Changing Demographics and Diversity

National Black Child Development Institute

While exploring the National Black Child website, I was curios about its origin, so I clicked on the “About Us” tab and discovered that this organization was birth in the 60s during the civil rights era by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation in Washington, D.C who were concerned about the unsatisfactory conditions of children and families who wanted to rear healthy children. After impacting their community on a local level, the group decided to form a national advocacy group forming networks in other cities and were incorporated in 1970 as The National Black Child Development Institute Inc.Their mission statement is as follows, 

“To improve and protect the quality of life for children of color and their families by giving every child a chance.” 

NBCDI promotes a multifaceted agenda to promote and protect the well being of children of color and is committed to replacing the existing cookie cutter (deficit oriented) program models with strength based initiatives designed to meet the individual needs of this particular population. Programs are designed to assist children and families experiencing challenges in the areas of early care and education, health, parenting, education, and child welfare. NBCDI also collaborates with other early childhood professional organizations and persons associated with the field.

Next, I explored their accomplishments and I was excited to discover that a NBCDI work successfully to create public policy and influence legislation that directly affects the lives of African American children by testifying before Congress on every significant child care bill. I was also excited to learn that the P.E.P. Parent Empowerment Project was one of their initiatives, reason being I was a child care director in the 1990s for the YMCA and we contracted the operation of a teen parent child development center with a Fort Worth Public high school. I recall the school social worker having weekly meetings with the teen parents that I sometimes attended. Topics ranged from filling out an application to properly strapping children in car seats and more.

I was also amazed to learn of another program initiative, T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® This program provides sequenced educational scholarship opportunities for child care center teachers, directors and family child care home providers who work in regulated settings. Scholarships are also available to supplement the expense of teachers pursuing their CDA, Associates or Bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education.

One last thing, I discovered is that their annual conference will he held in Nashville, TN Oct. 8 – 11, 2011 where I reside.

In response to does this  website respond to this week’s topic, changing demographics and diversity, I did not see an actual article, the publication tab is being updated, but the topics for the conference are as follows,

• ·      Solving the Persistent Challenge: How to Promote and Support Diverse Leadership

• ·       Preparing for Diversity: The Role of Higher Education in Preparing Effective Educators of Black and Latino Children

Membership is very inexpensive for students, only $20.00! Wow! I think that is what I paid back in the late 90s.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

After several email returns I have opted to use Alternative 1, the World Forum

I clicked on the “Current Work” tab and selected radio forum from the drop down box.

Next, I subscribed to World Forum Radio and listened to two podcasts.

Episode 3, Delphina Mitchell-The context in which she improves the quality of life for children is healing children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse, abandonment and neglect. 

Episode 6, Meria Eka Yora-The context in which he improves the quality of life for children and families is  by meeting the social/ emotional, physical and cognitive needs of orphaned children due to the Tsunami tragedy.

The Early Childhood Organizations I have chosen to explore are;

Association for Childhood Education International
17904 Georgia Ave, Suite 215
Olney, Maryland 20832
USA
(301) 570-2111;
(800) 423-3563;
Fax: (301) 570-2212
E-mail us at headquarters@acei.org

National Black Child Development Institute
http://nbcdi.org/

International Child Resource Institute
http://www.icrichild.org/ 

"My Supports"

The supports in my life exist in several arenas; family, work, health, my community and last and most importantly, my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

Family

 My Parents

My parents support me by remembering my birthdays, attending special occasions that involve me and conversing over the telephone. Last year I was in several stage plays and my parents who are in their late 70's and 80's traveled just to come and see me. Also when my ex husband and I split up a long time ago, my parents helped me out a lot. It was tough raising two daughters on my income alone. And the child support didn't start until a couple years after the separation.

My daughter Monica

Monica supports me in many ways. She makes me feel needed. She often calls me to talk about her work and the message she heard at church. She also makes me laugh. When I get off the phone with her, I feel good! We also have a lot in common. We are both tidy and like things in place, and we both can't wait to tell the other about the message we heard at church. We have some very memorable moments too. This past May, when I went to Texas for her graduation, she talked me into going to an European style spa. I stayed on the clothed side of course, but we had lots of laughs from that experience!

