Goodbye All!!

This have been a fun past 8 weeks.  I really did enjoy this class, and have learned so much.  I am thankful for those who are a part of this class.  It seems we have our on little diverse group which makes reading each of your post that more meaningful.  We all have different opinions, but we share the same goal which is becoming a better professional in the early childhood field so that our children and families we work with will benefit more from us.  I wish you all well and the best of luck.  I know you all will make a difference in the lives of those you work with. 

Feel free to add me on facebook (Kayla Minor)!

Happy Learning,

K. Minor

Saying Farewell to Groups

Leaving groups are typically not hard for me.  There has been a couple that I did have a hard time leaving.  One group that I had to leave was my sorority when I graduated.  I was the president my senior year, and we made history on my campus.  I had a bond with the girls that were a part of this group, and I was sad that I was not going to get see them as often considering I was moving to a different city.  We had struggled to work together as one, but when we did the things we were able to accomplish was mind-blowing!  When I graduated my sorority sisters all attended my graduation, and afterwards they circled me and sung our song and wished me my final farewell.  It was a bittersweet moment.

I do believe this group was hard to leave because we were a high-performing group, and we all had worked so hard together that it was hard leaving behind all of my hard work.  Adjourning from this group of colleagues is also going to be a bitter sweet moment.  There are certain colleagues that I have had in all my courses that I really do enjoy reading and receiving their input. Saying farewell to them will be important because this will not happen face to face but through my blog.  However, saying my farewell and sending wishes of good hope to all my colleagues is something I will do.

Adjourning is an important part of groups because this allows each member to reflect and share with one another the things they have learned.  It also allows the members a chance to tell everyone thank you for their contribution.  Most importantly adjourning allows each member celebrate the success of the group.

Ways to Solve Conflict

One disagreement that I have recently had was with one of my cousins.  She wanted to give my son a piece of gum, and I told her no he cannot have gum because I don't give him gum.  We got into a small altercation on how I thought I was too good, and I need to let my son be a kid.  As soon as I turned my back, she gave him a piece of gum.  I was very angry with her for doing this because I knew he would just swallow it. 

She thought it was funny, and I yelled at her without even thinking. We both have very different parenting styles, and she does not respect my way of parenting. 

One way that I could have solved this conflict was being direct with her and explaining why I did not want him to have gum, rather than telling her "I don't allow him to have gum".  Maybe if I would have taken this route, she would have respected what I said.  I feel like maybe she thought I was attacking her parenting style because she allows her children to have gum and I don't.

Another way I could have solved this conflict was simply by not yelling.  I believe that when a person starts yelling effective communication is lost.  I could have stated that I was not happy in a regular tone.  I could have said what I needed to say in a respectful tone, in return she may have shown me respect back.

In order to solve conflict one must be able to see both sides.  One must also be able to show respect.  As a part of the 3 R's, if respect is shown then it a better chance that it will be return.

Evaluating my Communication Styles

When I started the self-evaluation of my community skills, I had in mind what my results would be.  I am person who do not mind public speaking to a large group, but do not like speaking in small groups.  The people who I had score me was my cousin and her fiancé.  It tickled me to watch both of them complete the survey, because they were laughing while doing it.  When they received their scores they both were anxious to compare it to my original score.

All three of us knew that I can be bossy when I am talking to others without even trying, so we were all tickled when the scores for my aggression came back (67,63, 62).  I know that I am somewhat aggressive when I talk, and now I see that others can realize this too and this is a trait that I need to work on.  This can affect me negatively if I am communicating with a group of people who do not know this about me.  They may think that I am rude and do not care about them, when that is not true.  I scored in group one for my listening styles profile.  I do care about others and I care how they view themselves.  This can be a positive attribute to my personal and professional life.  It will help me gain the trust of others, if they can see past my verbal aggression.

I was not surprise with my results, and my cousin and her fiancé agreed with my scores.  It was fun to do this assessment to see how I viewed myself and how others view me.  This has made me more aware of my self-efficacy and I can use this to guide my interactions that I will have with others.

