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JOURNAL #1

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 16:58:12 UTC

JOURNAL #2

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 16:59:06 UTC

Even though I agree with a couple of the theories that we discussed in class, one that I wish more people would put more emphasis on is Vygotsky's Theory. In my honest opinion, I believe that a ton of people underestimate just how much one's social and cultural backgrounds influence their decision-making process. I can recognize that as a child, I had social and cultural influences as a black woman from the south that I still abide by to this very day. Vygotsky places a significant portion of development on social and cultural activities, says that they are inseparable, and I completely agree. Often times, people leave the little bubble of an echo chamber that they have lived in all their lives, move to a different place, and they wonder why they are not able to blossom and flourish in the way that they had assumed would happen. They do not realize that without a competent and wide range of open-mindedness, they will never be able to be well-adjusted to new society, because they hadn't had any experience with it whatsoever.

On the other hand, I also disagree with one or two of the theories that we talked about in class. Pavlov's Classical Conditioning proves to be my least liked child development theory because I believe that it does not condition well-behaved children; instead, it conditions fearful children. He focuses a large portion on the fact that grooming children to understand when good behavior earns good prizes is a good thing, but he does not take into account that the term good is subjective in all households. Teaching children that good behavior earns good prizes only makes them want to do good because there is an incentive involved. In my experience, when kids do the right thing and do not get rewarded, they begin to behave more erratically than before. Children should be taught that they need to do good not because they will get something out of it, but because it is simply the right thing to do.

JOURNAL #3

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:00:13 UTC

While on the topic of genetics and DNA, it is extremely important to understand your genetics and everything that you've got going on with your body, especially if you are planning to bring a child into the world.

It is crucial for people in the field to know about Gene Abnormalities because even if you think you are healthy as a horse, your genes might not present in your child the same way it is presented in you. At times, many parents become confused and frustrated if their child seems to be "abnormal," but it is simply luck of the draw. Teachers and nurses need to be equipped with this knowledge because, without it, it would be impossible to recognize if this is just a case of genes acting out, or if negligence is involved.

In addition, learning about Chromosomal Abnormalities is on the same bullet point of priority as genetics. Even before your child is born, and you are able to do a chromosome test, it can be recognized whether or not your child will be needing extra assistance whenever they are born. Preventative care can be a stepping stone, but it can also guarantee that the parents are not as stressed out as they could be when the child is born because they already have the resources available and needed to carry on the child's everyday life.

For nurses and teachers, this information can be important because they can draw up plans and do research not under a "one size fits all" policy. Often times, when medication and research is done, it is done over a similar group of people that are all, to some extent, the same. Recognizing chromosomal abnormalities can help diversify the clinical medication and research fields, so that side effects can be avoided and they get a broader range of information than before.

JOURNAL #4

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:02:25 UTC

Postnatal care is not only making sure that the newborn is healthy in all aspects, but it is also making sure that the mother is okay as well.

Postpartum depression is a whole other beast in new mothers, especially if it is the first baby. After growing a whole new human inside of her womb for nine months, and after a grueling birthing process to even get that person here and having to take care of it afterwards, it is a challenging process that women are supposed to just handle with grace. It is labeled as a mental illness that only new mothers can get, and it can vary from very mild to very severe. PPD can even result in a psychotic break. Postnatal care is essential for all births because without it, nobody would be worried about the woman that actually had to endure this process.

It does not matter whether or not it is a new mother or not, PPD can hit anyone at any time, and for good reason. New mothers experience a drop off of hormones that no other human on this planet can admit. The hormone drop alone can send some into a psychotic break, let alone everything else that they have to deal with. And in America especially, the treatment of mothers is downright wrong.

A C-section is the only major operation that is expected the patient to get up within 8 hours of it happening, and back at work within 8 weeks when it takes within that timeframe to get back to being able to do anything normal again.

JOURNAL #5

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:02:47 UTC

Infantile malnutrition is a very significant, serious issue that affects many infants around the world, including those here in America. The two most main types are marasmus and kwashiokor, but there are slight differences. Kwashiokor is primarily a protein deficiency, while marasmus is a deficiency of all the necessary macro-nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, and fatty acids. It is the duty of those legislators that we place in office to understand and work towards not only the sufficient supply of nutrients to our babies, but to all who live here. Unfortunately, there are many Americans who do not feel as if they are responsible for caring for other people's children (how they think of it), and they do not want their taxpayer dollars going towards such programs.

Parents do not realize how many different resources and help that there is out there that will benefit and promote healthy development for their child. It is the believed notion that children learn on their own, but they do not realize that children only really learn from watching other people do it. Children, especially babies, are sponges, and they simply only want to emulate what they see their parents/guardians doing in everyday life. If it is bad, then it is hard to erase out of their little minds. However, if there are good standards and practices put in place for the child to imitate, the sky is the limit. Children respond very well to nature, so nature-based play is a very good starting point for teaching kids their relationship with the world around them. Singing, reading, and talking to your babies can help with their lingual development. Making messes, allowing the child to simply understand and experiment with their environment will work wonders in the promotion of healthy development of gross motor skills.