 My brother Jason

Prior to moving from Fort Worth, TX to Nashville, TN. in August of 2007,  my brother welcomed me to stay with him until I got out of debt. He allowed me to pay a very minimal amount so I could get out of debt. 2 1/2 years later, I purchased my first home. When I moved, he help me to move and he even hung my curtains for me. 

 My sister Vickey

My sister, supports me by making herself available to talk to over the phone. All though she is back in Texas, we still keep contact. We talk about work, or something we saw interesting on television. 

My aunt, Carol

Aunt Carl communicates with me often  via internet. One way she supports me, is by giving me words of wisdom. She often sends me Christian emails or humorous emails. There have been times, when the email she sent was right on time. Either I needed the food for thought or I needed to laugh. She too came to see me perform and she treated me to see the live stage play, "Dream Girls" when it came through Nashville, TN.

 My aunt Mingtoy

This particular aunt is very supportive with her personality alone. She is very sweet and kind. And she always has a kind word to say. She is also funny. And she just makes me feel good when I am around her. We recently traveled to Texas back in may for graduations I really enjoyed her company. 

My Close Friend  

I came to know Carmen when she joined the choir at my church. She is very friendly and caring. She always speaks words of encouragement. She was very supportive to me when I purchased my home. She prayed for me as I went through two tax credit extensions because the home I was purchasing was a short sale. When I finally purchased my home, she gave me a house warming party. Carmen is also a very good listener. I can call her to share good news or just vent if I need to and she allows me the space to do that. 

Work

The next arena is work. I definitely have to have support to do the job I do, working with children and families. My co- teacher supports me by sharing her load of the many responsibilities we have and by maintaining good attendance and being on time. My supervisor has been very supportive of me, especially since I started school by respecting my time and not asking me to work overtime. Also the families are supportive by sharing vital information with me to meet the needs of their children. Another way parents are supportive is by upholding policies and providing their child with the with the things they need for being in a preschool environment.

My Community

 My community is supportive to me because all of the business establishments I need to go to, are close by. The public library is a resource I often use to check out library books to support the curriculum and the interest of the children. Public parks are also supportive as they provide free recreation. I sometimes take my grandchildren to the park just to enjoy their company while being out in the open fresh air.I also recently joined a fitness center. Although I am paying for it, the staff are there to answer my questions, and assist me as needed. Also I find that my church is a very strong support system to. My church provides education, awareness and wellness initiatives and the church functions such as the choir picnic support me socially.

 My personal faith and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

I chose to share this support last, because I couldn't have come this far if it wasn't for my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. My relationship with Him has brought me through divorce, a child that ran away at age 13, single parenthood, loss of a job, surgeries and much more. But through it all, God has been my strength, my joy and the encourager of all encouragers as I receive hope and guidance from his word.  

All of these supports are important to me and to not have them would make life less enjoyable. As a human I am an emotional and social being. Life would be very sad, frustrating and lonely without these support systems. They all factor in to enhance my life. But again, out of all of these supports,  I can truly say, without Jesus and his word, I would really be up a creek because no one loves me unconditionally  like He does!

"My Connections to Play"

Play for young children is not recreation activity,...It is not leisure-time activity nor escape activity...Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of-ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met. 

--James L. Hymes, Jr., child development specialist, author

 Play is work that you enjoy doing for nothing.  
Evan Esar, humorist

The quote below doesn’t ascribe to the assignment, but I had to add this one. I am 55 years old and I am more energetic than many of my co-workers in their mid 20s. I believe the reason is that I have not abandoned play.

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

-- George Bernard Shaw, playright 

 My family was very supportive of my play. Being the oldest among three other siblings, growing up we had a play room. My father and mother made a kitchen set out of wood for us. My father did the carpentry work and my mother painted it silver and added the final touches. A rectangular cake pan was used for the sink and for the stove she painted on red burners and used pop bottle tops for the knobs.  Also my father used a real faucet and my mother ran a tube from a plastic enema bag that she hung above the sink on the wall. The tube had a clip on it. When we released the clip, the water ran down and out through the faucet. I also had a piano, dolls, table and chairs and dishes. Our play was supported in the public school as well as we were given 30 minutes of recess everyday. Play was very important to me as a child. I could be anyone I wanted to be. From pretending to be Aretha Franklin wrapped in my bedspread with fringe around the edges, singing in the mirror of my bedroom to pretending I was on the Johnny Carson show, I was happy when I played. For me, play was very safe. 