Communicating with Others That are Not Like Us

When I communicate with people from different groups and culture I notice that I am more careful with my word choice.  I also, tend to try to look at the person I am communicating with to ensure that I am fully attentive.  I also realize that the tone of my voice is much softer.  I do not know why I do this, but I do it without even realizing it.  I also, tend to talk less if it is the first interaction.  I do this so that I can have a better idea of who they are. I am a big talker and I love communicating with others.  If I am speaking to someone who first language isn't English, I notice that I use my hands a lot.  I am excited to learn more ways to help me become a more effective communicator.

Three strategies that I believe will help others be a more effective communicator are listed below:

1. Pay attention to body language and your tone when communicating with others.  Often times, our body language and tone can present the wrong message if we are not careful.

2. If what you are saying would offend you if someone would say it to you, then don't say it to others.  Implement the Platinum Rule when communicating with others.

3.  Try to be a good listener when communicating with others.  Don't just do all the talking, but rather try to actively listen so that you will be able to respond appropriately.

Observing a tv show with and without sound.

I have a one year old so I decided to record one of his favorite shows.  He really like to watch Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs.  I watched it first without sound, and I must admit it was rather funny trying to figure out what was going on.  By Harry's facial expression I assumed that he sick.  His little cheeks was red and he was lying in bed.  His dinosaurs seemed like they were trying to comfort him by giving Harry a hug.

I watched it again with sound and was right! Harry was sick, and the dinosaurs was trying to make him feel better!

It was very interesting to watch the show without sound, because I actually had to pay attention to what was going on to try to figure out what was really happening.  If we did this when others were talking to us, then we would become better listeners because we would actually have to pay attention to the person that is trying to communicate with us.

Farewell All

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds (any format and any length)

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)

A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

This has been a fun and exciting course!  One hope that I have for working with children and families from different background is being able to have a better understanding of each of my families diverse backgrounds.  I know that this will be hard but I would like to become familiar with different backgrounds so that I can be more aware of how to teach to a different group of kids!

One goal for the early childhood field, is to have a set of standards that should be incorporated in the schools!  I think that this way teachers who are not familiar with teaching a diverse group of students will have somewhat of an idea of what to teach, although they will have to learn how to teach it.

I would like to thank all my colleagues for all the thoughts, and sharing your stories throughout this course. I wish you all the best!

Happy Learning,

Kayla

Welcoming a Family from Egypt!

The family that just arrived to my child care center is from Egypt.  I have always wanted to visit Egypt, and I am really excited about getting to learn more about my student and her family as well as their culture.  Considering that I know nothing about life in Egypt, nor the way of the people.  I composed a list of five ways that will help me to get to know my student and her family better.

1. I would send a family questionnaire home with the family before the child's first day of school asking about the culture and expectations of the family.
2. I would research school systems in Egypt to become more familiar with the type of schooling this child has already been exposed to.
3. I would include books about several different countries in the classroom including Egypt.
4. I would ask the parents to come in and sit in during a class session so they can become more familiar with the structure of her new school.
5. I would also ask her parents if they have any concerns or questions for me, and how would they recommend I include their child's culture in the classroom.  

I believe by showing the parents that I care about their input about their child's learning, will show that I value them and I would like to include them in their child's learning.  By asking them how to include their culture in the classroom will hopefully show that I do no want them to conform to the "norm" but rather accept and appreciate their family and their differences.  By communicating with the parents and the child about what they like and things they may dislike,  will help promote a caring and trustworthy relationship among us.

Social Profiling

One incident that I remember is when my friend and I were shopping at a boutique (typically on white people shop at).  As soon as we walked through the door, we were greeted by the owner.  As we continued to look around the store, she trailed us as if she was checking the items on the shelf.  She then continued to follow us and asked us several times if we need help looking for anything.  My friend responded to her, that there were other people in the store that may need her help because we are just browsing.  She then left, and sent a sales associate to follow us around the store.  In other words or less, we were social profiled.  Which bothered me greatly, we asked why she was following us, and she said that she was just giving us customer service.  However, we left without causing any problems.

