Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

I found an article dealing with parents who share too much information about their children and their lives, the article called it "Parental Overshare". They are calling it the new genre out today. One of the stories is stemmed from the tragedy in Newtown and the others are from blogs. As I was reading these stories, I was disheartened. These parents didn't seem to care about their child's feelings or their social life. Young children have it hard, but teenagers are in a whole different ball game, when it comes to things like this. Here are some of the stories in the article http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/the-ethical-implications-of-parents-writing-about-their-kids/267170/

• Shortly after the tragedy in Newtown, Liza Long, an "author, musician, and erstwhile classicist," published a viral essay with the provocative title, "I am Adam Lanza's Mother," comparing her own mentally-ill teen son to the alleged Newtown killer, and herself to Lanza's first victim: "A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books," Long wrote, concluding from this and other troubling incidents that her son is likely on his way to opening fire in "a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom."
• In July, for example, on a New York Times opinion blog, Beth Boyle Machlan, "at work on a memoir about mothering and mental illness," described her daughter's O.C.D. Despite the lack of violence, Machlan's essay may be more disturbing than Long's—we get an account of the girl's therapy session, and hear Machlan calling her daughter "bunny" and "sweetie." Private scenes the reader should not have had access to.

This is what the article had to say about stories such as these and about parental overshare, "Still, anyone looking to question the ethics of parental overshare faces a tough audience" (Bovy, 2013). "The ubiquity of confessional writing has spilled over into confessions that implicate not so much the author as the author's still-underage offspring" (Bovy, 2013). "Parental overshare, as I define it, does not refer to parents discussing their kids with friends and family" (Bovy, 2013). "Parental overshare does not always deal with tragic circumstances; it ranges from family secrets to lighthearted anecdotes" (Bovy, 2013).

I suggest you go to the website and read for yourself, who knows maybe this is a start of a new genre, as author puts it.

Reference
Bovy, P.M. (2013). The Ethical Implications of Parents Writing about their kids. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/the-ethical-implications-of-parents-writing-about-their-kids/267170/

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic I choose is The economic effects on preschoolers living in poverty. I choose this topic for one because I am an African American and our culture suffers a great deal with poverty and second because I see so many children (not just African  American) living in poverty and struggling with the effects of economics in their life. I want to furture look into how much it effects them and not just what I see in some, but in different areas of the United States and countries. In doing my research on finding articles dealing with this, I have come across many articles dealing with poverty, preschoolers, economics, families, and health. I would love for you to give me advice, your experiences, and articles you have or seen dealing with this topic. I encourage you all to take time and see the children around you, especially the younger children, who suffer a greater deal with economics and poverty. Lend a helping hand or direct someone to them who can, these children are our future, literally. This world is going down fast and unfortunately our children are going down just as quick.

Week 8 Reflection

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for your professional and personal development. Well let me first say, I couldn't get into contact with any international early childhood professionals, the one that did finally send me an e-mail was already contacted by another student. That was very frustrating for me, but that didn't stop me from learning.

1. My knowledge about international education and professionals has been enhanced.
2. Learning about other countries and how they handle education, poverty, and diversity has been life changing.
3.  No matter the country or state there are issues in education, community, and families dealing with how to or what to do regarding children, resources, and learning.

Post one goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations

• My goal for international awareness is to keep track of what's going on in other countries and seeing how I can help.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The following information was taken from the following website: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/education_of_roma_children_among_the_subjects_of_world_conference_on_early_childhood_care_and_education/

Education of Roma children among the subjects of World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education

• With more than 10 million members, the Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Despite the efforts to expand and improve education for Roma children, as many as 50 per cent of those in Europe fail to complete primary education.

• Children are our most precious resource, and education is a basic right” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova prior to the Moscow meeting. “The denial of this right leaves everybody much poorer. It creates exclusion. It creates unacceptable inequality. It nurtures social tensions. Let us seize the opportunity this conference offers to renew and expand our commitment to a healthy, happy start for all children – including and especially those who are currently being left behind. Everybody will reap the benefit.”
• According to the Regional report for Europe and North America, “among all the European populations, the Roma are at greatest risk of being poor, uneducated and unemployed.” It points to European and national opinion surveys that show many European citizens have negative views about this group that are often based on stereotypes and prejudice dating back several centuries.
• To meet the challenge of Roma exclusion and continuing deprivation,” the Report states, “governments need to employ upstream fiscal, social and labour policies to reduce family poverty and give young children a fair start in life.”

Reference
UNESCO.org (2012). Education of Roma children among the subjects of World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education. Retrieved fromhttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/education_of_roma_children_among_the_subjects_of_world_conference_on_early_childhood_care_and_education/

 

Harvard's Children's Global fund

From the Harvard website

3 new ideas or insights
1) To address the knowledge gap, the Zambian Ministry of Education, the Examination Council of Zambia, UNICEF, the University of Zambia, and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University launched the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) in 2009, a collaborative effort to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia (developing child, 2012).
2) In order to measure the full impact of the anti-malaria campaign on Zambia’s human capital development, the ZECDP created a new comprehensive instrument for assessing children’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development before and throughout their schooling careers—the first assessment tool of its kind in Zambia (developing child, 2012).
3) The early stages of the project demonstrate that comprehensive child assessments are feasible within standard population-based household surveys (developing child, 2012).




Reference
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

Behavior and development; care and education

Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/earlyliteracy2pagehandout.pdf?docID=2681&AddInterest=1145&JServSessionIda004=9ahkme3kp1.app212c This resource talks about the literacy and language develpment of children. There wasn't controversial, but it did give me more ways to help my childern succeed in their language and literacy skills. Since babies can't talk for almost 1 year, sounds are all they rely on.

What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

The site posted a blog titled: "Obama’s Second Inauguration: Seizing the Moment" (zerotothree, 2013). They relive the speech made by President Obama and included some of his concern's about the people. Just as the title of the blog, we need to seize the moment and teach children the proper language and literacy skills.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

There was nothing else gained

Reference
Zero to three. (2012). Baby policy blog: Obama's second inauguration: seizing the moment. Retrieved from
http://www.zerotothree.org/.

Getting to know your International Contacts

I never got an answer from my contacts and I can't get any communication from the podcast, so I will have to commet on what I have learned from the podcast and the website.

From listening to my podcast, I have learned that there are many individuals who really care about children in poverty and are actually doing something about it. There are schools in California and organizations that are dedicated and designed to help children living in poverty.

According to the website these are the 3 insights I gained:

1. Over 600 million children world-wide live in absolute poverty - an estimated 1 in 4. In many countries, rates are much higher with over 60 percent of children living in households with incomes below international poverty lines. Over 10 million children under five still die every year from preventable diseases - the vast majority of them in developing countries. As one of the most powerless groups in society, children often bear the physical and emotional costs of poverty.
2. Today's poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents. Poverty can be passed on from generation to generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families and of society as a whole. Tackling childhood poverty is therefore critical for eradicating poverty and injustice world-wide.
3. Children in poverty are often seen as one of many disadvantaged groups, all competing for resources, or they are characterised as children with special needs such as streetchildren orphans, or child workers

( items 1-3 are from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/)

Reference
CHIP. (n.d.). Knowledge for Tackling Childhood Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/