Zero to Three Newsletter

I chose to follow the organization "Zero to Three" http://www.zerotothree.org/.
Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development. Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. I decided to subscribe to the organization's newsletter list and received my first newsletter on  Thursday, January 15th. This newsletter addressed many different topics such as 

• what to expect during your child's development between the ages of three to six months and things that parents can do to support learning and growing, 
• common experiences parents have at this age (three to six months)
• what it's like for baby... babies are developing trust in you as they come to count on you to meet their needs
• research shows how babies sense and react to their parents stress
• how to choose quality child care and,
• activities that nurture a baby's development and connection to you 

I found the topic that discusses what it's like for the baby to be pretty interesting. I am a new aunt but not new to infants so I find myself more dedicated and emotionally connected to my niece - she is two months old and I think it is pretty cool to get a look at what she is thinking. The article stated that when a baby cries and hear their mother's or anyone that sounds familiar voice talking back to them that lets them know that help is on the way especially if they are crying because they are hungry. At three months a baby can figure out that hunger pains are connected to food, and that their source of food is .... you! The baby then uses their communication skills (crying) to "tell" you that he/she is ready to eat - this is an important thinking skill that the baby is developing.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

While trying to establish a connection with professionals from outside of the United States I have noticed that I am having a difficult time reaching someone with a valid email address - I sent out 4 emails and received all error messages back from the system stating that the email address was incorrect or couldn't be found. So I decided to send out 4 more emails and I am still waiting on responses from those individuals.

I do think by Tuesday if I haven't received an email back from the professionals that I have reached out to then I am going to have to go with the Alternative to Part 1 of this blog assignment.

For Part 2 of the blog assignment I decided to study "Zero to Three" website. Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development. Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. I did register to receive weekly newsletters from this organizations which should be really interesting and helpful this semester.

My Supports

When I hear the word support I think of numerous definitions. Support means to bear or hold up; serve as a foundation for, to sustain or withstand without giving way; serve as a prop for, to undergo or endure, especially with patience or submission; tolerate, or to sustain under trial or affliction, to maintain by supplying with things necessary to existence; provide for, to uphold by aid, countenance, one's vote, etc.; back; second, to maintain or advocate. 

There are numerous things that I come in contact with that support me whether it be family or things around the house that support me.

My study room supports me in helping me remember what my goals are for my life. Here in my study room I have a vision board that have different clippings or images and scriptures about the things that I want to do and the direction I want my life to go. It also has a calendar posted that have due dates listed everywhere to help keep me on track with my assignments and tests.

My grandma and godmom are a part of my emotional and financial supports. My grandmother makes sure that I am financially ok and that everything that I need is taken care of. My godmother is very emotionally supportive - she makes sure that she is always there for me whenever I may need her to listen or to just give me advice. 

Church and prayer is a part of my spiritual support. I was brought up in a church going family so therefore I do believe in God and everything about Him. When I attend church on Sundays I feel so much better about starting the upcoming week I also feel 100% refreshed and relaxed. Whenever I run into trouble that my god mom or grandmother cannot fix I always turn to God and prayer and He will see me through whatever the situation may be. 

My supports are a big deal to me and I absolutely wouldn't know what to do if they were gone. The benefits of my supports are that they help keep me sane and not to stress out about things that are not of major importance. It would be very difficult for me to go on in life without my grandma and godmother but I am sure that I would learn how to cope and to go on in life without them because that is what they would want me to do. I definitely couldn't go on without my God- that's just silliness.

My Connections to Play

"Play is our brain's favorite way of learning - Diane Ackerman"

"When children pretend, they're using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero. -Fred Rogers"

When I was a child play was highly encouraged. Whenever all of my cousins and other family members were over to the house the kids already knew that we couldn't stay in the house we were always told to go outside and play with the other children and to be back before dinner time or sometimes we would just go into the backyard and play. From what I can remember play was always a part of my education life, personal life and all other aspects of my life when growing up. 