This made me feel like black people cannot afford to shop in boutiques and that because we were browsing she “assumed” that we were trying to steal.  It makes me sad that I cannot go into a store and shop without being socially profiled.

I would ask the other customers in the store how that would make them feel if they were followed around the store.  I would then pull the owner to the side and discuss how I feel like what she did was completely inappropriate in I would point out the fact that she social profiled my friend and I.  I would also tell her that we were nice about the

situation, but if it were someone else they might’ve not been.

Microaggression

A microaggression that I experienced this week was while I was in my classroom.  I was running late Thursday morning due to my son being sick, and when I walked in, my TA said "O you must've been eating grits and didn't have time to finish them.  Omg that's so racist of me", she then proceeded with a chuckle.

I did not find this remark funny, and I was quickly aggravated by her remark to me.  She assumed because I am black that I eat grits.  I responded and told her yes it is racist, because I have never eaten grits a day in my life.  I was stereotyped by my race, and she made a comment that I am sure she did not mean in a negative way; but I took it negative.  This shows that we have to watch what we say to others, because unknowingly we can offend someone.

Culture and Diversity

Definition of culture:

Jay: Culture means to me the history of my family and my African-American decent.

Nicole: Culture is the beliefs and morals for a family.  It’s the things that one practice in his everyday life.

LaQuita: Culture is the type of foods we eat, the dances we do, the things that has been passed onto us by our previous family members.

Definition of diversity:

Jay: My definition of diversity is simply a multiple of races.

Nicole: I think diversity means a variety of cultures coming together to celebrate each other’s differences.

LaQuita: Diversity is the differences among a group of people.

Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?

In the responses I received, a lot of things that I have studied were represented in the answers of the three people I asked.  All three had different definitions, but they all built off of one another.  I was able to see that one had the “tip of the iceberg” view and only thought of surface level aspects.  Whereas, another had a deeper understanding, and thought about the things that one does not recognize so easily.

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

Neither of the responses I received dealt with gender, sexuality, nor socioeconomic power.  I’m not sure if these people view these traits as a part of culture and diversity, or if they did not think that these things were also a part of culture and diversity.

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

After I reviewed the responses, I realized that before I started this program I too had a surface level of what diversity and culture meant.  I now have a deeper understanding, which in return is helping become more aware of the diversity and all the different cultures around me.

Catastrophic Event: EDUC 6164

In the case of an catastrophic event and an emergency evacuation, the three items that I would take with me are a picture of my mom and dad, a picture of the 12 disciples that was given to me by my mom when i moved out, and a family photo album.
I would bring the picture of my mom and dad, because I do not want to forget where I came from.  Considering that I would be going to a country that would be totally different than what I am accustomed to, this is very important to me.

I would bring the picture of the 12 disciples to represent, that no matter what struggles I am going through, I know that God will see me and my family through it all.

I would bring a family album.  I say this because I would want my son to know about his life and how we was raised prior to moving to a new country.  To have the moments of love captured in a photo, will allow our son to see that he was loved, and even through our current situation he would still see that he will be loved and cherished.

If I had to choose only one, I would choose a picture of my mom and dad.  As stated before, when I look at them I think about where I come from, and where I am going.  Looking at their picture in a sense would serve as a motivation to get through any situation.

I learned that my family do not have a certain family loom that has been passed down.  This made me realize that everything I was taught has stuck with me due through experience.  I would like to have had a family loom to show my son and my future children but I do not.  I am going to think on creating a family loom that can be passed down within my family.

Farewell All

This has been a course in which I learned a lot.  I can say that I learned how to be a more adequate researcher.  Before this class, I had trouble locating sources, as well as identifying proper topics to research.  Now, I feel as if I am capable to do both.

