create that sense of purpose. Without positive relationships, life would be bored and meaningless.

 

“If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.”

Brain Tracy

 

If we want our children to be successful in their lives, we have to instill in their souls that they have the ability to attain and achieve any goal they might looking at. Love, care, attention, and support are great factors that assist children to never give up and accomplish whatever great in their lives.   

I would like to thank my instructor and all my colleagues for their supporting and sharing their wonderful experiences with us. It has been truly a great pleasure to work with every one, learn and benefit from each others. I wish you all the best in your lives and continue success in your journey.

I love to share this poem with all of you

Give Love To The Children

Give Love to the children need love everyday
Give love to the children Guide them on their way
Love's like a burning flame consumes all that stands in the way

Love is the only power on earth to take all the hatred away
GIVE LOVE TO THE CHILDREN set the children free
To make their own decisions then they will clearly see
Love is the sun the moon and the stars love is a golden ring

Love is the one thing the whole world desires be it beggar or king
GIVE LOVE TO THE CHILDREN youth has not long to stay
Love is a long term investment the best you will find any day

Love like the rising sun takes all the darkness away
Our children will tell their children and their children’s children will say
Give love to the children they are our crock of gold
and if perchance they ever stray they will come back to the fold

Give love to the children the children of today
Give love to the children and love will come to stay.

Elizabeth Quinn

Testing for intelligence

Testing children's intelligence is the only tools that it used almost in many countries to measure children’s intelligence. In this test, children are not measure accurately due to the fact that this assessment does not include all the domains of development, it is only include specific areas and exclude many aspect that might show more about child’s intelligence. Besides, it is not fair to determine child’ intelligence based only on this test because many children are doing great in the class and having highest scores but just hearing test or assessment that would be enough to panic them and put them under pressure. And what also important, is that Testing usually has a limit time, and most children cannot finish the assessment in time, that of course does not indicate that this child is not intelligence or his ability to learn is limited. Hence, I hope that in testing or assessment should take into consideration that every child is unique and his ability to internalize, and recall material is different from another.

In my country, which is Iraq, we assess children based on two types of test. The first one is done in the middle of the school year, and the second one at the end of the school. In both test, children are measure in different areas such as math, science, language and other aspects. During the test, children are given  two weeks or more depending on their grade, and every child is  responsible for memorizing everything he learned from the cover to cover. This form a challenge for every child since it is very hard to recall the whole material. I remember when I was in middle school; my mom was used to come with me because she knows that I will throw and get sick. Just remember these days make my feel sick. Truly, I believe this test does not give accurate information about children intelligence. This topic make me remember my friend when we were in the last year of high school, she used to be the top in the class from the elementary till almost the last year. During the test, she was very scared and under pressure, the result, she did not take a good score that might qualify her to be a doctor, which was her dream at that time.  Everyone in Iraq, consider the last year of the high school is the most important period in student’s life since it will determine his/her future later. Therefore, we believe that the person who is lucky in his life will pass the test and get the highest mark, and the one who is not lucky even if he was very intelligent, will not perform good at this test. Actually, we consider assessment is just like luck.

In conclusion, I wish that when we measure children’s intelligence, we do not need to focus on this test only; we need to take into consideration other aspect of child’s development such as emotional or social skills. I hope that every teacher should educate children that when are not doing well in the test, that does not mean they are not intelligence. Many children get frustrated when they know that their scores are very low and that may affect their performance later. I would love to make every child feel with comfort when hearing assessment or testing.

http://faculty.ccp.edu/dept/viewpoints/f03v4n1/suskie.html

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Poverty

In all countries, poverty presents a chronic stress for children and families that may interfere with successful adjustment to developmental tasks, including school achievement. Poverty is highly influence child’s development and educational outcomes beginning in the earliest years of life. Hence, children who raised in low-income families are at high risk of leaving school, social and behavioral problems, under nutrition, and well-being. Early Child Care Research Network has shown that children in chronically impoverished families have lower cognitive and academic performance and more behavior problems than children who are not exposed to poverty, partially explained by a lack of stimulating behaviors and home experiences among low-income families. It is very apparent that poverty impedes child’s learning, health, cognitive, social, and emotional development.

In my country which is Iraq, a third of Iraqis live in poverty due to wars, corruption, failing infrastructure, and high unemployment. All these factors are considering the main reasons that poverty spread in Iraq. However, these elements affects negatively on children’s development in all aspect. First, poverty increased the rate of literacy among children since many families cannot afford to send their children to school. Beside, many children lost their fathers during wars or sectarian tension, which causes children to work in streets or under any worker to getting money to support their families. In turns, children lost their chances to attain the good education that would open the gate of opportunities for them. Increasingly, children in Iraq continue to quitting school and deprive from the chance of learning and gaining different skills in school. Secondly, poverty also influences children’s overall health and decreases their chances to get the best treatment, and put them at risk of undernutrision. Generally, poverty in Iraq affects considerably and hindered child’s development from all aspect as cognitively, emotionally, and intellectually. . I remember my neighbor whose her husband has been killed during sectarian tension, she obliged to make her son who was 7 years old to quit school so as to work with his uncle, and support his family financially. Because she has only one boy and the rest are girls, so it is very hard for her to let any girls working outside especially they all young. However, I believe the consequences of poverty on child’s development are almost the same in any country, which definitely would undermine child’s learning, and all domains of his developments.

http://iq.one.un.org/Facts-and-Figures

http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?146376-Poverty-Rate-Unchanged-In-Iraq