How Play Today is Different From the Play I Experienced as a Child

Play for children today is very different from how we played in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. First and most importantly, it was common to have both parents in the home and we were part of a close knit community as many people on our block were relatives. Children were told to go outside and play. We only had a few simple rules. Be home before the street lights came, do not eat at your neighbor's house and do not talk to strangers. It was also common for each family on the block to have at least four children. So there was always some sort of group activity going on. We were very physical and played all sorts of gross motor games such as Red Light Green Light and Mother May I. We governed our own play and followed game rules. However, children today are kept inside, and the only physical play they get is from some sort of instructional program such as karate, or T ball. Due to advances in technology, children spend hours sitting in front of a television, computer and or video game screen entertaining themselves, developing fast reaction skills. As a result, children are becoming more anti-social lacking conflict resolution and problem solving skills.  Also, other than a school or instructional group setting, children seldom get to interact and or play with the neighbors due to parents fearing for their child's safety. We were athletic and physically fit too. We had better body coordination and were able to govern our own play. Many children today however, have become sedimentary and are overweight.Although the differences are profound, there are activities that children still do, and that is engages in pretend play. 


The role of play in my life invigorates me to where I feel a sense of well being. When I was a child care director, sometimes doing paperwork would become tedious and monotonous. To relieve stress and relax, I would take a break and visit one of the classrooms to play with the children. I have also continued to incorporate play into my adult life. Often times when I am on my lunch break, I may teach a game I learned from the YMCA (the cup game) to my co-workers. The next thing you know, we are all laughing, and having fun. The laughter puts us in a good mood and we are ready to go back into the classroom for the second half of the day.

Relationship Reflection

The relationships in my life are important to me because as a human being having social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs, positive relationships fulfill these need

In a social context, through relationships I feel connected to others. Connecting with others creates a sense of belonging and affirms that my life matters. Also in meeting the needs of others, I feel a sense of purpose as I reciprocate meeting their needs as well.

In an emotional context, having positive relationships provides me with the means to express my feelings whether sad, happy, afraid, disappointed or angry. The first thing I want to do when something wonderful happens is to call someone and share it with them. And when negative feelings are involved, I feel so much better when I can talk to someone who will listen, offer encouragement and in a constructive manner (one that builds me up) correct me when I am wrong.

In a cognitive context, positive relationships provide me with the opportunity to exchange information about various issues in life. I also find that having a good conversation stimulates my mind. And as a result of going back to school, I have discovered that talking and socializing with others re-energizes me and increases my creativity. I believe that as human beings, we have a lot to learn from the life experiences of others.

Physically, I now understand that positive relationships are key to better health.  As these relationships fulfill the social, emotional and cognitive needs, I feel better physically. My energy level is high and I respond to problems a lot better. Being able to express my feelings allows me to relieve stress. And we all know that bottled up stress harms the body physically.  Also just the simple act of laughing together causes rich oxygen to flow to all of the organs in the body including the brain and  endorphins that are released  in the brain causes one to experience a sense of well being. Physical contact such as a hug from my grandchildren or my children at work helps me to feel better physically.

Below are just a few of the people that I have wonderful positive relationships with. And I am thankful for them all. I will mention however that each relationship is unique.Some involve me reaching out more, others involve equal share, but regardless they all meet some need that I have.

 

This is a photo of me and my father. Our relationship is special because I was 1 years old when he married my mother. And even though he and my mother had three other children after me, he treated me as his own. He paid for me to go to college and has always been one of the stable people in my life. Our relationship is sustained by a love for family. We call each other on the phone, send each other birthday cards and he always came to visit me no matter how far away I was. My father is a wonderful provider and when I went through my divorce in the late 80s, he helped me a lot financially with my two daughters. 

This is Monica, my youngest daughter. We have so much in common. When we lived together, we both would clean house and then watch Life Time movies together. Another bond that I feel really connects us together is our love for the Lord. Sometimes she will call me on the phone and tell me to change the channel to Joel Olsteen or TBN. Also we are able to be transparent with each other by sharing our successes as well as our failures.When  venting my frustrations to her,  she always responds with encouraging words. And even though we may disagree sometimes, our relationship remains strong.  