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have learned that research can be very helpful and understanding children.  Children are capable of being competent enough to participate in research studies.  When research is done properly with children, one may learn the opinions that a child may have.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

I am no longer afraid to conduct research. I did not feel competent enough to conduct research prior to taking this class.  Now, I do feel like I have a good starting point and resources to conduct a research study of my choice.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I learned that when planning research, it is important to have a clear idea of what it he or she would like for the audience to g.  Also, to gain from the research study. Also, one must have a design in mind that he or she would like to use and to make sure that it matches up properly with the research study.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

One of the main challenges I encountered, was narrowing my topic down.  I had a lot of information that I was trying to gain more knowledge about without having a clear general statement for my audience to understand from the beginning what I would like for them to gain from my study.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

After this course, I now see a childhood professional as one that is competent at researching and collecting data for himself or herself.  A professional is someone that is competent on several different levels of education.  Whether it is the classroom, or in this case conducting research.

This has been a very helpful course.

Happy Learnings

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA):

I chose this resource because I sometimes have trouble locating journals that provide current information on topics that are going on the early childhood world. Some of the issues that  people seem to be most interested in at this time are the articles listed below.  These are the most trending for the journals that had already been posted.

Make‐believe play versus academic skills: a Vygotskian approach to today’s dilemma of early childhood education Elena Bodrova        

Volume 16, Issue 3, 2008

The dynamics of early childhood spaces: opportunities for outdoor play? Tim Waller, et al.

Volume 18, Issue 4, 2010

 

Research with children: three challenges for participatory research in early childhood Tim Waller, et al.        

Volume 19, Issue 1, 2011

Introducing children's perspectives and participation in research Deborah Harcourt, et al.         Volume 19, Issue 3, 2011

 

Some of the current issues that are being discussed is the disadvantage and social justice, breaking poverty, and the inclusion of Roma children in the early years.  After looking over this site, I learned that this is one of the most prestigious online journals in the world. is a non-profit organisation, wholly-owned and subscribed to by its substantial and influential world-wide membership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Experience with Research

I have not had many experiences with research personally.  However, this past academic school year we did try different methods with a child to try to help him with his behavior problems.  We did research different methods and strategies to try with the child.  One strategy that we found that worked really well with him was giving him two options; however, the options consisted of what we wanted him to do, but since he was able to make a choice he was able to take responsibility for his actions.

This child now, is one of our best behaved children and it did not start out that way.  He even like to help the other children when they are making bad choices.  It did take us about three months, and it was very tedious and sometimes overwhelming but I am glad that my co-teacher and I stuck with it!

Responsive Classroom Approach

I decided to do my research topic over the responsive classroom approach.  This approach is a research- and evidence-based approach to elementary education that is associated with greater teacher effectiveness, higher student achievement, and improved school climate.  Using this strategy sets in overall positive environment for both teacher and the students.  I am looking forward to learning more about this approach, and I believe that it will help become a more motivated teacher.  Below I will include the hyperlink for teaching in a responsive classroom setting just in case anyone is interested.  If anyone have any information on this approach please feel free to share the information with me!

http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/about-responsive-classroom

Hi All

I am looking forward to starting this semester on learning how to properly research.  I have never been able to research information that well, so I am a little excited on learning about how to become a competent researcher.

Looking forward to seeing what you all post over the next seven weeks!!

Reflecting on EDUC 6162

Over the past eight weeks we have been blogging about issues in trends world wide.  By seeing some of the issues we face in the states, are some of the same issues that others are facing in other countries. Learning about issues of other countries gives one several different insights such as, a new way of thinking about the issue, examining the cause of the issue, and looking further into ways to eliminate the issue all together.  These are three consequences that come from learning about issues and trends that may be going on in other countries.

One goal for this field would be to find a common ground that would allow everyone to post and share their ideas about certain issues.  Grant it there are several sites and podcasts for one to join, but if their was local committees and groups for people to join to discuss several different issues I believe that would work as well.

