Childbirth in Your Life and Around the World

My Birth:
         Okay, since I have not been given the blessing of going through childbirth yet I will tell you the account of when I was born.  I was always asking my mother to tell me the story of how I was born.   My mother said that she had a great meal of steak, bake potatoes, and salad at a great local restaurant called Harvey's.  Later, she went to play Atari, and started not to feel well.  My mother felt little twinges of pain while playing the Atari.  My mother did not think much of this because she did not feel well most of the time while she was pregnant with me.  After playing the Atari with some of the younger family friends, my mother went home and got sick!  My mother told me she will never forgive me for making her lose such a perfect supper.  An hour later the pain became more intense.  She realized contractions were beginning.  Now, both my grandmothers happened to be at the house, so one grandmother drove to the hospital while the other played backseat driver.  My Mama Net almost ran over the Magnolia tree that my mother had just planted!  We they got to the hospital they had to break my mother's water.  Mom said when they did that things REALLY PROGRESSED!  I was breech, but not a breech where it was life threatening.  I was in fetal position on my back, and the doctor just had to flip me over before I came out at 1:45 am.  I guess I could not do things the easy way!

Births in France:
       Births in France are interesting!  First, each mother to be is required to examined by a OB/GYN.  They are also given a book that records each appointment.  This helps medical staff stay informed of the pregnancy, and it also provides documentation for adminstration.
       In France, women are encouraged to make reservations for their labor and delivery way in advance.  I also found it interesting that midwives deal with most of the child birth process in European countries.  Women are allow to stay 3 days in the hospital after the baby is born, where as, in the U.S women only get to stay two days.
      Finally, home births are not popular in France.  It is due to the legal implications that could happen.  If the mother does decide on a home birth the parents most sign a weaver to have the proper medical support there with them.
       Women in France get 16 weeks medical leave, and if they have three children they receive 26 weeks medical leave!  I found that interesting considering women in the US only get 6 weeks.

Reflection:
      I find that in European countries women are given more time to bond and get into the groove of motherhood.  I find if women in the U.S. were given this chance the demands of having a child would be a little easier, and postpartum depression would be easier to deal with.

"Thank You"

        I am just wanting to say thank to Dr.Kien and my fellow classmates in an overall blog post, and give a piece of little advice that has come to me this eight weeks, and that is never forget to remember the goal you are trying to accomplish with your profession in the Early Childhood field and always remember that there are always people around you to help.  




Best wishes and God Bless,
Kelly 

"Positions of Professionals, Positions of Me"

     For this week's assignment on our blog we were find three positions from the NAEYC and DEC'S  Code of Ethics and find how it relates to us as professionals.   


1. NAEYC's states that we should "Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual" (child, family member, and colleague)
       I feel when I can accept each child, parent, and colleague as an individual that I am able to teach the child better because they are realizing that I see them as a person. I will be able to help the parent better because I can give them individual ideas suited for their child's needs, and finally I can see ideas in a different perspective from a colleague.


2. NAEYC's states,"Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect."
        I believe if you are honest and direct with a child and say what you mean then the child will respect you as an adult  It is all about being consistent!


3. NAEYC's also states, "Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle."
 When God created us, he created us in a very specific way to where we learn and develop skills and physical attributes at certain times.  One of those times is early childhood, this time we are growing cognitively, socially, emotionally, and physically at the most rapid rate in our life!  It is amazing and we should treat this time with respect.

Educational Resources Help You Achieve and Succeed

For this week's blog I am providing everyone links to educational resources for the early childhood field.  I hope everyone will take a chance to browse and look at several different sites provided.  As a professional in the early childhood field it is important for us to grow and learn from different resources, so we can provide children the best possible education.

First I am going to give you the articles as resources  to use for references.

Articles:
These articles give positions and developmentally best practices for early childhood educators.

• NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8.Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf
• NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller
• FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf

Next,  These are websites that help promote the importance of early childhood education:

• National Association for the Education of Young Children
  http://www.naeyc.org/
• The Division for Early Childhood
  http://www.dec-sped.org/
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
• WESTED
  http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
• Harvard Education Letter
  http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
• FPG Child Development Institute
  http://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm
• Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
• HighScope
  http://www.highscope.org/
• Children's Defense Fund
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/
• Center for Child Care Workforce
  http://www.ccw.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children
  http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
• Institute for Women's Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/
• National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
  http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
• National Child Care Association
  http://www.nccanet.org/
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  http://nieer.org/
• Pre[K]Now
  http://www.preknow.org/
• Voices for America's Children
  http://www.voices.org/
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/

Finally,  I am about to give each and everyone of you three sites that I cannot live without as a teacher.


This is Edhelper, and let me tell you it is an helper in my classroom!!  The drawback is you do have to pay a subscription to it, but it is TOTALLY worth it.

http://www.edhelper.com/?gclid=CKSOzYKEsqoCFcO77Qod7RKO-A

Next, is  Starfall.  It is wonderful to help enhance and promote your teaching in early literacy.  It is FREE!
http://www.starfall.com

The last site I have for you is  Gamquarium.  It has awesome educational, interactive games for children from Pre-K to  Middle School. The best part it is FREE!
http://www.gamequarium.com


I try to place these sites as resources for my parents on my newsletter each week.