JOURNAL #6

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:03:57 UTC

In class over the course of the last couple of days, we have touched on the topic of cognitive development within infants in the first two years and the significance of a child's guardians to guide them in the direction of healthy cognitive development. We as a society used to believe that there was nothing going on between the eyes of infants, but extensive research has proven that babies are making thousands of connections in their brains with every passing day, learning and experimenting with the world around them. Cognitive development extends beyond the scope of just verbal language; it delves into the world of their motor skills and their relationship with the world around them. Babies learn by watching, by experimenting with every sense that they contain. Piaget has six substages of development for children before the age of two, and it simply shows that there is very dramatic changes within children even within their first year.

For that very reason, it is why it is detrimentally important for parents and guardians to be able to sing, read, and talk to their babies in order to help them develop healthily and properly. We watched in class about the case of Genie Wiley, a woman who was isolated and excluded during the critical period of language development, and therefore was never able to catch up to her counterparts despite being born a healthy baby by all standards. Babies cannot learn unless it is shown to them, unless it is talked through to them. Parents share an important duty to help develop their children in the proper manner. They can do it in so many different ways because children know a lot despite not being able to voice it in the grammatically correct manner. They can allow their children to make messes, play with different textures and items. Most importantly, they give their child room and safe space in order to learn about the world around them in their own special way.

JOURNAL #7

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:04:30 UTC

There are parents all over the world that are concerned with how their babies will react to the world once they get out into it, and many wound up surprised at their child's personality. Little do they know, that it is what they were born with. Temperament is the innate characteristics of a baby that are pretty noticeable after birth. There are three types of temperaments that researchers have identified: easy, slow-to-warm, and difficult. Everyone hopes that they will have an easy child that sleeps throughout the entirety of the night and that are easily adaptable to different environments. However, it will not always be that easy to point out.

So, in order to allow the child to adjust nice and fairly to the outside world around them, caregivers need to be able to read and watch the child's expression in order to follow the path that best suits their baby. They need to follow the goodness-to-fit model, which matches up to the styles and needs of the child so that communication and interactions can flow without strain. If a child has been accurately read and cared to by their temperament, communication and interactions can happen without difficulty. However, even if that does happen, the next step is self-emotional regulation. Self-emotional regulations is the ability to work through emotions and soothe oneself in order to achieve a goal. Being able to regulate one's emotions saves from a lot of heartache, but researchers work hard everyday in order to truly understand what goes on in a child's mind.

The marshmallow test was a test that Stanford University initiated. They asked a child if they wanted a small but immediate reward, or if they wanted the big prize if they were able to wait for a period of time. A well-adjusted, well-cared for child (regardless of temperament) will do well with the test, which is why it is important for caregivers to stay consistent and delicate with their child.

JOURNAL #8

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:05:19 UTC

For many adults, when they hear the world "play," they think that it is just games and time-wasting activities when it couldn't be anymore different. There are a varying numbers of ways to play, with each one hitting a different development milestone. There is physical, dramatic, cooperative, symbolic, and social play. The different plays work together to help children fine-tune their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and it helps keep them in shape to prevent childhood obesity.

Even though it can get difficult at times depending on how many children are involved, parents/educators need to understand that playing for them is different from playing with kids. Every time they play with their toddler and young child, they are teaching them more and more about the world around them. Parents/educators can work on promoting play-based learning by encouraging them to go out and venture, and to not get upset or angry if the child spills or messes something up. Remember, it is their first times learning to do pretty much anything that we know how to do down pat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJL8eY-5NULinks to an external site.This is a video from a preschool in the United Kingdom, where a teacher explains the different types of play that the children use in all of the different aged classrooms. I like this video because not only does she take the time to introduce the different types of play and explain them thoroughly, she also explains how she applies each form of play in the classroom, and the benefits that each play form provides.

JOURNAL #9

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:06:08 UTC

Despite popular opinion, I love kids (I mean, I have one aha). I have 5+ years of experience working with children of all age groups. As a teacher, however, I had very little experience in learning formal behavioral and cognitive techniques to help enrich the curriculum. But after rereading over both Vygotsky and Piaget's theories, it becomes clear that I have always leaned one way when it came to how I wanted to interact with children. If I were to build my own preschool, I would think that I would go along with Piaget's Theory. The reason I would use his because I think kids around that age, before entering the strict routine of formal schooling for the next twelve years, need more input and flexibility to learn the best way they can.

My preschool would be a nature-play based program. After several years of experience working in preschools, I seem to see that nature-based learning is a great way for kids to grow a positive relationship with the environment around them. Younger ages would have more supervision, and every classroom would have to do at least three activities outdoors every week for at least thirty minutes a piece.