Issues at My Center

Issue of quality I believe should be a concern of all centers.  At my center, our biggest focusing on being able to relate and communicate with our Hispanic students.  We have a lot of Spanish speaking students with only two  Spanish speaking teachers.  So sometimes it is hard for us to effectively communicate.  However, we know that in order for our center to be one of quality we must work on this issue.

As for as professional development, training is offered once a month through our agency.  For the teachers that have not obtain a degree, the agency will pay for their schooling.

My ultimate professional goal is to open my own learning care facility for at-risk students.  I want to be able to help my students see that they are bigger than any circumstance that they may encounter.  This is important to me, because often times at-risk students fall between the cracks and I want to ensure that all students have the same opportunity to achieve greatness.

Exploring Zero to Three

This week as I explored through the website www.zerotothree.org, I decided to click on the Parent Resource Link.  I have noticed this icon several times before, and figure this is the perfect opportunity to take a look at the resources that are made available to parents.

A lot of the articles are intended to help parents with everyday encounters such as supporting your child, aiding with literacy development, and tips for child develop assessments.  All articles are aged based from birth to 36 months.  A select few articles are targeting birth-12 months.

This would be a great resource for new parents in my opinion.  This will allow the parent to become more familiar with things their child should be able to do, and how to help their child reach these milestones.  I am a new parent, and I absolutely love reading articles on the development of my child.  I hope someone else finds this information useful!

Reference

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/free-parent-brochures-and-guides/

Global Children Initiative

I chose the alternative which was reviewing the Global Children Initiative website.  I noticed that they still allowed viewing of their previous newsletters, so I decided to see what were some of the topics that were made available.

In March of this year, there was a featured newsletter on brain science and how it could be used as an outlet to poverty.  This struck my interest because the finding by Elizabeth Babcock could be used around the world.  Her main thesis is that the skill set in the brain that includes multi-tasking, self-control, and setting goals; these skills and abilities can be damaged by adverse experiences, including those associated with poverty (Babcock, 2014) .  By teaching children early how to control, and strengthen these skills as he gets older may better his chances to get out of poverty.

I also became aware that significant neglect, which is the ongoing disruption or significant absence of caregiver responsiveness, can cause more harm to a young child’s development than overt physical abuse.  This can lead to many problems for the child such as, disruption of stress responses, cognitive delays, etc.

The last thing that struck my attention was one of their key concepts, toxic stress response.  Stress at any age can be harmful to the brain and the overall body.  It is important that we ensure young children avoid as much stress as possible, but in some cases it is inevitable.  Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity.  It is extremely important to act quickly to try and prevent the child from having any long last effects.

This site has many other articles, videos, and newsletters that are available as well.

Here is the link to the site if anyone is interested (:
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/

Zero To Three Continued

This week as I viewed the website, I decided to focus on one topic and see what information the site had listed.  I noticed that there was a school readiness online tool available to both parents and caregivers to help aid children in their early learning.  I like this tool because it is available to the parents as well. 

This tool can be used for ages birth through 36 months.  Also, there is an opportunity for others to share their feedback on some of the items that are discussed during the online tool. This tool is funded by the MetLife Foundation, which is an a foundation that help fund and support programs.  This is a great way to see how businesses are aiding in the development of early childhood learning.

Zero To Three

I chose Zero to Three website, because I find this site to be very beneficial.  It was one of my first go to resource sites when I began teaching headstart.  This site does have a monthly newsletter, but I am not subscribe to it.  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 toddlers and babies get a good start in life.

This site also offers a podcast series, Little Kids, Big Questions; this podcast series deals with common challenges that parents may face with their baby or their toddler.  This site is available to all parents and educators around the world. As far as this site being an aid to teaching a diverse classroom,  they have several articles on the importance of diversity in the classroom, all which are available in a PDF format.

Overall, this site is amazing.  As I stated before it is my-go-to site for anything. Whether it is behavior management, or offering suggestive tips to my parents, this is a great resource.