Play is definitely different today then how it was when I was growing up - when growing up most of our play took place outside at the park, in the backyard or on the front porch with children from the neighborhood or family members. Children today consider play to be playing with their iPad/iPod/iPhone, Playstation 4, Wii or WiiU, Xbox or spending time surfing the internet. As a child I had no idea what a cellphone was or any of the gaming systems that are out now - children today do not understand the quality of playing outside instead they want to consume their time with technology - I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of children do not know how to ride a bike, play hopscotch, hide and seek, double dutch/jump-rope and other fun outside games.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are very important to me and to everyday life. A relationship is a connection, association or involvement with others that you care about and that care for you as well or it could be a professional relationship where you guys work solely with the business to become successful.

I have more than several positive relationships currently in my life:

1. My grandmother MeMe
2. My god mother Yolanda
3. My uncle GG
4. My close girl friends Destini and Ashley

My grandmother is my heart there is not a thing that I wouldn't do for her because she has done so much for me and she is still there whenever I need her help financially or just some advice for things that are going on in my life. My grandmother is loving and she motivates me to accomplish all of my dreams no matter the amount of time that it will take because the time will pass anyway. My grandmother loves me unconditionally.

My god mother is the bomb dot com. Yolanda is so sweet and near to my heart, I can come to her about any and everything and she will listen to me and give her own personal opinion - she is very honest with me she doesn't just tell me things that she thinks I want to hear but the things that I NEED to hear and most importantly she never judges me based on the things that I have done or the mistakes that I may have made. She is my spiritual queen and we can always relate on things that may be going on in our lives. I just love her to pieces.

My uncle GG is a great man. He has always been there for me since I was born - he is like my dad. He is not really the lovey dovey mushy type he is the type where he just wants to fix the issue so if I am sad he wants to know what the problem is and what he can do to fix it. He is funny and playful so whenever he is around its all laughs and good times.

My close friends Destini and Ashley are awesome! They are my sisters day in and day out - even though we don't talk everyday or see each other as often as we used to I know that we are all here for each other whenever one of us is in need of advice or anything. I have been knowing these lovely ladies for the past 10 years and they have never done anything to betray my trust and love. I love them! 

Destini and I                                                                           Ashley and I

I value all of the close and positive relationships that I have with the people that were named above and I love them all very much and glad that they are in my life.

Empowering Children

"Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first. - Mathew L Jacobson"

"Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff. -Catherine M. Wallace"

"Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be. - Rita Pierson"

Viewing Children Holistically

When viewing children holistically there should be many things assessed when doing so and I would like to name a few that I believe in:

1. Age range. The age is important when viewing children because you would need to know if a child is acting, learning or understanding as they should for their specific age. For example, you can't expect a six year old to be performing on a 20 year old level.
2. Disabilities. When you are viewing children you will need to make sure that there are not any disabilities that can go unseen and the parents have no idea that their child has a disability whether it may be physical or learning.
3. Strengths and Weaknesses. I believe that everyone strengths and weaknesses were assessed as young children
4. Physical Development. We need to make sure that children are eating the correct and nutritional food to make sure they are healthy and we need to also make sure that children get enough physical education and physical activity to ensure that they do not become obese. 
5. Emotional Development. We should want to make sure that children are not suffering from any neglect or abuse that is affecting their emotional behavior. If a child is suffering from abuse then we would want to seek appropriate help for the child and parent.
6. Relational Development.Children should learn how to work and play together while discovering new things and ideas (learn together). We should make sure that children know how to build strong and lasting relationships with others as they will need this skill later on in life.
7. Intellectual Development. Everyone deserves an education and everyone has the opportunity to further their education after high school. A great education develops minds and provides opportunities for employment that will benefit the children throughout their lives.

The best child development imaginable happens when children grow in the context of a loving, healthy and empowered family. Parents' participation in the development of children is very important. We should encourage all parents to be active in their child's life encouraging them to be the best that they can be and to shoot for the stars.

References

Holistic Approach. (n.d.). Retrieved from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries: http://ncm.org/learn/childdevelopment/approach/