Children who have been allowed to get dirty without consequence and have been able to play outside for a while usually turn out to have a good relationship with the world around them. They learn empathy and how to be gentle with the plants and creatures around them. Coincidentally, it is also a good way to learn about their peers by how they play together.

The individual classrooms would be focused on the children being able to gain healthy and safe autonomy (within reason). They will be taught a child-friendly way to put on their jackets and shoes, and they will use family-style feedings instead of the teachers making them their plates. That way, there is no shame or doubt if they ever drop their food or make a mistake. The earlier kids are taught that they can be independent, yet help is there if needed, then they will approach the world in a way that best suits them.

JOURNAL #10

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:06:30 UTC

Self-concept can be defined as the way a children begins to see and perceive themselves; in simpler terms, the beliefs and ideas that they have of themselves. They begin to learn about self-concept around the same time that they begin to interact with more people and more of the environment. It starts by learning through play and experiencing social feedback. How you can tell if a child is learning self-concept, is to hear them use physical characteristics to describe themselves of whoever is around them at the time. By age 4, they begin to see themselves in the grand scheme of things, though it is usually centered them and their desires.

Self-esteem is how people see their value and their worth, both externally and internally. The majority of the time, self-esteem is impacted majorly because of external validation and emotional feedback their caregivers and the people around them give. This can be tied into Erikson's Initiative v. Guilt stage, which is primarily around the ages of 3-6 because they all go hand-in-hand with each other. If a child is receiving praise and words with positive connotations from the people that they are around, they will begin to see that they are capable of doing anything they set their mind to. They become confident within their abilities, and they can be independent more often without the consequence of anxiety. However, the opposite is also very true. If a child receives nothing but criticism and is berated for their actions and decisions, they may begin to form a guilty conscience when it comes to doing anything. They will not feel confident in their abilities and might just flat out refuse to be involved in anything; at least, not taking the lead.

JOURNAL #11

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:07:02 UTC

I have always been a firm believer in that mental health must be a priority in every individual's life, and the mental health of a child is no different in my opinion. Middle childhood is a significant portion of a child's life, and it can be filled with so much fun and self-discovery; on the other hand? It can be filled with feelings of doubt, isolation, and insecurities. If it is not acknowledged when a child needs help physically, mentally, or emotionally, it can continue to affect them for the rest of their lives. I remember growing up as a black girl in the south, in a predominantly white neighborhood, and all the things that shaped me into being who I am today. Even though a lot of those things made me into a better person, there are things that took a took a toll on me. There are things that I am working out through therapy even to this day.

As we discussed in class a couple of weeks ago, traumatic things that happen to a child very early on in their lives can affect their behavioral, social, mental, and even physical wellbeing well into adulthood. I know that better than anyone; which means, I also know better than anyone how important parental prevention is in middle childhood. First, parents need to be able to have an open line of communication with their child, so when the child does feel a certain way about themselves, they have a trusted adult that they can confide in without consequence. Parents not only need to keep a vigilant eye about what their child is watching and interacting with, but they also need to be wary of the people that their child is hanging around. Good involvement in a child's life early on can prevent lifelong tragedies and complications that will prevent them from reaching their full potential as they get older.

JOURNAL #12

berryaveri11 — 2024-12-13 17:07:23 UTC

People have many different reasons for doing what they do, but there are specific intentions of motivation that begin to blossom in middle-to-late childhood. The two types are intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic is when people are motivated to do or participate in something simply because it is something that they find interesting or something they want to do. Extrinsic motivation is when the major reason of completing or saying something is to achieve some sort of external outcome or reward. It is nice to be motivated for a specific outcome every once in a while, but when everything you do has to result in the earning of external validation, that is when the problem begins to rear its ugly head. Children with a high sense of self-efficacy are more effective when it comes to bouncing back from failure, because they know that failure is apart of the process. At an early age, the guardians determine how much self-concept each child has in store of them. When a child is constantly berated for making a mistake, such as spilling a drink or making a mess, they will become too scared to try or attempt to do anything on their own. Low self-efficacy can lead to anxiety, panic disorder, and bad academic outcomes.

Even from an early age, teachers and parents need to be able to relay to the child that their rate of success or failure does not determine their worth or value. Self-efficacy in children can be promoted by encouraging kids to learn from their errors, and to try and try again. Children who are given room to fail have even more room to succeed.

https://www.amazon.com/Chrysanthemum-Kevin-Henkes/dp/0688147321/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529939129&sr=1-1&keywords=crysanthemum&dpID=51l9UdaUn4L&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch&linkCode=sl1&tag=theothsidofsi-20&linkId=3ed73cb585e795583a1eb33b550760deLinks to an external site. The book that I have decided to share is entitled Chrysanthemum, a story that follows a young mouse as she begins her first year of schooling. It is a book meant for children struggling with bullying and self-esteem, but anyone can benefit from its message.