Referencewww.zerotothree.org

Global Connections

I was unable to establish a connection with someone, so I chose to review a newsletter from the World Word Forum website.  The article I reviewed was entitled "Honoring the Child's Voice and Design".  This newsletter gave a brief overview in allowing the children to share the responsibility with how they learn. Allowing the child's voice not only to be heard, but putting action with the child's opinion will show the child that we care about them and their thoughts.

I really do like the website Zero to Three.  I always find very useful information on this site, and most definitely encourage my colleagues to take a look at this site.  They have topics that cover behavior and development, maltreatment, care and education just to name a few.

References

Newsletter-http://ccie-media.s3.amazonaws.com/nacc/wonder-210.pdf

http://www.zerotothree.org/

Daily Supports

To me support means being there and aiding someone when they need help, just need an extra push, or someone to confide in.  Support can come from many different levels such as friendships, from family members, mental, and even religious.  I get daily support from one of my new closest friends.  We met each other when I became pregnant with my son, and now we have a bond that no one can break.  We are pretty much exactly alike that it is scary.  If I am having a bad day, I will text her and she always sends me inspirational quotes, memes, or bible verses.  She also supports me through this program.  Whenever I am feeling overwhelm, she offers to babysit so that I can get my assignments done.  Most importantly, she is the friend that I can call no matter what the situation may be and she will listen.  I am blessed to have a friendship like ours, she is like the sister I never had.

Having a daily support system can make you make it through even the most difficult of days.  A challenge that I imagined is not being able to provide for my son.  I know that if this was ever the case I could find support from his father, my cousin, and my sorority sisters.  As far as my mental state of mind, I would have to lean on the church, and ask for their prayers to help give me the strength that I need.  To me this is a scary thought, but if this ever came to pass then I know that I would have people in my corner helping me every step of the way.  Whether it would be to help me buy diapers, or help me find a job, I know that the people in my circle have my best interest at heart and they would do all they could to help me.

I cannot imagine what it would be like if I didn't have such a strong support system.  I get stressed out easily, and I am a very emotional person.  So without my circle, I would probably be super stressed out on a day to day basis worrying myself, until I have nothing else to worry about.  I like to keep my feelings bottled up, but the people who know me always finds a way to make me discuss my problems, and this in returns helps me a lot.  I am thankful for my supporters, and I wouldn't change them for the world!

Farewell All

This course has been very insightful for me.  I have learned so much about the development of children and how they think, as well as how everyday stressors and factors affect their lives'.  A quote that I absolutely love is listed as follows:

"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child.  The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure." -Emma Goldman

I absolutely love this quote. Each child has the potential to be something different just as each child learn and develops at his or her on rates.  It is up to the teacher to help the child become and develop to his or her fullest potential.

I would like to say thanks to my two colleagues, Temeka and Denise.  You two have supported my blogs, and have given me insightful feedback that was more than useful.  I also enjoyed reading your blogs as well and find them very helpful.  To receive meaningful feedback from others who are trying to achieve similar goals as you is beyond important.  I wish you both the best of look as you travel along your journey to become amazing educators and professionals.

Happy Learnings All (:

Is There a Right Way To Assess Children?

I honestly do not like standardized tests.  These tests are designed to assess a child on what the state believe a child should know.  This in return causes the teacher to lose focus on teaching a child holistically, and instead teach just to the test (which is not beneficial to the child).  I do believe that each child should be measured, so the needs of the child can be met, as well as for their progress to be viewed.  However, I do not believe that standarized test is the best way to do this.  Teachers know their students better than anyone, and are able to assess there students in a way the pencil and paper cannot.  Therefore, I believe that teachers should use the test that they typically use at the end of the week to assess the children.  Now there are some tests that are beneficial to the students, such as Dibels.  This test allow the teacher to see where the child is at phonemically, and what areas need to be work on to enhance the child's learning.

