Words of Motivation and Inspiration

"Our emotions serve as the orchestra leader for getting the whole mind and brain working together."
                       - Stanley Greenspan-psychiatrist for autism and others with emotional and learning disabilities.

"Part of being who you are has to do with feeling your feelings, which means you'll have a wide range of emotions, not just constant sunshiny happiness."
                       - Janet Gonzalez-Mena-child, family, and caregiver educator and mentor.

"I'm not here to save the world, I'm here just to make a difference in the community that I'm working."
                      - Raymond Hernandez- Executive Director, School of Early Childhood Education

"It's not all about you, you gotta take your ego out of it and think about what's best for this child.  And you care about them enough to help them transition to what's the next, what comes next and what's best, and I think that that's really important.  And I would not have known that if I hadn't lived it."
                       - Renatta Cooper- Program Specialist, Office of Child Care

 

 

 

Personal Childhood Web

I posted my personal childhood web to the right and realized there was no where for my colleagues to make comments!  So, here you go. 

Another Quote, which touched my heart

I came across a quote today in an email I received.  This quote seemed to reach out to me and goes along with my children have voices motif.  It helped me to generate what perhaps I already knew inside me, but what I hadn't told others.  I feel this is a statement that rings both serious and sad, and also humorous depending on the context.  Children view what occurs in their lives as normal.  Adults are here to protect them.  They don't know life any other way than the way their life is going.  It takes people who can and want to help, to step into a negative situation and let the child know things are different and sometimes bad things happen but they can be changed. 

When I was a child, I had a alcoholic father who under the poison would abuse my mother.  Cops coming over, fighting, yelling, and crying were all a part of my life that I took in as normal.  I thought everyone's parents fought that way.  I found it odd my friends would ask me about it.  We do not have to let this and other abusive environments be normal.  This quote has also given me the strength to realize I would be humbled to talk to children at school's about home violence incase they are a part of it, but just don't know it yet. 

The quote is as follows,
"Often and often afterwards, the beloved Aunt would ask me why I had never told anyone how I was being treated. Children tell little more than animals, for what comes to them they accept as eternally established."

-Rudyard Kipling, British author (1865-1936)

A Work Of Art From A Work Of Art

This was from awhile ago, but it is still the best work of art that I have on camera so far.  However, the floor was not the center piece of this display.  In fact my daughter's legs joined in the fun as you can see.  I chose to post this as a special work of art by a child because as messy as it looks, in a child's eyes it is a better use for the powder.  :)   It helps us to realize how imaginative the world can be. 

Children Have Voices

I changed the title of my blog.  I feel more comfortable with this heading.  Previously I wasn't too sure what to name my blog but after some consideration on what it was I wanted to do with my Masters degree in Early Childhood Studies, I was able to round out the details a little more. 

Basically, I believe children are born with their own personality.  However, I am also aware that they gain personality from imitating their parents.  They receive much of their coping information from how their parents handle situations.  They may either imitate or act different than what their parents display.

When children are involved in a negative situation, they view how their parents handle the emotional distress, and the child may either choose to imitate this or feel something different.  However that could end up being negative or positive for them.  The positive is that they learn how to cope with negative information and become a stronger person in the long run, or the negative is that they don’t know how to express themselves or act any other way.

This hits close to home because when I was a child my feelings and thoughts weren't validated.  If I was asked my opinion it was overruled or called stupid, or it was simply cast away for reasons that it wasn’t “right."  I have learned to cope with stressful things with a dry humor.  I feel this was created by having no outlet for my emotions, or no help in explaining to me just what I was feeling. 

In conclusion, I would like to help children handle their emotions and thought processes, which can aggravate emotions immensely, and show them how to voice their opinions in a positive way.  But first I must learn more about their development and behavior, and how they learn at different stages.  Which is why I have chose to obtain a degree in this field.  I believe children have voices, let’s make them important. 

Simply Amazing!

I've been teaching my 2 1/2 year old 4 new things each week.  We learn a letter, and how to write it, a color, a number and a shape.  I have her color each thing with her favorite paints, then we post them up on the fridge for all to see.  Throughout the week we visit the paintings to refresh our memory of that week's fun learning's.  I can't tell you how many butterflies I felt in my stomach when I showed her how to write a little a and she was able to copy me and do it!  When she displayed this new action to her father I could tell how incredibly proud he was.

It made me not only proud that I had done something to help my child, but it reminded me of the empty chalkboard little children have, just waiting for positive information to fill it!  Her success at learning and our ability to have fun with it only recharged my batteries to accomplish and plan for next week when we will learn new categories.

Blogging- First Time!

I'm new to blogging and hope with a little practice I can make this page my own.  I was happy to learn I am not the only one in my class that's a newbie to this.  Together maybe we can make it all make sense!