Child development and public health

Breast-feeding is the topic that I decide to choose this week because breast-feeding is the best natural nutrition for the baby health and his   brain development. Since this week we talked about the effects of attachments on child’s growth, I considered that breast-feeding is also the main sources of strengthen the attachment bond and promote the emotional relationship with their mothers, in fact, it  highly enhancing behaviors of the infant and the intuitive  .Generally, Breast-feeding has a huge benefit on child’s life overall. What important first is that breast- feeding protect infants from getting sick, protect them from obesity, decreasing the chances of having allergies, and protect them from severe illness. In other words, it reduced risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) statistics reveal that every 87 death from SIDS, only 3 are breastfed. Furthermore, one large study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences showed that children who are breastfed have a 20 percent lower risk of dying between the ages of 28 days and 1 year than children who were not breastfed, with longer breastfeeding associated with lower risk. In addition, children who are breast- feeding  are more likely to perform better at school than children who are on the  bottle feeding, basically, breast- feeding develop children’s cognitive outcomes and make them even smarter. The relationships of closeness that occur during breast-feeding tend to be very interesting experiences in child’s life that would boost his development from all aspects and affect his life in the future. However, Reports from UNICEF stated that the rates of breastfeeding in East  Asia has been dramatically declined due to the facts that women who works cannot have more time to nurse their babies, they return to work as soon as they gave birth.  According to the UNICEF report, as little as five percent of all mothers breastfeed in Thailand, while around 10 percent do so in Vietnam. In China, only 28 percent of babies are breastfed. Actually, there is a high percentage of women do not understand the long affect that would result from breast-feeding .Therefore, I believe that as educator it is also our role to educate women  about the importance of breastfeeding especially during the first sixth month of child’s life because this period of breast-feeding determine child’s health and his growth in future.

Refrences

C:\Users\AN\Desktop\Breastfeeding Benefits.htm

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/81785/unicef-reports-declining-breastfeeding-rates-in-east-asia

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/13/breastfeeding-child-brain-development

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110317141143.htm

C:\Users\AN\Desktop\How breastfeeding benefits you and your baby  BabyCenter_bc.mht

My two children birthing experience

I have two children one of them was born in my country, which is Iraq, and the second child was born In United States. When I was pregnant of my  first child, I went through a very hard time because  The situation in my country was not stable at that time,  and the violence reach its utmost, I was very stress during my pregnancy, to sleep at night is the difficult part. I was very scaring of how am going to deliver, and if the labor is going to be natural or not. My health care provider told me that my pregnancy was going well and there are no complications at all. When I completed my entire months, my doctor gave another two weeks because I did not have any contractions. Even when I passed the two weeks of my due date I did not have any sign of labour.Therfore, my doctor told me that she would induce my labor. Thus, the next day I went to the hospital, they put me under medication, and I started having contraction. Almost hour later, I was surprised by being told that I will have a surgery due to the baby position, which was not in the right way. After half an hour, I have been admitted to the surgery room and I put under complete sleeping. In fact, I cannot forget these moments and how I was very scared at that time especially the rules over there do not allowed any family member to be within the surgery room. However, when I completed the surgery, I took to another room, and I stayed in the hospital just one day in spite I had a cesarean surgery. During the whole night only one nurse came and gave me the medicine, no one check my baby health or my surgery despite the hospital was private and extremely expensive, but the care and services were very horrible.. Unfortunately, the power and the water were off at that night. I think it is a beautiful feeling to spend the night on the light of candles. In the morning, I left the hospital and for my bad luck, the elevator was out of service, and my room was in the third floor so I obliged to go down walking with the help of my sisters. I t was a horrible day for me , actually I did not enjoy these moments of having baby for the first time, I was only thinking  about who the situation went very bad . In fact, I just remember one beautiful thing during my labor that eased me, I was surrounded by all my family member whom they comfort me in this difficult journey. My two sisters stayed almost a month in my home just to take care of my baby and me because the surgery took me almost a month to recover and start walking. Thus, it is very hard to give a birth in a country where there are no services at all and no one pay attention to the importance of the human health.

My second labor was in United States and it was naturally. In spite my health provider told me from the beginning of my pregnancy that she was not sure if am going to deliver naturally because of the previous surgery, but she did all her best to help me having a natural labor. When I passed the two weeks of my due date, I also told that they would induce my labor since I did not have any contractions. When my contractions started getting very intense, I asked them to give me epidural to ease me pain, and after a couple of hours, I had my second child. I cannot imagine how it was easy and that of course due to the efforts of f my health care provider and all staff who were doing a great job and never let me alone until l gave birth. Generally, the services and care were amazing. My husband was with my in the labor room from the beginning till I deliver and that is the amazing thing that really we miss it in my country. I stayed two days in the hospital even though my labor was naturally, the nurses keep coming back and forth to make sure that both my child and me are doing well. I really enjoyed these moments of bonding with my child. If I want to mention one thing that I missed in my second delivery was the gathering of my whole family since they all back home, only my husband was with me and he is a great supporter for me during and after labor. Therefore, I think that now I do not need to make any comparison between the two labors because everything now looks very clear from my two experiences. In addition , most of  women in my country are having their labor at home because at hospitals are very expensive, and also because women are not educated enough to understanding the dangerous of having labor at home, and the consequences that might caused by having labor at home. Therefore, the mortality rate in my country is very high due to the reasons that I mentioned. Finally, I want to say that my two children are the world for me, and their smiles eased all my pain.