Sharing Web Resources

 I am currently exploring Zero to Three, a non profitable organization website. There are important information on child poverty titled " Poverty's effect on Infants and Toddlers". I find this information very resourceful and interesting as it helps with my current research on poverty and how to go about helping the children and families in my community who may be struggling in poverty.

 I was shocked to learn from the website that there is an increasing percentage of children being expelled from child care programs and preschools due to challenging behaviors. I am going study more on this issue and learn more on how this is being managed. Expelling children at that early age does nothing but more damage to them and their brain development. We in the early childhood education field should know this better than anyone else. I am sad to know that this is happening at an astonishing rate according to the website. 

 The January 2016 newsletter issue has an article titled " Connecting Science, Policy, and Practice: ZERO TO THREE’s National Training Institute, 2015". This article contains information on the latest researched on brain functioning during the first 3 years of life and how toxic stress impact early child brain development. It also talks about how tribal communities are taking advantage of the federal funding to implement quality early childhood care and education.

 This website handles one current issues currently in early childhood field which is education for the parents. The website has a "Parent Portal" whereby parents can go in there to look for any information that they may find beneficial for them and guides them in thinking of the best way to meet their child's individual's needs.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

 I have finally established contact with Dr Amar Singh HSS, who is the president of National Early Childhood Intervention Council (NECIC) in Malaysia. According to its website, this organization's role is "to act as a forum to discuss, advocate, monitor and review all policies and actions related to early childhood intervention. We promote and emphasize the crucial components of effective early childhood intervention". However, I did not get a reply yet from him on the topic of poverty despite my attempts to sending him reminder emails. He is a busy professional hence I am sure he will get to it soon. Once I get a reply from him I will update it here on this blog. 
 My view on poverty however have changed tremendously after this week. I have realized how big of an issue this is not only back in my country but also through out the world. Obviously I have been leaving in a nutshell all the while. I believe, as an early childhood professional, having ourselves equipped with the proper knowledge, can enable us to solve the issues in ways that we can. 

Sharing Web Resources

Finally I think I will be working on researching on an international website called Zero to Three and their website link is http://www.zerotothree.org

This is a "national organization that provides, parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and the know-how to nurture early development" (Zero to Three, 2015)

The one current issue from their newsletter focuses on what effects does poverty have on the developing brains of babies and toddlers. This is pretty interesting topic to me as I always have a soft spot for those unfortunate children. Understanding them, their situation and the impact it has on them will help me to support them better. 

Getting Ready—E stablishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1, Establishing Professional Contacts

I have tried searching on the links provided for this assignment however I was not able to establish contact with any professionals. So I googled mostly focusing on professionals in Malaysia where I come from. I have sent out to two professionals so far and still awaiting for their respond. If I don't get anything from them by next week I may have to resort to the alternative option. 

Part 2, Expanding Resources

I will be studying the resources on the www,childresearch.net website. This is a non-profit organization who study and produce write-ups on their research on early childhood education. I am still browsing through the website. Will keep everyone posted on what I have learnt. 

Thank you.

My Supports

My main support in my life are my children. Of course before them was my parents. My children motivate me and push me to do the things that I need to be doing on daily basis. They are also my support in taking care of myself. I feel I should be happy and healthy so I can enjoy my time with them to the max. And through this I would like to set an example to them that they too have to take care of themselves all the time to be happy and healthy.

My parents are another main support in my life. They are always giving me the encouragement to go through any challenges in my life simply by being there for me at any given time. Just by knowing I have my parents behind me who are always wishing me nothing but happiness, peace and success, I know that I can move any mountains.

Without these two big supports in my life, it will be difficult for me to move on in this life. I feel almost like I have no purpose. It will be hard to motivate myself to be able to do anything that I am already doing or achieving right now. 

My Connections to Play

 

 My childhood play was natural, fearless, adventurous and full of explorations. I remember the years when I was hooked on Enid Blyton's mystery stories and me and my friends will go into the woods nearby our homes to find our own mysteries. We had our secret hideout in the woods where all of my friends and myself gather up during the school holidays. We were so excited when we accidentally bumped into a small waterfall in the woods and went there everyday to play in the water. 

 Our parents were at work. My grandma used to take care of us. We didn't have any cellphones then. We just knew when it was time for lunch or just go back. My grandma never came looking for us and rushed us to go back home. We always went back home dirty after playing for hours in the woods and have a healthy home cooked food and we slept like a baby at night. Life was good then. I should thank this week's blog assignment for bringing this up for me to reminisce on my lovely childhood. It brought back wonderful memories for sure.

 Play today is definitely different from what I had back in my homeland which is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. However, I am now currently living in Stavanger, Norway and I must say that the children here are living my childhood which was 25 years ago. The children here are so connected to the nature that everything they do even in school is about exploring it. My boys are going to the school here and they spend 75 % of their time in school, playing outside or exploring the nature. Even when they are home, they are always playing outside either cycling, playing in the playground or hiking into the woods. But back in my homeland, things have changed so much that children no longer play outside as much as I did before due to safety issues.
The nature of my play have had a tremendous positive impact in my life and childhood. I would say that it helped me to be confident about myself, create meaningful relationships with my friends, not scared to be adventurous but at the same time know my boundaries, trust my instincts and enjoyed appreciating this world from a child perspective.

Relationship Reflection

 I believe each and every relationships in my life have a direct or indirect impact on my development. I value and appreciate everyone of them however there are few which I will cherish forever.

 My relationship with my parents and my siblings have been the pillars of my life. They stand by me and support me through my ups and downs no matter what. My parents have sacrificed so much to make sure me and my siblings are where we are now. My parents have taught me how to be kind to other people and always respect the elders. They have always tried to motivate me positively whenever I am down. I have had the most memorable childhood memories with my siblings. 

 Both my brother and sister are my best friends in the world. They are also my best critics. I can always get an honest opinion on anything about me from them and vice versa. That had helped me a lot in improvising myself. 

 Currently, my relationship with two children seems like the reason why I am living. They make me reanalyze and prioritize my life a lot. I can see how much they need me right now in their and I am willing and trying to make most out of it and also make a positive impact in their life through our relationship. Challenges are many especially where there are differences in opinion and how we get back together after an argument affects the relationship. Since we were aware of this completely, we always made sure that nobody is angry with anyone in the family for a long time. We solve every arguments or issues almost immediately.

 I think my experience with my family have given a very positive impact in my life so much so I value each and every other relationship that I come across. Likewise, I am very sure that as a early education educator, I will not have much problem in creating and maintaining positive relationship with the children and their families.