Now this little girl here, is my heart, Jael! She has two other brothers, and I love them very much, but she calls me to come and get her and when we are together we play games, watch television, cook and we just get along so well. She also has a wonderful sense of humor and makes me laugh at some of the things she says and does. To sustain this relationship, we call each other on the phone, she spends the night with me sometimes and we hug and kiss each other a lot. 

The biggest challenge in maintaining and sustaining relationships is that sometimes I am guilty of procrastinating tasks like mailing the birthday card out on time. Another area is that of learning to listen intently . Although I have come a long way in this area, I still have to make a very conscious effort to make sure I am truly listening.  I use to be really bad at forming a response in my mind while  the person was talking. 

Relationships in my personal life apply to my work life a well as I am able to apply the golden rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Since I know that relationships benefit me socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically, I want to enhance the lives of parents and their children  by meeting their social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs as well.

“Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development” (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4).

Human relationships are a part of life. Some relationships are healthy and positive while others are negative and draining. So we have to be willing to assess our relationships so that we can classify them by putting them in  their perspective places in our lives.

Quotes relating to children

Richard L. Evans/ author

 “Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.”

Dr. Haim Ginott

“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”

These two quotes are special to me because I can relate my own personal childhood to them. Although there were adversities in my life, there were people who made me feel cherished. And I thank God for placing those people in my life. I truly believe that no matter how bad life gets, if you have that “one somebody” that you know cares about you, it gives you hope. This sounds like resilience. And so moving forward, my goal is to educate others about ways to foster resilient children through the simple act of making them feel special.

Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author

"Only where children gather is there any real chance of fun."

English proverb

"The soul is healed by being with children."

I absolutely love these two quotes because I find them to be true. I have been in the Early Childhood field for almost 20 years. And what I love about children is that they are not inhibited in their thinking about the possibilities in life. Because they are free in their thinking, they are very creative.  I always tell myself, I am blessed to be able to play at work! Playing with children keeps me young and fosters my creativity as well.

Testing for Intelligence

In response to our assignment, to list other areas that children might be assessed in, I agree with Robert Steinberg’s three distinct types of intelligences, Academic; measured by IQ and achievement test, (the current method used) Creative; the ability to use the imagination for various purposes, and Practical; solving everyday problems (Berger 2009). If we reserve intelligence to Academic only, we fail to convey to society that that there is more to a child than book sense and that we benefit from these other intelligences as well. And we must not forget that some children are late bloomers. I know I was. As I shared in my discussion post, I find it very intriguing that the mind of an engineer needs directions on how to wash a pair of socks in the sink. Yet someone considered average academically is highly intelligent in solving everyday problems as he / she master the art of coordinating, organizing and implementing systems to keep a  household running smoothly. I also believe that the creative mind contributes much to society. Just think, many of the products we use, the music we listen to, the clothes we wear all originated from the creative mind.

Although the U.S is committed to administering intelligence testing, some other countries do not. Nigeria for example, children three through nine years of age attend what is called “Primary School”. Upon completion they graduate and receive a school-leaving certificate.  To be admitted to a Federal and State Governmental school children must take the “Common Entrance Examination”.  Curriculum includes The (UBE) Universal Basic Education. Subjects taught at the primary level include mathematics, English language, Islamic knowledge studies, Bible knowledge, science and one of the three main native ethnic groups (Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo). The (UBEC) Universal Basic Education Commission law requires specific groups to attend; nomads, migrants, girl child and women, Al-majiri, street children and the disabled. The actual program is assessed ongoing but not the children.  Emphasis on testing doesn’t occur until adulthood as a student prepares to attend a university. My only response to this information is that hopefully the teachers are creative in assessing the children themselves. Seems the government doesn’t see education as a priority during the early years.

In closing I hope that educators will remember that the child who doesn’t have the highest I.Q according our standards, has the potential to achieve success as his or her academic peers. Thank goodness success is not dependent upon academics alone.

 Resources

Wikipedia (2008). Education in Nigeria. Retrieved fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Nigeria

Berger, K. (2009). The developing child through childhood. New York, NY: Worth Publishing.