In China, I learned that they have been doing children assessment  longer than any other country.  Just like here in the states, they too have termed-tests, as well as the end of the year testing.  There isn't too much of a difference between the way our children are tested and their children are tested.  Also, literacy is very important to them as it is to us, and they have several programs that are set up to enrich the child's literacy ability.

Noise as a Stressor

One stressor that I have seen effect children directly  is a noisy area.  One of my students live in an apartment complex; and for the past few weeks he has been extremely cranky in the morning.  When I talked to his mom about this, she said that they have new neighbors and it is hard for her son to go to sleep due the loudness.  This not only affects how he behaves at school, but also it is not beneficial to the development of his growing brain.  Kids need an ample amount of sleep, in due to him getting less than six hours a night is taking a toll on him.

I wonder how do children react to noise in big cities like Las Vegas, Nevada.  This city is very busy and always full of busy people.  I did find out that there is something called a noise ordinance which sets the limits on the level of noise during certain time frames.  If one is found to breaking this law, then a complaint can be filed against them.  However, kids that are normally around a lot of noise, are not impacted by it as much.  They have grown accustomed to the loudness, which in returns has little or no effect on them.

Benefits of Breastfeeding

I chose research the benefits of breastfeeding.  I exclusively breastfed my son for seven months just so that he can receive all the nutrients.  Breastfeeding is not only good for baby but also for the mom.  This helps reduce the risk of breast cancer in women, ovarian cancer, as well as postpartum depression.  Breast milk has antibodies in that helps strengthen the babies immune system.  Breast milk also has been proven to lower the risks of ear infections, stomach viruses, as well as respiratory infections.  Also, this aids in strengthening the bond between mom and new baby.  I absolutely loved breastfeeding my son.  It help create a bond that cannot be broken.  The look that he gave me during feedings is something I will never forget!

Breastfeeding in other countries in a sense is more beneficial to the infant.  Especially in countries were clean water is hard to find.  If the baby is breastfed in these countries, then their life expectancy is higher, than those who are not.  Also, families may be unable to afford formula, which in returns yields a malnourished child. 

Here in the states, the mother is encouraged to breastfeed the baby exclusively for the first month, or at least the first few days so the baby can receive colostrum.  However, in Sierra Leone women believe that colostrum produces a poison toxin, and often stop breastfeeding early.  In return, babies are introduced to solid foods way too early.  Sierra Leona also has some of the highest infant mortality rates, and lowest exclusively breastfed baby rates in the world.  If you are interested more in this topic, I will post two links below for you all to view!

http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/breastfeeding.html
http://www.incultureparent.com/2012/03/breastfeeding-around-the-world#slide6

Birth of My Son

Around this time last year I was blessed with my first and only child.  It's funny because we are currently planning his birthday party, and me or his dad cannot wrap our minds around the fact that our sweet boy will be turning one on January 21.  I can still remember the day we found out we were having a baby to the day he was born.

I had a lot of support from my family, friends, sorority sisters, and fraternity brothers.  I had to be induced at 40 weeks because my little monster wasn't quite ready to come.  I had a little over 20 people waiting with me throughout the entire process.  I had to have an unplanned cesarean section at the last minute due to my baby being to big.  I was beyond scared, but I had a lot of support to get me through this.

I was very sedated and I could not wait to meet my little boy.  After the surgery had been performed, I was completely out of it.  I do not remember much that first night.  My recovery was not the best experience.  I experienced postpartum depression for about 8 weeks.  However, once I made it past that I now know there isn't any obstacle that I cannot overcome.  

My son was breastfed so immediately a bond was formed between us.  He is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I thank God for my little blessing.  I was surrounded by love throughout my entire pregnancy, and still am today.  My son has a very strong circle that loves and care for him so much, and I am blessed to have such great family, friends, and sorority sisters that treat him like he is family.

I researched babies born in South Africa.  Babies are both born in and out of hospitals, but the one thing that both delivery methods have in common is the babies being abandoned by the mothers due to Child Welfare.  I learned that the worst city for child abandonment is Cape Town.